English Dub Review: Aharen-san wa Hakarenai “Isn’t That a Little Too Heavy?”

Overview (Spoilers Below):
Exams are coming up, and Raido is hoping on Aharen’s tutelage to improve his test scores.

Our Take:
The exams are one of the most challenging things to go through in school. Luckily, we have Raido and Aharen’s next series of comical misadventures to keep us calm. Studying isn’t required, but being adored by their shenanigans is.
Before we face the pressures of taking the exams, the episode showcases another set of mishaps for the two students, including Aharen’s obsession with the online game HokeKo. HokeKo is a satirization of the popular mobile game “Pokemon Go”, continuing the show’s streak of representing modern trends in anime. It also features the return of Futaba and Akkun, the two children from last week’s episode, with the former attempting to win a stuffed toy for Akkun. Then, Raido and Aharen ran into some issues with their weight, resulting in Raido performing exercise tactics to help her with her self-esteem. Finally, Raido and Aharen help the other students clean the classroom the day before the exams.
As usual, the episode retains the charm that the previous ones offered. I know that I’ve been saying that many times since the show started, but there was no other way to describe how entertaining its quirkiness has been. Even with its episodic formula, the episode still succeeds in providing a mixture of cuteness and awkwardness to the characters.
Unfortunately, I did find it a small step backwards from last week’s episode. One of the reasons is Futaba, who’s constantly jealous of Aharen when Akkun is impressed by her fidget spinner tricks. Similar to Oshiro, Futaba has a personality that’ll likely annoy people who don’t like these types of characters. I’m basically one of the people who are tired of bratty kids in movies and television shows. Thankfully, Futaba is a bit tolerable in this episode, mainly in the crane game segment.
The segment involving Raido’s weight didn’t get as many chuckles from me as the others, but it was weirdly amusing to see the obese version of the character. The only good parts of the comedy are Raido’s surprising defeat from Aharen in HokeKo and him believing that she’s a part of an assassin family due to her expert cleaning skills. But, of course, the cherry on top of this sundae comes from the end of the episode. After studying together for countless hours, Aharen hugs Raido while explaining to him that she’s happy to do something to help him since he’s done a lot to assist her with her problems.
That scene alone further signifies the strong bond between two distinct students. Even though they have trouble understanding each other sometimes, Raido and Aharen do what they can to help each other, no matter what. Their friendship has been the best part of the show so far, and this week’s episode should count as another reason for that argument. Not even the exams are enough to strain this seemingly unbreakable bond.