TIME FOR BACKSTORY. Also, ow. My sides. Poor Fumino.

Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai
Studio(s): Silver, Arvo Animation
Genre(s): Harem, Comedy, Romance, School, Shounen

Yeah, I can’t help it anymore, man. This show’s just funny. It’s not even that the jokes, themselves, are all that amazing. But the presentation is just delightful on them. The expressions, the cuts, it’s just really enjoyable. That said, there’s more to this than just the six pack the episode gave me. Actually, before we even got to that, we got a surprising bit of character building with Kirisu. Setting aside the problematic nature of the whole student-teacher thing they seem to be aiming to set up for, the bit we get out of her is nice, but… also a bit on the puzzling side.

She talks about her past and how she used to be a figure skater, but… the way she describes it, the reason for her own falling out of it had less to do with a lack of talent and more to do with the career path, itself, being unsustainable. Which has absolutely nothing to do with any of the girls. She had all those trophies so she was clearly good at it and pursued it to the end. Thus it doesn’t really excuse, or even explain her attitude towards them. I like what they were trying to do – set up further that she’s actually not some absolute ice queen and does genuinely care for her students. But it took a really odd path.

Everything before and after that was great, though. And here’s the kicker. Uruka and Rizu were barely in the episode. Rizu showed up more prominently towards the beginning, which was a genuinely funny skit revolving around her glasses and led to an amusing conclusion. But the stuff with Fumino later was both funny and sweet in that we get to see the genuineness of the bond between her and Nariyuki, all while she’s desperately trying to prove that there is absolutely nothing going on between them as to not interfere with Uruka or Rizu, after having figured out their feelings in the last episode.

And the “complication” that gets thrown in is hilarious, though I wish they’d been able to take the bit a little further. That said, Fumino isn’t exactly being the most honest with herself at the moment. At this point, it seems all she’ll need to fall fully into the harem is a slight nudge. And I’m looking forward to seeing how that’ll happen… though, apparently, the next outing will be yet another hotspring/bathhouse episode. But this one was excellently Super Effective. Deeply enjoyed it.

What about you guys? Who’re you pulling for? Let me know, down below. Still Uruka, all the way. But the Fumino route is turning into something sweet and cute. As always, thanks for reading, folks. Keep up the Awesome!

Take Care,
Voyager