English Dub Review: Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! “We Want a Thrill Before Christmas!”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Hana is hopeful that Shinichi will invite her over for Christmas. Then, Shinichi and Hana watch a horror movie, and Hana goes drinking with Ami and Sakaki. Finally, Shinichi gets a shocking surprise when he visits his parents during the holidays.

Our Take: 

After putting some thought into it, I can understand why there was a one-week delay for the show a couple of weeks ago. It’s to release its holiday-themed episode during the Christmas weekend. This is actually a pretty good strategy for the series regarding its English dub schedule. With Christmas on the horizon, it makes sense to give us fans a yuletide treat from one of our favorite anime couples to celebrate the occasion. Although, it would’ve been nice if Crunchyroll warned us ahead of time. That’s my only complaint with its release schedule, which quickly gets drowned out by the show’s quality.

The episode moves us away from Hana’s crazy yet hilarious family in favor of her preparing for Christmas with Shinichi. But, of course, as we all know at this point, not even the holiday is safe from their awkwardness and hilarious antics. The first half sees Hana and Shinichi preparing supper at his place while Hana imagines how Shinichi would react toward her. Then, Shinichi asks Hana to take her top off, only to see her wearing his shirt. This upsets Hana, thinking that Shinichi has another reason for that shocking request.

What follows after that is the best part of the episode, where Hana shows Shinichi a horror movie as punishment. However, it immediately backfired when Hana herself became traumatized by the film. It showcases another hilarious reaction from Hana due to Monica Rial’s performance. Additionally, it features a jump scare that pays homage to David F. Sandberg’s horror film Lights Out. The latter almost scared me, by the way.   

The episode’s biggest surprise occurs in its second half, where Shinichi visits his parents, Haruko and Shiro, during his holiday break. Upon arrival, he discovers that his parents birthed his baby sister, Nodoka. This is the first time we see Shinichi’s family aside from Hana’s and Ami’s throughout the entire series. Honestly, I couldn’t think of a better way to introduce Shinichi’s parents than with a Christmas episode. You know, since Christmas is about spending time with the family. However, Shinichi and his parents aren’t on good terms since he hasn’t visited them in two years. Maybe that’ll change when Christmas arrives.

“We Want a Thrill Before Christmas” plays out the same way as the previous episodes involving Hana’s attempt to make Shinichi like her but in a pre-holiday setting. It may be a tad repetitive, but it still succeeds in delivering fun comedy from its awkward scenarios. Christmas is fast approaching, and so is the finale, meaning they have to express their feelings before their time together is up.