NouKome – 09

Surprise Murder at the Pool!

The penultimate episode (I like saying penultimate), and only in NouKome would that mean a trip to the pool. Time for mizugi and size comparisons!

Gangbusters out of the Gate

This is the look of a man facing certain death

I found most of this episode hilarious, especially the first half. The “Dullahan of the Mountain Pass” part was hilarious, drifting her MPV around a Nissan Skyline, and the whole idea of the ‘headless driver’ because Douraku-sensei is too short to see. Follow that up with the great misdirection of “Smallest in the World”, where I was sure it was going to be the smallest swimsuit in the world, not a label, and then the coup de grace: the Absolute Choice narrator openly laughing at Kanade’s choices about lifting up Utage-sensei or calling her mommy. And on that note, there were some really good choices this episode, used to really mess with Kanade, but not totally interfere with the flow of the show. After they’ve kind of been on the back burner, Absolute Choice was back with a vengeance.

Did we at least get to see what the elusive Natsuhiko-san looks like (number 8)?

That’s not to say everything this episode was great. I thought the “Onii-chans vs. Pig slaves” was terrible. A complete waste of almost 4 minutes. It did nothing for either Yuragi or Ayame, nothing for Kanade, wasn’t funny, and was just stupid. Not as bad, but still not very good, was Chocolat’s special guest judging of the Mr. Sexy contest. I did think her explanation earlier to Kanade was pretty good, tho, about how she loves him, but still wants to ship him with other guys, but ultimately they could leave most of that stuff out for my tastes.

Random fanservice poses

It’s Down to Two

Sometimes she just wants to cuddle him

It really seems to be down to two girls for Kanade’s affections, although it’s unlikely either one will make the final move in next week’s final episode. Ouka seems to be getting closer to realizing that Kanade is the guy she really likes, even if she thinks she’ll be forced to marry him because he’s seen her panties twice and grabbed her boobs. Not that she has the best role model for an example in her mom, who only cries during S&M scenes. But she and Kanade can never really get on the same page. When he’s serious, she’s goofy, and when she’s serious, he’s not understanding.

“He said I looked good!”

Of course, the other girl in the running is Furano, who does make it to the pool, stalking Kanade, but runs into him (literally) anyway. And she gets what she wanted, a compliment on her swimsuit, even if she doesn’t match up to the other girls. She definitely seems to be spending more time in her shy deredere mode, but that doesn’t get her anywhere with Kanade, because she always hides it from him. She’d have won him many times over if she had any sort of middle ground.

More random fanservice poses

So what will Ouka’s reaction to Kanade’s self-torture be? She bounces back so quickly from everything, but her explanation of never crying because she’s supposed to wait until she finds the one guy she really loves means that if Kanade’s going to win this mission, he’s going to (hopefully) finally understand that she’s in love with him. Think he’ll get the message?

I can generally give Kanade a bit of a pass on not understanding what the girls are saying, because he’s not ever expecting any of them to be interested in him. But I do wish he’d be a bit more observant (who doesn’t want their harem lead to be more observant?) and quicker on the uptake with what these girls are saying to him, especially Seira. Unfortunately he just doesn’t listen well enough. Will we get a confession next week? Or will we even get Kanade realizing that he maybe likes one of these girls? I’d hope so, but I’m not very high on the possibility. Or will he possibly fail this mission? That would be quite the way to end the series.

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!