English Dub Review: A Couple of Cuckoos: “Who is That Person…?”

Overview: Nagi (Nicholas Andrew Louie), Erika (Lindsay Sheppard), Shion (Brendan Blabber) and Hiro (Amanda Lee) continue to enjoy their study retreat, only for Umino to leave early when he receives some news about Sachi (Bryn Apprill) with a hidden truth on the precipice of being revealed. 

Our Take: Erika drags Nagi on their test of courage not as it has to do with the utmost importance: her commando status under her dress. Besides the hilarity in her losing it over her breezy bits, she more importantly wanted to express her appreciation for meeting him and how she has changed her life. It is definitely retreading old ground but at least we get a small step forward in Nagi openly admitting the same to her and it does not merely run in circles narratively. It is made even better by the fun lightheartedness in their cute banter and each of them scaring one another in vastly different ways during their walk in the woods. 

Having Nagi actually loosen the hell up is also a welcome surprise and gives him even more wholesomeness than he already had in wanting to go on the trip to stargaze, giving him some qualities that are not all about hitting the books. It is a warm, laidback scene with him, the girls and Shion that nicely highlights their friendship in them all teasing him for his love of it. Nagi leaves when he hears Sachi is in the hospital. Sachi is surprisingly sweet and understanding in not wanting Nagi to know about her condition so he would not drop everything to rush to her side and ruin his first fun trip with friends. It is one of the rare occasions that her affection makes her more lovable in how much she cares about him. It does not forgive how vexing of a character she has been up to this point but at least helps put her on the right path. Now she just has to stay there. 

Erika’s understanding of Nagi and his love for his sister creates an interesting issue. Nagi misconceives it as judgment, making him realize that she understands how he feels in who she is still trying to reach through her social media posts. After being teased multiple times and again this time around with Hiro discovering the family portrait of Erika’s family and someone who resembles Nagi, thankfully we’re finally confronting the answer, instead of tediously drawing it out for another two or three arcs. It really heats up the anticipation and direction of how Nagi and Sachi’s relationship and fate will be forever changed as a result, as Hiro and Shion also put their own plans into motion soon making things even more exciting.