The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You

Episode 10

Alright readers, gimme an M!

M!

Gimme an I!

I!

Gimme an L!

L!

Now gimme an F!

F!

Put it all together and what does that spell?

MILF!

That's right all you literal and metaphorical motherf*ckers out there. We're in the real thick of it now. You thought Kusuri was where this show got weird? That was only 100 GirlFrieza's first transformation, and now it's transcending to that weird xenomorph-looking form, except with huge, literal mommy milkers attached. This is likely where I lose some of you on this trip, and while I don't blame a soul for jumping ship, I assure you that if you stay aboard, you will witness seas beyond your wildest dreams. This episode, and specifically its final moments, represent a fundamental shift for the series, as 100 Girlfriends takes the very concept of “good” or “bad” taste and throws them into a wood chipper, before using the atomized remains as filling for a plush mattress on which to bed mother and daughter alike.

I know, there's a whole episode before that scene but we all know why you're here. The Rentaro Family's joint infiltration has some fun gags, some sweet moments, and a scene where Karane creams her shorts from having her tummy rubbed. It was very funny and/or cursed, but none of that can compete with the absolute insanity that is Hahari Hanazono. If the whole twist was just that Hahari is also Rentaro's soulmate, that would be scandalous and highly problematic, but not that out there compared to what came before. It's Hahari's backstory, itself a bizarre and tragic reflection on the kind of head-over-heels love that this show has celebrated that puts this over the edge. She's not just the (actual) Mom Girlfriend, she's a mother who got artificially inseminated at age 13 to start a family with her dying boyfriend. It's absolutely god damn bonkers, but that's a big part of why this ends up working for me.

I don't blame anyone for being uncomfortable about the idea of a high schooler dating an adult, to say nothing of that adult being the mother of one of his other girlfriends. I've given plenty of other shows with smaller age gaps plenty of flack. If you heard Hahari's backstory and thought it was the most demented thing you'd ever read, you're completely in your right to do so. Yet it's because of how far the series goes with it, how ludicrous the entire conceit of this character is, that makes it work. 100 Girlfriends operates in an increasingly exaggerated surreality that has about as much resemblance to our world as it does to Narnia – and you know damn well Aslan would not approve of any of this. By being so separated from anything resembling a real or grounded relationship, a lot of the baggage from the real world just can't penetrate the membrane of fiction whereas a more realistic or over-the-top approach would let those worries in through the front door. Hahari, as a character, is just crazy enough to work.

Besides, for as crazy and potentially horrifying as every aspect of this lady is, there's no doubt in my mind that Rentaro will love her just as much as his (comparatively) less problematic partners. Even before the patented Soulmate Zing, you can see a moment of vulnerability Hahari shows when Rentaro immediately sympathizes with her life story. It's probably the first time she's explained it to anyone and wasn't met with either a thousand-yard stare or a swift retreat. Yet Rentaro, in his infinite capacity for love, can completely understand the lengths she went to in trying to preserve the memory of her first love. If the Hanazono family does go blind with love, then it only makes sense for the blind to lead the blind. Whether they're leading this show to new heights or off a cliff is simply a matter of taste.

As always, here is a Family Size amount of alternate review images.

Rating: The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.