Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru - 2

"Hell Has Formed a New Club"

I like how that notebook is designed to look like a gray version of a Death Note.

A lot of series have been using that pastel palette lately, though Oreshura feels more like someone used a blue/orange filter on the color scheme. If you look closely, you can see the blue and orange highlights on hair and objects. It's interesting to note that the more vivid color schemes seem to be going out of style.

This episode didn't go quite the way I expected it to, though it was still comfortably in harem territory. Chiwa's confrontation with Masuzu was somewhat anti-climactic; instead of a cat fight or declaration of love, Chiwa mostly backs off with only an exclamation of "traitor!" as Masuzu and Eita walk away. Masuzu, sensing the threat, decides to toy with her rival by taking her "I want to be popular" talk seriously. She starts a club named The Club for Young Maidens to Recreate Themselves and simultaneously tortures Eita by using his chuunibyou diary for the club's manual.

What's made clear in this episode is that Masuzu isn't the nicest girl in the world; she's downright cruel and manipulative, and she doesn't care if Eita or Chiwa think so. She forces Chiwa to run around making a fool of herself (though Chiwa is an idiot for listening to Masuzu at all) and laughs at her humiliation. What's interesting though, is that Chiwa herself returns to the club as if nothing had happened, and that she's actually on decent terms with Masuzu, enough to join her club and hang out with her and Eita. Clearly there's some jealousy in the air, but Chiwa keeps her calm for the most part, not even making a huge deal out of Masuzu's "he saw my panties" story. In fact, the one who shows the most jealousy is Masuzu herself, who seems to be feeling left out of the bond between the childhood friends and confronts Eita about why he and Chiwa have lasted so long, as well as why Chiwa wouldn't quit the club when it was so obviously a prank.

As it turns out, Eita may just have a reason for why he wants to go to medical school; Chiwa was in an accident in middle school and she damaged her lower back to the point where she had to quit kendo and sports forever. Since she can't join any sports clubs, she wants to be a part of Masuzu's club, even if Masuzu is just using the club as an excuse to bully her and Eita. That sparks further jealousy in Masuzu, and she takes it out on Eita by seducing him, claiming that she's willing to take her ruse all the way, even if it's a complete lie.

I wonder if Masuzu's declaration means that she's showing interest in Eita, or if she's simply jealous of the childhood bond rather than the members instead. We still don't know much about her, and despite being a manipulative person, she's still intriguing because of that mystery. I doubt she'll take her seduction too far; these types of series rarely make good on their sexual advances, but it will be interesting to see if she'll flesh out next week as more than just a possessive bully.