Tada Never Falls in Love

Episode 4

When I first saw that Tada Never Falls in Love would focus again on the photography club, my heart sank. Little did I know how much this episode would surprise me! This week's installment succeeded in making the series' two most troublesome characters funny.

It's not that Hajime or Hasegawa's characters have taken a dramatic shift from where we last saw them. Hajime is still unnervingly obsessed with gravure idols and their boobs, while Hasegawa is still relatively quiet and unassuming. (At least she's given an excuse for trying to blend into the background this week.) Still, this episode made Hajime and Hasegawa's story work thanks to a series of important tweaks.

The first was the episode's particular brand of humor. Pervy dude characters are eyeroll-worthy at best in anime, but Tada Never Falls in Love pushes Hajime to the point where he's just so over-the-top that no one can take him seriously. Unfortunately, this also his dilemma in this episode. Hajime is so into gravure idols that when he gets to meet his favorite, HINA, he can't come up with anything to say. This contrast between his passion and stage fright make Hajime not only more interesting and funny to watch, but also more relatable. The humor may be over-the-top, but Tada Never Falls in Love lends sympathetic emotions to its characters, even the most ridiculous ones.

Luckily, Hasegawa comes to the rescue. She overhears Hajime practicing to meet HINA and decides to give him some pointers. Mostly, she tells him to practice talking about her as a person rather than just obsessing over her appearance, which is solid advice for anyone that really should have occurred to him beforehand. Seriously, while I may find him less irritating this time around, I still don't get what Hasegawa sees in this dude. Anyway, Hasegawa seems pretty good at this for someone who is normally so shy and unassuming, and that's when the other shoe drops—because Hasegawa is HINA. Hajime has been losing his mind over meeting his favorite idol, but he had no idea that he already knows her pretty well. It's anyone's guess how long it will take Hajime to truly understand that the girl of his dreams is already part of his life.

Also, as puzzling as I still find Hasegawa's crush, she does at least get to explain her feelings. The two of them were childhood friends, and after he saved her once, she trusts him to continue to protect her. He does seem to keep an eye out for her more than others, but I'm still guessing that this is going to be a slow-burn romance. When the day arrives and Hajime gets to "meet" HINA, it turns out neither of them can spit out the obvious truth. Hajime forgets his script and mumbles through what little he remembers, while Hasegawa finds herself unable to confess to her true identity like she promised she would.

It's the sort of madcap silliness that we've seen from previous club-focused episodes, but what makes it "work" this time around is that the writers remembered to ground them in realistic emotions. It's a comedy, but there's also some romantic drama mixed in—not just the melodrama of mistaken identity, but the relatable woes of two normal kids who just can't spit out how they feel. If Tada Never Falls in Love continues this pattern—setting up broad archetypes only to humanize them later—I'll be far more on board with its project for the club. I still don't particularly like Hajime, but he seems like a real character now rather than some factory-issued stereotype. Hajime and Hasegawa working through their anxieties together will especially hit home for viewers who have struggled with stage fright and feeling starstruck.

Tada Never Falls in Love could be a really strong show if it keeps developing its cast this way. What stood out to me about the first episode was this kind of emotional intelligence, so it's nice to see the show dipping back into that. There is definitely room for more of this in future episodes, especially given what we learn about Alec at the end of the episode. She's always had a weakness for helping Teresa, and now we might have a good idea of why. I hope that Alec's heart makes it out okay if Teresa is indeed headed toward a romance with Tada.

On the subject of that relationship, it is strange to me how little momentum Tada and Teresa's romance has been given. They are presumably the central focus of the show, based on the opening sequence as well as the premiere episode, but that seems to have fallen by the wayside as the focus shifted to other characters. I'm glad that Tada Never Falls in Love is no longer neglecting its supporting cast, but it's weird how the leads' chemistry and screentime seems to have evaporated. Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun didn't always focus on its central pairing, but there were regular reminders of Sakura's feelings for Nozaki and how they influenced their relationship. For Tada Never Falls in Love to work as a romantic comedy, it needs to invest more time in its central romance—not just the peripheral ones. If it can nail that in upcoming episodes, this show might still be on its way to greatness.

Rating: B+

Tada Never Falls in Love is currently streaming on HIDIVE.

Rose is a Ph.D. student in musicology, who recently released a book about the music of Cowboy Bebop. You can also follow her on her Twitter.