(CR) Fuufu Ijou, Koibito Miman (More than a married couple, but not lovers.)

[Frontier]

Things are going pretty well between Jiro and Akari! They're being fairly pleasant and open with each other, the mood is good, and they seem to have entered into a solid state of domestic bliss...yet why isn't she calling him Jiro !?

"When your girlfriend suddenly starts calling you by your last name" - Dude, Jiro, when you're googling stuff like that it's almost like you're admitting the truth .

I continue to want to know more about Sadaharu's relationship with his "wife." Although there are some men who can get away with asking a girl if she's on her period and rubbing her stomach...Sadaharu is not one of them .

Wow, Mei actually got confessed to by another girl! Although I think it's less an issue with sexual orientation so much as Mei has her heart set on another girl...but she actually handled rejecting her like a pro. The guys could learn a thing or two .

Ah! So Akari was using Jiro's last name to try to make him call her by her first name! That's surprisingly cute, and it gets even cuter when Jiro basically overwhelms her with her first name and has fun with it .

Mei keeps spitting facts. Jiro and Akari being eight place means things are going well for them? Yes. Have they kissed already? Yes. Have they gone all the way? Well, they've definitely gotten close to it. Shiori really needs to be making a move even if Mei is basically carrying her ship as a wingwoman even if she doesn't get the appeal of Jiro...although it probably helps that she's a little jealous of him .

Shiori is a really anxious and awkward girl, especially around guys and the one guy she actually likes: Jiro. At least she actually asked him to practice kissing with her, even if she still couldn't seal the deal, although events end up working out in her favor anyways. The irony that one of Akari's gal pals ended up leading to a kiss between Jiro and Akari's love rival .

So Minami works at Japanese Starbucks? Does Akari know he works there? That was nice of him to write a message to make her feel better though (after she was reeling from the implication that Jiro and Shiori had climbed the stairway to adulthood). Also, was that Katsuyuki Konishi as his co-worker ?

Whiskey chocolate, huh? Maybe it's for the best Jiro had some for himself and just fell asleep, because just imagine what these two would be like together if they were drunk. Even sober Akari strips down to her underwear (nice!) and cuddles up to Jiro on the couch to cling to him and her feelings for him because she wants him for herself, even knowing his feelings for Shiori .

I like how Akari just casually acknowledges she was in her underwear when they wake up and doesn't make a big fuss over it or Jiro seeing her that way. I mean, she was the one who undressed and got close with him like that! She has nothing to be ashamed or awkward about .

Akari makes Jiro think that he forced himself on her last night, which isn't something you should really joke about, but it helps Akari suss out that Jiro and Shiori didn't have sex. Which is good, yet Akari still thinks that Jiro would rather do it with Shiori than her, even though Jiro's internal thoughts seem to imply he wouldn't mind it if he actually did it with Akari...he just thinks he'd be bad in bed. These two kids, I swear .

Shiori really has Jiro on the brain, huh ?

[Lex79]

Well, at least Shiori us making a move, and now both girls are on the same standing regarding kisses.
While we saw a couple of episodes ago that Akari has still crush on Minami, currently the story plays almost completely as a love triangle, with with Minami mostly used as a reason for Jirou to misunderstand Akari's behavior.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by Lex79

Well, at least Shiori us making a move, and now both girls are on the same standing regarding kisses.
While we saw a couple of episodes ago that Akari has still crush on Minami, currently the story plays almost completely as a love triangle, with with Minami mostly used as a reason for Jirou to misunderstand Akari's behavior.

At this point it seems like Akari cares way more about Jiro leaving her for Shiori than getting together with Minami.

[Lex79]

The fact that she lives together with Jirou while she barely interact with Tenjin certainly plays a significant role. At this point, she's probably not so happy with the idea of exchanging couples.

[FlareKnight]

I kind of find it amusing that Tenjin might still end up by himself when all is said and done. He's barely around and even his role as a source of conflict for Akari's feelings seems rather distant. Seems more likely that Shiori will end up with Mei than Tenjin if things don't work out with her and Jiro.

Kind of amusing in a way that the girls confessing to Mei aren't wrong about where her interests are. But they just can't beat out the crush she appears to have on Shiori. Unfortunately she's still on the phase of "helping the person I like get together with someone else."

I do think that Shiori and Jiro mesh pretty well in terms of being pretty similar people. I suppose that's where the contrast has always been. Those two are extremely similar while Jiro and Akari bring a great deal of contrasts. Both have their positives and both possibilities can work. But only one can be the end result.

