English Dub Review: In the Clear Moonlit Dusk “Another Prince”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Still feeling the excitement from their trip, Yoi helps Ohji out with his requested shopping, where he decides to stupidly make his move on her.

OUR TAKE

We’re in the home stretch of In the Clear Moonlit Dusk’s first (and possibly only) season, and it seems now is a good a time as any for the hypotenuse of this love triangle to shoot his shot. Ohji was a relatively late addition to the story, if only because the bond between Yoi and Kohaku was pretty much just about solidified by the time he showed up, which would make one wonder why he was added in the first place. In my experience watching who knows how many of these sorts of shows, a love rival is typically thrown in to be a viable option that the protagonist may seriously consider because they fill certain qualities that other candidates for their affections don’t OR provide that last sort of push needed (whether intentionally or not) for the protagonist to confirm their choice of their true love. Ohji, as far as we’ve seen him, is a perfectly decent guy as far as we can tell, but of the times we’ve seen him, he doesn’t seem to do anything particularly well that Kohaku doesn’t do better, so that first option is out. And as for being a push for Yoi to fully commit to Kohaku, it more or less seems like she already got there without his involvement.

So, what good is him confessing his feelings now, both in and out of story? Well, while I still don’t think he has a snow ball’s chance in hell of winning her over as anything more than a friend and co-worker, we do get some interesting look into his own experiences with love and making connections with girls, which turn out to be surprisingly similar to what we saw recently with Kohaku’s own flashbacks. Basically, he turned out pretty handsome and caught a lot of attention from girls at his school, but it soon became clear that they weren’t exactly interested in him and more just wanting a cute boyfriend, as whenever he would bring up his niche interests like sports commentary and curry stands, they would tune out. It apparently got so bad that he ended up transferring to an all boy’s school just to get away from it, and while a perpetually single guy like myself raises an eyebrow at a straight guy wanting to avoid that much attention from women, I do understand how numbing it could be try to connect with someone over and over and have them not really want to see you. Apparently this is where Yoi entered the picture, as, just as with Kohaku, this was the first time that Ohji felt compelled to pursue someone on his own initiative. And this turns out to be a surprise to Yoi for multiple reasons, but also the fact that more than one guy actually saw her as a girl. How will she respond and will Kohaku beat his ass? Find out in the penultimate episode!