Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! S2, Ep 13: Wanna Next Year!

After bleary memories of Christmas at the Uzaki house, Sakurai plans for a New Year’s Day shrine visit.

Episode 13 – “I Want to Hang Out Together Next Year, Too!”

Hmm.

Chivalry is the code of conduct giving Sakurai a headache in Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!. That and the hangover from too much drinking! Sakurai doesn’t want Uzaki-chan to look like an easy woman. Nobody would believe that except his dad. He jumped to conclusions. What does that say about how his dad thinks of Sakurai in college? What does it say about Mr. Sakurai? He kept his son away from his house for two years to shack up with his wife. No one at Uzaki-chan and Sakurai’s college would be surprised to hear she slept over at his apartment. They might be surprised that they didn’t share a bed, but not that she slept over.

Uzaki-chan’s loud arguments using inappropriate phrasing already gave people the wrong idea. That was a primary source of humor and concern in the first season of Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!. Someone who hasn’t seen how Sakurai and Uzaki-chan usually interact got the mistaken impression! Sakurai’s father is like the crowd, watching the short stack yell at the buff hunk before they become used to it. Here’s what I think happened. Sakurai had stopped hearing passersby grumble about the “baka couple.” Then his father expressed misgivings, and Sakurai returned to that panicked feeling. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait for another season for Sakurai and Uzaki-chan to give everyone the correct impression.

Heh.

How much did Sakurai drink in that last episode of Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!? Fujio had to go to the convenience store to restock! He’s convinced Sakurai loves Hana. Loves her! Sakurai let slip that he’s not touchy-feely because his parents were “all over each other” at home. Fujio interpreted the phrase as domestic violence, but as soon as Sakurai moved out, he got a baby sister. It’s domestic something, but not violence. What. Happened. Here? This is double oyakodon play! Even the cats are watching! Ah. The only ones who aren’t drunk are Yanagi and the cats. Kuso Cat boxers. Where can I buy them?

Let Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! flash backward to how oyakodon and shimaidon started happening. Oho. Yanagi is a little imp! She suggested penalties for losing games. A strip card game against a blotto Sakurai is not fair! Yanagi likes to sprinkle random English words into her conversations. Did she pick that up from her gaming hobby? Selling pictures of Sakurai’s buff body to Ami is a good idea! Hana had to be drunk to allow herself to express that out loud. Will Tsuki stop her daughters? Nope. Ha! The most she can do is not let Sakurai’s clothes get wrinkled. Tsuki was drunk too.

Aw. Fujio stopped the madness. He and Uzaki-chan need to get an incapacitated Sakurai home. Taxi home. Fujio finally reconciled the nice guy he knew from the gym with the incredible Senpai Hana always discussed. Their lives are already intertwined with family. When will Sakurai’s family meet Uzaki-chan? Will it be the same roundabout way Sakurai met her father? Cute! But will Sakurai remember Uzaki-chan hugging him like that? And we’re caught up to the first episode of Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!, Season 2. That flashforward took thirteen weeks! What a tease. Those scenes made it look like they were alone instead of with Uzaki-chan’s parents.

Thanks. We needed a comedic breather to see Kiri’s male friend hit on him. Boo! Sakurai’s a drunk coward! Instead of collapsing on Uzaki-chan’s pillows, he landed on his own. Oh well. Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! will show many more awkward scenes before they become an official baka couple. I’m sure Uzaki-chan regrets not doing “something” to Sakurai before she left.

Oh boy. Ami is so happy. Did she get the pictures Yanagi sent her? She did! Ami thinks Uzaki-chan had a good Christmas Eve with Sakurai. She even wants to pay Uzaki-chan for the tasty pictures! Yanagi too! Uzaki-chan wonders if Ami should be spending money like that. Ami explains that she doesn’t care about profits per se. It’s about boosting performance! What kind of performance levels up by paying for shots of Sakurai in his underwear? Who gets frustrated the most in Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!? Sakaki or Master Asai?

Time to eat rice! Sakurai arrived, and Uzaki-chan became shy. Uh oh. Sakurai was so drunk he didn’t remember anything. He asked Uzaki-chan if he did “anything.” Penalty game in the buff! Um. That picture is not Sakurai’s fault. You can clearly see Uzaki-chan’s hand taking off his shirt. Ugh. Sakurai and Uzaki-chan spent a whole awkward day at work before they could discuss what happened. Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! quickly smoothed things over. The baka couple made plans for a New Year’s shrine visit. Oops. Not so smooth. Sakurai remembered!

Shinichi has time for one more throwdown with his dad before the new year. Sakurai can’t focus on judo because he keeps thinking about Uzaki-chan. Mr. Sakurai isn’t much into judo. He stumbled into it when he inherited the dojo from Mrs. Sakurai’s family. Hey! Judo skills can be good for pushing down a girl! Rude! Shinichi can do that with tons of alcohol in his system. Ha! Kick back at ya! Shinichi and his dad have the same temper.

Midnight shrine visit for Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!. Sakurai needs guy time with Master Asai and Sakaki. He does not surprise them at all that Uzaki-chan has feelings for him. He’s surprised they’re not surprised! Everyone knows! Even the café regulars! I love it. Sakaki gives Sakurai both barrels of his complaints.

So, here’s where we are. Uzaki-chan thinks Sakurai loves her, but she hasn’t done anything about it yet. Sakurai heard that Uzaki-chan likes him, but he only just found out. What will they do in the new year? Two seconds in, and Sakurai held Uzaki-chan’s hand! Squee! Noo! Sakurai is still looking for the confidence to confess. I loved how the heavy, nostalgic music ground to a halt, then the lively music came back up. Reset for Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!. The end.

Final Thoughts.

I loved seeing Uzaki-chan bother her Senpai again. But the second season didn’t have the same frantic comedic energy as the first. Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! S2 concentrated on moving the main characters’ feelings out in the open. That turned into many scenes of the supporting characters yelling at them individually. Yelling at them together in an intervention would have short-circuited the romantic comedy. Instead, we met the families of Uzaki-chan and Sakurai. That’s how the anime padded out the season for more jokes and fan service.

Let’s talk about the fan service. I felt there was not enough in the second season, either. We had fun with Uzaki-chan’s cosplay in the first episode, and the onsen trip was glorious, thanks to Tsuki and Yanagi. Ami and Tsuki’s imaginations also ran wild, providing quick hits of sexy situations. But the rest of the time, Uzaki-chan and Ami were covered up. Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! stayed true to the seasonal timeline, so the girls needed to wear layers to keep warm as it got colder. The onsen park was a neat solution to put people in swimsuits in the middle of December. But I missed that random jiggle of the SUGOI DEKAI shirt.

Will there be another season of Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!? The manga continues, so there should be enough material after a couple of years. I expect much drama and comedy around Valentine’s Day and some schmaltz as the sakura cherry blossoms mark the start of Spring. Two years will come sooner than I think, but it won’t come fast enough!

Did you enjoy Uzaki-chan’s second season? Did the switch to a regular fang instead of the first season’s skin fang bother you? Let us know in the comments and on social media!

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.