Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines!

Episode 6

Episode 6 is a surprisingly down-to-earth romp through teenage friendship and heartbreak.

The team seems to have struck the right balance of melodrama and relatable events this week. In any story, there is an exaggeration for dramatic effect, and romance is no exception. Makeine's main eccentricities in this regard center around Nukuzimu being at the, well, center of all these relationships. But the actual events this week all feel appropriately mundane and reasonable, making the relationships and situations more palatable in terms of realism.

Lemon's confession is a good example of this duality. She makes this over-the-top confession through a Freudian slip that she does, in fact, love Mitsuki, and runs away from everything. She retreats to spend time with her grandmother in the mountains, prompting the gang to go on a friendly field trip to visit her. The gang grows closer in the process and has a lot of pretty normal fun that kids ought to be having! They take silly pictures, play with river crabs, goof around, and generally have a good time. The impromptu sleepover is a fun twist that is the kind of thing that happens, without any overboard scenes in the midst of it. There's an undercurrent of teenage melancholy over lost romances and missed signals but that helps provide a nice juxtaposition with the low-stakes fun of the gang's trip beforehand.

The only real drag on the episode remains Chihaya's behavior. I know she is the vessel for much of the melodrama but I struggle to understand her motivation. Does she want to fight for Mitsuki or does she want to give up completely? It's hard to square her actions from scene to scene, and while you could chalk that up to teenage insecurities and the volatile actions of being young… It makes for a very, ah, functional character let's say. Chihaya feels like an inconsistent character because she fulfills purely mechanical narrative means: she's meek one minute, daring the next, scheming in one scene, and passive in another. It's a bit much for me.

Rating:

Grant is the cohost on the Blade Licking Thieves podcast and Super Senpai Podcast.

Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines! is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.