Needy Girl Overdose

Episode 9

If there's one thing that's consistent about the ever surprising and reference filled Needy Girl Overdose, it's that this production is always trying to be as maximal as possible. It's not enough for Kache to simply confront Michica about her substance abuse, self-harm, and self-isolating tendencies; they need to get into a physical altercation that literalizes the fight playing out between the two friends. While I appreciate everything this episode is going for thematically, I think this is a rare instance where taking big swings (with a lead pipe) was actually to the show's detriment.

Needy Girl Overdose's visuals have make an impression on me week after week thanks to their creative direction, engaging editing, and joyous use of mixed media. Unfortunately, this classroom bout between Kache and Michica doesn't play to any of this anime's established strengths and reveals that the team at Yostar Pictures animating this project might not be great at the staging and blocking needed to depict an effective fight scene. While this issue will likely be alleviated in the upcoming English dub of this episode, there was also a lot of dialogue during this fight and I, as someone who's tried and failed to learn Japanese on three different occasions, struggled to keep up with both the on-screen text and animation simultaneously.

I'm really bummed that the animation in this opening act is less than congruent with the story being told, because Michica's crash out was super affecting. There isn't a lot of media that explores just how soul crushing daily life can be for naturally magnetic people who are put on a pedestal and alienated from much of the world as a consequence. This is a difficult topic to explore in fiction as it can often come across as a character just being annoyed by their own privilege, but seeing Michica wallow in what society says is an enviable position that does absolutely nothing for her, hits me where I live. I also continue to appreciate how blunt Needy Girl Overdose is with topics like self-harm and substance abuse and how thoroughly and repeatedly it frames community and social support networks as a means to process and start sorting out those issues.

While much of the rest of this episode continued to build up the upcoming confrontation between Karamazov and OMGKawaiiAngel — which contained some much appreciated Street Fighter iconography — the other standout scene from this episode for me was Lollipop expressing to Ame that they have different ideas of happiness and that should couldn't board a metaphorical(?) train with her. With the opening of this episode focusing on Karamazov helping Michica through her mental break and adjusting her life to mitigate the circumstances that inspired it, it feels really important that Needy Girl Overdose also make clear that these characters can't give that energy to everyone. One of the hardest lessons for young people to learn is that you should only give your time and energy to the people who respect it, and that you can only help people who want to be helped. The fact that Lollipop put protecting herself and her own well-being above pouring herself into Ame, who doesn't want to get better, speaks to this show's maturity.

Even if I wish the execution were a bit better, the writing and themes of Needy Girl Overdose are still as sharp and affecting as ever. I have no idea what's in store for these characters as this anime enters its home stretch, but I know I'm going to be rooting for my new favorite lesbian streamer polycule no matter what!

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Lucas DeRuyter is not a streamer nor a girl, and in fact has a contentious relationship with many of those that identify as the former. He does, however, tend to overdose on entertainment and culture writing, with some of the best pieces in his body of work noted in his portfolio! While he probably could be forced to appear on a stream or podcast if the right person asked, you can regularly find his anime related thoughts and opinions expressed regularly in ANN's This Week in Anime column.

Needy Girl Overdose is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.