Go For It, Nakamura-kun!! ‒ Episode 7

After such a slow-paced, dramatic episode last week, it makes sense that this week would be much faster and more comedic. If anything, I think this episode fully confirms that I think this show is at its comedic best when it actually doesn't focus exclusively on Nakamura. The humor around Nakamura is fine, but there are two problems with it. The first is that the idea of a nervous but angry guy reacting to everything can get boring very quickly, and I think the show has already run that joke into the ground. The second issue is that, as Nakamura becomes friends with Hirose, that kind of jealous humor makes Nakamura seem even less likable. What starts as nervous delusions can turn into a creepy possessiveness that I would rather the series avoid, especially after the two just had a really sweet affirmation of their friendship.

I actually really like Nakamura's character in this because he's almost the straight man compared to the rest of his classmates. Everybody is their own brand of crazy, and Nakamura is comfortable enough to go off on his own. This whole episode started with him getting kidnapped after trying to go to the bookstore, after he found out that he couldn't spend time with Hirose. I kind of like that, especially since it allowed me to see Reiko again. Once again, I love her character, and I love her vocal performance, especially in the dub. It's a shame she's not more prominent throughout the episode, but considering how big the extended cast is, that makes sense.

I wish the episode had gone a bit further with its humor. Most of the jokes were fairly predictable right up until the final punch line. I know the show is almost acting like a throwback to older romantic comedies, but sometimes it really feels like it was written a couple of decades ago, since I was able to call almost every major joke. I could tell him immediately that the entity that all the characters were running into was the teacher, and I knew the final punchline was gonna be that Nakamura ended up attracting a real ghost that nobody was gonna do anything about. I feel like the foundation is there to play around with everybody's character dynamics and idiosyncrasies, but the show needs to be a bit more creative than that to stand out. Overall, this was a fun episode that I think could lay the groundwork for other comedic-focused episodes to be even better, which has me excited.

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