Inou-Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka de – 10

Strike Zone!

Welcome back Battlers, so we get our requisite pool episode, and in the bargain get a double dose of chuuni charm.

Crumbled Cookie

Cookie is still protective/jealous

It’s the day Chi-chan has been waiting for (marked on her calendar and everything), and Kuki just has to tag along. But she has a plan, and that is to discredit Andou in Chifuyu’s eyes, and get her clear, once and for all, of his lolicon clutches. It’s just pure comedy that she ends up getting most of it wrong. Well, pretty much all of it wrong. I doubt that Chi would ever leave Andou behind over a lack of money, or any of her other hair-brained schemes Kuki dreamed up. I guess if she had more time, she might come up with something that had a bit more weight, but then, the rules of comedy would tell them to backfire as well.

She never counted on him being nice to her

Overall, this was a fun little segment. A well paced character study on how friendships matter. Andou is concerned that Chifuyu will feel left behind, and both he and Kuki are happy that she will be there for her no matter what happens. And it’s the first prong of Andou’s chuuni charm.

See-thru Plot Point

Nothing but control….

What on Earth is Sagami up too? His meddling amounted to little. But since he did confess that he was going to go for “the other option”, that being the Inou way, I guess he wanted to forward his plans in a more normal terrain. Why he felt he could play Sayami like this is beyond me, as he is out-classed from word one; maybe the club pres is a step ahead of him? Regardless, his ploy just ended up working in our favor, as we got a ton of Sayami service out of this one. And no, not just the well worn bikini, but her own near supernatural athletic talent. I want her on my side in a fight.

Dude had it comin’….

For all the talk of romance, I felt that both Andou and Sayami have fell into the roles they are comfortable with. He likes it when she challenges him, and she like to challenge him. They both look up to each other in their own way, and it looks like the understand the mutual friendship they both want to naturally express. Even with Andou laying in some of his chuuni charm. But, with Sagami laying down some plans, such as they were, with whomever was on the other end of the line (my guess is Hajime, as he couldn’t be bothered to know who he was talking to), we have some hints to to future plans. The romance angle is a forgone exercise. F might still be around, so we will see if the battlefield of the Fairy War makes another appearance later.

Tomoyo Alone?

Too little, too late?

I like how the scenes with Tomoyo bookend this episode. Both scenes took place in her room, on two separate days. It felt like it was suggesting a subtext of her stuck in one place, not being able to move on. At the beginning, she learns that her LN didn’t place in the competition. She immediately thinks of telling Andou, using a flimsy excuse. What she really wants is his sympathetic shoulder. Of course they have to give us her thoughts on “…that time…” leaving us to with a feelings of her regret. Both bookends are tied to how she feels about him. I felt really bad for her, as she was just on the late side of asking him out. She probably didn’t know if she could confess to him, but seeing as how he’s going to be spending some vacation time with Hatoko, she feels the bottom drop every so slightly.

Best way to take out frustration…

Extras

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I wonder about Andou. Is his charm part of the chuuni package that just happens to have receptive ears, or his he a nice guy that has two sides? Besides that, I think we got some progress in the relationship race. It looks like after one heat, both Chifuyu and Sayami are in the friendzone, and this isn’t a bad place to be at all. Or, it you feel they aren’t going to give up, Sayami wants to persue things at her own pace, and Chifuyu is content to be spoiled for the moment. Next week we are probably going to get some private time between Andou and Hatoko, and maybe some progress on that end. Something tells me Tomoyo will play a larger role in some capacity, as it will round out the proceedings if she is there…

Next Time

Well, he’s on the yandere route now….

About skylion

All around nerd that enjoys just about any anime genre. I love history, politics, public policy, the sciences, literature, arts...pretty much anything can make me geeky...except sports. Follow me @theskylion