Girlish Number

Episode 3

Girlish Number's third episode did the most important thing the show could do: allow Chitose to fail.

The first two episodes didn't really see much backlash for Chitose's arrogant, abrasive personality. She was snarked at by her brother and developed a mutually snarky rapport with costar Momoka, but she was rarely challenged on either her self-image or generally toxic behavior. She was becoming an unworkable terror, someone who's entertaining to watch from an audience perspective, but not someone who'd be pleasant to work with.

Girlish Number couldn't really continue to have Chitose exist in such a one-note role. Not only would it make her a simplistic and unsympathetic character, it'd also hurt the believability of the rest of the world. People wouldn't tolerate Chitose forever simply because she's the protagonist of the show, and if they did, it would reflect poorly on them as characters in their own right. So halfway through this episode, Chitose was finally forced to realize that she's actually a pretty bad actress.

The show was good about leading up to this moment. Not only was Chitose's initial voice acting audibly terrible, but the ways she was treated by the various parties around her rang true as well. The other voice actresses simply shied away from her, but the anime's main staff began treating her as a problem to be worked around - okaying her lines eventually, but always asking for more takes when they had the time. While Chitose was initially able to cling to her inflated self-image, she eventually realized that the reason things felt weird was her own lackluster performance.

This was a key moment for Chitose that added some necessary complexity to her character. Chitose is overtly cynical, but it's the cynicality of pompous youth - she doesn't understand the world or other people, but she's utterly confident in her own worldview, so she assumes everything is much less complicated than it actually is. While she claims other people are two-faced (because she herself is two-faced and not emotionally intelligent enough to see beyond her own perspective), she's also very willing to accept compliments as long as they validate her existing feelings. So in spite of ostensibly believing that everyone else is a liar, it took a talking-to from her brother for her to realize that sometimes it's just easier for others to compliment her instead of actually helping her improve her performance.

In the end, Chitose's initial problems with acting were easily solved. Momoka gave her some basic advice, and she was able to parlay that into presenting an acceptable version of her very simplistic character. While it initially felt a little awkward that Chitose's first dramatic hurdle would be solved so conveniently, it ultimately made sense to me. A protagonist like Chitose demands a specific balance - she needs to take hits and learn from them enough to stay sympathetic, but she also needs to get lucky enough to remain arrogant, funny, and true to her childish self. One step forward, two steps back is often the best way to convey the growth of people so resistant to self-reflection.

On top of that, I also liked how Chitose's solution reflected the underlying failings of the production she was hired for. When Shibasaki dismissed Chitose's acting as dull, Momoka was forced to agree - but then bitterly reflected that dull acting seemed to be what the studio was actually looking for. You can't “find the humanity” in one-note tsunderes screaming about boys seeing their underwear - if you add any depth to that, you'll actually be writing a better character than the one from the source material. I could easily see a talented voice actress like Momoka get frustrated not just with the fact that she's constantly compared to her mom, but that anime voice acting often demands actors limit themselves to simple archetypes. There's only so much room to express your artistic voice when your lines are stuff like “Uwaaa! Now I can't get married!!!”

Overall, this episode once again held off on the comedy to better facilitate the show's character drama, a choice I was perfectly happy with. The show's expression work remains strong, but its art design is otherwise pretty underwhelming - the backgrounds in particular are utterly faceless and don't really enhance the mood or realism of the production. But Girlish Number is already a show I'm watching largely for the writing, so I suppose I can't complain too much about its middling production. It's still a solidly entertaining show, and I'm happy to see it developing multiple members of the cast in compelling new directions.

Overall: B+

Girlish Number is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Nick writes about anime, storytelling, and the meaning of life at Wrong Every Time.