Hana Uzaki meets her former senpai, Shinichi Sakurai from high school, at university, and wants to change his loner lifestyle.
Episode 1 – “Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!”
First Thoughts.
Did you know that Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! (Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai!) is in a new specific genre of gag comedy manga? Yes, it’s the annoying-skinfang-almost-girlfriend-sexy gag comedy genre. And that manga genre is soon to be an anime genre. You’re skeptical. I understand. But when you look at Magical Sempai, Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!, and the upcoming Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro, I think I’m onto something super huge. Sugoi dekai, even! Should you be surprised Tejina Senpai, Uzaki-chan, and Nagatoro-san have figures at J-List? No, you should not.
The specific charm points of the main character lead to lots of sexy jokes and Hana Uzaki’s other half, Shinichi Sakurai, fighting his natural sexual attraction to an irritating person pushing his buttons. But there still needs to be a real emotional connection for the gags to work, and Sakurai’s past with Uzaki-chan is full of promise. The flashbacks in the first episode quickly establish Sakurai as a former athlete and Uzaki as a mousy, but serious club manager. What happened to each of them in the year they were apart during Sakurai’s first year at university? There’s emotional meat here to make the hope of their coming together satisfying.
Of course, Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! is a sexy gag comedy, not a romantic comedy, which means a potential relationship is only spice to add to the ecchi scenes. There’s another bit of spice to Uzaki and Sakurai’s date scenes: the presence of a cat which looks like a pygmy slow loris. Campus mascot? Comedy gag character? Secret sugoi dekai stalker? Freaky cat is just one more reason to keep watching Uzaki-chan every week.
Hmm.
Hana Uzaki-chan may be a force of nature and the point of her existence is to make Shinichi Sakurai squirm in public from sexy sounds and sights taken out of context. However, the real story comes from hopefully making the mismatched pair accept the reality that they are a couple in love. One of the common elements from each of Uzaki’s outbursts is how Sakurai hears the crowd’s comments interpreting the scene as one between lovers. Interestingly, Uzaki-chan picks up on that kind of crowd pressure to maneuver Sakurai into “playing together.” So, she’s wise to that outward appearance, but she’s oblivious to how her sexy body affects her senpai. She hasn’t yet realized the adult aspect of “playing together.” Poor Sakurai. His torture is our torture.
Heh.
The three main characters got introductions in the first scene. Uzaki’s boobs, that strange cat, and lazy Sakurai. Uzaki-chan made a university debut. Skinfang! How could anybody not recognize those big boobs? Freaky eyes on freaky cat.
Uh oh. Uzaki suspects Sakarai is not the hardworking stud he used to be in high school. A year later, and Sakurai is still doing the pure lazy loner stuff. Uzaki-chan comes to a decision. Sakurai’s peaceful college life is gone now. Wow, Uzaki is loud. Big lungs on that girl. Ha! She said it out loud, “Your college loner lifestyle ends today!” That’s the prologue and setup. Sexy gags and misunderstandings begin now.
The opening credits make sure you know Uzaki-chan is a genki girl with many sugoi dekai (super huge) things, like her eyes, voice, and chest. Hoh. Uzaki’s mom is sugoi dekai too. Freaky cat again. Let’s see Uzaki play with Senpai now.
Man, Uzaki-chan is loud. And she has great voice control. I’m going to be making a lot of big chest jokes during this show. Blammo! That’s how you get someone’s attention. This girl… she just starts following Sakurai like she’s a puppy. Ah. Her sole purpose is to stop him from being a loner. Two people together solves that problem. Interesting. These sudden closeups on Uzaki’s face show where the gag punchline was in the manga.
Here we go! Lovers’ spat in public! Except not really. What if Uzaki-chan did this on purpose? Oh geez, she makes it sound like he’s a playboy who only booty calls her! Totally worked. She did! She did it on purpose! Uzaki-chan has a plan.
I totally dig her smug faces. Freaky cat goes to the movies. No wonder. All the movie titles have cat themes. Freaky cat is freaking out over something. I see “Kuso Cat” in several titles. Is that freaky cat’s name? Uzaki-chan just needs to get her digs in. Smackable! All the loner movie dudes are so mad at the “loud couple.”
Oh yes. Uzaki-chan in a massage chair making “those” kinds of sounds. That’s why we’re here. I like the disclaimer sign: “She’s just sitting in a massage chair.” She says her shoulders are always sore. I wonder why… Wear headphones for this scene, people. Har. She never quits!
Oh no. Uzaki-chan is going to have some squishy accident happen with VR goggles. Ouch. Controller applied directly to Sakurai’s face. And what will Sakurai poke when he gets his turn? Yup. Mistaken for a couple again. There it is. Sakurai did not squeeze Uzaki-chan’s jellyfish. “It’s so big. And soft! And kind of frightening!” It’s sugoi dekai! Freaky cat freaks out again. Man, I hope it doesn’t have the reincarnated soul of Uzaki-chan’s dead father or something like that. Manga readers, please don’t spoil me.
Sakurai and Uzaki-chan went on an all day date. They’re at the batting cages now. Ouch! Uzaki didn’t even warm up or stretch. Of course, she’s going to tweak her back. Jiggle mechanics are great in this show. Bah, she’s fine if she’s eating. She just ate all his food. What? That’s more than sharing a piece of chicken, Uzaki… Mistaken again for a couple. She ate everything again! It goes straight to her boobs.
I’m curious about Uzaki-chan’s days as the serious swimming club manager. Poor Sakurai. If she didn’t yell out everything, he’d be fine. But now the whole world knows Uzaki hurt her back when “they did that thing” together. His days as a loner are going to get fewer and fewer.
Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! (Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai!) streams new episodes weekly on Funimation.
