Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we return to the amorous battlefield of 100 Girlfriends, having crossed into a brave new world from which I can see no hope of return. I had really thought Kusuri was going to define the peak of lunacy for this show, but “Rentaro rescues Hakari from her mother by agreeing to also date said mother” has outdone her and then some. I am sorry Rikito Nakamura, I was clearly unfamiliar with your game.
With Hahari now adopted into the Happy Rentaro Family, I imagine this new threshold of insanity will be subsumed into the group’s general dynamic with preposterous efficiency. Fortunately, there’s always the post-girlfriend cooldown episode to celebrate what some specific new arrival brings to the team, so buckle your seatbelts, folks. Will Rentaro dating both Hakari and her mother somehow illustrate this show’s general emphasis on open communication and attending to your partner’s feelings? I really can’t see how, but this production is nothing if not surprising, so let’s get back to the madness and find out!
Episode 12
Oh right, we opened on Hahari declaring her intent to presumably bone Rentaro, given she’s the only actual adult in the group. In spite of its premise, 100 Girlfriends is generally pretty chaste as far as harems go – it’s light on nudity and horny panning shots of the girls, and most of the sexual innuendo is just played for laughs. Keeping the implication of genuine sexual intimacy distant helps maintain its tone as more of a straight comedy, so I imagine Hahari’s provocations will be swiftly defused in some preposterous tone-reasserting manner
Yeah, we get a sequence that’s framed to look like the two of them having sex, but is presumably just Rentaro giving her a back massage or something
It’s an odd balance this sort of harem attempts to strike, where sexual longing is omnipresent, but the relationships remain fundamentally chaste and unfulfilled. Actual sex introduces an element of reality and consequence that these stories are intentionally avoiding; they’re fantasies of what having a relationship might be like, and thus they stick to the nascent adolescent dreams of holding hands and going on dates and maybe sneaking a kiss
This perpetual tension of unfulfillment is of course also a big part of their dramatic fuel – relationships unconsummated are relationships in flux, where each new flourish of intimacy is a grand and terrifying adventure. By breaking intimacy down into these fragments of alleged “progress,” the tension can be drawn out for much longer, and more “will they or won’t they” episodic conceits can be employed
For these reasons and more, I tend to make a mental partition between harem stories and romance stories. Characters in harems don’t act like characters actually falling in love, for clear dramatic structural reasons
I’d forgotten Kusuri and Shizuka’s adorable pajamas. Hahari knows her stuff
“No cutting in line, Mother!” Hakari has of course acclimated to this new reality with frightening efficiency
As it turns out, Hahari is just dressing up Rentaro in girls’ clothes
“Mother! I’m so glad I was born your daughter!” Don’t you think a little hesitation would be appropriate here, Hakari?
Rentaro swiftly passes out from embarrassment, and thus Hahari dresses Nano as the prince to wake him with a kiss, earning wild applause from the rest of the family. Seems like Hahari is swiftly establishing herself as the costume queen, while also supporting the general implication that this is a collectively loving polycule, not just a swathe of independent lines all leading only to Rentaro. The bonds between Rentaro’s girlfriends are quite likely this show’s greatest strength, the X-factor that makes it feel more like a horny, absurdist slice of life than a standard harem
Oh my god, all their drooling faces as Nano leans in for the kiss. Another key element of this show’s appeal: no one here is ashamed of embracing their sexuality. This is a judgment-free horny zone
Hakari and Hahari then immediately declare their intent to peep on Rentaro. You know, maybe a little judgment isn’t such a bad thing
“Kusuri never seen dong before!” KUSURI STOP IT, DON’T LISTEN TO THOSE TWO
It falls to Shizuka to attempt to preserve Rentaro’s dignity. Unfortunately, Shizuka is very small, and is thus effortlessly rolled into a blanket sushi roll
Terrific flailing smears as Kusuri is hung upside down from an upper window. Her loose pajamas naturally support these goofy distortions of form
And Shizuka remains trapped in her sushi roll. Nakamura seemed to figure out early on that “Shizuka is tiny and imperiled” is an extremely good dynamic, and has thus consistently inflicted situations like this on her, whether she’s floating away at the pool, hung from a hanger by her coat, or carried off by a sudden breeze
The genius animators behind this episode also understand that “Shizuka flailing in a blanket roll” is probably the strongest visual concept in human history, and thus rightfully dedicate plenty of time to observing her flap around trying to free herself, then ultimately resolve to simply roll herself down the hallway
While the cat terrifies our would-be snoops as they sneak through the attic for an aerial view, Shizuka confronts her next challenge: the grand staircase
Excellent gag as the girls all maintain the same lie in order to deny their snooping, but Karane can’t help but append the gag with an “it’s not like I was trying to snoop” tsundere protest-too-much. If you’re going to be hatching schemes like this, you need to keep a lid on the team tsundere!
The proliferation of jokes like that is also a significant element of 100 Girlfriends’ genius – taking these canned archetypal tropes out of their natural habitat, and seeing how they might be used and abused in various other capers. “Tsundere in a lie detector test” was another solid example
“Quit with the cliched romcom schtick, you two.” “No, if anything, the rest of us should be romcom-ing it up more.” Nano speaks wisdom
And again, them getting flustered at hands brushing against each other embodies the dance this show must perform, maintaining that tension of first romantic experience even as their romantic experiences pile up
Hahari excuses herself to light incense for her first love, and Rentaro joins her
Rentaro urges Hahari to share her burdens with him, and speak of the pain that prompted her to separate herself from others after her first lover’s death. Amazing that this show manages to balance “the importance of communicating honestly and engaging with your partner’s anxieties” with “even if that partner is your other girlfriend’s mother”
“Hakari’s dad and I… who says you can’t love two people at once!?” An assurance that carries a lot more weight coming from Rentaro, of all people. Clever in its stupidity, the 100 Girlfriends promise
“If my love for you ever stops feeling real, please tell me. In return, I promise to do the same for you.” In this way, 100 Girlfriends is actually more realistic to genuine, healthy romance than most romcoms. Canned misunderstandings are an easy way to provoke narrative drama, but they inherently imply a profound fragility in the relationships in question, a total lack of trust and open communication
Later that night, Hakari at last admits to her prior anxieties, sneaking over to sleep in Rentaro’s arms. Of course, by morning she and Karane end up “accidentally” making out on the next cot over. They’re such good friends
Rentaro is then visited by the ghost of Hakari’s father, who offers his blessing to Rentaro’s simultaneous romancing of his lover and daughter
We end on a suitably preposterous stinger, as Hahari’s love prompts her to buy and take charge of the whole damn school
And Done
My god. What a task, what a man, and what a delightful collection of insane girlfriends. In spite of featuring perhaps the most ridiculous premise of any romcom I’ve experienced, 100 Girlfriends managed to deliver a genuinely charming, heartfelt collection of episodes, digging deeper into the fundamentals of mutually enriching relationships than countless shows with far more grounded premises. Of course, all those moments of endearing intimacy were generously furnished with countless excellent gags, ranging from clever manipulations of genre convention to simple, hilarious bullshit like Kusuri’s potions and Shizuka floating away on the breeze. 100 Girlfriends understands that love should be fun, and through its god-given polyamorous mandate insists that the more love you share, the more love you receive. I’m looking forward to the continuing adventures of the ever-growing Rentaro Family!
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