English Dub Review: Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie “Misfortune, Followed by Sunshine”

Overview

After receiving movie tickets from Inuzuka, Izumi invites Shikimori-san to go see a movie together. He makes careful preparations to ensure that no accidents happen that would cause trouble for Shikimori… but as always, he faces accident after accident anyway. Still, he manages to arrive on time to meet Shikimori in an incredibly cute outfit! What if she wants to see a romance film and one thing leads to another? Izumi’s imagination runs wild, but he’s surprised by the movie Shikimori herself chooses…


Our Take

This time around Yuu Inuzuka gets free movie tickets, this explicitly calls for a date to the movies with Shikimori. “No more bad luck, prep for the worse!” which is obviously what Izumi is thinking, while Shikimori’s getting the right clothes for the occasion. And indeed, Shikimori looks cutesy and fantastic in her clothes. But it’s selecting the movie that she wants to see, and Izumi ups his boyfriend’s game…just to get all scared by watching a horror movie. I did have a good laugh at least when the Anime went as far as to sort-of parody iconic horror characters such as Leatherface and Pennywise. Then we get to the part where most relationships are inevitably going to experience, the “visiting your family’s house” scenario…

Much to my shock, the proceedings are pretty damn wholesome with Shikimori already calling Izumi’s parents “Mom and Dad”. Normally this would feel like a red flag, but it’s not like the two just met and it’s been previously established that these two have been a couple for years so it’s not as creepy as it sounds. And we also learn that Izumi’s parents are pretty forgiving of his “same old story” of bad luck, given it’s an inheritance that runs in the family. And yeah, it’s great to see some family bonding time between Shikimori and Izumi’s parents for a start, to understand the boyfriend’s side of things and affirm it.

Overall, this was a passable episode that focused mainly on Izumi, which gave the male lead some much-needed character. The Pacing was kind of a drag and the episode while harmless, made me wish there was something with substance here. A cute devoted girlfriend needs not enough to make this interesting. At the very least, I thought it was nice that we get insight into why Shikimori likes him so much, which turns out to be some fairly obvious reasons about Izumi as a character. let’s hope to see more of that side of things as the show continues to progress.