At least in Takagi-san, the girl is aware of her own feelings.
— It’s Golden Week, so the Asai family are going on vacation. As a result, Shinichi is also on vacation, i.e. playing games all day. Hey, don’t judge. I just had three weeks off, and all I did was play games and read (I’m halfway through Station Eleven). Sometimes, you just wanna unwind. Plus, it’s kinda not safe to go outside these days.
— Near the end of the vacation, Hana drops by to hang out. More specifically, she invites him to go outside and play totally-not–Pokemon-Go with her. Is that game still popular? I remember when it was all the rage, and my coworkers went on breaks just to catch pokemons. I’ve never even downloaded it. It didn’t seem like my kind of thing, and honestly, I haven’t touched a Pokemon game since Red/Blue.
— These are some ugly fucking animals.
— Apparently, Shinichi’s eyes are hurting thanks to playing games all day, everyday. Strange, I don’t seem to run into that problem. Nevertheless, Hana drags him to shop for some glasses. They inexplicably run into Ami, and… well, these glasses-buying scenes always play out the same way no matter what show you’re watching. After trying one serious pair of glasses, the “victim” has to wear some goofy ones, and so their friends start laughing at them. It doesn’t seem all that funny to me, but I guess you just have to be there.
— I always wondered why the otaku nerd glasses look the way that they do. Apparently, they’re meant to resemble the bottom of glass bottles? Welp, the more you know.
— In the end, Hana tries on a pair herself. They look cute enough on her, but after being made fun of all day, Shinichi just isn’t in the mood. As a result, they start to bicker in the middle of the store. Ah, that poor employee.
— Next up, we have Shinichi being smushed against Hana on the train. Blah blah blah, boobs are soooooo soft. Again, it’s one of those anime tropes that I can’t really relate to. I mean, has he never hugged a girl before? You can’t really feel much over clothes, but whatever. The guy looks like he’s about to bust a nut over just… clothes-on-clothes touching. Kinda sad, really. This is why they say you should masturbate before going out on a date. He tries to calm himself down by oddly picturing a classic Windows wallpaper. There are so many better examples! C’mon, man, get it together!
— Meanwhile, Hana is busy admiring his eyelashes of all things.
— Eventually, Shinichi is on the verge of failing, so he just shuts down completely. Well, I guess that’s one way to do it.
— Since the guy ended up having to ditch Hana on their day out, he decides to make it up to her… at Ami’s behest. When Hana learns the last part, her mood drops considerably. I don’t think “just friends” would be this bummed out.
— So like usual, they do all the couple-y things. She drops by his apartment with bags of groceries, takes a steamy shower, cooks with him, plays games with him, and even wears his clothes. That last one is girlfriend privilege, man. I know they haven’t done anything overtly romantic, but c’mon, you know how it goes in romcom manga. In Tonikaku Kawaii, the couple is married, and they still haven’t gotten past first base… I believe. I dunno, I haven’t read the manga in a while, so who knows? Maybe they got caught trying to steal second base or whatever. The point is that anime couples pretty much just hang out even though they’re both legal adults, and it’s kinda silly.
— Speaking of borrowing your boyfriend’s clothes, do Japanese girlfriends steal their boyfriends’ hoodies as well? Or is that a Western phenomenon?
— While dinner is cooking (of course, it’s curry), the two of them proceed to play totally-not–Minecraft. Like with Pokemon Go, I’m one of the few people on this planet who has literally never tried Minecraft. It has never interested me. Why? ‘Cause I’m shallow. I take one look at the graphics and I’m immediately turned off. Shrug.
— Boy, someone’s a food scientist. Maybe that’s the career she should pick for herself. By the way, these two are both college students, and yet I have no clue what they’re studying. It’s strange, isn’t it? When I was in college, you often learned people’s majors before their names.
— In the end, Shinichi’s attitude towards Hana has considerably soften even though it has only been four episodes. As a result, he invites her to come over anytime to finish their totally-not–Minecraft project. Hana’s heart is probably pounding here, but they’re totally, like, not dating, you guys. Don’t even be silly.
— Anyways, I see that Fugou Keiji Balance – UNLIMITED is back. I still haven’t even watched the latest Appare-Ranman! episodes, though. Every time I get to Sunday, I just feel like relaxing under the covers and doing nothing. Then it gets to Tuesday, and I’m busy with work. So yeah, I dunno. I want to squeeze these shows in somewhere, but I guess I’m just lazy this summer. I wanna say these shows aren’t good enough to motivate me, but that sounds like a cop-out. Still, I wish something really compelling would come along for once.