Mikakunin de Shinkoukei – 09

Niko smells a scoop~

Mikakunin treads a fine line this episode by teasing us with potential misunderstandings only to overturn most of them quickly.

Misunderstandings Averted

Somebody call Mashiro; these two need help.

Well, that’s it. It’s the end of the world. Mashiro of people is pushing Kobeni and Hakuya in the right direction and providing love advice. I never thought I’d see the day come. I jest, but seriously speaking I was surprised to see Mashiro have such a clear grasp on the relationship between those two. This, in spite of Kobeni being unsure of her own feelings and Hakuya being dense in general. In any case, the show had plenty of opportunities to exploit obvious misunderstandings to drive the two apart but instead chose to avert any crisis almost as soon as it was introduced. It’s almost refreshing in a way, thinking back on the episode in hindsight. The experience while watching is a little less smooth though, because I kept alternating between unease at the painfully telegraphed misunderstandings and relief when a character simply shatters said misunderstanding with just the right words. I might liken the experience to a sort of judgmental roller-coaster in which my opinion of the show kept dipping into the petty annoyance zone only to rise immediately back into the calm enjoyment zone.

Relationships

Konoha isn’t giving up yet!

My perception of the show aside, let’s talk about the current state of affairs. Things changed quite a bit throughout the episode, but they more or less reached a new status quo by the end of the 24 minutes. Basically Konoha is still after Hakuya despite learning about his engagement with Kobeni. While I still don’t approve of her motivation for pursuing him, I equally can’t disapprove of her continued determination to nab the fellow extra-human as her mate. Because frankly it’s Kobeni’s fault for being wishy-washy about her feelings for Hakuya and thus leaving room for Konoha to wriggle in. Now, this might change now that the heroine is more aware of her feelings and has acknowledged that she does have a thing for her fiancé. But as of the end of the episode the two have yet to become an official and publicly known couple. Which leaves Konoha emboldened to continue her advances.

No one steals Benio’s beloved imouto!

Speaking of the betrothed couple, a new development is Benio’s apparent change in attitude towards Hakuya. I’m not sure how seriously we’re meant to take it since Benio is established as one of the “joke” characters whose main role is to provide silly laughs. Nevertheless, if we take her behavior at face value, it would seem that the sister has renounced her previous statement that she tolerates Kobeni and Hakuya’s engagement because the latter saved the former’s life. Now that Kobeni has realized her feelings and has entered dere-mode, Benio feels threatened and actually displays open hostility towards Hakuya for the first time. It might have come in the form of a minor shove this time, but knowing Benio’s obsessive personality, I can only see the “abuse” getting worse if this sort of attitude keeps up and isn’t played for jokes. Worst case scenario I can see her conspiring with Konoha to split the couple apart so that the third wheel can claim Hakuya for herself. Though I’m not sure if that would actually work seeing as Konoha is still a bit torn between her idolization of Benio and her desire to catch herself a mate.

Overall Mikakunin continues to entice us with a very engaging tale of relationships. See what I did there? I’m such a genius. Anyway, the mechanics of the differing species continues to be ignored for now, and I’m starting to wonder if they’ll ever be elaborated upon in any detail. As of yet there’s been no explicit mention of complications regarding the mixing of different species, so the sort of weak love triangle that Konoha brings feels more like a standard one without any weird conditions to constrain things. It’s just a matter of feelings, without any extenuating circumstances that might threaten to tip the balance in any one direction. But to be fair, the current situation doesn’t even feel like a love triangle to begin with since Kobeni and Hakuya are very obviously OTP. So perhaps in the end none of this stuff matters now that Kobeni’s feelings are out in the open, and we already know that the engaged couple will formally be a thing soon enough.

What will Hakuya do for White Day?

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