English Dub Review: YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of This World “The Secret Under the White Coat”

Takuya and Eriko team-up to investigate Ryuzoji.

Overview (Spoilers Below):

After the fiasco inside Mount Sankaku last week, Takuya has a new lease on life. He begins investigating Ryuzoji, only to discover that Eriko suspects something as well. Together, they team up to conduct surveillance on the researcher. Later, they go to meet with Ryuzoji’s mother, but someone kills her before they get to her – and it was probably Mitsuki under his mind control.

Our Take:

It’s the twelfth episode of YU-NO, and Takuya has reverted to yet another new timeline. Is this one any better than the last one? Only time will tell, but it’s not a super promising beginning insofar as the same usual flaws are present in this new start. Mainly, Takuya is still super horny and so is the camera. We see tons of totally obtrusive fan service that kind of ruins the mood of the scene. Also, the story is still moving at a snail’s pace, delivering only a fraction of new revelations in the entire 22-minute run-time.

What is Ryuzoji? That’s pretty much the biggest dilemma in the show right now, and we don’t get any real progress towards an answer here. We already know that he uses a weird form of hypnotism called ‘Niarb’, but we find out that he’s also using this technique on Mitsuki. (Although we really could’ve guessed from last week; this is just further confirmation.) Could the man be some kind of alien life-form? Maybe someone else is mind-controlling HIM?

Some other characters featured include Eriko the teacher and Kanna the mysterious transfer student. Eriko has a large part, as it looks like she’s this arc’s lust interest. It’s comical how weirdly she dresses for a teacher, and the scene where she gets stuck in a supply closet with Takuya is completely cringe-inducing. I guess it was interesting to see more sides of her in this episode, like how she’s super acrobatic, has a powerful throwing arm, and somehow knows about Takuya’s time-traveling powers. Kanna only has a small part, which is the same as always. I really hope there is a good explanation and integration for her character eventually.

The English dub this time around is pretty good. Eric Vale turns in some particularly funny line readings as Takuya. And of course, there’s plenty of the usual sultry dialogue on his part: “It’s not an emergency, I just wanted to hear your voice.” Mitsuki’s reaction to one of Takuya’s bad jokes is fun:  “If you can still make jokes like that, you must be fine.” Probably my favorite quote of the episode comes from Yuki; he’s so eager to be helpful! “Ask me anything! I know about all the rumors!” Takuya’s reaction to people sleeping on the floor is hilarious: “Is that some kind of trend now?” 

The Secret Under the White Coat is a pretty standard episode of YU-NO. It’s got a lot of issues, including the same old, same old problem of overt, completely out-of-place fan service and a slow-moving plot that never really rises above being mildly interesting. Still, there are a few funny lines, and some twists, like Ryuzoji’s mother and Eriko knowing about the cycle powers. Here’s hoping next week’s episode can hold onto these positive things and let go of a few boob jokes.