[frubam]

I can't believe the author did absolutely nothing in regards to Akari being down at the coffee shop. It was the perfect opportunity for Tenjin to actually DO something, but he does a completely passive move that he didn't even think of(it was the other guy who noticed and suggested giving her a bit extra free to lift her mood). With only 12 episodes(I presume), I no longer see anything this guy can do to put a wedge in the relationships of Jirou, Shiri, and Akari that wouldn't feel like complete bu******. And we do see that he's attentive to Shiori; he got Shiori's [I'm guessing] favorite snack combo, but the author does absolutely nothing to make him relevant in the story. Maybe there's a payoff down the line; but as of right now, I just don't see it.

[Alchemist007]

Originally Posted by Lex79

Well, at least Shiori us making a move, and now both girls are on the same standing regarding kisses.

She tried to back out of it too, it only happened because he leapt when someone came in. Tbh it's just another episode of no progress to me.

Unfortunately this is playing along the lines exactly as one could've expected, almost entirely titillation and scant amounts of melodrama. I might've been hoping for more drama or at least wackiness à la Gamers! (which wasn't a good show but it was entertaining). I can already predict what my score will be by the end of this.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by frubam

I can't believe the author did absolutely nothing in regards to Akari being down at the coffee shop. It was the perfect opportunity for Tenjin to actually DO something, but he does a completely passive move that he didn't even think of(it was the other guy who noticed and suggested giving her a bit extra free to lift her mood). With only 12 episodes(I presume), I no longer see anything this guy can do to put a wedge in the relationships of Jirou, Shiri, and Akari that wouldn't feel like complete bu******. And we do see that he's attentive to Shiori; he got Shiori's [I'm guessing] favorite snack combo, but the author does absolutely nothing to make him relevant in the story. Maybe there's a payoff down the line; but as of right now, I just don't see it.

I think the entire point of the coffee shop scene was to show that Akari is thinking way more about Jiro than she is Minami to the point where she doesn't even notice/care that she's at the same coffee shop as him or he did something nice for her.

Originally Posted by Alchemist007

She tried to back out of it too, it only happened because he leapt when someone came in. Tbh it's just another episode of no progress to me.

Unfortunately this is playing along the lines exactly as one could've expected, almost entirely titillation and scant amounts of melodrama. I might've been hoping for more drama or at least wackiness à la Gamers! (which wasn't a good show but it was entertaining). I can already predict what my score will be by the end of this.

I think the point is that there is progress between Akari, Jiro, and their feelings episode by episode and the issue with Shiori is kind of driving Akari in this episode. Shiori is hesitant and only really makes progress accidentally but Akari is getting more and more aggressive because of her feelings deepening.

[frubam]

Originally Posted by Frontier

I think the entire point of the coffee shop scene was to show that Akari is thinking way more about Jiro than she is Minami to the point where she doesn't even notice/care that she's at the same coffee shop as him or he did something nice for her.

That sounds logical, and makes the scene make more sense to me, but its still rather disappointing. Although you could say its my own fault for having preconceptions about the characters, and said chars not living up to my expectations. I guess from hereforth then, I'll just disregard him as a romantic element, and save further complaints when(if) he comes out of nowhere to throw a wrench in the love triangle.

[Alchemist007]

Originally Posted by Frontier

I think the point is that there is progress between Akari, Jiro, and their feelings episode by episode and the issue with Shiori is kind of driving Akari in this episode. Shiori is hesitant and only really makes progress accidentally but Akari is getting more and more aggressive because of her feelings deepening.

I might be more convinced if she wasn't climbing over him every episode.

It's been:

1) Climb all over him while thinking about other guy.

2) Climb all over him with confused feelings.

3) Climb all over him and thinking about him a little more.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by frubam

That sounds logical, and makes the scene make more sense to me, but its still rather disappointing. Although you could say its my own fault for having preconceptions about the characters, and said chars not living up to my expectations. I guess from hereforth then, I'll just disregard him as a romantic element, and save further complaints when(if) he comes out of nowhere to throw a wrench in the love triangle.

To be honest I had my doubts Minami was really a main character when you see how little he is in the Opening. It's mostly Jiro, Akari, and Shiori.

Originally Posted by Alchemist007

I might be more convinced if she wasn't climbing over him every episode.

