English Dub Review: The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague “Lost Again in First Shrine Visit”

Overview (Spoilers Below):
The gang gets together (online) for New Year’s Eve, then makes an outing out of their first shrine visit.

Our Take:
With Halloween and Christmas out of the way, the co-workers are now celebrating the arrival of the new year. I’m surprised we didn’t see the characters do anything for Thanksgiving, but I guess the show doesn’t want our experience to run a bit too long. But, of course, the new year also means new awkward scenarios for these lovebirds to get into, which is always a pleasant sight to see, from my perspective.
The episode’s first segment has the co-workers spending the long holiday from work celebrating the New Year with a video chat. Unfortunately, it isn’t without a sudden embarrassing incident, with Fuyutsuki wearing her high school gym clothes as her pajamas. This is another moment I enjoyed the most from the series because it represents the authenticity of friends hanging out via a video call, complete with backgrounds and custom lenses. Plus, it reminded me of the video chats I did with my family during the pandemic.
It’s also another episode featuring the show’s intention to showcase Fuyutsuki’s beauty through her fashion choices. One of them involves her wearing gym clothes during the video call, which everyone saw while Fuyutsuki showed them her cat. It shows that even high school gym clothes can’t hide the sheer beauty of those wearing them, especially Fuyutsuki. Then, we have Fuyutsuki wearing a kimono dress during the first shrine visit, which looks absolutely stunning from a fashion perspective. Although, it does feel like the series is tip-toeing a fine line between representing Fuyutsuki’s beauty and sexualizing her with her clothing. Hopefully, it stays clear of the latter in the remaining episodes.
The second segment, the shrine visit, follows a similar structure to the show’s sixth episode, “Lost in Amusement Park”. In other words, the co-workers become separated again, but only because of the large crowd attending the visit. Aside from its familiar elements, the second half offers some charming moments that make the characters closer than ever.
The primary examples are Himuro and Fuyutsuki, who become flustered when they hold hands to avoid being separated. Of course, they had held hands before at the beginning of the episode, but that was due to Fuyutsuki warming Himuro’s cold hands with hers. Then, there’s Saejima, who gives Komori a protective charm to cheer her up when she’s sad she can’t hang out with her friends due to helping her parents with the shrine. Based on how they looked at each other, I assume their love is growing even stronger by the minute.
Overall, “Lost Again in First Shrine Visit” continues to provide the show’s wholesomeness and humor in its rom-com vibes. Even though the shrine visit is similar to the characters’ amusement park escapade, it isn’t enough to overshadow the episode with bad luck or even worse luck. Although, the same might not be said for Himuro, who recently discovered that his luck for the new year might go downhill from here.