Well, much like today’s episode of The Elusive Samurai, MakeIne: Too Many Losing Heroines! episode 5 does an about face and marches headfirst into the territory it expresses with its concept. There is a tinge of drama, but it’s completely overwritten by an excessive nature, fueled by odd dialogue, and completely supplanted outlandish visuals. What I’m saying is- MakeIne is back (even though it was only a single episode). The idea of the prior episodes being a prologue definitely feels palpable with this episode- as it stands very strongly as something different- but most importantly it carries with it the soul of the series.
What do I mean by that? Mostly its stupidity, honestly. Yanami is an energy sink that will entirely devour any humor thrown her way, but in MakeIne: Too Many Losing Heroines! episode 5, Nukumizu gets to partially claim that as well. He’s still very much a blank slate of a character that others play off of, but I feel like the passion of Summer has consumed the young boy here and allowed his imagination to excel alongside his interests. It doesn’t result in the same pervasiveness of Yanami’s sense of humor, but Nukumizu actually gets to stand center stage in the visual sense, for once. As usual his dialogue remains strong, of course, but this episode really sees his humor stand out as a worthwhile aspect- which is saying a lot with how much he has to compete with.
Before we get much further though, I did want to talk about the story in MakeIne: Too Many Losing Heroines! episode 5. It’s a very far cry from the overly artificial and typical content of the prior episode… but it still has its similarities- which are good, actually. The latter half of the episode is a plot about Lemon, Ayano, and Ayano’s girlfriend- and the sort of weird triangle they form about who should date the boy. It definitely encroaches on that sort of cringey territory, but it’s saved by a lot of the meta humor and discussion of the episode. Here, Ayano (and sort of Nukumizu) have to choose who the losing heroine is. Will Ayano dump his girlfriend and shack up with Lemon, or will he stay true to the girl that currently stands beside him?
Honestly, if it weren’t for the humor of the episode, it would certainly struggle to be something worth discussing. Thankfully, at every turn possible the series puts its maximum effort into drawing comedy out of its contents. Whether that’s by turning a forehead into a shining mirror in the light, or by riffing on various romcom tropes, MakeIne: Too Many Losing Heroines episode 5 still gets it done. Which is important, really. These girls have all already lost, what could you do for the rest of the season if they’re exclusively down and out on their luck? Thankfully, it’s not as much a concern as I had worried it might be, so now it just seems like I’ve been waffling over nothing.
Now, for the visual work on the episode. Would you really expect anything less from a longtime A-1 (and Kaguya-Sama) staffer, Masakazu Ohara? I certainly wouldn’t. It’s certainly a considerable departure from a lot of the work on the earlier episodes, but I think that their decision to lean into visual expressive and imaginative gags works quite well here. While MakeIne: Too Many Losing Heroines! episode 5 isn’t quite on the level of Kaguya-Sama, it’s hard to deny the similarities present. Thankfully, Ohara understands the limits of those similarities as well, and still comfortably plays towards expectations with the episode.
Right alongside those ridiculous visual ideas, Ohara is able to still effectively express a lot of the ideas established by series director Kitamura. Primarily, the idea of a layered and dynamic scene remains very present in the episode- even if it’s just scenes like Komari waving around her phone in the background. A better example might be having a pair of girls walk past as Nukumizu has Shikiya-senpai essentially drinking right out of his hand, but I still think Komari’s example is cuter and more fun. Oh, and of course there’s a surprising degree of fanservice in the episode. It’s not anything that ruins the content, but it certainly sees itself pandering towards a specific crowd of viewers (which Ohara manages quite well, admittedly).
All in all, MakeIne: Too Many Losing Heroines! episode 5 outs me as a serial worrier. Knowing how quickly things can go South, I certainly find it hard to take that step back and trust the process- something I admittedly should get better at. The episode is sort of like the inverse of that old saying. Here, the work took one step back, but then 2 steps forward to still end up ahead of where it was previously. Many staff continue to excel in their positions, like Murakami and their color design, but it feels like some breathing room has opened up now.
We have an established direction we can explore, we have some drama to riff on if need be, and the potential for humor has really expanded alongside our steadily growing cast of characters and their subsequent romantic troubles. There is a discernible future to explore that doesn’t lean on the poorer narrative execution of the previous episode. It’s still walking a very fine line with it’s “will they, won’t they” style, but it has a much better shot at being something consistently good now. We’ll just have to see how the next episode goes.
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