English Dub Review: Karakai Jozu no Takagi-san “Tandem Riding / First Day of Summer Vacation / Test of Courage / Summer Science Project / Water Tap”

Summer break has begun, and Nishikata is planning on enjoying every minute of it – but Takagi has other plans.

Overview (Spoilers Below):

School is officially out for the summer, and everyone is savoring their time-off. Nishikata and Takagi practice riding tandem on her bike, while Mina, Sanae, and Yukari hang out and tease each other about homework. Summer doesn’t last forever, no matter how much Nishikata wishes it did, so the kids enjoy it while they can.

Our Take:

Even though nothing exactly new happened in this episode, it was still enjoyable. The show mixes in just enough wrinkles to the standard segments to keep things interesting. (And even without the variation, I think I’d still like just seeing these kids hang out with each other!)

One of my favorite scenes in episode six was Test of Courage. We haven’t gotten a truly spooky story before, and this one veers in some creepy directions. This is perhaps the closest Takagi has come to going too far in her teasing. Pretending to be ‘spirited away’ in a pitch-black tunnel is pretty intense, especially for the easily-startled Nishikata. That said, even he has to admit he had fun. At the end of this segment, a passing child remarks that they must be another couple on a date, which brings some serious blush to Nishikata’s cheeks. This is definitely the closest they’ve ever come to an actual date: they planned to meet up outside of school, and they went to a place without many people nearby.

This episode was uniformly fun throughout, even when things weren’t focused on our main couple. The three girls have some great bits, even though they don’t actually do much in the episode. Their chemistry is just really fantastic, from the way Yukari knows them well enough to nag them about their summer homework, to Mina and Sanae’s well-rehearsed “Riiight?” catchphrase. Even without the same level of antics as Nishikata and Takagi, these three are interesting to watch because they feel like real friends who have a long history together.

Who knows how long summer break will last in terms of episode count, but I hope we get a pool episode! (Who doesn’t want to see Takagi trick Nishikata into diving off the highest diving board, or going down the scariest water slide?) Regardless of what the future holds, I know I’ll be here enjoying the trip.