English Dub Review: Citrus “my love goes on and on”

Yuzu and Mei finally express their true feelings to each other in the satisfying finale series finale of Citrus.

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Knowing that Yuzu is also in love with Mei, Sara can’t bring herself to interfere any longer. With Sara’s blessing, Yuzu tracks down Mei at a shrine and (in an appropriately dramatic fashion) confesses her love. When the four girls meet back up, Sara gives Mei a special secret mission. Our main heroines bid goodbye to Sara and Nina, and head back home themselves. The future for Yuzu and Mei may be unclear, but for now they’re content to figure it out as they go.

Our Take:

Well, this was a pleasantly-sweet surprise of an ending. I kept holding my breath, waiting for the inevitable return of an arch nemesis or the shocking unveiling of a dark secret. To its credit, Citrus was able to put its usual soapy substance aside and give us a pretty happy finale.

I ended up really loving Sara’s character, and how she was the driving force between Yuzu and Mei’s eventual reunion. Being able to sacrifice your own feelings in favor of a friend’s takes a lot of inner strength. Luckily, Sara has plenty to spare. While I didn’t enjoy Nina as much, at least she never came off as intently antagonistic as Matsuri. Harumin and Momokino’s bromance was fun to see, as Mama Harumin dragged the Vice President around to countless statues and shrines.

Yuzu and Mei’s climactic finale was very good, but not without its flaws. The whole setup was great, with a beautiful setting (evening at the shrine) and a revealing inner monologue from Yuzu (she had been putting her own feelings over Mei’s). However, the actual confession felt a little off coming after this admission from Yuzu. If she now knows to consider Mei’s feelings, it strikes me as strange that she’d insist on making Mei hear her confession against her will. What’s more, Yuzu seemingly forces an actual kiss on her sister after Mei merely offered up her stuffed animal. (At least we got one last completely consusal kiss to finish off strong.)

The dub finishes on a strong note, with some good performances from our two leads, and a great observation from Harumin: “It’s been crazy since hurricane Yuzu blew in – but I kinda think that’s what makes her so awesome.” Another cute exchange happened between Yuzu and Mei: “You know that’s my hand, right?” Yuzu says, shocked that Mei would reach for it. “I’m aware,” Mei answers dryly.

This was a very good ending to a not-entirely-good show. Yuzu’s development in this final episode was welcome to see, and her final confession definitely gave me a few butterflies. Mei, on the other hand, still has plenty of issues to work out – but that feels like a realistic ending. Things aren’t perfect for the two of them yet, but they’re going to face whatever comes next together. Citrus wasn’t always an enjoyable watch, but sometimes you have to take the lemons with your lemonade.

Score: 9/10