English Dub Review: Citrus “love or lie!”

A shady character from Yuzu’s past arrives to shake things up.

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Bubblegum-chewing, headphone-wearing pink-haired punk Matsuri is in town and chasing after Yuzu. Though the two had a sibling-like relationship in the past, it seems like Matsuri might be harboring a serious crush on Yuzu – and she won’t back down, not even from Mei.

Our Take:

In some ways, Citrus upends the stereotypical soap opera tropes by having Yuzu be such a refreshing character. Rather than stewing in unspoken thoughts, she just asks Mei straight-out about their relationship status. But Matsuri’s arrival may be taking things in a more expected/boring direction. While her character is interesting in some aspects, she just stretches believability too far, especially when she corners Yuzu for a kiss just as Mei happens to be approaching. Matsuru is basically an insane stalker at the moment, even going so far as asking out-of-the-blue if classmates kiss each other at Yuzu’s all-girl school. (Yuzu’s spit take is great.)

While the spit-take reaction was hilarious, Yuzu’s reaction to Matsuri’s arrival and subsequent confession are lacking. Despite an initial push to head home and make dinner for Mei, Yuzu lets herself be convinced to take a part in a long karaoke session with Matsuri. We’re never really shown why Yuzu continues to humor Matsuri, so we’ve left to imagine her reasons for ourselves. (Is she just too ‘nice’? Does she feel obligated to Matsuri due to their prior connection?) What’s more, her reaction to Matsuri’s love confession is basically non-existent. Surely, Yuzu has to be somewhat taken aback by this rapid development?

The dub’s main cast continues to be very good overall, but Matsuri’s voice didn’t strike me as particularly well-done or memorable. She just sounds like a stock high-pitched anime girl. The dialogue is still pretty well-written, making conversations sound as natural as they can in a show like Citrus.

This episode, while being entertaining, definitely seems to be taking the show down a dark path. Matsuri is too broad a villain right now; we need more time to get to know what she’s really like behind all the posturing. I’m still holding out hope that Citrus can make her character work, but the show’s writing will have to improve next week. No matter what happens with Matsuri, at least we’ll always have Mama Harumin on our side!