More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers

Episode 6

Well things are finally starting to get spicy, aren't they? Or rather, characters are starting to take actions that will fundamentally force everyone to confront their feelings in the future and I am here for it. At first, I thought the setup for this episode was a little bit weak since it seems like it was dragging out the conflict of Jiro figuring out that Akari just wants him to call her by her first name. It's a little passive-aggressive, but we already know that these characters aren't going to be fully honest with themselves, and the fact that Jiro now knows what it feels like to not be called by his first name anymore by Akari is noteworthy. It feels wrong to him, and he seems genuinely happy when she resumes. I'm glad that got resolved while also planting seeds for Jiro's emotional conflict moving forward. After all, like he says in this episode, their married life is only temporary, and who knows if he'll still be able to call her by her first name afterwards.

Of course, I'd be remiss to not mention the second major kiss of the season between Jiro and Shiori. I have to give the show credit for that because I genuinely thought they were going to completely bow out at the last minute. It's nice that Shiori got the swift kick in the pants that she kind of needed to move forward with her feelings towards Jiro because with everyone being so passive, nothing is going to get resolved on its own (I mean at least it's not as bad as Uzaki-chan where we had to take a season and a half to get to that point). Even if the kiss was an accident, it's still something that neither of them can take back and they'll have to address it at some point in the future. I like the fact that Jiro is FINALLY starting to question if Shirori's forwardness implies that she actually likes him.

The bit at the end where Akari is depressed because she misunderstands exactly how far Shirori and Jiro went with each other felt genuine. She tried to go out all night with her friends as a distraction but when she couldn't stay out anymore with them, she was just left alone with her own thoughts. I like that Akari is starting to be more forward with how physically intimate she wants to be with Jiro and that it's not a tease on its own. The fact that these misunderstandings and circumstances are slowly moving these relationships forward is enough to make me forgive how clichéd and convenient they all feel. There's nothing wrong with a show riddled with clichés, but those clichés still need to serve a purpose. Even though Akari knows that Jiro didn't have sex, I wonder how she'll feel about the kiss. Technically that puts the two girls on the same level physically with Jiro if we're not counting all of the cuddles and sleeping together on the same couch bed. Akari already sees Shirori as a massive insecurity trigger so I'm expecting something to come out of that soon. What will happen when that shoe finally drops?

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More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.