Episode 4 – There’s No Freaking Way I’ll Be Your Lover! Unless…

This episode felt weird, and that is definitely saying a lot. While it does feel like the show reached an emotionally satisfying conclusion, there were just enough little things scattered throughout this episode that bothered me. I like the fact that Mai seemed to really acknowledge the fact that she screwed up. She definitely overstepped a lot of physical boundaries by getting so caught up in her desires and emotions. That has been her problem since the beginning of the show, and when you combine that with the fact that she admits she has basically never been told no before, it was naturally going to lead to a situation like this eventually.

The irony is that it feels like the show was still trying to pamper her a little bit. I know that Renako is going through some very complicated feelings, and I like the fact that she acknowledges that there is a romantic passion that she can’t ignore. She even feels guilty about maybe wanting to have kept going in the bedroom. However, Renako did make it clear that Mai should’ve stopped and Mai is the one that did not respect Renako’s feelings. From my perspective, the slap was justified and didn’t really need to be apologized for. I’m also a little concerned that Mai didn’t fully take the lesson away from the situation. Her extreme reaction is very funny and there is some charm in her all-or-nothing approach to life, but it felt like the show was treating her with kid gloves during that major conversation at the end of the episode. I like how everything ends with Renako basically taking control of the relationship and sort of making it clear to Mai that things could progress in a natural way as long as they communicate about it; I just wish there was more conversation about how Mai needs to respect others’ boundaries if she wants the emotional fulfillment that she desperately craves.

I like that this episode included the rest of the main cast. I got to see Renako address a little bit of her trauma by turning Ajisai down, but now I wonder if the show is going to give us a potential love triangle in the future because of how things were potentially misunderstood. There is a lot of yuri tension throughout this entire episode and I’m all for it. Seeing Kaho be a gremlin who only really cares about money was fun, and I actually really dug the scene on the roof at the beginning with Satsuki. The only information I’ve really gotten from this girl is that she’s competitive with Mai, but I like the fact that she was the one who seemingly put Mai and Renako in their places. She’s very no nonsense with all of these complicated emotions. I found that very relatable.

Despite my complaints, this is probably the best episode of the show thus far. It was very well directed in how it portrayed the different levels of emotion and passion that all of our girls have. Mai and Renako finally have a conversation where it felt like they were on equal footing. Plus, I think the show is setting up a lot more shenanigans for the rest of the season by actually getting all of the girls involved in the drama. There are still things that bother me, but for now I would like to consider this a step in the right direction.

Rating:

Bolts also streams regularly on Twitch as an indie Vtuber called Bolts The Mechanic where they talk about and play retro media!

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