Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko - Episode 4

Following his little stunt which closed out the last episode in rather spectacular fashion, Makoto is left with no bike, a cousin whose delusions have been shattered leaving her in tears, and above all one broken arm.

Still, breaking a bone in your body isn't all bad, and in Makoto's case it means getting treated to the expected procession of oddball visitors.  First we have Meme, who reveals a little bit more (or at least seems to) about Erio's father, who she calls Elliot - another E.T. homage, or a reference to some awesome guy who is sending me some Hidamari Sketch figures tomorrow?  Who knows.  Anyhow, from there Makoto is visited first by Ryuuko, who is as cheerful, honest and slightly loony as ever, only for her proclamations to be bested by Maekawa who manages to send Ryuushi into a frenzy while also going as far as to dress in cosplay especially in the name of cracking a joke - you have to admire the girl's dedication to humour.

Eventually, Makoto finds himself discharged after a couple of weeks in hospital, returning to his new home to find himself with a fridge-ful of Meme and a slightly but noticeably changed Erio - it looks like shattering her delusions wasn't such a bad idea after all, as for all her oddities (and she's hardly on her own in that camp) there's something eminently more normal and human about her behaviour upon Makoto's return.

For a series full of so brazenly crazy characters, Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko still holds a line in sparkling dialogue that is reminiscent of (although not of the same quality as) Bakemonogatari, filling its conversations with one-liners, throw-away comments and memorable little moments of comedy or more meaningful thoughts that blend together to create something that is perhaps more entertaining than it has any right to be.  Makoto in particular works very well as the foil to all the lunacy around him with his detached manner and adolescent scoring system which gets a full-on outing here, while those surrounding him are just grounded enough to reality to remain both likeable and believable.  In short, Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko is exceeding my expectations of it markedly so far as it climbs my internal rankings of what is hot and what is not this season.