Aoharu x Kikanjuu – 02

Anime Rule #32: Don’t trust hot guys in glasses. It’s not advisable for your health.

What Have I Gotten Myself Into?

Poor Hotaru, all she wanted was to defend justice and destroy evildoers. And now she’s wrapped up in a sport she’d never even heard of, and working with a guy who she’s still not quite sure is a “criminal” himself. Being dragged from the dregs of sleep by an enthusiastic blond in the wee hours of the morning and then dragged to a park in nothing but your pajamas is one thing, but then on top of that to be left standing there in said pajamas, among a bunch of outdoorsy looking strangers for four hours?

Hmm, male or female, that outfit is pretty cool.

Debt or no debt, I would have gone home. Hotaru is a champ for just putting up with that. But at least he brought her some clothes to change into. The games themselves were okay, more so of an introduction to the sabage world rather than any real action or gameplay. It allows both the audience and Hotaru to get a feel for what it’s all about and what she’s gotten herself into . It’s shown this episode that Hotaru doesn’t consciously design herself to look masculine, as she does express discomfiture and regret that people constantly confuse her for being male. So, I can only think that she dresses and acts the way she does, because she is just truly a tomboy that doesn’t see a problem with being herself, even if everyone seems to make the wrong assumption despite the disappointment.  However, her sense of duty is a very strong part of her as well, and she reasons that if the only way she can pay back the debt is to play these survival games and the only way she can play these games is if she is a “boy”, so thus, she will make an active effort to maintain her male persona. Hotaru is ready to go but what about her team?

Meet Our Third

Anime Rule #33: Never trust anyone with a megane-glare. 

Of course, this episode really served as an introduction to the third of our main characters, Yukimura Tooru. Yuki is a weird one. You can tell the moment you look at him that he’s antisocial, and of course we learn that he and Masamune are best friends despite being clear opposites. Yuki is the Kyoya to Mattsun’s Tamaki. He has an apathetic persona a majority of the time, with a snide, dry humor to him as well. There is also a real sense of danger to him as well, and not the cool “bad boy” kind. And when we find out about his profession, it makes sense that someone like him would be knowledgeable of sadism. And you can be sure that any sort of threat to him or his one friend will result in a cold and cruel response, and it let’s one know immediately that they’ve crossed the wrong person.

And who should he perceive as a threat, but the newest member of Team Toy gun-gun?

Devastation

Friends?

Yuki’s backstory and why he’s so close to Masamune is one you’ve seen before and a bit cliche. Hotaru forgives him pretty readily for his dastardly actions, and you’re not quite sure if she had actually understood that he was lashing out in a sense of self preservation and past hurt, or if that’s just the way she is. I’ll lean more towards the latter, and maybe it’s part of her built-in evil detector. She can tell “real’ evil, from those who aren’t?

But whatever it may be, after a contrite apology, Yuki, Masamune, and Hotaru seem to be on their way to becoming great friends. We didn’t get a great look at how this trio will work as a team, what with Yuki’s ploy taking up most of the game time. However, it will be interesting to see how this team does now that they are all on the same page and when they get some opponents that are actually worth their time.

Friends in times of need.

A pretty average episode overall. It did its job introducing Yuki, but didn’t do much beyond that. Well suffice it to say, they have set the stage and we now have all of our main characters. What sort of shenanigans can they get into? What will their next match be like? How will Hotaru survive? Her secret’s safe for now, but Yuki looks to be a lot more observant than his blond friend. How long will she be able to hide things from him? We’ll have to wait till next episode to find out.

Hotaru can do a pretty good glare herself.