Episode 6 – Aharen-san wa Hakarenai Season 2

Aharen’s siblings aren’t the only ones feeling especially grateful for her this week. In spending the entirety of an episode highlighting Aharen’s siblings, one can’t help but miss her and Raido’s on-screen antics—of which there were virtually none this week (and the one Raido fantasy we did get, frankly, was among the weaker ones we’ve seen thus far). We’re left with an episode that fails to impress, and especially following another less comedic episode last week, just can’t help but make it feel that the series is slowing down.

It’s pretty obvious that this show relies heavily on its leads. But this week’s episode, largely absent of Raido and Aharen, made me appreciate just how exceptionally heavy that reliance really is. As far as side characters go, it’s demonstrably put the overwhelming majority of its stock into Raido and Aharen’s schoolmates. So without them, Aharen, and Raido, we’re not left with terribly much in this episode. Sure, the other Aharen siblings are fine, but this episode really makes you come face to face with how once you get over the joke that they all look more or less copy-pasted from one another, there’s not much left to them.

Still, it’s not like this episode had no redeemable qualities. In fact, I’ll even go a step further: it was pretty middle-of-the-road, and even had a few cute moments. But even its best moment—which to me, is probably Eru trying to learn how to skateboard—really pales in comparison. This episode had moments that were cute and funny, but not really anything I anticipate I’ll think about, let alone revisit, after it finishes airing.

Last week I said it was kind of nice to see this show take a quick break from all the goofiness for a moment of sincerity—and I still think that’s the case. But I think this episode being right after that one is proof of how these more sincere episodes work best in an otherwise silly series like Aharen-san when they’re spaced out better. Which is to say, you know, not directly back-to-back. This was an episode I definitely think I would’ve appreciated more after a few more weeks of Raido and Aharen shenanigans to keep the pace.

This is all to say that this was, without a doubt, the weakest episode of this season of Aharen-san so far. That being said, it wasn’t totally without merit—it’s not like it was an actively unenjoyable episode, or anything like that. It was pretty neutral, all things considered. A solid 2.5 out of 5 stars if ever there were one. Nothing really going strong either for or against it—it just kind of is. The fact that it was following up another one of the less funny episodes probably only made it drag on all the more. Hopefully, next week we’ll get back into our usual, more comedic pace.

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Aharen-san wa Hakarenai is currently streaming on Crunchyroll on Mondays.