English Dub Review: Aharen-san wa Hakarenai “Isn’t That Overdoing It?”

Overview (Spoilers Below):
A fixation on rap music leads to a breakthrough in Raido and Aharen’s friendship, but an obsession with fidget spinners threatens to ruin both their lives.

Our Take:
Another week means another series of attempts for Raido to develop his friendship with Aharen. This episode sees them in another uncomfortable situation, as their romance-obsessed teacher Ms. Tobaru believes they’re emotionally linked. Then, after failing to learn facial expressions from Raido, Aharen discovers hip-hop music and immediately becomes a rapping pro. This led Raido to learn to communicate with her through rapping until their microphones got confiscated. Finally, Aharen becomes obsessed with Raido’s fidget spinner he got from his sister. After showing off her spinning skills to the young kids, including Akkun, Aharen immediately winds up in hot water as a jealous young girl named Futaba (Jill Harris) challenges her to a game of Reversi.
It was pretty interesting to see the show introduce modern traditions for Raido and Aharen to experience. Last week’s episode, “We’re Changing Seats, Huh?”, saw the two become online stars through YouTube, although it didn’t pan out the way Raido wanted. This episode has Aharen showcasing some impressive tricks with a fidget spinner, a popular toy that’s been winning children over for a while. That moment with the spinner has to be one of my favorite parts of the show because it humorously represents the obsession of playing with a simplistic device as a fidget spinner without relying on its tropes.
But, of course, the episode has some other great segments that helped make it the best of the season so far. One of them is Ms. Tobaru being overcome by passion twice despite her stern personality. However, it can’t compete with the sequence involving Raido teaching Aharen to be more expressive when she choked on some food. What made it hilarious for me is that they both have one facial expression, even when Aharen puffs up her face like an overblown pufferfish. So it seemed pretty pointless for them to learn something they comically lack.
Overall, this episode got the most laughs from me compared to the previous ones. It has the same formula as before, but I still didn’t mind it. As long as it retains the charm in its awkwardness and adorable characters, I would be okay with it lasting for an entire season.