Special A - Episode 4

In trying to collect my thoughts about this forth episode of Special A, I have to say - It's a strange old beast. On the one hand I really quite like it, but on the other I hate it, leaving me with a very conflicted feeling as to how to even proceed on this entry.

This episode finally introduces us to the rest of Kei Takishima's family - A father whose feminine traits are way, way over the top to the point of being hugely annoying, and the almost inevitable rebellious younger brother who feels that he can never live up to the standards set by Kei, and so between that and Kei's perceived coldness to him he refuses to do any kind of school work and so own. Enter Hikari as a tutor, and (I'm sure this isn't too much of a spoiler) an eventual reconciliation between brothers.

While Hikari is a likeable character and Kei's hidden depths make him equally interesting, this series seems to be otherwise spoilt by the rest of the supporting characters, who are various shades of annoying. While Kei's younger brother should probably be exempt from this as he really wasn't all that bad, the rest of Kei and Hikari's school friends and family all seem to be begging for to have various levels of violence applied to them to shut them up and get them out of the picture. It's a shame really, as the main pairing is interesting enough to make the show watchable, but you often end up hoping and praying that the two get stranded on a desert island for the rest of the series.

Special A also seems to suffer a little from being a jack of all trades but master of none - It's attempts at comedy often don't work, in this episode in particular, whereas the more poignant moments are often laid on a little too thick.

In closing then, I suppose I'm saying that this series should probably be avoided, unless you can grow to really, really like the two lead characters. I haven't reached that level of interest in them just yet, but I imagine I'll persevere with this series a little further for now, if only on the basis of the more entertaining third episode.