Nourin – 02

Time for “Becky Instinct”

The second episodes continue, and this is my third and last for this season. Witch Craft Works was a knockout, Chu2koi was a nice continuation, but how will Nourin do?

Maybe Not As Good

Boooooring for everyone

Honestly? A bit weak. I enjoyed the wackiness of the first episode, but the second episode, which focused a lot more on the four main characters as they showed Ringo around her new school and then tried to get to know her (since she’s the fourth person in their whole dorm building now), seemed to really get bogged down a few times, and spent the rest of the time in a bit of a panic, just like Kousaku did.

At least Yoshida doesn’t have a crush on Kousaku also

It’s understandable that Kousaku is a bit overwhelmed that his dream idol is now interacting with him. And Becky-sensei put any speculation about whether Ringo is Yuka-tan to rest right away: She is and she isn’t. She was Yuka Kusakabe, but now she is Ringo Kinoshita, your class- and dorm-mate. This is probably a good plan for the show to not drag out that uncertainty, cause it’s really not much of a compelling story, especially since the audience knows without a doubt. But what it does is put Kousaku in kind of a weird position of trying to interact with Ringo as if her being the object of his affection for years doesn’t matter. That’s the biggest thing, isn’t it? For years, Yuka-tan has been an object, and now she’s a person, right here in front of him. And more…

Why Come to the Middle of Nowhere?

Before the pantsu gag got really old, it was cute how unaffected Ringo was

They don’t really directly address this question, in amongst the horribly awkward school tour and frankly terrible pantsu discussion, but it really seemed clear to me why Ringo would come to this podunk agricultural high school: Kousaku. I know it’s a reason, but it’s a pretty eye-rolling reason. Why would this idol give it all up to come to a school with a guy that she seems to have a crush on from his writing her a few letters and receiving fresh vegetables? Maybe they’ll make it some actual reason, but right now, it’s super farfetched.

Kousaku chose poorly

But it’s pretty obvious. Ringo blushes every time Kousaku is around, she acts shy around him, and him alone. She treats him much different from Kei, she gets quite jealous when Minori gets close to Kousaku. When their attempts to rig the Osama Game to have Ringo interact with Kousaku lead to Minori doing things with Kousaku, Ringo’s visibly upset, and she outright asks him what number he is when she’s the king to make sure he’s the guy who has to call her by her first name, no honorific, from now on. Really forward. She definitely seems different from what you’d expect someone who was an idol to be, tho, and I think that’s throwing off these characters a bit as well. She’s so reserved, and says she’s bored, but she still hangs around with Kousaku and the others.

Ringo got tired of it, too

A bit of a weaker effort. The show really needs Ringo to not be a wallflower, and develop a personality for her, more than a toddler hiding behind mommy’s skirt. That’s really what she reminded me of the whole time, at least until her final outburst. She was just too quiet and too reserved. The way that Minori and Kousaku were acting wasn’t necessarily inauthentic, but it was a bit oppressive, like they were trying to fill the silence and not doing a good job of it. The best part of the episode was when they wrapped Yoshida into the conversation about fertilized and unfertilized eggs, and had to come up with the dodge of “eggs with condoms.” From the OP it looks like Yoshida will be a bit more regular, which will be good, one because haughty Marina Inoue is always good, and two because she brings a nice ‘outsider’ type character to the group.

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!