Kao ni Denai Kashiwada-san to Kao ni Deru Oota-kun (Inexpressive Kashiwada and Expressive Oota) – 05
I would make your protestations if you said my love for this series is based on subjective fit. But I do love it – it makes me laugh and makes me smile with impressive regularity. Am I a sucker for a good middle school romcom? Guilty as charged. But there’s a reason for that. They’re the perfect template for this sort of tonal portrait. Sometimes HS romances try it and it never works, because it isn’t authentic. Junior high schoolers are on the precipice like no one else.
Oota-kun is obviously a perfect example. He’s as tall as many adult men, and as childish – sometimes – as a grade schooler. Sometimes he’s six, sometimes he’s a lovestruck teenager. But the focus at the start here is on another interesting kid, Sata (not Sada)-kun. He’s the “kao ni denai” half of Oota’s wingman group (Tadokoro is the deru half). As I’ve said before Ssta has a lot in common with Kashiwada, though this series is obviously going the “opposites attract” route. Sata is an observer in life, in every sense. He doesn’t understand romance (he’s young enough for that to change, but that might just be who he is), but that makes it that much more of a puzzle to try and solve.
Kashiwada-san and Oota-kun certainly give Sata plenty to observe. The interlude with Kashiwada’s bangs (she’s avoiding Oota because of an imperceptible difference from the usual) is quite the spectacle. It’s absolutely bonkers to let any middle school boy trim your hair, never mind Oota-kun. But she’s in love and says yes, and this ends predictably – though to be clear, Oota did legitimately try his best. Next up is the class Xmas party. Kashiwada is transparently in love – she flat-out asks Oota to attend. And it should be noted that in spite of dissing it, he meekly agrees.
Would a 14 year-old not know about gift exchanges? Maybe – it seems both leads were taken by surprise at the random element. Fortunately it’s the Surströmming (an incredibly stinky fermented fish) that Oota’s big sister bought that saves the day. It also leaves Oniwarada-sensei trapped in a box in an empty room after the reek clears it. Oniwarada is kind of a doof but I feel for him – middle school teachers desperate to be seen as cool are definitely a thing. Kashiwada’s present – a scarf – is as earnest and sincere as Oota’s was juvenile and overcompensatory. All he can do in the moment is reciprocate with his own gloves, which despite being about 5 cm too long in the fingers make her happy (if you can tell).
Finally the hatsumode chapter, a staple of any middle school (and beyond) romcom. This is where Onee-san – who’s already intercepted Kashiwada’s New Year’s card – really asserts herself. I have two older sisters so I feel Oota-kun’s pain here. She’s a natural born troll, and obsessiveness with a mystery girl clearly runs in the family genes even if it expresses itself slightly differently with Onee-san. If Oota didn’t already have his hands full trying to navigate this massive life hurdle, she’s clearly going to complicate matters immensely.
Toujima Tanzaburou wa Kamen Rider ni Naritai (Tojima Wants to Be a Kamen Rider) – 05
It’s possible that this is the last episode of Toujima Tanzaburou wa Kamen Rider ni Naritai that I cover, but that’s not a reflection of me souring on it really. I’ll certainly keep watching, for now at least, and I’m absolutely still enjoying it. But it’s a matter of the schedule – six series on (my) Sunday is absolutely insane and unsustainable. I could push it out to later in the week I suppose, but that’s not a favorite practice for me. It’s on the ballot for this season but not going to win it, and I absolutely like Kashiwada-Oota enough to blog that one on its own.
In some ways, Tojima Wants to be a Kamen Rider is the flipside of that show fit-wise. I’m not in the target zone here really. I’m not a tokusatsu fan and the plot shift wouldn’t have been my preferred direction. An in-depth exploration of these folks’ dysfunction would have been much more my speed. I mean, Ichiyou breaks his brother’s arm to make him look more like Riderman? These guys are nuts, all of them – it ain’t healthy. The only way they’re not profoundly dysfunctional is if stuff like Shocker and kaijuu actually exist. Which, conveniently, it turns out they do.
That said, watching them put through their wacky paces is undeniably fun. The whole thing with Yukaris and Mitsuba is highly silly. Ichiyou demands that he marry her because that’s what it means to be a couple, right (and Toujima is just as clueless)? The shocker boss turns out to be a legit kaijuu indeed – “Spiderman” Yukaris calls him without a hint of self-awareness. But he seems more curious about these goobers than anything else. He’d kill them and not sweat it, but he also finds them intriguing. As for Yukaris he tries to mind-control her to kill Mitsuba, but (after another mid-battle flashback arc) he proposes to her (let’s just forget that she’s a high-schooler) and breaks Spidey’s control.
Again, all this is good fun and on a different day, I might keep at it. Hell, if it levels up I might anyway. Either way I’m enjoying Toujima Tanzaburou and for what it is it’s a very spirited and stylish production.
The post Weekly Digest 11/02/25 – Kao ni Denai Kashiwada-san to Kao ni Deru Oota-kun (Inexpressive Kashiwada and Expressive Oota), Toujima Tanzaburou wa Kamen Rider ni Naritai (Tojima Wants to Be a Kamen Rider) appeared first on Lost in Anime.
