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

Episode 5

What is love, exactly? We can come up with all sorts of ways to describe it, to evoke the feeling of love, and express it to others. However, it's a lot harder to say, precisely, what love is. It's not something that can be quantified or accounted for in purely logical terms, yet that's the challenge Rentaro faces to win the heart of his latest soulmate: the unerringly efficient Nano Eiai. Yes, her surname is pronounced exactly how you think it is.

Thankfully, just because Nano is defined by efficiency and is the top student in their grade, that doesn't mean she's smart – at least not in the way that matters for this show's comedy. Just as the other girls take their gimmicks to their ultimate extremes, Nano takes pure logic to its illogical endpoint. True to her A.I. namesake, she'd rather copy a textbook diagram than make and record her own observation in science class. In a scene straight out of Koe de Oshigoto! she'll slobber all over our hero's finger to “disinfect” his cut faster than going to the nurse's office. She'll even nonchalantly crush the dreams of children everywhere by pointing out a mascot character as a person in costume. Despite her eternally stoic face, she's just as much of a wacky weirdo as the rest of this polycule, and will doubtlessly fit in perfectly with Rentaro's eclectic gaggle of girlfriends in her own way.

The catch, of course, is getting the intensely logic-driven Nano to not just admit to her feelings but to value them as something that doesn't need a strict value or benefit. It's a tricky problem that the show resolves with a surprisingly astute little experiment. One might expect Rentaro to take Nano on an unbelievable, life-changing date, or else try to play Nano's game by quantifying each moment with a score value. Instead, their trip to the amusement park is mundane – aside from this somehow being Rentaro's first date, despite having 3x the average amount of girlfriends. It's simple, pedestrian, and charming in an utterly straightforward way. Which is exactly what drives his point home at the end. Despite how seemingly trivial their time together was, through some romantic alchemy it's become precious to Nano nonetheless. Love doesn't have to be revelatory or special to be worthwhile. It can be as simple as holding hands with somebody you care about, or looking back fondly on some cute pictures; the meaning, the “value”, is in the moments themselves, regardless of whether you can put words to it.

This is a decidedly more subdued entry for the show. Nano herself is a fun enough personality but she'll start to shine once she's integrated with the rest of the cast. With just Rentaro, her shtick is a bit too repetitive. She still lands some quality gags along the way, but there are a few more duds than in previous episodes, and her lower energy doesn't allow for the zany humor that's carried the series so far. Much as I appreciate the ultimate sentiment, the confession scene also lacks the emotional gut punch that made Shizuka's episode so touching. It's not bad, and in any other romance anime it would probably be a great little episode, but 100 Girlfriends has established a high bar for itself. Rentaro would never think to rank any of his loves as anything but S-tier, but I am comfortable recognizing a B-grade outing.

Thankfully, next week should offer plenty of room to rebound, as we venture into that most vaunted of Harem Anime cliches: the swimsuit episode. Considering what this show has done with a single finger, god help us when it finally unleashes its full Horny power level.

In the spirit of efficiency, I have provided an alternate review image with all 3 of the other current girlfriends.

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