Keijo!!!!!!!!

Episode 5

The moves just keep getting more and more ridiculous, as we now have vibe-Ring Hip (yes, it does exactly what the name implies) and Full-Power Cerberus, which involves the contestant's butt manifesting a fierce, ghostly, dog-like visage to attack (see the screenshot). We also know now that the maneuver Kirasaki used last episode is officially called Titty Hypnosis in English. But at this point, would you have it any other way? Frankly, it would be a disappointment if we didn't get something sputter-worthy in each episode.

After the battles for the other Room 309 members last round, now it's finally Nozomi's turn. She's matched up against Kotone Fujisaki, an elite student we've seen before but never learned much about. This opponent's quirk, other than her distinctive attack style, is that she's apparently an ardent fan of BL and quite embarrassed to admit it. She's so prone to daydreaming about characters in her favorite BL series that Nozomi considers it a personal challenge to get Kotone's attention focused on her, rather than Nozomi just letting her butt do all the work on autopilot.

Predictably, she gives Nozomi all she can handle and then some, forcing Nozomi to resort to her not-so-secret technique to counter Kotone's animalistic intensity, while others commentate on the sideline. In other words, this is absolutely standard shonen action fare, but the different kind of body movements required for this particular sport make all the difference in turning this into a fresher variation on the concept. It certainly doesn't hurt that bright-faced, determined Nozomi is the kind who seems to thrive when the pressure is on, which makes her very easy to root for. Seeing Nozomi's qualifying match with her rival generate a fresh spark for the sport within Kotone (because she comes from a prestigious Keijo family, she's seen the sport merely as an expected business rather than a calling) was also gratifying. Of course, Keijo being what it is, we also get scenes of literally measuring how much muscle has grown on one's butt after grueling training, and there are a couple moments of fanservice that can't be attributed just to the sport, but that also seems to be par for the course.

If I have one complaint about this episode, it's that it didn't do as much with the way that Kotone was sensing attacks as I anticipated. Because she could read the vibrations from the Land, she could deal with attacks despite keeping her back to her opponents, but Nozomi started to confound her. I assumed that it was going to be because the acrobatics Nozomi resorted to for dodging Kotone's attacks took her into the air above the Land and thus made her movements harder to sense, but if that was the intent, it wasn't actually spelled out. Still, the technical merits for the series continue to be pretty solid, and the series continues to be as fun as anything airing this season.

Rating: B+

Keijo!!!!!!!! is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.