A Couple of Cuckoos

Episode 12

As A Couple of Cuckoos reaches the finale of its first cour, the one significant change to the status quo is that rather than just chasing after Hiro, he sees all three female leads—his sister included—as potential wives. It's not exactly an uncommon development in harem anime. The switch from an oblivious protagonist to an indecisive one suggests that he might start making active decisions. For the first 12 episodes of the show, Nagi hasn't made a single consequential decision, and as a result, it's made things painfully dull.

In fact, even his goal of getting with Hiro largely manifested in him just wanting to study all the time, which doesn't exactly make for compelling viewing. That was the case this week as well. It wasn't until she takes him to go kickboxing that things actually picked up. Even if a minute of it was spent on some particularly boring fanservice (are we still seriously using b-boing sfx?), it was good to see that the two actually have something in common outside of being good at schoolwork.

The scene also prompts Erika to take the initiative to find something the two of them have in common. Fashion? Reptiles? Running? Honestly, it's hard to know what would actually stick, since Nagi really doesn't have much of a personality. But of course, the main purpose of the scene is just to get these two to spend time together, culminating in her kind of admitting to being jealous. This ultimately reveals the point of the episode itself: what does it mean to be in love?

He starts with dictionary definitions—because he's a boring nerd—but eventually finds an explanation in the form of his dad's letters to his mum. His dad is the most fun character to watch thus far, and it was nice to get a brief look at what he was like in the past. In the end, it results in Nagi realizing that if he is in love with anyone, it's actually all three of the girls he's been spending time with. It's not massively interesting and certainly not surprising, but it's something. He sends Erika a text to let her know that he's open to their relationship developing, and it seems like the second cour will likely play out like an extended application process.

Ultimately, though, Cuckoos is really really dull. Its lack of interesting direction, poor animation, and flaccid writing make for a show that constantly had me checking the progress bar waiting for it to be over already. I've even seen people start calling it a “slice of life” show purely because it both lacks the drama that comes with romance and the laughs that would come with comedy. Even slice-of-life anime are relaxing! This has just been boring.

Rating:

A Couple of Cuckoos is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Callum is the host and creator of the YouTube channel The Canipa Effect where he explores topics within the anime industry. You can also find him talking nonsense on Twitter.