This episode was hilarious, even more so than the first one. When they started out with the a date followed by Nao stalking them I was a bit worried since this setup is used so often and is usually quite boring. However, the levels of sheer ridiculousness they took it too made it quite funny. They had what, 3 groups of people stalking their date? And then we had Nao stalking her stalkers, and Iroha stalking Nao afterwards with her telescope.
The best part of the episode though was Nao’s reaction afterwards. She and Iroha totally have Shuusuke under their thumb. For me this is what sets this show apart from so many other harem shows – the female characters actually have some spunk. In other shows they just tend to be satisfied with being one more member of the harem. They tend to even get along with their rivals and there is hardly any conflict – usually they don’t even view the other characters as rivals. It’s generally not even clear whether they’re after the main character, and even if they are, they usually don’t do anything to get him. The thing with this show which I like is there’s no do I / don’t I angsting; instead it’s about how they’re going to get him (and in a way which satisfies their own brother fetish). This leads to much better comedy than dramatic tension which isn’t really tension at all since you know who he’s going to end up with (generally no one by the time the show ends).
Shuusuke’s reinitiation into the AGE was great as well. The funniest scene of the episode however has to go to Nao and Iroha’s meeting in the hallway at school and their classmates’ reactions. It isn’t only Shuusuke who’s terrified of them.
