Nyan Koi, episode 8 – We’re going to need a montage

For whatever reason I got a particular kick out of this episode. Maybe it was the cat exercise montage (classic) or maybe it was the nekko twist on the classic misunderstanding of a boy "accidentally" ending up with a girl’s bra and getting caught (sad to say I have never heard of this happening in real life).

Have you ever heard of a guy "accidentally" pulling a girl’s bra out of his backpack? In the good ole’ US of A, Junpei probably would’ve been charged with a sex crime, ended up on a sex offender registry and been forced to live out in the wilderness, but thankfully he’s in Japan. Instead of a court summons, he gets a hot mailwoman making a snarky remark. Would puberty stand up in the courts like the insanity plea? I wonder. But how did this whole messed up situation conspire to be?

As you can guess, it all starts with a cat. Actually it all starts with the denpakei, Kotone and her twin-tailed twin sister convincing Junpei’s mom and sister that they were an item. This then leads to Junpei dragging them out of the house, and Chizuru imploring him to bang them both. I gotta say… I really like her forwardness. Although I’d be willing to bet money that Chizuru is the first one to get all deredere when and if she meets her own crush.

Turns out in between Kotone bugging Junpei’s house and Akari giving her some bad advice (it’s probably better to commit a crime as a juvenile… you get more leeway), they’d actually brought a fat, unathletic cat to Junpei to help him break Jizou’s curse. I gotta say, if I wasn’t already won over by Kotone’s denpakei-ness, I’m won over by her consideration. There’s very few people in this world that are considerate enough to introduce you to a cat in need. Furthermore, when she’s willing to stalk you and get off on your angry reactions… well, that’s pretty darn unique. Anyway, this cat, Micchi, is a piece of work. I don’t know how he expects a human to help him learn to catch sparrows, but that’s the type of crap Junpei’s gotta deal with to avoid being turned into a cat himself. Oh, and he’s doing it to pick up nekko chicks… ok, just one nekko chick.

However, Junpei’s early attempts at training Micchi go terribly. Partly, because of Micchi’s incompetence. But more because he gets enraptured by the moe queen of the season, Kaede. This is bad news for Junpei, as you could’ve guessed if you saw the intro.

But before we get to Micchi’s treachery, I can’t help but wonder what sort of injuries Kanako suffered while trying to keep up with Junpei and Kaede to require bandages on her stomach. I mean don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice piece of Kanako fanservice, but she must have suffered quite a bit from Kaede’s workout. Or maybe it was due to Nagi’s umm… over-exuberance in checking out Kanako’s personal belongings?

Anyway, in case you didn’t figure it out. Micchi takes Kaede’s most intimate wear and places them in Junpei’s bag. Junpei, who had received Kaede’s handkerchief, and cleaned and ironed it to return it. And while, I would’ve kicked Micchi to the moon for his treachery (bros before hoes only applies for human bros), Junpei is of the more forgiving type, and instead leads Micchi to a classic montage scene. In case, you don’t understand why montages are so important to athletic improvement, you should check out this reference.

The montage works brilliantly for Micchi. Perhaps Kaede needs a montage too. Or at least, she needs to stop asking Kanako and Nagi "weird" questions about boys. Why is that?

Well… neither Kanako or Nagi could be considered normal. And you could probably say that there a little bit reactive… Ok, a lot reactive.

But all’s well that end’s well when Junpei’s otaku friend recollects seeing Micchi stealing Kaede’s bra and taking it to the guy’s locker room. Junpei gets to return the handkerchief properly to Kaede. And Micchi gets buff, catches a sparrow (the bloody details thankfully omitted), and gets the girl (cat). No harm, no foul.

Also, I’m not sure where this scene fits in, but the idea of Kotone’s sister Akari advising her to wait until she’s an adult to peep is pretty hilarious. I don’t think I’ve heard Haruka Tomatsu use her Kotone voice before. It’s quite a treat.

So what’s the likelihood that Junpei will actually end up with Kaede by the end of the year? I’d say about 0%. But perhaps I’ll be shocked. In the meanwhile, I’m really glad to see they’ll be animating some nice Kanako chapters next week. It’s a good chapter. And hopefully, it’ll ease some of the hate for her. because I do think she’s a likeable character.