Karen's Anime Blog

This is the third Clover Works show this season, along with Rascal and My Dress-Up Darling. Netflix licensed it, but they’re not releasing it in the US until the fall. So I did what any good aniblogger would do: I hopped a flight to Japan, watched the first episode, ate some melon bread, then flew back immediately. I know, I know, my commitment to blogging is truly awe-inspiring.

Our hero is Rintarou, a tall guy that people tend to find intimidating. He goes to a boys school for “idiots”, which happens to be located right next to a fine school for privileged young ladies; I like the fact that the girls’ school is even painted pink. As you might expect, the girls from Posh Girls Academy (not the actual name) think that the boys from Dead End School (not the actual name) are beneath them and won’t give them the time of day.

Rintarou reminds me from Ryuji from Tora Dora; his face makes people think he’s a punk, but he’s actually a sweetheart.

When not attending school, Rintarou works at his family’s cake shop– and this is where the show hooked me for good. I LOVE cake. Love the stuff. Even when I was a vegan for a few years, I made an exception for cake. The name of the bakery is “Plain” though, which leads me to believe that Rintarou’s family needs to work on their marketing skills.

YES OH MY GOD YES

SRSLY?

One day, when the staff is shorthanded and Rintarou is working the front register, he notices a girl who’s packing away a significant amount of cake. He marvels at the sheer amount of cake she’s eating, and I feel represented in this anime right now. The girl blushes like mad and runs off, and we have our romance.

The girl, Kaoruko, comes back the next day to apologize for her rude behavior. Apparently she’s not scared of Rintarou, she just blushed because she’s never had a guy look at her like that for so long. I have to think there’s also some amount of embarrassment being caught in the middle of a pig-out though. Or maybe Kaoruko is a divine creature who does not feel shame for indulging her passions. Anyway, because Kaoruko is short, Rintarou thinks she’s a middle school student.

Kaoruko: “I just went up a dress size, but I am so, so happy. Worth it.”

The two leave on good terms, only soon after, Rintarou’s mother (or maybe aunt?) finds the box of cake that Kaoruko just bought in the street outside the shop. It says something unflattering about me that, instead of worrying what might have happened to Kaoruko that made her drop the cake, I immediately thought “How can you waste cake by dropping it in the street!” Rintarou goes out to investigate, and finds Kaoruko being hassled in a dark corner by two dudes who were bothering his friends at the beginning of the episode. They start bashing Rintarou, saying he’s a dangerous thug and she should stay away from him, but Kaoruko is not having it; she knows that Rintarou is a nice person and won’t let anyone insult him. The dudes are rather offended by that, and then one goes to punch Kaouruko in the face– straight on. Closed fist.

“Hey babe, wanna come party with us?”

“Depends, will there be cake there?”

“What?”

“I asked you a question.”

What the hell? I can buy that the dudes would hassle Kaoruko and try to get them to come with them, but escalating to punching her in the face seems a bit much. I hesitate to use the word “unrealistic” because it’s not like I watch anime for the gritty realism, but it kind of took me out of the moment a bit. Going to slap her would have been more believable. Anyway, Rintarou is not going to let this happen and jumps in front of Kaoruko, and the two losers run off rather than face his wrath. Kaoruko feels responsible for Rintarou bleeding and confides in him that she doesn’t think he’s scary at all.

The next day, Rintarou gets to Dead End School early and looks out the window to Posh Girls Academy. Across the way, Kaoruko looks out the window and the two lock eyes. Oh no, Kaoruko isn’t a middle school student after all and goes to Posh Girls Academy, the mortal enemy of Dead End School! How will these two star-crossed lovers ever be together?

So far, I like it. A romance based around a cake shop is right up my alley, and Rintarou and Kaoruko have enough personality to stand out and make me root for them. It has some of the educational caste system stuff that Baka and Test had, which was the most interesting part of that show for me. I think the show struggles with trying to be a little too dramatic for its own good, but there are worse sins. I think I’m going to be recapping all three of the Clover Works shows this season, because I don’t want to have any free time ever. I will also probably end up eating more cake, but doing all that blogging sort of burns calories, right?