中二病でも恋がしたい！/ Chu-2 byo demo KOI ga shitai!
Episode 05

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Sanae attempts to conquer drinking milk as Tsuyuri cheers, when Nibutani arrives, looking for her pom-poms, and gets milk spewed into her face. Meanwhile, Nanase-sensei has summoned Yuuta and Rikka, as Rikka’s recent math score was a 2/100. If her scores don’t improve, Rikka’s club will be dissolved. Rikka is panicked over this as the two return to the club classroom, just as Nibutani whacks Tsuyuri for saying she smells like spoiled milk. Nibutani thinks it would be OK for the club to be disbanded, but Rikka is determined to study, only to reveal to the others that she stinks at math. Rikka’s approach to studying proves to be quite unorthodox.

The group heads to a shrine where instead of praying, Sanae and Rikka make commands to get Rikka through her math test. To the shock of Yuuta and Nibutani, Sanae is tops in middle school and has already been accepted to their high school. Although Sanae is impressed that her Master got into high school without having mastered the basics of math, Rikka changes tactics and decides to pray at the shrine. Since Rikka is keen on not studying, she strikes a deal with Sanae-sensei to clean the pool in order to not have the club disbanded. The club heads to the pool, but things soon degenerate into goofing off, especially between Sanae and Nibutani, who despite being a cheerleader really has no interest in doing it.

Since the club failed to clean the pool, the stakes have now been raised for Rikka as she now has to not only pass her math test, but also have a higher grade than the classroom average. Yuuta agrees to tutor the panicked Rikka at her apartment.  The tutoring session does not go well as Rikka claims not to understand what the “characters” of math are thinking. She tries to get out of studying, but Yuuta blocks all of her attempts. In final desperation, she gets Yuuta to agree to take a break, where she says she’ll make tea. Rikka gets a message from Tōka, leading Yuuta to learn that Rikka often spends her evenings alone.

Rikka and Yuuta exchange phone e-mail addresses, when Yuuta realizes he still has his middle school, chyynibyou e-mail address. Rikka thinks his is cool since hers is normal and wants to change hers. Yuuta thinks that might be a problem, but since Rikka only has Tōka and Sanae who’d care, she doesn’t see it as a problem. Upon hearing this, Yuuta agrees to come up with a cool name for Rikka’s e-mail if she studies. She buckles down and studies until she falls asleep. Returning home, Yuuta finds Tōka in his room, playing modern house with his little sister, who seems to appreciate Yuuta’s efforts. After much studying, exam day arrives and Rikka gets a 52. However, since the class average was 50, the club survives.

Thoughts/Review:

I think this was the funniest of the episodes so far, but it was also one of the more touching episodes.

 

On the whole, there are lots of parody references and tropes here, the main one of course being the cleaning of the school’s pool, followed the dreaded exam and the need to “pass” with a failing grade. Seriously, a 52 is passing in Japan? I often see grades that would have failed me in my school days being sold as low-passing grades in anime/manga.