Kinkyori Renai Ep 06 Review

It’s quite natural to set a teen romance like Kinkyori Renai (近キョリ恋愛) in the summer. First of all, there’s summer vacation, which the class celebrates at the start of this episode:

Well, all except for Haruka (Abe Aran), who seems a bit less enthusiastic. He and Mirei (Ishibashi Anna) are both concerned about Ririko (Adachi Rika), who is planning to go back to New York, but hasn’t managed to tell her two-timing boyfriend Tachibana (Nagayama Takashi) that.

The second reason is, of course, the obligatory beach scene (or scenes). Kanata (Kishi Yuta) is the one who proposes the beach party in this series, but it was bound to happen somehow. He also wants to make it a farewell party for Ririko, but it sounds like that’s just a plot from the basketball team to get Ririko to the beach.

Gamushara 2014.09.21 Review

The participants in this episode of Gamushara (ガムシャラ) are Miyachika Kaito, Abe Aran, Jesse, Yasui Kentaro, Nakamura Reia, Matsukura Kaito, and Vasayegha Hikaru . . .

. . . and they’re going to be learning the basics of sports sword fighting.

They’re not going to be using real swords, of course, but rather foam cylinders that will allow them to practice with full force without any concern about injury. Actually, when Miyachika-kun slaps Jesse-kun’s arm with one, Jesse still says it hurts.

They approach the location and meet their instructor – Hosokawa-sensei. It’s nice to have Yasui-kun leading things, because he give a very spirited introduction to both the activity and their sensei.

HERO 2014 Ep 05 Review

This episode of HERO 2014 opens with Kawajiri (Matsushige Yutaka), the head of the prosecutor’s office, getting an offer for a new job that would pay more.

At the same time, the prosecutors have received their health exams (I guess these are required for government work?), and they find out that his cholesterol is double what it was last year. Sounds like he could do with a change of employment – it might be a matter of survival at this rate.

Meanwhile, Asagi (Kitagawa Keiko) is lamenting her own results, which have worsened since the previous year. She blames it on the long hours Kuryu (Kimura Takuya) makes her work. I expect Kawajiri could also blame some of his health issue on Kuryu, given the way his face has been scrunching ever since Kuryu joined the office.

Kawajiri tries very hard to maintain an even keel, keeping his face completely neutral as he begins to face complaints from the prosecutors about the workload. He gradually fails, though.

His face gets fully contorted with Kuryu, of course. I can’t imagine this is good for his blood pressure.

Sexy Zone Channel 2014.09.10 Review

In the midst of all sorts of uncertainty about the future of the group, at least we can still turn to Sexy Zone Channel to see all five members together. So, what are the guys going to do this time?

Whatever it is, they were asked to assemble by 7:45 a.m., which means they are going to some place that would be open to the public during regular hours, and they need to go there early so that they don’t disrupt business.

The staff guy noted that he came to Shori-kun’s Solo Concert, but struggles to say much about it. He also asked Fuma-kun about GTO, which was ending the next day (I assume it is the recording that was concluding, and that ‘tomorrow’ was based on when this was recorded in August).

The staff guy was unusually bad about the opening conversation this time – perhaps because of the early hour. Kento-kun called him out on it.

Kinkyori Renai Ep 05 Review

After Mirei (Ishibashi Anna) confessed her love for Haruka (Abe Aran) by kissing him at the end ofthe previous episode of Kinkyori Renai (近キョリ恋愛), I’m looking for some follow-through on the relationship in this episode. Will Haruka reject the sentiment, afraid of the implications like Mirei was before Kanata (Kishi Yuta) talked to her? Or will the writers spare us that sort of awkwardness and instead bring us more unexpected sources of conflict?

For now, Haruka is in a pensive mood . . .

. . . and Kanata is horrified that Mirei actually followed his advice. He wanted them to come up with a plan together, but didn’t really communicate that. All this talk from Kanata has Mirei worried. We still don’t know how Haruka actually reacted immediately after the kiss.

We find that out when Mirei tells Kanata. Turns out that Mirei saw Haruka looking troubled after the kiss, and she turned “suki” into “sukiyaki”. Right. As if that’s going to convince anyone.