English Dub Review: Adachi and Shimamura “Isosceles Triangle”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Shimamura texts Adachi, who hasn’t show up at school after running off unexpectedly from Shimamura’s house. She worries Adachi may be ignoring her.

She heads to class, where Hino (voiced by Sarah Anne Williams, who Kill la Kill fans may recognize as Nonon Jakuzure) and Nagafuji have commandeered her desk. She asks where Adachi is, and Hino responds she heard she had a cold.

Nagafuji (Monica Rial, aka Bulma in Dragon Ball Super) comments she figured Shimamura and Adachi would’ve been together. Shimamura protests, saying they’re not *always* together. Nagafuji counters that it seems like they’re joined at the hip.

Hino presses Nagafuji to tell Shimamura about the “weird kid” that stopped by the store where she works. Shimamura texts Adachi saying she’s thinking about stopping by later.

While following a hand-drawn map, she encounters a cheerful young girl with blue hair. Shimamura doesn’t recognize Yashiro (who gets her cheery, childish trills from Sarah Wiedenheft, also known as Azusa in Orange) until she gets her helmet.

After explaining that she’s abandoned her spacesuit to fit in (and avoid being dissected) Yashiro demands donuts, says it’s fate that brought them together, then runs off to “secure her evening sustenance.”

Finally free from her journey’s interruption, Shimamura continues to Adachi’s house. When she knocks on the door, Adachi answers in her pajamas, and is shocked. She slams the door shut, yelling for Shimamura to give her 15 minutes.

Shimamura remarks that she messaged before she came over, but Adachi explains that she keeps her phone in her bag, which she left at Shimamura’s house. Shimamura asks if that’s why she didn’t come to school, with a cheeky “what’s a star student without her books, am I right?” Adachi gets up the courage to ask if Shimamura wants to do something fun with her on Saturday.

Back at Nagafuji’s house, Hino is lazing around under the kotatsu. Nagafuji is slightly annoyed, but thinks back to when they were kids. She kisses Hino on the forehead, like they used to when they were younger.

Adachi is running to meet Shimamura, who’s sitting by a large Christmas tree talking to Yashiro. Adachi and Yashiro introduce themselves, and Yashiro joins them for the day. The three go to a restaurant, and all sit on the same side of the booth. They then continue to bowling, where Adachi and Yashiro duel for Shimamura’s attention.

Our Take:

Being able to watch this episode immediately after “Adachi Question” gave it a little more continuity than watching the each episode stand alone. This “micro binge” approach helped highlight Shimamura’s reaction to Adachi suddenly leaving, as well as her general thoughts about relationships.

Shimamura puts on a brave face, but she seems to harbor some deep fears about hurting someone or getting hurt in relationships. Despite never having dating anyone, or at least any guys, she seems terrified about loneliness and boredom, constantly yearning for a satisfying interaction (that can seemingly only come from Adachi.)

This internal conflict (and Shimamura’s possible depression?) are sure to be explored further as this series progresses, I was surprised by a few things this episode.

The first was that Yashiro, despite clearly being the annoying younger sibling comic relief character (complete with catchphrases like “this is Yashiro, blasting off!”) was a source of jealousy for Adachi. While it doesn’t quite verge into worrisome possessiveness, I wasn’t expecting her insecurities to get so riled up by their unexpected extraterrestrial third wheel.

The second was Shimamura telling Adachi she can call her “big sis”, if she wants to. It kind of tied in to Shimamura’s response to Yashiro joining them on their date, assuring Adachi she’s used to hyperactive kids because of her little sister. Adachi asking if she’s like a little sister seems mostly in line with her generally being the one to move the relationship forward, although it’s unclear at this point if Shimamura meant big sis/onee-chan for general closeness or with Connotations. Her reaction when Adachi first calls her this way seems to imply the later. I realize this, along with the senpai/kohai dynamics common in anime are mostly terms of respect and/or endearment that can both imply the possibility of and later simply be used in relationships, but it still always gives me a touch of the “ick” factor. I can only hope it’ll be used sparingly once things start to heat up.

The third was the introduction of potential romance between Hino and Nagafuji. While I’m certainly not opposed to them as couple, I was generally expecting them to be almost exclusively hindrances and/or commentators on Adachi and Shimamura’s relationship, rather than a secondary romantic storyline. It might be unrealistic to expect shows to not eventually give all of their characters a match, but I guess I’m mostly just surprised that it happened so soon.

Visually, this episode managed to switch things up a bit, with the official reveal of Yashiro’s character design (notably her now “finished” face), along with the stylized backgrounds and reactions other characters have to her dramatic introductions, or general weirdness. The bowling montage was surprisingly intense and colorful, considering how mild on action the actual sport, and the portrayal in this episode is. Turns out rivalry can make even the most mundane things interesting.

In addition to the potential for new settings and secrets, there’s plenty of slow burn to come for the romantic journeys of both potential couples. Here’s hoping it stays interesting, without relying too hard on Yashiro for goofiness.