English Dub Review: More than a Married Couple, but Not Lovers.: “More Than a Nosebleed, but Less Than a Kiss”

Overview: Shiori (Macy Anne Johnson) and Watanabe’s (Lindsay Sheppard) friends each deal with their feelings that are beginning to blossom for Jiro (Ben Balmaceda) as they become closer. 

Our Take: Watanabe and Shiori are all over Jiro in their googly-eyed passions for him growing. How each of their friends console their feelings for him is funny in their unique way with Mei being supportive and passionate of Shiori to pursue him, despite her reservations or Akira’s Gyaru click, Ohashi and Takamiya, provoking her budding feelings for a certain blue haired nerd. With it written all over her face, expectedly as the story pacing goes, Watanabe’s jealousy is becoming plain as day, especially when she comes face-to-face with Shiori and Jiro’s chemistry. What is also obvious is how much Yakuin resembles a tomato in his overwhelming embarrassment and instant regret that befalls us all in misinterpreting a kiss in an absolutely hilarious moment. But also falling victim to Shiori’s ever lovable but shy demeanor, with her chickening out from following through. 

Akira is a tsundere, going from hot to cold at a drop of a dime. It makes her warmer aspects understandably more inviting, especially in the honorary dropping of the last name, in favor of the first one, to show their connection. Thankfully, this particular aspect is not drawn out until the end of time with Jiro able to do it. However, he still befuddles in how dim-wittingly unaware he is of her feelings, despite her carelessness of how she feels and her clear confusion regarding Minami and him. It makes it especially puzzling in how smart and self-aware he is becoming as the protagonist of a romcom. 

To gut-busting effect, thankfully, that stupidity does not extend to matters of the body. Studying for their partner exams, Watanabe’s restlessness makes her the most unbearably delightful tease in her lead pencil fidgeting, but mostly in her  trying to wake up Jiro’s nether region in her scatterbrained tendencies.

When she nails math, she gets the itch to nail something else. Or more specifically bring her cheeky, competitive spirit out to play to dominate him with all her sexy moves. It is utterly hysterical in Jiro reigning in his sexual libido, a cruel opponent indeed, with his over-the-top but oh-so-relatable restrain in using pacifying, randomized thoughts against his natural urges.

Before all their will-they-won’t-they moments can manifest in him sealing the deal with a kiss, the nosebleed rears its ugly head to muck up the moment in cliché romantic undercutting fashion. This serves to remind me what kind of show I am watching. The slow burn will be a constant and there will be more emotional cuts that will continue to stab my heart in and mince their close calls until an eventual climax. 

Feeling neglected as he is doing it all for Shiori, Yakuin’s inclination to help with how much she has carried their score is sweet in doing it for her and Minami too. She pushes back against her feelings in what we all know is the calm before the storm that separates them before inevitably bringing them closer together, turning the page on a new chapter to their pseudo marriage. 

It is not nuanced about its lack of inventiveness in how it approaches their intimacy. To an extent, its predictability works to its advantage in anticipating all the romantic highs and lows that Jiro and Akira will go through, like rewatching your favorite movie for all the defining moments you have come to love.