English Dub Review: Karakai Jozu No Takagi-san “Who’s Taller? / I Hate the Cold / Invitation / Two-Choice Question”

“If you’re not going out with her, then why are you walking home with her for like the hundredth time?”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Only two more episodes remain, and Nishikata is determined to get the last laugh on Takagi. If he keeps running into utility poles and apologizing to them, though, I doubt if he’s gonna make any progress on that front. As Nishikata and Takagi spend more and more time together, their classmates become curious about their official relationship status. Does walking home together every day mean they’re a couple? Nishikata can’t quite come to accept this yet… but he’d still rather kiss her than fail all tests for the rest of his life.

Our Take:

This was a very nice episode! The first segment started us off on a rather boring note, with a predictable teasing effort that we’ve seen many times before, but saving Takagi’s final jab about the pole until the end capped it off in a cute way. (Running into a utility pole and then apologizing to it is a perfect encapsulation of Nishikata’s character, right?)

I Hate The Cold is a rather short and simple gag, but it is effective. It works because it’s based on the relationship between Yukari, Sanae, and Mina that we’ve seen over the course of the series. Not only is it fun to see the three of them teasing each other, but it’s very relatable to anyone who has had the ‘pleasure’ of getting cold hands shoved into your face.

Two-Choice Question is the funniest segment in a few episodes, I think. Though it takes place on their usual walk home, the creativity of the questions Nishikata and Takagi throw at each other make it very entertaining. It also continues to show us just how much of a couple they already are – whether they’ll ever officially acknowledge it or not. (The quick cuts back and forth between Takagi’s kissable lips and Nishikata’s blushing shock definitely had me in stitches.)

As for the dub, Aaron Dismuke absolutely killed it this episode. He got to do a lot of super over-the-top hilarious line deliveries, and he pulled them all off wonderfully. From the repeated, “Yeah, sure.”, to this gem: “Feel the unease. I want to see your face contorted with conflicting emotions!”

And that’s the tenth episode, folks. While it hasn’t necessarily exceeded my expectations in any way so far, Karakai has been a fairly consistently funny show, with a lot of heart beneath its jokes. It’s still too early to tell if the show is consciously planting the seeds for a more romantic finale, but it’s clear even to their classmates that Nishikata and Takagi definitely have something beyond ordinary friendship going on.