It's been:

1) Climb all over him while thinking about other guy.

2) Climb all over him with confused feelings.

3) Climb all over him and thinking about him a little more.

Even then you can see that her feelings for him are growing as they get as close as they physically can to having sex on that couch without actually having sex on that couch .

[Alchemist007]

It's a snails pace with borderline smut in my face, very oxymoronic.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by Alchemist007

It's a snails pace with borderline smut in my face, very oxymoronic.

I think it's developing things naturally and gradually between two horny teenagers .

[Frontier]

Akari's gal pals are pretty nice and helpful, but it's kind of funny how Sachi just can't seem to help bringing Jiro and Shiori close together. Although I guess this also confirmed to Sachi and Natsumi that Shiori has feelings for Jiro .

Sachi and Natsumi do seem to genuinely want what's best for Akari, and they realize she has feelings for Jiro and don't seem averse to her choice being him, but I guess they have a valid reason for telling her that her current feelings might just be stemming to some extent from the mood them being a married couple. They just want her to know that she should make the right choice for herself and that she has options .

Nothing says development in a romance quite like a fireworks festival .

I actually wonder how common it is for couples where the guy helps the girl with her yukata, rather than it just being something she springs on him as a nice surprise. It did make them feel even more like a couple .

Akari looked amazing in her yukata and with her hair done up! The blue and the pattern just looked amazing! Natsumi looked really cute in hers too. Sachi didn't wear one (but that had payoff later), but she looked great in her casual clothes! Akari and her gal pals really are gorgeous !

Terafune, dude, we have enough people in this love square without you needing to make your move on Akari. Good thing Sachi shut that down almost immediately .

Akari's feelings are wavering between Jiro and Minami as far as who she really wants, torn between her past love and her current love, and she knows that something needs to change even if she's really comfortable with how things are now (especially with Jiro) to the point that she's happy Minami didn't show up. But she's still really self-conscious and is putting herself down believing she's not the 1st choice of either of the guys she's interested in .

And of course Minami and Shiori just happen to walk through the festival just to get to wherever they were going and not anything particularly special...but it did basically drive Akari into Jiro's arms, so I guess it served it's purpose .

Look at Jiro feeling jealous about Minami and confident of all the stuff he did with Akari before Minami did! And then when he hears Akari crying he immediately ran to find her, be with her, and comfort her. That's when you know you have a winner, Akari !

So of course the real romantic fireworks viewing is Jiro and Akari on their veranda...and double points for some intimate obi tying and Jiro serenading Akari with her name while embracing her, with the fireworks brightly shining down below them. Hopefully seeing the fireworks together like this will become more common than Jiro is willing to hope for !

Sachi did have a yukata! Except it was kind of indecent and just made her look like a courtesan! But she looked amazing! And even Shiori had a yukata, and she looked really cute in it as well .

[Alchemist007]

First decent ep imo, got to see the wingwomen who are probably the best characters/friends. Even something from the couples parts other than the usual.

[Frontier]

With Summer coming around, it might be a pivotal moment for our cast, as they all need to decide who they love and whether they're going to act on said love. Even Jiro's at a point in his game where the plot is literally asking him to choose between two girls. Choose Lancia Jiro, she believes in you !

Okay, so Akari is perfectly okay with running in on Jiro naked in the bath. Kind of emasculating because she doesn't think he has much going on body-wise, but at least she didn't beat him up over it and it shows how comfortable she is with him .

I guess we have Mr. Squiggly Spider to thank for freaking Akari out and making her cling to Jiro even more, pressing her boobs against his arms for practically half the episode. I was almost half-wondering if Akari made the spider up as an excuse to flirt with Jiro. She even had him go to the bathroom with her (complete with a scene of her taking her panties off)! And then Jiro had his hands pressed against her thighs...this was a very good night for Jiro-kun (and the audience) .

Who needs bug spray when you've got a man you love relying on? Especially when the topic of you dating coming up he actually considers it for a second, and despite Akari's poker face I think she was more serious about it than she'd let on. Particularly so when you see their parallel rooms and Akari looking like she wants nothing more than that wall between them to disappear so they could be together .

That was probably the first real, frank, conversation we've had between Shiori and Minami. She's basically told him all about her romance troubles with Jiro, albeit for a "friend," but Minami can tell the obvious. It also seems like Minami may have liked Shiori but realized only after they got "married" that she liked Jiro? Or was it another girl? Either way, he understands how much it hurts to miss your chance, so he advises Shiori to just go for it .

