Hooray, somebody else understands how awesome Chiba is! This show has a lot of characters, all of whom are quite strong and well-developed, but Chiba stands out as my favorite. She’s just so refreshingly selfish and honest. There’s none of this do I / don’t I and no effort to put up with anything that bothers her. Characters in anime (and Japanese culture in general, from my impression) seem to always be concerned with appearances and politeness. As a rude, obnoxious American I do not share these values and love the way Chiba tells it like it is.
I’m also enjoying Ana’s character from this episode. Her relationship with Nittori is so cute. I wish there were more shows with middle schoolers who entered actual relationships and acted like… middle schoolers. Oh, and bonus points for the glasses.
But she loses points for talking in the bathroom. Talking at a urinal is bad enough, but from inside a stall…?
This show is moving really quickly, which is both a strength and a weakness – there’s no risk of getting bored, and they’ll be able to fit more into the short timeslot, but some parts need less time spent on them than they deserve. There were a few things I seemed to have missed / forgotten at the start of the episode – I hadn’t realized that a new school year had begun, and didn’t remember why she was skipping school again. But the creators have been doing a great job at fitting as much in as possible – the show flows really smoothly in spite of how much they’re stuffing into every single episode.
Chiba once again had the awkward quote of the episode award. And Nittori’s awkwardness-breaking attempt was hilarious.
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