Asobi Asobase -workshop of fun-

Episode 9

Asobi Asobase finally delivers something I've wanted for a while: a series of Olivia stories. Though she's plenty funny in her quest to fool people into thinking she doesn't speak Japanese natively, or in her hair woes or shame over her B.O., Olivia has kind of felt like the third wheel of our Pastimers Club. It's obvious how Hanako is a total weirdo, and Kasumi's nervous anxiety and BL fanfiction writing certainly make her an oddball, but Olivia has mostly just seemed like a disingenuous jerk. So it's nice to finally get some focus on what makes Olivia tick.

For the first two of our three vignettes, that means focusing on one of her existing traits: her status as a "fake" foreigner. We learn a little about how Olivia wound up pretending she knew English better than Japanese, when the opposite is true. It was just assumed about her because of her ethnicity, and she runs with it since it seems to make her more mysterious and cool to others. It also means people don't really talk to her though, except when asking for English-language help, and she has to come up with excuses for why she can't assist without blowing her cover. She's starting to get tired of this dynamic, and Olivia becomes convinced it's because her two actual friends, Hanako and Kasumi, never socialize while they're in class. Of course, getting Hanako to socialize with anyone outside of the Pastimers Club, especially the "popular girls" is impossible, according to Hanako herself.

Hanako's fear of the "popular kids" extends to being unable to spread rumors about her friends in order to help them. So she resorts to that classic shy-nerd gambit of putting the truth in writing. Hanako decides to pass a note around class, pretending she got it from the person in front of her, saying that Olivia is actually good at Japanese. Eventually this makes its way to Kasumi, who doesn't know Hanako started it and worries that this could go against Olivia's wishes. So she changes the note to be nonsensical right before it's intercepted by the teacher. Olivia denies what's now on there, and everyone who read the original assumes she meant that. Her secret remains "safe," whether she wants it to be or not.

That's no good for Olivia, because the next installment heightens her language-related drama. It's also the best and most ridiculous for a strangely down-to-Earth week (at least by Asobi Asobase standards). Olivia is selected as the school's candidate for an English-speech competition. Obviously, she's not prepared at all and doesn't want to study because she knows even cramming won't get her on the level she needs for this. (She's also just plain lazy.) But explaining why she can't would blow her cover. What I love about this show is that the obvious solution of faking sick or some family obligation or something so another student could go in her place only occurs to the club by the very end. Instead, Asobi Asobase has to go for the stupidest possible choice, which also allows for the return of some familiar faces.

Of course, this involves Maeda, who continues to be the show's best supporting character. He constructs another robot with input from Hanako's grandfather, this time to represent Olivia in the speech competition. It mimics her voice pretty well, but unfortunately, he modeled it on Hanako's grandfather's sex robots. So it looks like a blow-up doll and only talks about sex and swears. I love how the teens are too new to English to understand the problem until their teacher comes in. And then when they suggest re-programming the robot with popular vocabulary, she fights back! She's gained free will and she wants to swear! Asobi Asobase excels when it takes a common trope and stretches it beyond the realm of possibility. There's familiar material here that draws on previous episodes of this show, but Asobi Asobase always insists on pushing the envelope even further.

This made the last installment, "Genetic Engineering," feel a bit disappointing. Olivia gets busted for bringing manga to school for the fifth time, and the teacher called her parents. They're at work, so her older brother steps in instead. Olivia describes him in glowing terms, so Hanako is convinced he's a perfect future husband and dreams of Olivia calling her "onee-san." As soon as she goes there, we know he's going to be unappealing in some way. But from this show, you might be expecting him to be odd in some larger-than-life way. Other than his weirdly formal way of talking, making Olivia's brother a generic creepy otaku stereotype felt like the show dragging its feet. That's especially true of his unsettling interest in middle school girls. While there is humor value in reversing Hanako's expectations, it felt like the show taking this kind of creepy behavior too lightly. This is especially true later when he messages Hanako on LINE. She's briefly kind of into his syrupy language, because she temporarily forgets what he looks like in real life, focusing only his the blue eyes he shares with sister. His overdramatic spiel in defense of Olivia's manga was funny though, aided by Hanako's novelized account of witnessing it. Maybe Maeda has just given me unrealistically high expectations for zany supporting characters.

Asobi Asobase can't always be as solid as last week, where all of its jokes landed. It didn't always go where it could have gone this week, but it still had some real zingers. The swearing robot is a classic character, and I hope it re-emerges along with Maeda. Asobi Asobase achieves its goal in focusing on Olivia this week, proving her inherently hilarious fount of comedy can stand strong alongside her friends. (Well, maybe not Hanako. No one is quite on her level.) Will we get a Kasumi focus soon? I hope so, because as uneven as this week was, I really appreciated the rounding out of its cast. I have a lot more affection for Olivia now than I did last week, so if that's the show's goal, it succeeded.

Rating: B

Asobi Asobase -workshop of fun- is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Rose is a Ph.D. student in musicology, who recently released a book about the music of Cowboy Bebop. You can also follow her on Twitter.