Mei really is a smooth operator. Shopping for clothes she'd think Shiori would look good in and wanting clothes Shiori would like looking at. She even made Shiori blush !

Terafune is Mei's "husband?" And he seems to know about her feelings for Shiori, even playing wingman for her so she and Shiori can spend the night together. That was surprisingly cool of him !

Well, it's a shame Mei couldn't sleepover, but getting reminded of the guy the girl you love is after with his pictures plastered around her room would probably be pretty upsetting any more than just thinking about it .

So Minami has some kind of issue with his older brother and the family expectations they're both living under, and he's trying to save enough money to move out, but we also find out that his co-worker is none other than Sadaharu's big brother...which actually explains a lot. Also we've got Terafune who hates how good Jiro and Akari are doing as a couple .

The way they keep alluding to Sadaharu's wife, I feel like we're going to meet her at some point...

Sadaharu is so tired of Jiro's lucky love life when he still can't get laid that he's willing to kiss Jiro just to ruin him. With friends like these, who needs enemies ?

Just when you think they're going to use a misunderstanding over the Jiro/Sadaharu moment to keep Shiori distant from Jiro...both of them realize they're mutually misunderstanding each other and actually get a nice moment together. Complete with Shiro practically begging for a second kiss. I think Jiro is slowly starting to wonder if she actually friendzoned him .

Ah, I see Sadaharu dreams of Jiro's love interests being his love interests...but he's also totally cool with them making out with each other too. True man of culture .

[Decel]

In today's episode of The Compounding Effect of Serial Misunderstandings, they finally integrated other couples' interactions.

[EroKing]

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by EroKing

Lovely ladies in nightdresses .

(These scans also just made me realize we really don't see Akari and Shiori interact that much...)

[Frontier]

Thank you Sadaharu and Sadaharu's older brother for facilitating the classic beach episode plot! No better way to start off the casts' Summer in my book !

Sadaharu imagining Akari naked on the couch and Jiro standing up for his wifes' honor! Both sexy and wholesome! One of the major reasons I love this show .

It's like Akari knew the audience was waiting to see her in a swimsuit so she just immediately comes in with one of the most sexiest bikini's ever, all for Jiro to look at. Like she's barely covering anything up and she's got her fine body and massive boobs hanging out for Jiro's exclusive view, and he can barely take his eyes off her...especially the cleavage. And Akari doesn't really seem to mind at all !

Jiro worried about there not being guys around to help ward off the typical pick up artists at beach episodes for Akari and friends, all the while Akari just wanted opinions on her sexy bikini so she could have that in reserve for their own private beach date together! Akari always delivering the critical hits !

Akari would probably miss Jiro a heckuva lot over the Summer, and is a little upset at him getting to spend more time with Shiori, so at the very least she's going to straddle him in her bikini and nuzzle into him so she can get as much of his scent and body memorized before they part. And she wants him to remember her too, and I think Jiro will definitely remember having his hand on her thighs .

But of course, this is a romcom, so everybody ends up going to the same part-time job at the beach together (which means more of Mei and Akari's gal pals!) Even Terafune is there, and still nobody cares about him and his one-sided crush on Akari. Although it seems like Terafune might reveal to Akari's friends why there isn't really a chance of Minami returning Akari's feelings? Because he knows what Minami's dealing with ?

Not only just swimsuits but cute waitress outfits! All the perks of a Summer job episode !

You really have to admire Mei's fortitude to still support Shiori in her love for Jiro even when Mei wants Shiori all to herself. Although funnily enough it seems like she and Sadaharu had similar lucky items .

Dang, I didn't know applying cream to desert could sound so lewd until Shiori started talking about it and pushed her boobs into Jiro. And then she gets cream on her face. And then her expression when Jiro started wiping it off her face. Like, wow .

Hey, Akari's gal pals for once put the stop to some Shiori progression! It really looked like she might confess too, or at least ask for another kiss .

Time for the beach! And we've got all three of Akari's friends in swimsuits (Akari rocks that more tasteful dressy one-piece too) and even Shiori and Mei! They all look really cute !

Jumping from the beach to a Love Hotel? I can't wait to see where they go from here .

If you didn't have enough of Akari's swimsuits in this episode, here's a Akari swimsuit fashion show! Complete with images of her stripping and practically wearing nothing at all !