English Dub Review: Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out “Does Sakurai Want to Hang Out, Too?”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

After their trip to Tottori, Sakurai gets a call from Uzaki to hang out, and Sakurai looks at all of Uzaki’s stuff in his apartment. When she comes over they get to clean out some of the stuff because she brought a frog bean bag over to use when they’re gaming. Then Uzaki cooks for the two of them and Sakurai apologizes thinking that the bag of ingredients in his fridge was unnecessary. At the cafe, Sakurai cooks at the request of Ami and the cafe owner to see if he can help out with the cooking duties. Unfortunately, his cooking is bad and prompts a cooking class with Uzaki and her mom.

As a thank you for the cooking lessons,  Sakurai treats Uzaki to a session of rock climbing. Uzaki struggles while Sakurai is going through it with ease. Uzaki’s frustration turns to anger with Sakurai’s comment and tries to climb the more advanced wall. However, she concedes when it’s apparent that she can’t climb it. Later Sakurai is caught by a drunk Ami and Uzaki doing solo karaoke and after their teasing, they decide to make it up to him by dressing up in cosplay outfits. Sakurai’s comment on the bunny girl outfit has him instantly regret it. Afterward, Sakurai goes over to apologize for his comment when Uzaki says that she can’t hang out with him anymore.

Our Take:

This week’s episode had a lot of events and it shows Uzaki and Sakurai’s relationship at its core with the two of them just hanging out. From the cleanup at his apartment to the rock climbing and karaoke, Sakurai may be irritated at Uzaki’s antics, but she does help him experience new things as mentioned in the fireworks episode. Furthermore, the episode shows their weaknesses like Sakurai’s bad cooking and singing skills to Uzaki’s lack of physical ability. How the two react to the other’s weaknesses is what makes the anime so entertaining to watch. On the other hand, the scene where Uzaki watches Sakurai continuing his rock climbing and her internal comment was a wholesome moment.

The cooking class with Tsuki was conflicting since it’s clear that they still haven’t cleared up the misunderstanding with Tsuki. It was a good scene starting out with a misleading premise that turned out to be the trio making udon. However, Tsuki’s misunderstanding of Sakurai’s words is unnerving to watch since it doesn’t appear to have any impact on Uzaki and Sakurai’s relationship. The drunk karaoke scene was an unexpected surprise with Ami joining in on the fun as the girls teased Sakurai for his solo singing. Sakurai’s comment on Uzaki’s bunny girl costume was alright since it didn’t bring much of a conflict from the drunk Uzaki.

After the drunk karaoke scene, we get that cliffhanger with Uzaki drenched by the rain and saying that she can’t hang out with him anymore while crying. That’s a serious moment that stunned me for a moment with the animation and the calmness in Uzaki’s voice. If you consider how the episode was going with the fun events, getting smacked with that statement really stirs the curiosity and tension on what’s going to happen next.

Now with only one more episode to go, that cliffhanger statement is going to drive the conflict for the last episode. The reason why she can’t hang out with Sakurai anymore has to be a good one. At any rate, I look forward to how the anime will end and I’m crossing my fingers on Uzaki and Sakurai getting together.