Rikei ga Koi, Episode 11: Science Tried Having a Fight

Ayame’s emotions boiled over and Shinya’s personality made things worse, leading to a huge lovers’ quarrel.

Proof 11: “Science-types Fell in Love, So They Tried Having a Fight.”

Hmm.

The calm, cool science-types of Rikei ga Koi know how to yell at each other. The fight between Shinya and Ayame was realistic, because it’s common for lovers who start dating to have issues about defining what they are to each other. These two have been dating since their first batch of love experiments, but Shinya’s issues never let Ayame define it that way. They finally had the emotional spark that will lead to “The Talk” about what they mean to each other. But first, Shinya has to repair their relationship enough so that they can be in a positive emotional state. Let’s hope for that happy ending in Rikei ga Koi‘s finale.

I also hope that final episode answers what Yamamoto was doing with Ayame’s reconciliation gift for Shinya. It’s implied that she sabotaged it. Ena’s misgivings of her presence on the Okinawa trip have set up enough foreshadowing that the manga artist could be self-serving when it comes to others’ well-being. Yamamoto explicitly said that she would do anything for her art. Still, I’m skeptical, because Rikei ga Koi has been a lighthearted romantic comedy to this point, so it feels out of place to make the necessary dramatic arc for the lovers’ catharsis too dark. I hope Yamamoto is more like Shylock in The Merchant of Venice instead of Iago in Othello. We’ll have to see if Yamamoto just wanted to make Shinya and Ayame’s reconciliation have more emotional punch, as if she were the author of their scene.

Meh.

There was a noticeable drop in the animation quality of the characters for large portions of the episode. I don’t care much if the backgrounds look cheap, but Rikei ga Koi should prioritize making their characters look good. Let’s hope the science-types regain their good looks in the season finale.

Heh.

Uh oh. Here comes Rikei ga Koi‘s big jealous fighting scene! Nervous sweating! Shinya knows he messed up. Yup. Everything about this argument is emotional and irrational. I love it! Even Kotonoha explaining the hug isn’t enough to sway Ayame’s emotions. Honestly, Shinya could have slapped her, but the hug was way better for Kotonoha’s sake. What a huge fur ball of clashing emotions and personalities. It was bound to happen. Ayame knows she’s being unreasonable, but she can’t stop her lips from flapping. She and Shinya have crossed the boundary of being “close enough to fight.”

No. Don’t go there, Shinya… Gah! He went there! “It’s not like we’re really dating.” Aaahhh! Slap! Welp. See you in the next episode for making up, because this is going to take more than three acts to resolve.

Party time! They’ve done their presentations, now the Ikeda Lab guys can relax and enjoy Okinawa. That was the plan, until two people had to get into a big fight. As I suspected, Professor Ikeda is a work hard, play harder, party hardest kind of guy. Ugh. Awkward. Ugh again. The background fish in the aquarium look better that the people in the foreground.

Ena doesn’t like Yamamoto sniffing around. The Rikei ga Koi mangaka-insert is probably going to make things worse. Geh. Don’t fall into that trap, Shinya-kun! No good comes of trying to answer, “Do you know why I’m angry?” Kosuke knows what I’m talking about. Oh shi… Shinya mentioned Ayame’s period! Is he aiming for the Bad End on purpose? Blammo! He deserved that.

This is precious and bad at the same time. Ayame knows she shouldn’t have asked the mind reading question about anger. Rikei ga Koi continues making the fish look better than the people… Shinya and Ayame know they’re hurting each other’s feelings, but both have pride too. Lots of issues to unpack first. Shinya noticed the aquarium would have been a great place to set the mood for a first kiss.

Did Shinya really need to prepare a slide deck for Kosuke? This is Rikei ga Koi, so of course he did. Kosuke knows all about the Bad End. Aw. Kotonoha feels guilty for causing the fight, but both Ayame and Shinya know it wasn’t her fault. Good! Kotonoha states the obvious that Ayame slapped Shinya because she loves him, not because she doesn’t care.

Finally. Ayame realized she needed to put a jealousy factor into her love algorithm. She should have suggested this the moment Ikeda recommended testing all the possible couple permutations with the lab members in Rikei ga Koi’s fifth episode. That’s a very specific thumb spamming counter, “times I wanted to knee him the face.” Aw. Ayame just realized she couldn’t talk to Shinya about this new research avenue while they’re still fighting.

Ayame and Kotonoha are happy to share a room and the smallest pair of amicable numbers in the eye catch.

Ah. Quick backstory on Ayame’s time in high school. Bullies picked on her for being smart and beautiful. No friends and no love life until college. Science-types are usually late bloomers.

Here we go. Game time! Ayame wants her man back! Interesting. Yamamoto is part of this strategy session and Ena is avoiding it. The plan is offering a present and a new research proposal about the fight. Sounds perfect for the Rikei ga Koi couple. We’ll have to see how things go wrong before they go right, though. Yamamoto and shenanigans! Maybe.

Apology time. Ouch. Ayame fell down that last step. She’s not hurt! Guh. Her gift for Shinya is totally destroyed. Shenanigans? She ran away! Shinya didn’t. He’s got a plan too! Next time, season finale and happy ending. I hope!