Ano Natsu de Matteru - Episode 3

The effects of the alcohol consumed by all and sundry last episode might have worn off, but the foggy memories of the previous day haven't quite worn off by the next morning.

While Kanna soon finds herself faced by some minor embarrassment from that afternoon courtesy of Remon, this is as of nothing compared to the worries of Kaito and Ichika, with the former imagining a horribly bungled confession which will see him become the laughing stock of his friends while the latter becomes increasingly convinced that her secret alien origins have been outed to Kirishima.  In Kaito's case, his worries are bad enough for him to skip school and avoid Ichika, which ultimately only leads to the others worrying about exactly what's up with him.

Kaito is still feeling sore about his imagined rejection even once school has finished, and his continued desire to avoid his new housemate leads to him going out into town with Kanna when she stops by to see how he's doing.  As the two wander and chat, little do they know that they're being followed... at least, they don't until Remon gets a little too over-exuberant in her attempts to film the wonders of their youth.  Ultimately all's well that ends well, as Kaito and Ichika quite literally bump into one another and eventually clear up their relative misunderstandings, although it seems that in doing so they've set about a whole other chain of awkward events.

Having noted a definite improvement in episode two of this series following a disappointing opener, I have to similarly note that this third episode is improved yet again - now we're a little more familiar with the characters and set-up everything feels tighter and more relevant, while the rampant fan service of episode one is virtually nowhere to be seen here.  Admittedly, this instalment does go down the tired old "misunderstanding" route so beloved of anime romantic comedy, but its resolution and what followed was sweet enough, and curiously my attention has actually been grabbed the most forcibly by the show's secondary characters - beside Remon acting excellently as a cipher for comedic trouble-making, the dynamic between Tetsurou and Mio was both fascinating and slightly beautiful in the way it was portrayed.  Hopefully this isn't something that's forgotten as the series moves forward - some of the best romantic comedy series of recent times (Kimi ni Todoke and Toradora) have made great use of secondary relationships, and I'd really like to see Ano Natsu de Matteru do likewise.  I'm not going to start declaring my love for this series just yet, but it's beginning to impinge upon my heart a little, so only time will tell if finds the relevant strings to pluck and win me over entirely.