That scene in episode two certainly felt unnecessary, maybe a service to the horny viewers. They manage to keep it somewhat believable, where most other shows typically fail to do so. I think the overly interested in the younger characters’ romance teachers is weirder than that scene, though I’ve met people like that and they aren’t even exaggerations.

Maybe I just relate to the MC. There’s a reluctance to romance that takes me back. Most other anime I’ve seen way over exaggerate it, or don’t play on it at all.

I appreciate your explanation.

I really enjoyed I Parry Everything, weird to see it so low or not even ranked in categories it makes sense for. I also watched No Longer Allowed in Another World and it’s way weirder to see it at the top of so many lists. Maybe some of the charm is lost in translation or I just don’t appreciate the play on tropes as much.

Makeine is great so far, half way through about to binge the other half. Lovely art, generally avoiding the gross tropes that turn me off with these types of anime. When those tropes are visited it still manages to frame things in a believable way. I need to get my wife to watch it for her take, but it feels like the girls are represented respectfully as their own relatable characters and not strictly some object for the male viewers to desire. Probably still not totally there, but feels nice to see some growth in that direction.

Curious if anyone can compare Makeine to Days with my Stepsister, and Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian. Both of those shows have some face value ick that’s keeping me from starting them.

Anecdote, his people didn’t even watch the debate. If they did watch it, they watched some edited version the next day that only had his answers, basically an edited speech. Then they watched some talking go over all the worst bits of what Harris said and did. Then they read about how the moderators were unfair to Trump, and how Harris must have been given the questions ahead of time. I know multiple people that did exactly this, it’s all quite insufferable. Based on the way they talk, it wouldn’t surprise me if some people watched it live and just muted the TV when Harris was talking, because they can’t stand hearing her.