English Dub Review: Adachi and Shimamura “Love That Embraces the Holy Mother: Marigold”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

It’s finally Valentine’s Day, and Yashiro shows up at Shimamura’s to demand chocolate for the holiday.

At school, Adachi frets about her sweets exchange with Shimamura. Shimamura, for her part, assures Adachi she’s brought the candy along with her. Adachi fantasizes about being Shimamura’s puppy.

After school, Adachi asks if Shimamura wants to head to Nagoya. She confesses it’s because she still needs to buy Shimamura her chocolates, and figured they’d be fresher the day of.

The two hop on the train, barely making it in time. They play Shiritori to pass the time.

Adachi buys Shimamura chocolates and gifts them to her. Shimamura reveals the chocolates she bought came from Nagoya as well, and that she just bought them yesterday.

A flashback reveals that she met up with Tarumi in Nagoya for this secret shopping trip. Despite feeling somewhat awkward with her old friend, Shimamura does remember the nickname she used to call her and shouts it out as they depart at the end of the day.

Back in the present, Adachi and Shimamura stop to watch declarations of love on an LED screen just as a message from Shimamura pops up. Adachi is shocked, but Shimamura nonchalantly reveals that she submitted in to the contest Shaman Taoka (Sandra Espinoza) was running. She never expected it to actually show up, but is thrilled they got to see it together.

Adachi is overcome by her emotions, and hugs Shimamura aggressively. Shimamura bans “hug attacks”. Adachi clarifies that they can hug if she asks first.

Shimamura says yes, and they agree to hug “to warm up”. Adachi slips during this attempt, but enjoys it nonetheless.

Our take:

Despite the dramatic title for this episode, it’s relatively uneventful.

Sure, we finally get to see the long-awaited chocolate exchange between the two protagonists. And Adachi even goes in for a (somewhat ill-fated) hug. Shimamura’s thoughtfulness with the sign, and her reveal that she also watches Shaman Taoka’s show seem to indicate that maybe these two are fated to be together after all.

But the real drama from this episode comes from Shimamura’s pre-Valentine’s rendezvous with Tarumi. Despite Shimamura’s ambivalence about her feelings for Adachi, her time with Tarumi can’t help but feel a bit scandalous. Especially when she remembers the nickname she used to call her (Tatu) and shouts it out as they’re leaving.

While the nickname itself mostly inflicts “All the Things She Said” flashbacks for this former t.A.T.u. fan, the onscreen interaction itself seems to hint at a closeness that just feels…wrong. The parallels between her trip on the train with Tarumi vs. her trip on the train with Adachi seem to further underscore romantic potential between both pairs, but obviously I’m on team Adachi for this one.

Adachi has a lot of moments in this particular episode where she seems overwhelmed by her emotions to the point of nearly fainting. But if she was aware of Shimamura and “Tatu”s day out together, I really think that would do it tbh.

Alexis Tipton (aka Hinata from That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime) does a fantastic job of portraying Tarumi as just sympathetic enough to feel a bit bad when she inevitably loses out to Adachi. Her voice is sweet without being syrupy, and somehow even seems to have a nostalgic tinge to it.

Overall, it’s a very sweet episode. Even if it seems to be setting Tarumi up for a bitter defeat. But that’s for a later episode!