Eromanga Sensei

Episode 8

There's a certain feeling of liberation to Eromanga Sensei's proceedings now that it's fully embraced its fanservice tendencies. This eighth episode finally doubles down on the expected uncouth romantic elements it's been teasing since its premiere, and in doing so, seems to offer a convenient place for those who were here for anything else to jump ship.

This episode focuses purely on Masamune and Sagiri's unfortunately accelerating relationship, and how the other characters' feedback interacts with it. There's still some mild fallout to deal with from Masamune turning Muramasa down last episode, and Elf effectively shoves everything along by setting up a party for the last third of the episode. The episode actually opens with seeing a festival-ready Sagiri in a yukata, prompting a conversation between her and Masamune's that makes it pretty clear they know how they both feel about each other.

Sagiri being clearly fully aware of Masamune's feelings is a welcome realization, if only because shows like this tend to dance around characters spotting the obvious crushes others have on them. Maybe Eromanga Sensei dodges that miscommunication because there are other, bigger issues with their relationship to dance around. Indeed, the brother/sister romance situation is laid out a bit more at the end, but that's just the coda to everything that happens beforehand: twenty minutes of Eromanga Sensei's now-obvious brand of self-insert fanservice.

We do actually get a couple minutes of Masamune doing novel-writing work that doesn't factor into the story at all, save for providing an excuse for him and Sagiri to have an emotionally charged phone call. The rest is devoted to Elf flirting with him (finding a chance to stick a sisterly spin on that potential relationship), Muramasa flirting with him (you really thought getting turned down would stop her?), before they both show up at his house in cute yukatas to flirt with him some more, until Sagiri gets pissed off and passive-aggressively flirts with him too. Masamune is naught but an audience-shaped cardboard cutout through most of this, which is of course the point.

The pandering extends past the dating-sim parade of girl-chats this week, surprisingly. There's a whole segment at the beginning devoted to showing Sagiri finally wear that teal hoodie all the promo images have her in, as she goofs around the house 'securing' it in the most silly-cute way possible. Heck, they even managed to score some pandering points with me, as the gag about her missing her shipment from 'AmuAmu' tickled the toy collector side of me. No one's immune from different flavors of fanservice, be it a parade of Dengeki Bunko characters from Elf's monologue to an apparent Oreimo cameo. (Are these shows in the same universe? Of course they would be.) If this show's just gone full emotional nerd pornography, at least it's covering all its bases.

The wrap party scene that finishes the episode is at least strong in a casual, character-driven way. Honestly, I was quite pleased to see probably one-off author Shidou, since he's the only one with a personality and motivation that doesn't involve wanting to jump Masamune's bones. They didn't even resort to a gag about him being annoyed/desperate over Masamune's female attention, so he seems like a genuinely affable guy. The series would do well to introduce more balanced side characters like this. They expand the show's world and give the more wild main characters some breathing room.

Then of course, there's Masamune and Sagiri watching the fireworks together at the very end, actually starting to talk about their relationship with each other. The lead-in is rather effective, and I do feel bad that it never occurred to me that these kids have actually lost parents twice to land in their current situation; that would leave anyone desperate for validating relationships. So when they address this conflict by the end, with Sagiri realizing that they're just pining for 'family' that doesn't necessarily need to be sibling-based, it feels like the show at least put some effort into contemplating its more unsavory elements. Granted, even that is walked back into fetish territory when Sagiri says she'll agree to 'pretend' to be Masamune's little sister for his sake, but maybe it's the thought that counts? I guess I appreciate the concessions at a less fetishistic relationship for the rest of us, just a little bit.

After all that, this episode even gets a special credit sequence with a new song and all. After that almost-confession and all the fanservice leading up to it, it feels like a concession. This is a montage that would not be out of place at the very end of a series, so it almost feels like a send-off to people who liked the light romantic comedy around a solid novel-writing premise up to this point. "We've reached full-on harem incest fantasy," it seems to say, "If you're not here for that, you can quit watching and pretend the show ended here." Sometimes savvy execution assists in delivering such divisive material.

Rating: C

Eromanga Sensei is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.