There has already been an episode where we got to know Rin a little better. This is an episode totally focused on Rin and her family, however. This really, really rounds out the episodes focused on the individual characters (or should). And Rin’s sister still concerns me…
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This episodes starts out with Ikuto, who is wandering around lost, walking into Rin taking a bath at the foot of some waterfalls. Rin screams at Ikuto to get away in embarrassment, but Ikuto, in his eternal knowledge of tactfulness, runs up to Rin and tells her that’s how a girl is supposed to react. Rin, not impressed with the up-close complement when she just told him to get away, punches him half-way across the island.
Once Rin catches up to where Ikuto landed, she apologizes and says that she hates being seen naked by anyone. She also asks Ikuto if he can help her out at work the next day. Ikuto accepts as a way to pay Rin back to help Ikuto get un-lost. Suddenly Rin’s sister Mikoto pops out and tries to cling to Rin and warns Ikuto that she won’t let him leave unharmed if he comes the next day, but Rin just heel-drops her sister.
That night, Suzu says that she’ll come along to help too. Ikuto wonders if she’ll have time, but Suzu just says that she’ll get the chores done early. Meanwhile, at Rin’s house, the household appears to consist of Rin, Mikoto, their mother, their grandmother, a giant squirrel, a monkey, and some sort of bird. They are also crazy eaters, finishing off all the food on the table in seconds. Rin also tells the group that Ikuto is coming over to help the next day. Rin’s mother sees this as an opportunity for Rin to woo Ikuto into becoming her husband. Rin’s mother and grandmother also basically tell her to get in the sack with Ikuto if she has the chance too.
The next day Suzu and Ikuto arrive at Rin’s place to help out. The job of the day is to finish a house before the day is over with because it looks like it will rain the next day. Ikuto says he’s never worked on a house before, so Rin’s mother (as part of her plot to get Rin and Ikuto together) tells Ikuto to work with Rin so he can train up.
After Ikuto goes off with Rin, Mikoto slides over to Suzu and says that she’s concerned that Rin and Ikuto are getting too close (hoping to trigger some sort of jealous reaction from Suzu I’m guessing). However, Suzu appears to be oblivious to the idea of what romantic love is. While Mikoto isn’t fully successful in getting her point across, it does look like she finally made Suzu ponder the situation some.
Rin and Ikuto start to work. During their work, Rin’s rather open robe distracts Ikuto multiple times. But this makes Ikuto wonder: if Rin doesn’t like people seeing her nude, why does she wear such an exposing outfit?
Most of the rest of the episode consists of either Mikoto trying to get in Rin and Ikuto’s way, usually by throwing various things at Ikuto like hammers and throwing stars, or by Rin being clumsy despite her attempts to impress Ikuto.
Finally, Mikoto and Ikuto’s showdown results in a duel where they try to beat the other in finishing the house first, both competing until the end because neither would give up.
That night, everyone sits down to eat a dinner that Rin prepared. Her mother also get rather drunk and starts blathering about Ikuto and Rin getting married (to which Rin about faints over).
Finally, back at home, while Ikuto is sleeping, Suzu wonders if she has “fallen in love” (while horribly mispronouncing the term several times in her attempt to remember what it was).
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This episode kind of goes back to the roots of the story - girls deprived of males their entire lives try to jump on their chance to marry the one that does show up. This was a pretty good episode, and the series appears to have solidified itself in the land of overall mediocracy. I don’t necessarily mean that in a bad way - this series could have been much, much worse, and is fairly good for a harem anime I though - it’s just that I’m not necessarily a harem anime person.
I think it does pass as a comedy though, and we saw more Suzu-semi-jealousy today, or at least pondering what she feels about Ikuto, and what she feels about other girls hanging around him. This could (and probably will) lead into some major plot developments later I would imagine.
