Bad Girl

Episode 7

Now that we're more than halfway through the first season of Bad Girl, it's safe to say that the characters and dynamics between them are never going to be as developed as I hoped they would be. That's not to say that any characters are bad (okay, maybe the recently introduced siscon Mizuka is pretty one-note) or that it's not fun to see these characters bounce off of each other, but I was hoping for a little bit more from the show by this point. Bad Girl is pretty overtly playing with themes like queer longing, idealizing romantic interests, and drawing validation from external sources rather than internal confidence. However, this romcom is split into about 80% comedy and 20% romance, which means we're probably not likely to see any character introspection that changes the status quo until the season finale at best.

That said, I can't be too upset about the elements Bad Girl prioritizes, as the comedy keeps working in episode seven. The first act features Yuu dipping her toe back into pretend delinquency by wearing not only her winter uniform now that they're in the summer months, but also wearing layers of jackets on top of her uniform despite the heat. Suzu's deadpan explanation of why Yuu's different takes on this idea are ill-advised never fails to entertain, and in the end, we get a more humanizing moment for Yuu's crush (read: obsession), Atori. The upperclassman reveals that she's still in her winter uniform and has been running around in the background of the sketch because she's insecure about her body, which Yuu responds to with a wealth of reassurance.

I wish this grounding moment for Atori was a little more specific to her instead of broadly relatable, but I'll take whatever character development I can get at this point. Atori is the main focus of three different characters in this show, and the more built up she is, the better this program becomes.

The second act reveals that Atori's sister, Mizuka, is actually in the same class as Yuu and Suzu, and the three characters start to develop their own dynamic. While not laugh-out-loud funny, by the end of the act, Mizuka and Yuu have a mutual respect, though they're still mostly love rivals. Suzu, once again, is the best part of this segment and casually takes the piss out of the hijinks Mizuka and Yuu get up to over their shared obsession with Atori. I don't think Mizuka is going to be much of a full-fledged character in the remaining episodes of Bad Girl, but I can see her and Yuu rubbing their single brain cells together to create even more ridiculous situations going forward.

The last act is a Rura-focused segment, and it's maybe the best one that she's appeared in. As would make sense for a woman with a budding praise kink, Rura's revealed to work part-time at a maid cafe so she can be fawned over. When Yuu shows up at Rura's cafe to take advantage of a promotion, she immediately starts taking the wind out of Rura's sails, and it's incredible. Yuu being completely indifferent and unsure of what to say in response to Rura filling Yuu's omurice with love via a cutesy ritual got the biggest laugh out of me of the entire episode.

Though the best gag of the show would probably have to be the ending credits shifting to be entirely Rura-focused, with the new lyrics being entirely sung by her voice actor, only for the ending segment to call her out on her smug attitude and behavior. This is probably just my disdain for bad and undeservedly confident members of the streamer profession shining through, but I love when Bad Girl goes out of its way to bully Rura.

This episode of Bad Girl was fun, popcorn fare, and I think I'm going to start to enjoy the show more now that I've given up on it ever bringing its more subtextual ideas to the surface. The character design appreciator in me digs that the animators went out of their way several times over this episode to give several characters different outfits and hairstyles. While I wish there was a bit more substance to this episode, like Rura in the ending sketch, I can enjoy some empty calories in moderation.

Rating:

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Lucas DeRuyter is the de facto Bad Boy of anime reviews (no one else was using the moniker). He rolls with ANN's This Week and Anime crew, and you can check out his coolest work in his portfolio. You can also find him sticking it to the man on his Bluesky account.

Bad Girl is currently streaming on HIDIVE.