Rikei ga Koi, Episode 5: Science Tried Holding a Meeting

Professor Ikeda, the research lab head, makes suggestions for Ayame and Shinya’s love experiments, leading to even funnier situations.

Proof 5 – “Science-types Fell in Love, So They Tried Holding a Meeting”

Hmm.

Professor Ikeda, the scientist nominally in charge of Rikei ga Koi‘s cast of math nerds, finally made his debut. He appears just as quirky as the rest, and seems as sleep deprived as Ena, but his hobbies tire him out in a healthy way, instead of Ena’s video game all-nighters. I hope Ikeda isn’t taking any “supplements” for his fitness activities, because I want to believe his quick temper is just part of his personality instead of a chemical side effect.

Rikei ga Koi showing Ikeda’s health-conscious interests is another good contrast for the characters we’ve already met. We know that Kosuke and Ena are “indoor” type people, while Ayame and Shinya have scientific procedures constantly on their minds, so it’s nice to see someone with more normal habits. Since Rikei ga Koi is a comedy, his character will take his habits to outrageous extremes, so I’m looking forward to some more Machio-kun inspired muscle popping action. I’m also getting hyped to see what Kotonoha has in her background and how she got her judo skills.

Heh.

Oh boy. The standard shoujo manga girl running with toast in her mouth. Har. Shinya does look like he’s the serious shoujo manga protagonist, but his personality is too aloof. Rikei ga Koi‘s presentation is hilarious. Instead of fate, Shinya concentrates on bad luck, like Murphy’s Law explaining jam stains on the poor girl. Ha. It’s physics! The weighted side of a flat, rigid body tends to land first if there’s atmosphere and a high enough drop. Of course, that doesn’t explain how he smushed the bread into her during their collision. I guess she wasn’t destined to fall in love with Shinya after all. You’re better off, young lady.

Well, that prologue was a time filler… Yay. Weekly lab meetings. If you thought business staff meetings were boring, lab progress reports are something else. The best part is when it’s over and you can bother someone about their work on your own time. Shinya and Ayame have been dating for less than a week! Ahem, “researching physical phenomena associated with love.” Rikei ga Koi is moving their relationship along rapidly. Good!

Kosuke is going to get their professor mad. So, this is Professor Ikeda. His hobbies are triathlons and free climbing! His favorite foods are protein and alcohol! He’s a “play hard, party harder” kind of guy. He looks like he’s built like a truck too. Kotonoha says he’s scary when he’s angry. Kosuke is going to show us what that looks like. Oh ho. Ikeda says there’s going to be a summer training camp with other universities. Beach episode? Hot springs episode? Both? My body must make the proper preparations.

Here we go. Kosuke has been slacking on his assignments with Aika-chan, whom Ikeda knows about! Don’t make Ikeda angry! Ena has seen this before. We’ve got ourselves another bulging Macho Man! Ena even has another pen ready for Ikeda. Also, he was not expecting a serious presentation on Ayame and Shinya’s dating relationship.

Not surprisingly, the event that Ayame liked the most was when Shinya claimed her as his woman in front of the flashy guy. She didn’t explain it that way, but that’s what happened in the previous Rikei ga Koi episode. Look at her blush as she says her favorite part! Apparently, this was Shinya’s most embarrassing moment of the day.

Turnabout is fair play! The slide just says, “Ayame Himuro, happy.” Hahaha! That was Shinya’s favorite part, when she showed how much she enjoyed their time together. These two are adorable!

Ikeda approves of this “interesting” research! Hey, it’s summertime, so why not let his grad students have some fun? Shinya suggests his lab mates join in the data collection with all the coupling variations for the dating events! Yuri, yaoi, netorare, whatever! Hilariously, Ikeda’s rage face is the same in all the pairings. Ena wants in! Shinya says Kotonoha is the closest to “average.” Did he just call her a “normie?”

I love these little hints on Kotonoha’s judo background. Ikeda is the strongest, though. After calming down, Ikeda explains why the methods in Rikei ga Koi may be novel compared to social science research. Recording biological data is different than surveys and questionnaires. Of course, stuff like this was done with sexual responses by Masters and Johnson, but the math geeks want to apply that kind of rigor to dating situations. Plus, the miniaturization of technology has made physiological recording equipment viable in a public setting, instead of the old method of sticking two people inside a room in a laboratory.

Ayame and Shinya insist on this double straw drinking thing in the eye catch. I don’t know what the numbers 48 and 75 refer to here.

Hoho! Shinya did the wall slam on Kosuke! Did Kosuke like it? Ena sure did! This is great. They’re incorporating the button spamming notes from the date into these previous situations from the Rikei ga Koi date episode. Kosuke is impressed with Shinya’s wall slamming technique!

Kosuke can’t wait to embarrass Ena when she’s getting her numbers recorded. Also, he sure does know how to do those pretty boy poses. Experience from playing all those galge?

Nice. These different pairings are a good way to evoke jealousy in Ayame or Shinya. If the main couple of Rikei ga Koi wanted to prove they were in love with each other, instead of the more general proof of love’s existence, Ayame would be hooked up for data recording too.

Ara. I think Torasuke is going to have a difficult time with Ena-oneesan. Ohohoho. Ena doesn’t play fair. She’s reciting Aika-chan’s lines from Kosuke’s favorite game. She even shed happy tears! Kosuke knows this but he can’t help his pure heart. Aika!

Well, we’ll see how Buddha Kosuke does against Ena. She’s still not playing fair. She pulled the childhood friend nostalgia card! Instant defense debuffs! Embarrassing memory attacks! Critical hits! So, Ena won. No surprises there.

Ena did it now. She suggested Ayame and Shinya kiss each other. I don’t think either of their hearts are ready for that, even in the name of science. Let’s see who admits they can’t do it first in next week’s Rikei ga Koi.