English Dub Review: Masamune-kun’s Revenge “Attack! Battle of the Home Visits”

Where Masamune shows just how much of a moron he is.

Spoilers Below

Kiss. Aki Adagaki demands a lip-lock as proof of his feelings. A song from the heart, a pull into osculation station to match the pool’s ocean motion, draw an emotional doodle whilst they canoodle…you get the idea. Masamune is stunned! This isn’t supposed to happen! He was supposed to have won her heart first, then reject her when she goes in for their first smooch. This is way too early in the “Love or Die Plan” to engage in tonsil hockey when he hasn’t even secured her feelings! He falters, and she calls him out on it, saying he would have jumped at the chance if he meant what he was saying. She starts to leave, but he pulls her back in the pool. He’ll do it if it will mean getting his revenge. He just has to get over hating her. Masamune goes in for, as the French say, “galocher”. First Base! First Base!

Apparently, though, Aki is not playing baseball or tonsil hockey but has demonstrated her boxing acumen with a right and proper uppercut to his chin for a TKO. He gets launched acroWhere Masamune shows just how much of a moron he is.toss the pool, but takes it like a trooper, snapping back to demand an explanation. She doesn’t have one. Just as he couldn’t explain why he was reaching to stop her from leaving, she couldn’t explain why she couldn’t stand his lips on hers. I’ll give you a hint, Adagaki. It’s called feminine intuition. The two are interrupted by the swim team, and they part ways. Good, I was running out of kissing jokes.

Masamune runs into Neko out in the yard while drying off. She gives him a blend of hot tea with pickled plum designed to combat a chill. She then begins advising a number of vitamin supplements with patented absorption formulas. He isn’t all that much for vitamins, preferring to get his nutrients primarily from food. Then, he decides to spring a trap. Aki’s question “Why do you like me?” would be a perfect way to get this beautiful interloper to leave him alone. As soon as she answers, he’d be able to see right through her and end this charade that is messing up his chances with Aki.

“It’s your humility. You really have no idea how amazing you are. You really just need confidence.” This cuts him to his heart and is the one answer he can’t dissect. It’s so honest and clean. He writes it down to give to Aki later. (Insert reviewer loudly sighing in exasperation.)

Courtesy: Funimation

Yoshino follows Neko, aptly dubbed Commando Girl, trying to figure out what she’s up to. After getting caught by Neko’s valet, Yoshino tries to play the innocent and demure routine to get off the hook. Neko sees right through her and claims that her reasons for going after Masamune is because he saved her. Yoshino isn’t buying it. Before either of them can really discuss the issue, another figure appears. Masamune’s mom, fresh from grocery shopping, recognizes their uniforms and invites (read as “kidnaps”) the girls back to her house to teach her how to make fried shrimp. Masamune comes home to find his conspirator and his saboteur in the kitchen with his mother, cooking. He wonders if this is their doing, or if it was a plan by his mother, whom he calls the Loli Hag. Okay, that line got me.

He drags Yoshino upstairs for an interrogation, and he starts hiding evidence of his revenge plan. She points out that half the room is consumed with workout equipment, a sure sign that he’s vain. He explains that it isn’t vanity. If you’re trying to stay hot, it takes vigilance. A single ounce can easily become a pound if your let i-what is Neko doing in his room? Admiring his “Bedrooms by Planet Fitness” decor, apparently. Dinner is ready and true to his mother’s style, it’s all high-calorie, carb-bonanza foods. He begins scraping the breading off. Beside him, Neko takes only the salad portions and a full, three-course meal of vitamin supplements. His mother scolds them, saying food is meant to be enjoyed, but his sister notes just how alike the two of them are.

After dinner, Masamune’s family take advantage of the clear summer afternoon for a festival all their own, complete with yukatas, fireworks, and watermelon spitting. Yoshino admits she has a fear of fireworks, ever since Adagaki strapped her to a bundle of them for a misguided moonshot experiment. She couldn’t see or hear for a week. Wow, that’s… dark. While she plays with a few of the safer ones, Masa admires the rest of the scene. He wonders if, had he not been going after revenge on Aki, would he have fallen for Neko instead? While he walks her to a cab, Yoshino warns him not to fall for her spell.

Wait, what’s this after the credits? A stinger? Masamune really does try Neko’s line on Aki. Oh, my. Oh, that’s not going to go well. She proceeds to berate him. She understands just how amazing she is, and she isn’t humble at all about it, so the line is obviously one that someone tried on him. She calls him out for being a vain moron. Serves him right. And Yoshino agrees with me.

This episode was a little slower than the last, and I’m fine with it. We now get a bit more time with Yoshino and Neko, and get a little more development of their characters in subtle ways. They’re both playing advanced games of chess, and the subterfuge going on there is exquisite. This is only further underlined by the good-and-getting-better dub voices. Monica Rial is doing a superb job of depicting Yoshino’s two sides separately as a single person and makes her a perfect foil for Neko’s nerdy ingenue facade that never drops. Megan Shipman doesn’t let Neko sound different, even in places where she could be playing a role. This just makes it hard to figure out if she really is telling the truth. The humor was great, and many of the pokes and jabs were really well translated to keep their meaning. In the Japanese, Yoshino called Neko the “Panti-less Girl”. The localization team went with “Commando Girl”, which seems to carry the same tone of disdain as the original, but makes sense to American audiences. The Loli Hag joke was brilliant. Animation in this episode isn’t all that different than the last five, and I’m not seeing any more errors. Altogether, I give this episode eight firework moon-trips out of ten.

SCORE
8.0/10