English Dub Review: A Couple of Cuckoos: “Can we do our morning study sessions together…?”

Overview: Nagi (Nicholas Andrew Louie) and Hiro (Amanda Lee) continue to grow closer and Erika (Lindsay Sheppard) transfers to a new school.  

Our Take: Nervousness about not knowing what will happen next is understandable trepidation that will consume us all at one point or another. It makes his fear in how Hiro will respond to him a relatable one in not being in control that he experiences after she offers to study with him at the school library before homeroom class. Hiro asking to study with him reinforces his hope that she likes him and wants him to save her from her fiancé. I love unraveling more of their shared passions such as studying and collecting shrine stamps, eventually making that into a competition. Hiro proposes daily early morning study sessions and they commit to their new routine. 

Of course, a wrench must be thrown in Nagi’s life because things can never completely go his way. Unexpectedly, Erika transfers to Nagi’s school after being expelled due to the picture she posted with her and Nagi and more meddling from their big wig father. One other aspect of Nagi that continues to make me appreciate him is, as previously stated, how he is not the average dense protagonist, he is emphatic and able to pick up on Erika’s loneliness, despite her social media fame. The two agree not to tell anyone of their engagement. With Erika continuing to be cast out mainly because she is so popular, Hiro takes the initiative to get to know and bond with her, showcasing her kindness and one of the reasons Nagi likes her and why she is so personable. Nagi immediately goes into a paranoid, freak-out mode in the fear of them becoming friends and finding out their relationship to him as he tries to explain beforehand. 

Although, again, Nagi’s kind defining traits that makes him the classically upstanding guy that you can not help but like and enjoy in him putting Erika and her wellbeing above his own desires when thinking about her lack of friends. He stands up for Erika, but misunderstands Hiro’s tears as her being hurt by something Erika said when in reality is just a fangirl for Erika. This just makes me adore Hiro even more about how nerdy she gets about the things she is invested in. Also, Erika is slowly but surely starting to recognize Nagi’s goodness for him, sticking up for her, making their relationship even more intriguing with the love triangle building. And build it with how Hiro invites Erika to join her and Nagi’s early morning study session, much to the soon to be married couple’s unease moving forward.