Ano Natsu de Matteru 04 - Alphabet Love Comedy


So what's the best way to respond to a confession? Run away of course. Cue the ensuing awkwardness that usually follows when the answer to said confession is stuck in Limbo. That just adds another staple for romantic comedies to the list. The thing about this show is that it really doesn't add anything innovative to the genre. The execution of the various genre cliches are neither poorly nor extremely well executed, but it's definitely watchable, especially if you're just a sucker for these kinds of shows.


Last week, I said that misunderstandings are the bread and butter of the genre. If you call last week bread, this week is definitely butter. It follows the typical route of: girl sees guy with another girl, misunderstanding initiated -> girl follows guy, misunderstanding even further -> confrontation, not doing this because she likes him or anything -> misunderstanding cleared. I guess it's to be expected for them to use such a well-worn tool in a genre already over-saturated with unoriginality.


To sum it up, it turns out to be Tetsurou's sister who dragged Kaito to be her bag carrier as she vented her husband's misguided attempts to stop her from watching the horror that is j-drama. And by dragged I mean "it can't be helped." Now that the misunderstanding is all cleared up, will we finally get the answer? According to Dante's Inferno, that reply will remain in Limbo for all eternity, or at least until episode 12. Ichika definitely likes Kaito, but is well aware that her stay in the town is temporary, thus complicating her answer.


It's probably easy to get that things won't end well for Kanna. She's doomed to be another childhood friend that doesn't get with the protagonist. As with most characters of the archetype, she's cute, nice, and doesn't have any really outstanding traits. I'm sure she's well aware that Ichika is her love rival, yet Kanna pushes for Kaito to make up with her. I can't help but feel sorry for the poor girl. Something that I really enjoy, though, are the little interactions between Kanna and Tetsurou.


Now that school is finally over, the bunch can get on with their movie-making. Judging from the narration, we'll have a relatively mellow couple of episodes followed up by a more drama-filled finale. I can already see Remon trolling around with her directing, and Kaito the cameraman's lens lingering a but too long on our resident alien. Looks like we'll get more into the meat of things next week.

-Bern