Shy Season 2

Episode 19

What a cacophonous week in the world of Shy. Pepesha has a heart-to-heart with Kufufu. Mianlong and Doki spend naptime together. Ai catches up with Mai. Piltz plants a wet one on Teru's cheek. Stigma goads the grownup heroes into a standoff. It's a fun episode, and it probably contains some of this season's most memorable scenes, but it also highlights the series' flaws. I'm talking about the stuff that holds Shy back from being a truly great and standalone superhero experience. As-is, it's good, but it could be better.

This week's foibles are twofold. First, the tone is all over the place. Kufufu's confrontation with Pepesha, for example, hops between farce, edginess, mawkishness, and compelling sentimentality, and that's not even factoring in how the scene compares to the rest of the episode. I don't mind tonal whiplash when it's applied with purpose and bravado, but its application here feels sloppier than I'd like. To Shy's credit, it certainly goes for bolder contrasts than the quick cutaway gags that many shounen series fall back on for their comedy (although Shy is no stranger to those either). What I'm looking for, though, is something weirder and surer of itself.

My other issue is a longstanding one, which is that Shy rarely goes as deep as I'd like. To elaborate, I'm a big fan of the premise's psychological angle, in which these clashes between heroes and villains can all be broken down into superpowered manifestations of trauma, hangups, and other brain problems. It's not a revolutionary approach to the genre, but it's one I feel invested in. Shy, however, has trouble scratching beneath the surface. The problems and their solutions tend to be too simple and too quick to support the grandiosity of these struggles.

Let's take Kufufu and Pepesha's scene as an example again. Kufufu starts to dig at Pepesha's reliance on alcohol, and Pepesha begins to address Kufufu's childish perspective on adulthood. There's potential for real drama and commentary here but their fight fizzles before it explores anything profound or uncomfortable. Granted, Shy could still be building up these arguments and they might grow meatier further down the line. Even if that's the case, though, the writing could do a better job laying the path forward for its audience. Mianlong and Doki's scene, for instance, feels like a copout. While it's cute to see them bond over their similarities, their dialogue doesn't develop the conversation on masculinity in any significant way. I thought they'd be going somewhere with that when they broke off from the main group a few weeks back.

I don't want to sound too down on either the show or this episode, however, because I continue to have a consistently good time with Shy week-to-week. Teru and Piltz's tag team fight with the angelic Inori Alleluia (what a name, lol) is a hoot. The episode as a whole is trying to do too much, so it's little surprise that the most straightforward segment ends up being the strongest. That said, I probably shouldn't use the word “straight” to describe this scene because Shy is yet again not beating the lesbian harem allegations. Piltz, once lucid, appears to blame her affectionate actions on the magic arrow that pierced her heart. Remember, though, that she's a twin-tailed tsundere. Are you really going to take her at her word?

Seriously, at this point, I kinda wish Shy would have the moxie to canonically confirm the concentration of yuri rizz flowing through Teru's veins. Both the source and this adaptation are pretty unambiguously on board with the idea of Teru having at least one girlfriend and I don't think Iko would be against the idea either. Now, I've gone on the record as a queer subtext defender—I believe there are many valid ways for fiction to explore themes like gender, sexuality, romance, and society. They don't all have to conform to a particular standard to mean something. But for a fun superhero romp like Shy, I think it'd be pretty cool for its heroine to date a girl, in the open, plain and simple. Heck, it could be a selling point. It would also provide another perfect avenue to play up Teru's social anxiety. Just imagine everything that could go pear-shaped during an ostensibly romantic dinner between her and Iko. Tell me you wouldn't want to see that.

Ultimately, I'm not too frustrated with Shy. I can see that it's trying earnestly at profundity, and that alone gives it an edge in my book. Combined with decent fundamentals, a likable cast, and a solidly stylish anime adaptation, the series has yet to lose its way. But I'm beginning to doubt it can be more than just plain “okay” at what it does.

Rating:

Shy Season 2 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Steve is on Twitter while it lasts. If he has misspelled "Amarariruku" anywhere in the above review, you have permission to rub it in his face. You can also catch him chatting about trash and treasure alike on This Week in Anime.