Kimi to Boku. Episode 6--How to Win at Thumb Wrestling

This episode started with what I've been waiting for since the first episode: Shun getting his hair cut!




In fact, a lot of this episode was filled with short-haired Shun goodness, although most of it came from the flashback that made up the majority of the episode. This week was another Kaname-centric episode, focusing on a story from middle school where the twins trick Kaname into showing them what he looks like in glasses. I liked this flashback a lot more than I've liked the previous ones focusing around the characters in preschool since this time around there wasn't too big of an age difference this time around, so there wasn't that strange feeling of the kids acting way too old for their age. That said, huh, they were exactly the same in middle school as they are in high school. I know that this isn't the right show for it, but wouldn't it have been amusing if one of them was randomly going through a rebellious phase of some kind? And also, wow that a deep voice you've got for a first-year, Kaname. Any bets on who reached puberty first? Anyway, the plot, while simple, was pretty amusing. It was easy to figure out that Kaname was freaking out over nothing and that Yuki was perfectly fine, but I wasn't expecting it to turn into an elaborate prank just to win the thumb wrestling match. And it served the double purpose of showing Kaname that he really does need his glasses... so that he can tell the twins apart so that they can't prank him so easily.




But even with all the hilariousness going on--the return of Kaname's mother, spending money on useless "study" items, Yuki and Yuta in training to become the next Fred and George--this episode was a bit of letdown after last week when it really showed what it could do with its characters. This was probably because of the flashback focus in a time period before Chizuru and Masaki showed up, bringing it back to the original four with their less-than-thrilling adventures. While it was handled a lot better this time around than in the earlier episodes, I can't wait to get back to the tension that started building with the previous episode. This episode went back to it a little at the end, with Masaki getting to be the first person besides the boys to see Shun's new haircut, and from seeing that I would much rather that the show cut way back on the flashbacks unless it's something that absolutely needs to be said about the main characters that wouldn't be discussed otherwise. The character relationships are set, we've got more than enough background on everyone, so what are we waiting for? Maybe Shun's haircut is the show's green light to more episodes like the previous one.

Images from Crunchyroll.com.