Handa-kun

Episode 11

As it turns out, having a master calligrapher in your class doesn't make it any easier to decide between running a café and putting on a play. Handa's class falls into the all-too-common debate over what to do for the school cultural festival, and their problem becomes Handa's problem when he's asked to make the final decision. An encounter with the student council president gets Handa thinking about ways to connect with his classmates, but his newfound resolve arrives a few minutes too late. Everyone else has already agreed on a Romeo and Juliet-themed café, mixing food with a stage performance. Handa tries to contribute, but ends up spending a lot of time sitting down and being asked to observe the rest of the class. As their performance reaches its most important scene, Handa finally takes matters into his own hands by running away as fast as he can.

This series has played with the idea of Handa trying to be more sociable in the past, and the premise works well enough to carry most of this episode. By having Handa try to reach out instead of just wanting to be left alone, the script is able to put just enough of a twist on the usual misunderstandings to keep things interesting. At this point in the series, though, the writing needs to work harder to keep these interactions fresh and funny. It succeeds more often than not, with plenty of laugh-worthy exchanges between Handa and the other characters, but it can't quite replicate the steady stream of hilarity that earlier episodes were able to deliver. As the setup grows familiar, the timing and delivery of the actual jokes becomes more and more important.

The good news is that not all of this episode's humor depends on Handa. Whether they're wandering around the festival or appearing in the deranged hodgepodge of Shakespearean characters, the supporting cast is able to carry a significant portion of the comedic weight. Watching Juri and Maiko bicker at Kawafuji's calligraphy booth is good fun, and having Eraser kidnap the librarian to act as the play's narrator is a nice touch. Even little throwaway gags like the president's new hairstyle help to ease the show's dependence on Handa and keep the ball rolling between the more elaborate comedy routines.

The premise of a stage play going completely off the rails is nothing new in the school comedy genre, but Handa-kun still manages to make the scene work. Much of its success comes down to matching (or deliberately mismatching) characters' personalities to their roles in the play. Casting Tsutsui as Juliet to Nikaido's Romeo is an inspired bit of lunacy, and it's hard not to laugh when poor Kondo gets stuck with the only non-speaking part. Casting Handa as Queen Elizabeth makes for an entertaining visual that also ties in nicely to his sitting role during the festival preparations. As Kawafuji points out, the whole thing is a colossal disaster of a play, and that's exactly what it needs to be in order to make this tired old premise work.

This school festival storyline benefits from Handa-kun's surplus of outlandish personalities, and it feels like there's still enough content left over to carry on into next week's continuation. The big question now is how the series will wrap up as we approach the end of the season. It's already laid the foundation for a heartwarming ending where Handa finally realizes that his classmates don't hate him, but it could just as easily pull one last comedic reversal and leave him more paranoid than ever. Both possibilities are appealing in their own way, and the show's decision to tread some overly familiar ground this week has the potential to pay off in the near future.

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.