Pseudo Harem

Episode 6

I was not expecting this show to overtake so many other slices of life this season in terms of romantic progression. I commented last week about how the next stage in Rin and Eiji's relationship would be for one of them to just ask the other out on an explicit date but I wasn't expecting to get that the following episode! This is the episode where most of the pre-tenses are more or less dropped and everything is just kind of out there. These awkward teens are acting appropriately like awkward teens and it's adorable.

The first half of this episode was admittedly slow, even though it was nice to get more of our characters working in the acting department. Rin puts on a performance and we see Eiji work hard as a member of the prop department but there isn't a lot going on until we get to the end of the festival where we realize that this is all set up for the eventual date. At first, I thought the show would glance over labeling the outing as a date but then I realized that was just the characters trying to operate under their plausible deniability.

The last two minutes of this episode highlight that there isn't much for them to hide anymore. The feelings are out there and they are pretty much dating but they're just waiting for the right time to make it explicitly clear. I love that the acting gimmick used in this episode was a means to break the awkward tension they feel after the confession. It makes me wonder if that's going to be the basis of the next episode? If that's the case, then that will probably be one of the more thoughtful and narrative-interesting uses of the show's gimmick. Color me impressed, I genuinely did not see any of this coming—and I mean that in the best way possible.

Rating:

Pseudo Harem is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.