Hourou Musuko – 04 – 06

Pools! Fireworks! Drama! Action! Heartbreak! Just like a summer blockbuster!

Woooo! Catch up tiiime! Catch uuup! Just in case you guys were wondering, I’m still covering that Oreimo stuff! But instead of episodics, I’ll be covering all four of them when they all release. But just as a little tidbit of info; OMG KURONEKO. Ahem. In any case, should we dive into the last few episodes?

So Hourou episode four is a strange one. We begin with the class heading out to swimming class and good ol’ Chizuru decided to wear a bikini rather than the school swimsuit. For some reason. Takatsuki also gets a comment that she doesn’t seem to take to well, and that’s when Momo says something about her body being womanly. Saori and Shuichi are still having trouble writing the script and distractions run apparently rampant with Shuichi stealing glances at Takatsuki, annoying Saori.

Back at home, things aren’t going well for Shuichi either. His sisters friend, Anna, pokes fun at him when she catches him writing parts for the class play so much, in fact, that he begins to cry. Being a nice sister, Maho shrugs it off but Anna is left feeling a little guilty. Meanwhile, Takatsuki met up with her transsexual friend named Yuki, and they apparently look at bra’s ‘n’ stuff online? I’m not too sure, really. The next day Saori joins Shuichi at his house to continue writing the script without distractions, but for some reason Makoto is at Shuichi’s house, stealing his ice cream like a Maori. After a conversation with Makoto, Saori straight up confronts Shuichi about the screenplay, revealing that he wanted to write the script so he could be a female loving a male Takatsuki. Harsh.

Shuichi is back up the full speed the next day however, as Takatsuki appears outside his house and invites him to go clothes shopping, with Shuichi as a girl. They seem to be having a whale of a time and during this Maho and some of her friends are out doin’ some karaoke. As Anna goes to get a drink, she sees a phone strap of some kind, and decides to buy one for Shuichi. Perhaps as an apology? Shuichi then talks to Takatsuki and in a massive spiel, explains that he was writing the play for both of them to play Romeo and Juliet, and he intended it to be a confession to her, but she doesn’t quite take the hint. And as a gesture of kindness, when Shuichi wants to be a girl, she allows him to use her name, Yoshino. D’awww.

The next day the classes teacher asks if anyone would want to help writing with the script that Saori and Shuichi are writing. Unsurprisingly,  Takatsuki, Sasa, Chuziru, Makoto and others all  volunteer. And Saori looks angry. When she invites Shuichi over to her house to work on the script before the other interfere, she promises (once again) not to do anything weird. And she actually doesn’t do anything weird for a while. She begins to act out some of the lines and Shuichi admires her skills. She then reveals that she wants to play Romeo in the play, but Shuichi says he’s already given the part to Takatsuki. Saori rages a little bit and confessed to Shuichi again, but is turned down. Again. She ends up going off in a huff after Shuichi leaves and tells him to not talk about Takatsuki around her. He goes to a local church and actually prays. Is this starting to get religiously creepy?

Episode 5 kicks off with the whole Hourou gang piled into Saori’s house, helping to work on the Cultural Festival script. It really seems like she doesn’t want anyone bothering her a Shuichi’s work, but she can’t really say anything with everyone around her. Unfortunately, someone else turns up. Fumiya Ninomiya, a friend of Saori’s (from church and her childhood) shows up and recognizes Shuichi and accidently blurts out that he likes cross-dressing. Everything gets a little awkward and Chizuru interrogates him for information. Takatsuki rages at her a little, saying Chizuru’s annoying Shuichi, then leaves in a huff.

After a little bit of confusion, Shuichi realizes because he was so passive during the situation, that Takatsuki was angry for him. After the worlds shortest montage (Bakuman probably holds that title, now that I think about it…) they finally finish the script and celebrate with fireworks. Everyone likes fireworks! Except Saori. Of course. When the new term starts everyone in the class picks their roles for the play via a box with a hole in it. Saori’s a little annoyed at this, because she wanted to be voted in with Shuichi. As she picks her part, she draws Romeo and surprisingly Makoto picks Juliet.

