English Dub Review: Tying the Knot with an Amagami Sister “The Real Reason For Staying Up Late ~Connections~”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Uryu and Yae try to find alone time to discuss Reiko Ichijoji, but group antics lead to them getting separated. When he tries to get back to her, Uryu finds himself back in the past as a child, the very day he met Reiko and saved her from her controlling mother.

OUR TAKE

We’re onto the second part of this three parter and we have all but confirmed that Reiko Ichijoji is in fact Yae. I already went on a bit of a tangent about the Surprise Childhood Friend trope that we’re diving into here, but let’s use this part as a chance to think on what this means within the story. We’ve been told pretty clearly that the Amagami sisters’ mother who looked after them and the shrine was someone of never ending kindness and warmth whom they have admired and tried to live up to even after her death. That does not match up AT ALL with what we see of Reiko Ichijoji’s mom, who is so domineering of her daughter that she would send legions of armed men out to retrieve her and threaten her with what is basically imprisonment. So, unless Yuna and Asahi are remembering things VERY differently, it seems Yae may not be their biological sister…which is odd in another way since she at least shares a hair color with her adopted mom. Or maybe we’ll learn they’re all adopted so they can all share something else in common with Uryu. Like dang, I know that “the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb” but I’ve never seen a story be outright AGAINST blood connections.

As for Uryu, his attempts to get answers are basically held up by the fact that all three sisters are all totally crushing on him now and all trying to get time alone with him while also jealous of any time one of their sisters is with him. This can be funny…for a bit, but after seeing as many harem comedies as I have, it is much more likely to become tiresome very quickly. Not to mention I am becoming increasingly aware of the fact that there aren’t any male recurring characters, or really any peers whom Uryu can just be friends with without risking romantic drama, and Makoto is most definitely not going to be friends with him anytime soon, so bro is just alone. But more importantly, he is also flung back in time, I guess so that he can remember meeting Yae in the past instead of just talking to her about it because…it’s dramatic? He’s had visions of the future before this but this is both the first time he’s seen something relating to the past AND the first time he’s been sent there, as well as losing his memories of the present. Perhaps we’ll see what the heck this all means next time when we conclude this three parter and officially step into the second half of the season! That’s right, we’re only half done!