I have enormous affection for Kao ni Denai Kashiwada-san to Kao ni Deru Oota-kun. But it’s certainly not perfect. One really annoying character – Tabuchi in this case – sadly seems to be the norm for this sort of series. And usually her trope, too. But adding a second to the mix definitely lowers the bar in a pretty big way. Messing with the chemistry in a comedy – where chemistry is everything – is obviously a problem. Hopefully now that the introduction has happened the new character will fade into the background (though that’s only partially the case with Tabuchi-san).
At least Odajima-san has a role in the Oota-Kashiwada dynamic. And her hook is mildly amusing, I suppose. I don’t know if she’s a transfer student or just a girl from another class – she wears a different color uniform than everybody else for some reason. She joins 3-3 (yes, it is a new school year) – only Tabuchi is left out – and immediately gloms on to Oota-kun. Initially one might assume – as Kashiwada-san does – that she’s sort of a female avatar of Akito, annoying the one she likes because that’s the childish way to approach things. But she seems to have no real interest in Akito from a romantic standpoint – she just likes pissing him off.
The quirk here is that Odajima can read Kashiwada’s face perfectly, but misinterprets everything on Oota’s (mildly amusing, as I said). Tabuchi is immediately mad with jealousy about the former, and begs Odajima to teach her the Jedi mind tricks involved. Odajima is instantly aware that Kashiwada is into Oota – or at least is thrumming with excitement every time he’s around – but seems to have no idea that he stammers and blushes because he feels the same way. Which is a bit of a stretch honestly, but this is a romcom after all.
The middle section is a tennis P.E. class, with Tabuchi and Akito dominating everyone else and gunning for each other. Eventually they wind up paired off in doubles, he with Kashiwada and she with Odajima (natch). Both of them are as utterly clueless as their partners are skilled, so naturally the alphas tell them to just stay out of the way. Which I must say matches my own experience as a middle-schooler good at racket sports when paired with a hopeless partner. But Kashiwada is desperate to get something out of this experience of being paired with her beloved, which unsurprisingly turns out rather painfully for him.
The payoff here is when Tabuchi demands to know what Kashiwada is thinking when, clearly, she’s thinking “I love Akito”. Odajima-san at least has the decorum to ask if she should really say, and since she seemingly is fluent in Kashiwada-go presumably gets her approval to do so. And then is utterly puzzled by Akito’s reaction which, again, is a bit preposterous but whatever. Now at least Akito has no plausible deniability where Kashiwada is concerned – he knows she’s into him and she made no effort to deny it. I guess that puts the ball in his court, to use an analogy suited to the theme of this episode.
The post Kao ni Denai Kashiwada-san to Kao ni Deru Oota-kun (Inexpressive Kashiwada and Expressive Oota) – 09 appeared first on Lost in Anime.