In a bit of a huff Saori talks with Makoto, the latter explaining that he was thinking of giving the part of Juliet to Shuichi to be nice to Saori. She says something about hating spineless people and runs off to kill off everyone in the play. The teacher manages to stop her and Makoto and Shichi have a nice girl talk. The next day Takatsuki and Shuichi go to deliver some play tickets to Takatsuki’s transsexual friend, Yuki (from the last episode!). While walking around the two bump into Anna and she takes a picture of them. Shuichi notices they have the same phone strap. Saori also explain to Makoto the next day that she’s going to try her hardest to play the role of Romeo perfectly, and Makoto agrees to do the same. D’awww.

The episode opens with Takatsuki’s transsexual friend preparing for the long awaited cultural festival. Everyone is preparing themselves for the amazing play they are set to perform, with Chiba taking a lot of the early praise for how refined she looks. However, not everyone is happy. Chiba’s church friend came to visit and was surprised to learn that Makoto, not Shuichi would be playing Juliet. This quite obviously takes its toll on Makoto because he starts to look a little down.

Shuichi’s sister Maho doesn’t seem to be doing her job at the café very well and seems a little surprised when her super popular modeling friend Maiko turns up. In disguise. Which Maho ruins. By some cosmic coincidence everyone starts heading towards the haunted house, even Chiba! Her church friend also hands her a bunch of flowers, to which she says she almost vomits. How lovely. As everyone eventually reaches the haunted house, Makoto and Shuichi enter only to find it’s actually pretty shit. Just to spice everything up, Makoto starts yelling and running through the haunted house, along with Shuichi, Takatsuki, Sasa, Momo and Chizuru until Chizuru comes bursting out of the end straight into Maiko. Who she confesses to in shock.

As the play is moments away from beginning, Yuki shows up to wish Takatsuki good luck but ends up doing the same thing as Chiba’s church friend, wondering why Shuichi isn’t playing Shuichi. The moment finally arrives and as Makoto is out on stage he stumbles over his words again and again. He finally asks to try again and everyone pitches in to help him. After what seemed like an awesome performance the hall erupts into applause. Back in the classroom Makoto says he wanted to people see him as Juliet and Chiba hands him the flowers she got from her church friend to cheer him up. She says an unknown person told her to give the flowers to Juliet, saying he was an amazing performer. How sweet of her.

End Thoughts

MY PRECIOUS

HURR I’M A HURRSE

Shuichi finally regretted that last burrito.

Oh Chizuru. You so expressive.

Why is the teacher coming out of the haunted house like that…

Whoo! It’s been a while since I’ve done a three episode post. Not since the days of Oreimo have I done that (I think)! I thought the whole giving of the names was really sweet to see in episode 4 and then to be brought right back in episode six. In the 4th episode Takatsuki didn’t really seem to understand what Shuichi was trying to say to her, but in the 6th episode, it seemed some thought crept into her mind during the performance. Maybe she finally realized what Shuichi had been trying to say? Or probably something completely different.

Saori, in a way seems to be coming to terms with what Shuichi and Takatsuki feel for each other. In episode 5 she did seem a little over the top, trying to kill everyone in the play off and all, but my episode six she had actually become a more likable character, especially the way she helped Makoto. One thing I have noticed about the series is that I know longer have a character I dislike. They are all diverse and they interact with each other way you would expect them to. There is just something about them all that grounds the in reality to a point. I don’t even hate Shuichi’s sister, who should be a character you hate. I find it odd how I just can’t bring myself to hate anyone.

It’s great seeing Chizuru becoming one of the main characters as well. Though she’s being used mostly for comedic purposes, she’s easily the most expressive character in the show. She provides the ‘everyone is thinking it, I’ll say it’ way out of a situation, which is nice at times. Momo is also a funny little attachment to her. She keeps Chizuru from being crazy, but has these little outbursts herself, mostly because she hates Saori. Hate isn’t very good, young lady!

I don’t know what’s going on in this preview, but it’s probably not legal. Just a heads up.