Special A - Episode 3

After disliking its opening episode quite intensely, and only feeling a slight spark of enjoyment from episode two, I have to confess - I'm actually starting to warm to Special A, with its third instalment proving to have a couple of amusing moments while succeeding in being really quite charming.

Following on from Hikari losing her bet to Kei in their wrestling match last episode, Kei gets a single command over her to make her do his bidding. His choice of 'punishment'... Make him a bento. As the episode progresses, we learn that Kei has clearly lived a life entirely without having a bento made for him - Who knew it would cause such mental traumas?

Anyhow, from then on, things become rather predictable, with Hikari proving to be useless... no, dangerous... in the kitchen, and so on and so forth. Despite that predictability, it still managed to create a couple of moments that made me chuckle, while the real highlight was in Kei's behaviour and interplay with Hikari, which brought out a far softer side to him compared to the harsh individual we saw in episode one.

So, despite there being nothing spectacular and a very typical story on show here all in all, Special A seems to be slowly winning me over. I'll be the first to admit that some, if not most, of the supporting characters are pretty irritating (what it is with annoying support roles this season, first with Itazura no Kiss and now this?), but it's worth living with when Hikari and Kei get most of the screen time, which is fast becoming a rather soppy tale that somehow I've been dragged into liking.