Yanagi enjoys watching Uzaki-chan make Sakurai squirm. Kiri meets Sakurai at the swimming lane.
Episode 8 – “Yanagi and Kiri Want to Have Fun Too!”
Hmm.
Long-running romantic comedies need to reset circumstances to keep the jokes rolling. It works for a while before fans start to get angry. In the medium of manga, we see this in Ichigo 100%, Nisekoi, Saekano, and To Love-Ru. Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! is in danger of keeping the baka couple of Sakurai and Uzaki-chan in a frozen state of stalled romance. The last few episodes showed the pair progressing by making a birthday date and sharing a homemade lunch. Then the comedy followed the formula of two steps forward and one step back. The issue of Sakurai calling his short stack companion by her last name blew up into a public spat. Uzaki-chan made a point of calling Sakurai Shinichi repeatedly. Her hammer almost bludgeoned Sakurai into a love confession! Then she let him regress when he called her “special.”
Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! aims to keep that feeling of anticipation at a low boil before the baka couple comes together in an emotional catharsis. The dance of “will they, won’t they” comes with the territory of romantic comedies, so we should not be surprised to see a sidestep. That’s fine as long as there is some narrative progress. That could be the overarching plot, character development, or a setting change. Uzaki-chan will revert to calling Sakurai “Senpai” after their fight in the café. Sakurai gets to keep calling his “special” friend “Uzaki.” All that noise over first names turned into a circle! But Uzaki-chan received a halting confession from Sakurai, and the tall mean-looking dude began to wrestle with his unacknowledged feelings.
I want to see Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! show us a pivotal flashback between Uzaki-chan and Sakurai. The story focused on changing names to denote a change in intimacy levels. But Uzaki-chan hasn’t changed yet. She’s been calling him “Senpai” since they first met in high school. Remember, though, Sakurai called his swimming club manager “Uzaki-kun.” When did he drop the “-kun” suffix? That was when Uzaki-chan became “special” to Sakurai. What happened to cause that change in Sakurai’s eyes? If we can’t move forward until the Christmas Eve date, then let’s see how Sakurai’s heart moved to its current state.
Heh.
Ha! Yanagi calls Uzaki-chan and Sakurai “young and innocent” because they’re not on a first-name basis yet. Ami suddenly showed up! She can’t miss this wonderful meal in Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!. How did she find out so quickly? Master Asai has suspicions. Sakurai knows he messed up. As punishment, he needs to call the short stack “Hana” for the rest of the day! But can Hana keep up calling Sakurai “Shinichi” all that time? Baka couple! What is Shinichi’s explanation for still calling his oldest friend by her last name?
In his defense, Sakurai doesn’t add a politeness suffix to Uzaki, denoting a close relationship. Hoho. Way to turn the tables, Shinichi! He still calls Uzaki-chan by her last name because she’s special! He stuck the landing! No need to change name-calling behavior! Enjoy the meal, Ami and Master Asai. Yanagi learned the premise of Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!. The pair love each other so much that they make other people self-conscious. Baka couple! Oh, no. Tsuki got the wrong idea again.
Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! switches over to Kiri’s problems. He feels extra stress from studying and not swimming. Fujio loves getting attention from his kids. Hey, Kiri can work out at Muscle Garden! Har. Kiri is average in his swimming club, so he thinks he can be the top dog at the geezers’ gym. Okay, weightlifting isn’t his thing. Nor running, either. Conceivably, Kiri can dominate the swimming lane. Nope! Sakurai showed up! Both kids have stress to blow off, but Kiri can’t catch a serious Sakurai. Kiri is full of excuses. That narrator is harsh on small fries! Ha. Hahaha! Kiri is a small fry compared to Sakurai “down there,” too! Petting cats is the only comfort Kiri gets today.
Next time, it’s the long-awaited spa resort episode! Tsuki in a black bikini!
Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! S2 (Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai! ω) streams on Crunchyroll and VRV in multiple languages and in Japanese with English subtitles.
