Title context! I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. Anyway, after a lackluster start, this is the show I've been looking forward to. The show has dumped the usual shenanigans and jumped right into the romance, and I couldn't be happier. I can't even say if the animation improved this week because I was completely distracted by how cute this episode was. Chizuru and Mary were characters that grew on me over the first season; Chizuru I was mostly indifferent towards although I found him funny, and I didn't like Mary for a while because of the way she was first introduced. She's calmed down a lot since then, but she's still got a ways to go in learning not to take things so seriously, as shown in this episode. It was nice to see that she didn't lash out violently whenever something didn't go the way that she planned; the only instance I can think of in this episode was when she slapped Chizuru's hand away when he was looking at the bear, which is a big improvement for her. Putting the couple of the hour aside for a moment, there were also a lot of great back-and-forth moments between the characters this week, especially between the twins and Kaname. There were also brief references to events that happened last season, like the fact that they're still on "bread duty" so that Yuki can collect stickers. It's nice to know that this slice-of-life didn't go for a complete reset and is building on what happened previously instead. Speaking of development, let's get back to Mary and Chizuru. I still think that Mary is headed straight down the path of heartbreak since Shun is nice to everyone. Rather than worrying about him misunderstanding something, she should be worried about herself misunderstanding... Anyway, Chizuru continues to stack up brownie points be being more concerned with Mary's happiness than his own. Building off of last season, he clearly knows where he stands; however, that doesn't mean he's completely bottling up his feelings either. He half-jokingly attacks Kaname in this episode for walking home with Mary and accidentally starting a rumor, yet I can't picture him doing the same thing if similar events happened with Shun. He doesn't correct the woman at the bakery when she mistakes them for a couple, but he still defends her later when the guys in his class try to tease Kaname using the present. There's an interesting contrast going on here, where he's not against furthering his own interests but draws the line when Mary isn't happy. I initially thought that it was a little sad that he couldn't give her the present he bought properly, but it made her happy in the end, which was the point all along. I hope that Mary comes around on her own. If she just likes guys who are nice and will stand up for her, then what she wants is closer than she thinks... Current tally: One (1) Episode(s) without Shun in drag, zero (0) consecutive. (Yes, I will be keeping up with this.) Images from Crunchyroll.com.
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