English Dub Review: Miss Caretaker Sunohara-sou “High School Girl, Swimsuits, Summer Break”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Aki just can’t seem to win. As if dealing with everyone else’s teasing and fawning isn’t enough, he finds himself instantly becoming the target of a new girl, Nana’s, affections. The plot twist? She’s Ayaka’s baby sister. Much to Aki’s dismay and discomfort, Nana isn’t coy in her pursuit of him, so he finds himself in several suggestive (and awkward) situations. Later, Ayaka takes Aki and the girls to a public pool to teach him how to swim. Instead of learning his backstrokes, Aki, yet again, finds himself in a tense situation.

Our Take

The only saving grace of this episode was Nana, and that was only when she wasn’t acting like a pervert. She has a fun, boisterous personality who probably could’ve been an interesting character if she were anything more than bait for Aki’s libido. Still, proper thanks to Sarah Wiedenheft for her portrayal of the character. The energy (and her valley-girl impersonation) she invests in the character is probably the only thing inhibiting me from giving this episode an even lower score than I probably intended. Yet that isn’t enough to save this anime from the disaster that it is. There’s still no coherent narrative and lacks the heart and character development needed for a slice-of-life series. Unless being salacious is a personality trait.