Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! S2, Ep 3: Wanna Festival?

Sakurai surprises Uzaki-chan by agreeing to attend their school’s festival.

Episode 3 – “Does Uzaki-chan Want to Go to the School Festival?”

Hmm.

Slice-of-life comedies love using the calendar of cultural events as hooks for their story arcs. That’s why the same situations in anime happen over and over, especially those set in schools. One would expect the college schedule in Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! would differ from a high school, but not here. Even in “adult” workplace settings, like Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii or Senpai ga Uzai Kouhai no Hanashi, anime will still go to the summer fireworks festival or the beach trip.

Manga and anime are businesses, so stories try to appeal to as broad an audience as possible. Not everyone has gone to college, like the kids in Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!, or has dealt with a stressful office deadline. But nearly everyone has gone through high school and the rites of passage that happen there. Grownups get drunk on alcohol at the hot springs inn, but teenagers get tipsy on “juice” or brandy-infused chocolate. The high school overnight trip isn’t a corporate retreat, but both have similar elements of social interaction. I can’t recall an anime tackling the American style of corporate conventions, like SIGGRAPH, E3, CES, or PRINT, but they should. Those things feel like expensive, flashy school festivals.

The refrain of this season so far is “Just date already!” But how do we get Uzaki-chan and Sakurai to hear that? Sakaki and Ami have been thinking these words to themselves. It shows how shy these best friends are in stating the obvious openly. Sakaki sacrificed weeks and days of exhaustion instead of sitting down and opening his mouth. For the benefit of the Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! audience, he arranged for Uzaki-chan’s friend Ito to read a love fortune. She explained how perfect Sakurai and Uzaki-chan are for each other. Ultimately, she said the quiet part out loud, “Why aren’t you guys dating already?” Ami made a banquet of the sight of Uzaki-chan and Sakurai as they heard this question for the first time. Just date already!

Heh.

Senpai, Senpai! Let’s go to the school festival! Eh, no thanks. Sakurai would rather play games over the long weekend. Uzaki-chan disapproves. Then she’ll come over and cook for him! Uh oh. Sakaki was on the school festival committee, and he is bone-tired. Uza Black coffee. “Uza” anything is the ubiquitous brand in the world of Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!. Ooh, excellent job, Sakaki. A stamp rally prize of a game console is the way to convince Sakurai to come to the festival. He’d only come because Uzaki-chan wanted to win the raffle! Sakaki sacrificed sleep to make his friends go on an unofficial date. Please pay attention: Sakaki wants them to go to the Occult Club exhibit first. Enjoy your “not” school-festival date!

Kuso Cat is the official mascot of the Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! university festival. Montage for a school-festival non-date. Hey! Will the fit sport-climbing girl from last season show up at the climbing wall? Boo. Let’s see why Sakaki directed Sakurai and Uzaki-chan to the Occult Club. Oh. It’s a love fortune reading! Ha! Sakurai and Uzaki-chan are the only pair in a line full of women. Just date already!

Hee-hee. Uzaki-chan’s mousy friend, Ito, is the voice behind the scary hood. Whoops. Sakurai realized too late why so many women were in line with them. They wanted that romance fortune! Uh oh. The Occult Club won’t let the pair escape without a reading! Kuso Cat tarot cards look like a fine merchandise idea for Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!. How did the fortune go? “It’s eye-poppingly good!” Uzaki-chan and Sakurai are a perfect match. We knew that! Just date already! Oh, man! Ami was in there! She and Sakaki were in cahoots again!

Uzaki-chan and Sakurai figured the romance reading was a Sakaki trap. Hoho. Look at smug Uzaki-chan. She didn’t win the game console lottery, but she still got a prize in Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!.

She spends time at Sakurai’s place with that love connection hanging in the air. And we’re back to normal. Uzaki-chan can’t drag a love confession out of Sakurai, but there’s extra awkward touching now!

Next time, Uzaki-chan aims for the top!

Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! S2 (Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai! ω) streams on Crunchyroll and VRV in Japanese and English subtitles.