English Dub Review: Convenience Store Boy Friends “February”

Bad plot twists.

Overview:

Mashiki is in a coma following the incident on the bridge, and her friends are worried about her. Mishima is so stressed out over her condition that it starts to affect his daily life. As he spends more time in the hospital, he discovers something surprising about Mashiki.

Our Take:

It turns out that Mashiki had a twin sister, who Mishima was in love with all along. Mashiki’s twin was the one who attended Mishima’s kindergarten and gave him the book and was the one he’d been looking for this whole time. Mishima realizes this but understands that he has feelings for Mashiki, not her dead sister. He acknowledges that Mashiki’s sister had a huge impact on his life, and was the reason he sought out Mashiki in the first place, but the feelings he has towards Mashiki are real.

Good for him, except this plot twist came out of absolutely nowhere.

The only hints we might have had were that the name on the picture book had been smudged, and Mashiki had a negative reaction to Mishima telling her about the picture book. That’s it. Nothing else. Compare this with, say, Mawaru Penguindrum, which had identity mixups that were played out far in advance and while allegorical overall, made sense. Mashiki’s sister came out of nowhere, and we’re still supposed to have a great impact when Mishima makes his choice? No, we’re not. Mashiki’s sister is a mystery character the narrative didn’t need whatsoever because Mashiki has her own things going on. She conceals her illness, which adds an air of mystery, and is the largest source of stress in this episode. That’s enough tension causing on its own, so having an out-of-nowhere identity crisis is completely unnecessary.

Not to mention that as soon as Mishima affirms his feelings for Mashiki, suddenly he’s able to concentrate and be more optimistic and feel better about himself again because he’s totally in love with the same girl! Not that Mashiki is still in a coma or anything, but validating your own feelings can basically alleviate any stress! I don’t think so.