It’s time to start really building that harem.

What They Say:
No episode information provided.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
This series has been a love triangle show so far, with the only real characters being the male lead and two girls with feelings for him, although how much each character will own up to those feelings either to others or to themselves has been pretty limited, with the events at hand chipping away at some of those fronts as time goes on. The dynamic of this main trio hasn’t changed all that much since the beginning, but after using it for one main story in the first part of the series, it appears that simply sticking with this love triangle isn’t going to be enough; Eita needs to get a little closer to having a traditional harem. Although this episode doesn’t involve the new girl teased last time nearly as much as it seemed like it would, by the end of it we’re shown pretty clearly that this is where things are headed for the next little while.

The reason it seemed like the source of the love letters Eita was finding in his show locker would be the main focus of this episode comes from the fact that the last episode made it clear that these love letters would be the cause of most of the events in this episode. Although their writer doesn’t appear until the end, the letters themselves are definitely a big part of this episode from the very beginning. Several times throughout the episode, Eita finds a love letter and it causes him to try to figure out who wrote it, along with having to hide its existence from the people who would cause him a lot more trouble if they found out. Still, while each letter works as a catalyst for a few other events, a lot of the important stuff here happens without having anything to do with them. Most notably, Masuzu’s little sister (or younger relative of some kind; Eita simply assumes this and is probably correct) suddenly appears to shake up Masuzu more than we’ve ever seen, as well as making a move to make Eita hers just like every other female with a name. This causes a domino effect for much of the rest of the episode, and while most of the relationship developments on all sides are quite interesting when taken seriously, it’s all pretty generic and cliché for this kind of story.

After Eita does his best to help each of the girls get over their respective problems (which are all unintentionally caused by him, Chiwa’s being a result of him saving Masuzu), we finally return to the love letter plot, and one last letter leads Eita to finally meet their writer, someone he had never met before, but that the audience has been expecting to meet. As it turns out, she’s as much a chuunibyou as he ever was, again bringing up parallels to a certain KyoAni show last season, and of course the other girls have to show up right as she’s embracing him. Oh boy…

In Summary:
This episode moves things more in the typical harem direction, introducing one girl who doesn’t appear to be joining the main cast but makes sure to claim Eita as her own anyway, and one who is definitely joining the main cast and… makes sure to claim Eita as her own. A lot of the episode is still spent on the main love triangle that made up the entire main cast until this point, and those moments are still probably the best. Mana’s introduction brings up some more interesting attributes to Masuzu’s character that I look forward to seeing explored, so as unlikeable a character as she is, I’m glad she’s introduced for that reason. This seems like a slightly schizophrenic transition episode of sorts, so it’s not clear what the series will be focusing on after this point, but the positive notes still remain present. I just hope they can be followed through on.

Grade: B-

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Review Equipment:
Custom-Built PC, 27” 1080p HDTV.