×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Handa-kun
Episode 4

by Paul Jensen,

How would you rate episode 4 of
Handa-kun ?
Community score: 3.9

Another week, another three cases of Handa unknowingly influencing the world around him. In the first part of this episode, Handa's admirers are out for blood when they discover that someone has been impersonating Handa in order to sell poems. When they find the impostor, however, his motivations turn out to be a little more complicated than simply wanting to make some easy money. In the episode's second segment, a misunderstanding leads everyone at school to think that Handa has a beautiful girlfriend. This doesn't sit well with some of his classmates, and one girl ends up taking drastic action to express her jealousy. The last part of the episode follows Handa as he tries to socialize with the other characters, which naturally leads to all manner of chaos.

Now that Handa's unwanted entourage has found a good balance of personalities, the supporting characters are beginning to carry their share of the series. The guys create an amusing tornado of good intentions and bad ideas as they zero in on the impostor. Hanada works reasonably well as the “fake Handa,” with even his name being suspiciously similar to his idol. What ultimately makes this segment work is the way in which Hanada discovers the error of his ways; he doesn't so much see reason as realize that he probably can't survive the swarms of fans that Handa attracts. Once again, the series toys with the idea of a sappy conclusion before finding a humorous way of turning the situation on its head.

It's easy enough to guess where the second segment is headed, and the revelation that Handa's “girlfriend” is actually his mother isn't as much of a stunner as the series might want it to be. Thankfully, the script sneaks in plenty of amusing moments along the way. I love how Handa's life is completely unaffected by the entire school briefly turning against him, since he always operates under that assumption anyway. Fangirl Miyo's musical interlude is also a pleasant surprise, and the singing chorus of erasers is a nice touch. This is sort of a “business as usual” segment for the series, neither the best nor the worst thing we've seen thus far.

While the first two-thirds of this episode are entertaining enough to be worth the screen time, the final segment blows them both out of the water. Handa's attempt to be sociable gives the series a chance to bring all of its strengths to bear at once: his social ineptitude is in fine comedic form, and the supporting characters provide a nice variety of misguided reactions to his advances. That variety is key, as it keeps the joke feeling fresh each time. If everyone had reacted to Handa in the same way, the routine might have gotten old by the end of the episode. Instead, I found myself laughing almost constantly as each of the guys tried to figure out what in the world Handa might be trying to say.

I like what I'm seeing from Handa-kun this week. The series has found a use for each of its characters, and the supporting cast is starting to work well enough that the comedy no longer depends entirely on Handa's personality. The writing seems to be up to the challenge of providing several new setups each week, and the practice of breaking each episode up into smaller storylines has worked well thus far. I'm curious to see if Handa-kun will ever display any ambitions beyond making the audience laugh, but it's hard to find fault with that single-minded approach when it works so consistently.

Rating: B+

Handa-kun is currently streaming on Funimation.

Paul Jensen is a freelance writer and editor. You can follow more of his anime-related ramblings on Twitter.


discuss this in the forum (37 posts) |
bookmark/share with: short url

back to Handa-kun
Episode Review homepage / archives