Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie

Episode 6

Episode 6, “With Fireworks Comes Summer's End,” is a send-off of sorts, wrapping up our three-episode summer vacation arc with everyone's favorite: a Japanese festival, complete with fireworks!

And yeah, that's basically what this episode is: a festival episode that starts with our cute couple getting ready for the Suzumi Fireworks Show and ends with them seeing fireworks. There's quite a few cute sequences between – such as Izumi trying to win Shikimori a wolf plushie – but by and large, this episode keeps to Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie's formula of Shikimori being incredibly cool (and very cute; Shikimori in a yukata is a net win-win for cute characters everywhere) and Izumi trying his absolute best.

But it's the climax of this episode that really shines. Izumi decides to carry Shikimori up a lengthy series of steps leading up to a shrine (largely because her feet are killing her due to her sandals) so they can watch the fireworks with a genuinely gorgeous view. It's romantic, it's sweet, and it's really good for conveying just how much these two care about each other. The show could have easily chosen to have Izumi trip and fall for comedic effect, but instead, he makes it to the top, settles Shikimori on a bench next to him, and they just watch the fireworks together with no incident. It's really earnest, and it feels like genuine progression in their relationship: instead of Izumi needing to be something of a damsel in distress, he gets to be the cool one and gets to shower Shikimori in the same love she so freely gives him. And while we end with Izumi, once again, needing a bit of an assist as his genetic predisposition towards chaotic clumsiness kicks back in, I'm thankful to have that moment undisturbed before the "comedy" in romantic comedy gets put back into the episode.

Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie continues to excel as a sweet, simple, and of course very cute slice-of-life romance. As the seasons change in-show, I look forward to seeing Shikimori and Izumi's romance become more dynamic and even sweeter as they lean on each other and continue to fall even deeper in love, especially if the back half of this series promises more sweet vignettes like this.

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Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Mercedez is a JP-EN translation and localization light novel editor & proofreader/QA, pop culture critic, and a journalist who, when not writing for ANN, writes for Anime Feminist, where they're a staff editor. They're also a frequent cohost on the Anime Feminist Podcast, Chatty AF. This season, they're falling in love with Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie and A Couple of Cuckoos. When they're not writing and reviewing, you can find them on their Twitter or on their Instagram where they're always up to something.