English Dub Review: Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie “Not Just a Cutie”

Overview

Shikimori is at the mall to buy an outfit for the first date she and Izumi have had in a long time. For some reason, her older brother Fuji, who still treats her like a child, is at the mall with her. Her brother is quite shy around people he’s never met, and before he knows it, he’s surrounded by young women and unsure what to do. Shikimori takes him by the hand and leads him away, which reminds her of how she always used to be the one dragged around by her brother’s hand…. and of the days when she didn’t know what she wanted to do with her life…


Our Take

This time around we have more backstory moments with Shikimori and her brother, and even her with Izumi after the cultural festival to finally have a private date together. It’s also interesting to know how Shikimori used to be before she found something she wanted to do. But fortunately for her, it wasn’t her cuteness that won Izumi over which was a nice way to begin their relationship. The expression she makes when she asked for Izumi’s name was easily one of the highlights for sure. Also Shikimori’s brother Fuji seems like a decent character even if he’s flawed in his own way. But I do like how he helped her realize her independence yet he’s a kind sibling to her, which slowly defined her change into that she is not like him or his mother.

This also delves into the psychology of Shikimori as it emphasizes how Shikimori so badly wants to pursue this “cute girl” image after reading some shoujo manga to attract a “cool guy,” which is ironically the extreme opposite of who Izumi is. While she did grow up with an almost tomboyish lifestyle, Her giving up karate to do whatever she wants is fine by itself, but giving up literally everything about her identity to become the most cookie-cutter anime girl imaginable is one of the worst decisions she could’ve possibly made. Arguably, she escaped her proverbial cage of trying to live up to her brother just to run into another…

Overall, while the sibling relationship between Shikimori and Fuji was interesting and gave us more backstory that helps us understand her better, some bad aspects of this episode overshadow alot of Shikimori’s motivation and leaves the audience no longer understanding what she sees in Izumi anymore. Izumi has a lot of good traits about him, but he doesn’t fit the typical “cool guy” anime mold one bit and the anime gives me the impression that she only likes Izumi despite his feminine traits rather than because of them. With only one episode left, I’m wondering how they could end this on a wholesome note like most romance anime yet it should be challenging knowing what we know now…