Servant x Service – 09

I don’t think Kaoru greets everyone this way

Well, I finished Sasameki Koto, and would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants a nice romance series (if you don’t mind outright yuri). And now Servant x Service is stepping up the romantic part of romantic comedy, although objectively the show isn’t very romantic at all. Maybe it’s relationship comedy?

Ships Everywhere!

Taishi’s such a nice guy

Servant x Service has moved into full relationship mode, and while that may have cut down on the outright jokes, to me it makes for a more interesting show. Especially if you figure the alternative is everyone being pestered by Tohko, which I don’t think anyone wants to see. It still has some encounters with Tohko, and with Bunny Boss, but those characters are really not in the spotlight at all, more just appearing for comic relief and distraction.

Which is pretty good, because I really like the grown-up relationships that this show is portraying. And yeah, they seem kind of bad at it all: Taishi can’t get on the same page that Megumi wants him to be, and Yutaka, for all his smarminess before just can’t get a handle on how to really be honest with Lucy. But the truth is that both Megumi and Yutaka have fallen hard for their confidence-lacking counterparts, and want to make something work with them. The question is how to get the message across?

Lucy’s many rejected skirts

One thing that might help is Megumi taking Lucy under her wing, primarily for the purpose of selecting her skirt for her date with Yutaka, but there’s also a side benefit. With Lucy being someone so much like Taishi, Megumi can take a little of her frustrations out on Lucy, and tell her that she needs to stop being so self-effacing, because it actually insults the people who are showing interest in her. This might be the only kind of advice that gets through to Lucy, because as powerful as her lack of self-confidence is, her aversion to being offensive to other people is even stronger. And even though Megumi would love to tell Taishi exactly the same thing, that would be just too bold. But Lucy actually does seem to take the advice to heart, with a noticeable lack of “someone like me” self-denigration after that.

So good, and so bad

Meanwhile, we also get a bit of backstory on how Megumi and Taishi actually got together. First he defended her to the boss that she wasn’t being ‘plain’, she was following the dress code. He also compliments her on her admirable qualities. And let’s face it, Taishi is a nice guy, so Megumi takes a chance on him. It’s just unfortunate that in over a year, he hasn’t been able to step more into a boyfriend role, and Megumi’s simultaneous caring for him and frustration with him is perfectly encompassed by her reaction to his advice on her skimpy cosplay outfits: a forceful kiss and a forceful slap. I think she’d admit that she was baiting him a little when she brought up having a lot of risque photos taken, but his response “don’t catch a cold” was as neutral as it can get. She’d just like to see a little possessiveness from him, although she admits that would piss her off, too. Personally, I think they’re missing what the best reaction would be: “Oh? Can I get some of them?”

How to Galvanize a Man into Action

Jyouji has terrible fashion sense, too. Good think he’s a banker with a designated suit to wear.

We also get a visit from Kaoru that turns into dinner for Lucy and Saya (Lucy’s biggest weakness is dinner, mostly because she’s got no money after spending it on books), where we get some more information about Jyouji, the long-term thorn in Yutaka’s side. I don’t really think that Kaoru giving some more backstory about him makes him much better, and neither does Saya, who says her opinion of him has improved about this much. But Kaoru gives them the info that she’s going to get married, although we don’t know to whom. But as usual, this information causes problems when Saya tries to tell Yutaka, who gets the mistaken impression that Lucy is getting married.

It’s 1000 yen!

And it’s not helped when Lucy, for other typically Lucy reasons, is walking around all bubbly and happy, apparently confirming Yutaka’s fears that someone’s taken her away from him. It takes until Lucy finds Yutaka moping in the break room for the truth to come out: she’s happy because she won a Tosho Card (a gift card – 1000 yen! – for books). But in other congratulations, Kaoru’s getting married! Just as she mentions it, a text comes in with the same information from his sister, which helps direct Yutaka’s frustration and relief onto his phone, which gets duly smashed.

Confession time!

But that frees up Yutaka’s emotions for the biggest part of the episode, since he was going to get rid of all the girls’ addresses and numbers that he’d been collecting. And the way he tells Lucy is “Because the only girl I need is you.” Finally a confession! And it seems that this finally sinks in with Lucy, because she’s back to being giddy. But what will she think next week?

Maybe even kinda stunned…

Confusion and Confessions, that’s what we got this week. And finally Yutaka has been plain enough with Lucy for her to get the message. I hope. And can Taishi ever overcome his nice guy syndrome? It’s obvious he likes being with Megumi, he just doesn’t know how to act with a girlfriend. He just needs to step up a little and be less worried about being seen with her. That kiss shows one of the ways she feels about him, go for that some more!

About Highway

Proving that you don't have to be young to love anime, I enjoy all genres and styles of shows. If it's not hurting anyone else, you should never be ashamed of what you like!