Comic Girls

Episode 6

This week, Comic Girls shifts its focus away from the main cast to highlight two underdeveloped supporting players. Now that the show has reached its halfway mark, it makes sense for the stories to start branching out and focusing on characters outside of the main group of four. Far from stealing the show, both of episode 6's MVPs fit in nicely with the established mangaka and help bring out new sides of Kaos and Tsubasa. With any luck, the new relationships developed this week will make for some interesting stories moving forward.

In this week's first segment, Kaos and Koyume are introduced to Suzu Fuura, an extremely awkward horror mangaka who helped show Ruki and Tsubasa the ropes when they first moved into the dormitory. Because of her intrusive demeanor and strong resemblance to a vengeful spirit, Kaos is instantly terrified by Fuura, who uses this fear as inspiration for her work. After realizing that most of Fuura's unsettling behavior is the result of being socially deficient, Kaos comes to empathize with her creepy senpai, eventually welcoming her into the fold. The second story primarily focuses on closeted otaku Nijino-sensei's efforts to make sense of Tsubasa's constant sleepiness and lack of focus in her class. Upon discovering that Tsubasa is actually Wing V, author of her favorite manga The Dark Hero, all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place. The audience also learns that Nijino and dorm matron Ririka are old friends.

Drawing inspiration from both of these events, Kaos creates two characters based on Fuura and Nijino but ultimately has no idea how to actually use them in her work. Using Kaos' hunger for new material as an overarching theme to tie the two stories together is clever, providing some thematic unity to two seemingly disparate narratives. The fact that she's unable to do anything with her new creations is a particularly amusing punch line for the episode to close on.

The first story is a nice send-up of the horror genre, though Kaos' fear of Fuura is cartoonishly extreme to an irritating degree. Fuura's physical beauty being what ultimately curbs Kaos' fear seems like an odd lesson, although a genuine desire to offer Fuura comfort is what initially spurred Kaos to let her guard down. At present, it's unclear whether Fuura is actually moving back into the dormitory, but her addition to the end credits and presence in the post-credits preview indicates that she'll be at least a semi-regular presence from here on out. Throughout the previous five episodes, the four main girls have developed very distinct dynamics, so it should be interesting to see how Fuura's arrival shakes things up.

The second segment is essentially a direct continuation of last week's amusement park story. Although the audience has been aware of Nijino's otaku nature for the past week, it's great to have the girls brought up to speed as well. The fact that she tries to confide in Tsubasa as a fellow otaku before even remotely suspecting that she's Wing V shows off a softer side to the character and reveals some cracks in her overly-serious demeanor. Whether she'll now be easier on the girls or become an outside-of-school friend remains to be seen, but both prospects could pave the way for entertaining stories. Her preexisting relationship with Ririka seems too coincidental, but getting some insight into their past may prove intriguing enough to excuse this.

This week's Comic Girls offers up two disparate stories that provide Kaos with some much-needed inspiration in her quest to create marketable manga. Fuura's entire character is essentially built around one quirk, but if she isn't overused, it's easy to see her making a fun addition to the regular cast—and the same can largely be said for Nijino. If episode 6 is any indication, adding new elements to the established formula may be a good thing in the case of Comic Girls.

Rating: B+

Comic Girls is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Amy is an author who has loved anime for over two decades.