English Dub Review: A Centaur’s Life “Beauty Is A Double-Edged Sword | Water People Living in Water And Mountain People Living In Mountains Really Are Just That”

Introducing the merfolk.

Spoilers Below:

“Beauty is a Double-Edged Sword”

Himeno’s mother and her friend get together for lunch. They talk about their personal lives, and then her friend has a proposal.

Nozomi is browsing in a bookstore when she comes across a magazine with Himeno on the cover. Akechi catches her looking at the magazine, and blackmails Nozomi into modeling for her. She says that they aren’t allowed to have part-time jobs and if the administration could kick her out of school if they find out. Wanting to protect Himeno, Nozomi agrees. Nozomi ends up intensely disliking dressing up, but sticks it out for her friend.

The next day, Nozomi confronts Himeno, and after much pressing, Himeno admits she’s been doing modeling on the side, because her mom’s friend is the magazine CEO. She says she’s not interested in continuing, because modeling is embarrassing, and wonders what else she should do. Nozomi finds out that Akechi is also secretly working, but Akechi says that Nozomi won’t tell on her because they’re friends.

“Water People Living in Water And Mountain People Living In Mountains Really Are Just That”

It’s getting cold, and Kyoko says how cold she is. Akechi ends up clinging to the class rep and hiding under her winds. Kyoko gets the idea to lean on Himeno for warmth, and Nozomi follows. To think of warmer times, they recall the spring, when they took a class trip to a school for Waterfolk. Kyoko ended up being very popular with the boys, and everyone found the experience very different than what they were used to.

They run into Koma, carrying his mermaid friend Shizuura, and marvel at how nice they look. Shizuura wishes that she had legs, but Koma tells her not to worry about it. The two run into a group of classmates, who ask Koma why he bothers going through with that. The classmates settle on that because they’re childhood friends, and Shizuura is physically attractive. A commercial play on TV, where a mechanical body has been made for water-folk to walk on land. Shizuura says that she wants it, but decides that it’s too expensive when she sees how dejected Koma looks at the prospect.

Overview:

Akechi is really manipulative, huh. She’s pretty determined in getting what she wants, which is always fun to see. Probably the most open and driven person we’ve seen so far, plus she already has a girlfriend.

We see more species that were mentioned last episodes, specifically the water-folk. The mermaids have to survive in water and don’t have any way to walk on land. As a result, their classroom is totally filled with water for easy accessibility. Shizuura, a mermaid that lives on land, has to be carried around by her best friend. She’s frustrated at her inability to walk and is enchanted by an ad on TV. The ad, interestingly enough, says that water-folk need some way to have equal ground with the mountain folk, implying that there’s some sort of species hierarchy. They don’t expand on it, but something’s definitely up.

On a genre-related note, I’m really tired of the unnecessary fondling that happens in anime like these, and I really hope there’s less of that going forward. Anyone who’s seen more anime knows exactly what I mean. Still not extremely impressed with the content of the show, although it’s been said that the manga is significantly better.

The main trio of Himeno-Nozomi-Kyoko is still just as good as ever, though.