English Dub Review: The Helpful Fox Senko-San “I’ll Make You Forget All About It”

It’s summer! We’ve got our beach episodes on and we’re ready to f**king party–

Overview

Nakano starts his day excited because work has given him a summer break — for only one day. While he and Senko are initially sad they won’t have time to do anything, Shiro appears and brings them all to a secret beach. She even invites Koenji (who she knocks unconscious so that she won’t remember going through the portal.) Shiro and Koenji immediately start playing around, prompting Nakano and Senko to realize how close they’ve gotten. They all have a volleyball match, where Shiro and Koenji go up against Nakano and Senko. While both make good teams, Senko winds up losing the match because she strains her back.

They start to get hungry when Koenji reveals that she brought a barbeque grill (among other things she bought on an online shopping binge with Shiro.) They simultaneously realize they have no food, so Nakano goes in search of some. He happens upon a mysterious shack where an unknown, mystic woman gifts him with plates full of seafood and steaks. He wants to reject the offer, but she disappears before he can refuse.

He brings the food back to the crew. Senko remarks that the woman could have been inhuman, since the beach lies between their realms. They have a wholesome barbeque/fireworks show and Senko encourages Nakano to focus on enjoying moments instead of focusing on how good things end. The mysterious woman looks on (mischievously.)

Our Take

One would think, with a show like this, that a beach episode could go really, really wrong. There are two centuries-old characters who look like twelve-year-olds, with one described as “a loli but legal” in a previous episode (yes, this has been mentioned several times, no, we’re not letting it go.) However, in a surprising turn of events, “I’ll Make You Forget All About It” was pleasantly wholesome! There were no panty shots, no undone swimsuits, and no jiggle physics! (By the way, in case it wasn’t obvious: THE BAR IS ON THE GROUND.)

Genuinely, though, it was nice to see the cast interact as a family — tied up with a pretty great life lesson, too. It seems we’re finally going to get to formally meet the token Big Titty Fox Lady, soon. Her interference does raise some questions. What does she want with Nakano? How involved was she with his ancestors? Does she have spine problems from her absolutely nonsensical Triple-E knockers? It would be easy to get into complaints about her character design, but honestly, it’s just a breath of fresh air to see a century-old fox girl actually look like an adult (again, can’t stress this enough, we are smashing that bar into the ground. The standard for acceptability is literally this low.)

This begs an additional question: even with episodes like these, is it even possible for The Helpful Fox Senko-San to develop away from its defining, terrible trait? It would be different if the only thing to tackle was the subservient-ness of Senko, because that could be taken care of with character development. Character design, however, isn’t something anyone can really wiggle out of. Even with adorable scenes and pretty animation, The Helpful Fox Senko-San made its own bed with its character design, and now — no matter how pleasant some things are — it needs to lie in it.

For this episode, though, credit needs to be given where it’s due.

(On one final point of contention: an “over 9000” joke? In 2019? Really, dubbers? At least try a little harder than that to be hip. Even “my body is ready” was better than that. Y’all can do better.)