A Couple of Cuckoos

Episode 17

I've remarked before when reviewing other middling romance-comedy anime that there's generally nothing wrong with sticking super close to the expected conventions of the genre. Every one of these stories is going to be somebody's first exposure to these things, so it's okay to have so many of the expected setups, situations, and contrivances around so long as they're executed effectively. This goes for pretty much any genre of entertainment, of course, but anime like A Couple of Cuckoos in particular are very dependently dedicated to a certain set of staples: The Festival, The Beach Episode, and in this one, The Summer Study Camp. And as with so many of those other efforts Cuckoos has made, the result is entirely Just Okay, taking us along to kill some time without especially offending our sensibilities.

It's a near thing, though, down to one distinguishing x-factor in its execution: His name is Asuma Shion, and he makes enough noise to make up for the whole season-and-a-half of how low-key Cuckoos has been. Shion's inclusion in the first place makes the whole setup feel haphazard, since this episode opens with Erika specifically inviting Sachi along with the study group, playing off her academic ambitions from the previous episode. But then it's like the author suddenly realized that having Sachi along might complicate their plans for Nagi's romantic interactions with the other two girls, and with no time to update the draft, Sachi is suddenly struck ill so Shion can insert himself into the situation instead. It all ends up simply begging the question of why they didn't just have Shion set to come along from the start, lest they were worried the audience would forget about Sachi if she was off-screen for too long, the same way Nagi has repeatedly forgotten about Shion.

I should stress that I don't think Shion is a bad character, simply one I could take or leave. Sometimes his over-exuberant antics are appreciated, given how regularly sleepy Cuckoos can come off as. And the subtitles adapting his incomprehensible gyaruo slang include him using the word 'Poggers' at one point, which has got to be worth a whole extra point on this one's review score. But other times he can just come off as a grating distraction, especially with the understanding that, being an extra guy in a bog-standard harem anime, he has less than zero chance at becoming successfully involved in any romances here. They manage to get you going for a second, sure, with a whole lot of leading on the possibility that he might have actually confessed his feelings to Erika. It might have been interesting to acknowledge that not needing to fit into that harem anime genre framework allows Shion to just honestly come out with his feelings like a normal person, but no, the whole thing winds up being a fake-out after several minutes. An overengineered time-waster of a situation of the same type as Sachi's withdrawal from the trip.

Speculating on the possibility of that kind of emotional honesty drifts our attention to the proper leads, however. All of Shion's talk of confessions ends up bringing to mind the point that while Nagi has declared current feelings for Segawa, neither her nor Erika has actually yet delivered hard confirmation of their feelings for the boy. Say what you will about Sachi, at least she's made clear what her intent is (must be something about that Umino family upbringing). And so, pretty much all the scenes including Nagi and the other two girls this episode continue that same awkward dance around their feelings. Even the suggestion of following up on the academic component of Cuckoos's story is ignored, since everyone knows anime characters never actually study at a study camp. The most work the show does is simply getting the gang to the cabin in the first place, drawing a pretty nice-looking lake for Nagi and Sachi to hang out in front of (in general this episode looks a bit better than some of the previous ones—as it should, given how integral the new scenery is to the setting), then wait around until it can actually get some set-up plots going, presumably, in the next episode.

There's potential in all that, whenever we get there. Erika flipping down the framed picture early on is so hilariously conspicuous I'm shocked none of the other cast members followed up on it, but at least that bit's presence indicates it as something that will be followed up on eventually. And Shion, to his credit, is trying to coax a little more progress out of the romantic side of this story, thanks to the age-old test of courage he incites by this episode's end. It's the very last part of the episode before it cuts off to continue into next week, but I already appreciate the opportunity it affords to see Erika be Erika and demand to go off partnered with Nagi. What will they talk about? Meanwhile, Segawa isn't able to come up with any revelatory new information when prompted about her pursuit of constantly being top of the class, but she does show that she's insightful enough to pick up on Shion's intent to confess to Erika, feeding into more wingman opportunities that have absolutely no chance of paying off. See, in moments like that Shion actually comes off as kind of a bro and you almost want to root for him, for Nagi's sake anyway. At least, unlike all the other aimless participants in this low-stakes love game, he feels like he's actually trying to make something happen. Maybe A Couple of Cuckoos could benefit from adding more Shions to its cast.

Rating:

A Couple of Cuckoos is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Chris is a freewheeling Fresno-based freelancer with a love for anime and a shelf full of too many Transformers. He can be found spending way too much time on his Twitter, and irregularly updating his blog.