Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches

Episode 4

There seems to be an unwritten law that any anime series based around a special power or gimmick must thoroughly run that premise into the ground before coming up with any other ideas. After all, why go to the trouble of doing something new if what you've got still kind of works? Well, it looks like the folks behind Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches didn't get the memo; the body-switching mechanic still works, but the show is already throwing a new power into the mix. Will it add some variety to the humor, or just muddy the waters?

The new power first comes to light during a school trip. Shiraishi unpacks her luggage while in Yamada's body, and Odagiri just so happens to get a photo of “Yamada” rummaging through a girl's underwear. Odagiri may not know about the body-switching power, but she certainly knows prime blackmail material when she sees it. Yamada kisses her as part of a plan to delete the picture, but something unexpected happens: they don't swap bodies. In fact, it appears that Yamada's lost the ability altogether. Instead, he now has the power to make anyone who kisses him fall madly in love with him. It's up to the supernatural studies club to figure out what the heck's going on and find a way to get rid of the incriminating photo.

The “charm” power has some interesting implications, and its introduction certainly stirs things up as far as the story is concerned. Everyone in the club assumes that kissing Odagiri caused Yamada's old power to go haywire, but that idea raises more questions than it answers. The new variables make the series less predictable, which should be a good thing. As long as the writing is able to manage the added complexity, there's no reason the series can't handle more than one kiss-based power.

While the dramatic implications of the new storyline are still up in the air, the comedic gains are immediately obvious. Miyamura and Ito turn into a well-matched comedy duo while under the charm power's effects, and their battle for Yamada's attention is surprisingly fun to watch. The most entertaining part of the scene is their disgusted reactions to having the spell lifted; they suddenly can't fathom what they could've possibly seen in Yamada. If the series is going to introduce more powers in the future, one can only hope that it continues using Miyamura and Ito as the club's designated guinea pigs.

The show is quick to find fun uses for the charm power, but it's taking longer to figure out what Odagiri's role in the story should be. If she's going to serve as an antagonist, then we need a clearer idea of how her rivalry with Miyamura affects the rest of the characters. Given that the current student council president is a colossal pain in the neck, how would Odagiri taking over the position be any worse? If, on the other hand, she's meant to be more of a rival than an enemy, then Odagiri needs some more depth as soon as possible. At the moment, her personality is too vaguely defined to serve as a foil for the supernatural studies club. The show doesn't need to do much here, but it needs to do it soon.

Whatever frustrations the story causes are completely drowned out by the short scene after the end credits. It starts out as an amusingly goofy info-dump about the school, but quickly descends into chaos as the characters involved start deviating from the script. I'm not quite sure why we needed this little throwaway scene, but it's one of the funniest parts of the entire episode. I'll never look at talking yakisoba mascots the same way again.

Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches continues to do everything it needs to do in order to work. The chemistry between the lead couple is very good without taking over the show, and the writing does a good job of keeping things light and entertaining. I'd like to see it do a bit more in some places, but it's plenty of fun as-is.

Rating: B

Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Paul Jensen is a freelance writer and editor. You can follow more of his anime-related ramblings on Twitter.