The Ikeda Lab throws a drinking party to celebrate the end of the term. Fun truths come out as the liquor flows.
Proof 7 – “Science-types Fell in Love, So They Tried Having a Drinking Party.”
Hmm.
It’s always fun to see how anime uses alcohol for comedy. Rikei ga Koi went the familiar route of mixing low tolerance with a complete personality change. By far, I enjoyed Ayame’s touchy-feely, lovey-dovey version. If we had given her a drink in the first episode, Rikei ga Koi would have been over already, I doubt Shinya could have come up with his deflection to prove her love exists if she was draped around him, sitting in his lap, and kissing his neck. Oh well. Rikei ga Koi gave us six good episodes of comedy and loving looks at Ayame’s long legs, so entertainment value was better the other way.
Unfortunately, it felt like the seventh episode wasted our time in the second half. Shinya and Ayame picked apart and remixed fairy tales and folktales into science-type versions, when they were supposed to be analyzing them for ideas on new experiments. Kotonoha even remarked at the end that they hadn’t made any progress that week towards proving Ayame’s love for Shinya, adding that sometimes they have times like that.
Life and love can feel like we’re just spinning our wheels at times, but perhaps Rikei ga Koi‘s wheels could have spun out some exploration of the setting or some character development, instead of inserting themselves into folktales. Nothing was added, except for some fanservice of seeing Ayame in pretty clothes. Wait, I take it all back. Her scenes were worth a few minutes of wasting time.
Lastly, I saw something I never would have expected from an anime that released its entire season when it premiered — the midseason animation quality dip. Rikei ga Koi’s party scene, and how it handled the fairy tale adaptations, were flat, static, and just did not look the same as the previous episodes. It’s a mystery to me how production schedule crunches common to weekly broadcast anime can hit something made for binging, but this episode discounts the argument that a whole season released for streaming services should have consistent quality. I’ll be skeptical from now on.
Heh.
Ooh. Who is Kotonoha’s friend? Hey, that guy with the flashy hair and white jacket reminds me of Shinya. Ah. Poor Kotonoha only wished she had a flashy guy at her drinking party instead of Shinya.
Back to reality. The lab is celebrating the end of the semester. It’s time for the summer break too. Rikei ga Koi is going to have a beach episode, yes? Ikeda mentioned something about a summer training camp earlier. Kosuke may have to take summer school to pass a class. Look at all that hooch! Randomized pizza toppings? Everyone is drinking except Shinya. That’s probably for the best so we have a big surprise for his alcohol-induced psychotic break.
Oh ho. I want to hear more about what “Torasuke” did at the last party. Instead of shiritori, the Ikeda Lab plays a prime number game. Oh boy, Kotonoha. Don’t get mathematicians started on prime numbers. Har. Between the Rikei ga Koi manga publication and the anime production, mathematicians discovered a bigger prime number.
理系の研究室で飲み会をするとこうなる。 https://t.co/ZEXampfgh5 pic.twitter.com/mLcMcN98nr
— 山本アリフレッド@リケ恋アニメ2期多謝！ (@man_Arihred) October 25, 2017
I can see the joke coming. Ayame claims she’s always dignified, calm, and intellectual… Hahahaha! She “wuvs” Shinya! The Rikei ga Koi show is over. She’s in love with Shinya. Good night, everybody. Oh poo, Shinya wants to keep the experiments going. Haha! She wants that kiss “of the highest theoretical value,” please. That’s good stuff. Hohoho! Torasuke reverts to his six-year-old version. He’s going to marry Ena-chan! Ena doesn’t appear displeased by his declarations. Meanwhile, Professor Ikeda just sleeps at the table.
Yeah! Kotonoha’s final form! Drunk Gorilla Girl! She says what the Rikei ga Koi audience thinks. Stop flirting and just go out already, you ridiculous couple! Adorable. Ayame “wuvs” Kotonoha too. Uh huh, uh huh, I want to hear more about Kotonoha’s dark past where she became a judo flipping gorilla girl.
This lineup card in the eye catch must have vote totals from a Rikei ga Koi popularity poll.
Oh dear. I just watched an anime episode where the characters inserted themselves into folktales and fairy tales, so I’m not going to enjoy this very much. Not only that, the animation quality took a big dip. Just as well. At least the static images look nice.
Eh, okay. The Fairy Godmother Ena says her magic is governed by Special Relativity. E = mc², so bippity boppity boo, she dropped a fusion bomb on you. Prince Charming will use DNA testing and the power of the police state to find Cinderella. Welcome to Utopia Ever After.
Ah. It’s the weekly lab meeting and the Rikei ga Koi math geeks decided on using fairy tales and folktales as inspiration to design more love experiments. I think getting Ayame and Shinya drunk at the same time would cut down on time, though. Wouldn’t it be a hoot if Shinya becomes that pretty boy character Kotonoha fantasized about when he gets tipsy?
Kotonoha the Normie points out that they were supposed to use fairy tales to find situations to adapt as experiments, not point out where they’re not scientific. Guess what we’re going to do for the rest of the Rikei ga Koi episode…
All the main characters in these folktales are science-types now. Aw, crap. This science-type Kaguya-hime wants her suitors to prove Fermat’s Last Theorem. Since Fermat’s conjecture was only solved in 1995, about 350 years after his death, these guys might be at it a while in ancient Japan. I think the science-types’ versions of these fairy tales have more holes in them than the originals!
Ah. Omake folktale of the grateful crane. And Rikei ga Koi gets even more ridiculous at the end.
