WARNING: The following article contains SPOILERS for Denki-Gai Episodes 10, 11, and 12. If you don’t want to be spoiled, please stop reading. You have been warned.
You know, I am kind of sad that it is over at this point. It is true that sometimes you do not really realize what you have until it’s gone. Over the last 12 episodes that I have followed this series, I realized just how much I enjoyed it. It is often through light hearted material that it is easier to get connected to a cast of characters in the same way that your best memories with any friends are always with the good times you had together. I am actually willing to take back what I said in the last episode commentary about the characters not being all that deep. I do like these characters simply because they were enjoyable to watch, and it requires some amount of depth to have an emotional connection with them. Granted Denki-Gai is far from an emotionally powerful series, but that is part of why it is as enjoyable as it is.
Okay, I will admit that it has been a few weeks since I saw episode 10 and at the time of writing this, I seem to be having problems getting Crunchyroll to play the episode again. As a result, I am going to go off of what I remember and I will try my best to give an accurate description, but my memory is a bit fuzzy. Basically, it is Valentine’s Day again and Sensei gets Tsumorin to help her make a cake. It ends up going well until they somehow end up eating it all themselves. Afterwords, it is White Day and all of the guys give Valentine’s day candy to the women in return. I can’t remember much else specific but I can remember what I liked about it.
First of all, I really liked a gag where Usui said he didn’t have any chocolate to give to Sensei on White Day because she didn’t have any. It results in Sensei getting back at him by pointing at him and saying “Fu-Girl, a zombie!” which results in her going nuts and hitting him with the bat. I normally wasn’t big on that joke but it grew on me the more I saw the series. Also, it worked well in this instance because Usui kind of had it coming there. Granted he ends up saying that he actually did have it, but the dead pan way he delivered it did not sound like he was joking. Not to mention that the only purpose of doing such a thing is to try and make someone feel bad. Otherwise I do not remember any specifics but I do remember it being a very funny episode.
Episode 11 starts with a flashback during the youth of Somolier and the Ero book inspector lady. It starts with the ero inspector lady spying on Somolier and his friends looking at ero books while hiding in an abandoned cabin. Initially, she hates those types of books and is about to report the boys, but the boys catch her and bring her inside the shack. She is initially worried about what will happen, but then Somolier hands her an ero book. She refuses to look at it, so Somolier goes through ero books until he gives her a sports manga that she apparently read before. She accepts it, and then she eventually starts hanging out with the guys while they are doing their thing.
One day, Somolier and ero book inspector lady (okay, technically, she isn’t an inspector at this point but I’m still calling her that just for consistency’s sake) are the only two that show up at the abandoned cabin and they talk to each other. Somolier shows her a secret compartment (No, not that kind of secret compartment, you perverts!) that has a lot of ero books hidden from the other guys. The ero inspector lady says she is going to bring a special book that her brother has in return. Unfortunately, during school, the staff discovered that people were in the shack looking at ero books, but they did not know who was doing it. Seeing as how ero inspector lady has the book in her backpack, she is worried that she will get caught.
Luckily, Somolier takes the fall for her because he had something in his backpack as well. The principal then talks to Somolier and tells him that he is not actually in trouble and that the reason they were concerned was because the cabin is being torn down. Somolier then realizes that the ero inspector lady went back to try and reclaim the stash before they were confiscated. This results in her being trapped in the cabin while it is being demolished. Luckily, Somolier rescues her at the last minute, but she’s sad that she couldn’t protect the stash and that they all got destroyed. However, she still had the special book from before and gives it to Somolier. Due to her regret of not being able to save the ero books, ero inspector lady decides that she wants to prevent this from ever happening again, which inspires her to become the ero inspector lady.
I must give praise to this segment for how it manages to actually make a somewhat emotional story out of an absurd subject like looking at ero books. It is surprisingly touching to see how some people can bond over some unusual things.
The second half of the episode was more lighthearted and had some of the girls spying on Sensei during her daily routine. It involved them reacting to and analyzing how she decides to go about these mundane things. Some examples being her deciding to eat instant ramen instead of going out to eat, and her resisting the temptation to order food from the café she is working on her manga at. This part of the episode was quite hilarious and had a lot of funny and enjoyable moments.
With episode 12, the series ended on a pretty positive note. The first half of the episode had Usui taking Sensei to his house and taking care of her because she is sick. The running gag throughout the episode is him trying to hide all of his perverted otaku stuff from Sensei. Granted, this doesn’t make much sense due to Sensei being an otaku as well but it is understandable that one would be paranoid. Sensei also takes advantage of the situation by asking Usui to pat her head and let her rest on his lap because she knows Usui won’t judge her due to her predicament. The episode ends when Usui realizes that he forgot to put away his butt pillow (don’t ask) and Sensei gets surprised and confiscates it.
I must praise them for deciding to be a bit subtle about that. This is handled in a way where you can’t quite tell if Sensei is unhappy with Usui being perverted or if she is confiscating it for other reasons. Even if it is the former, they did not dwell on it or drag it out too long, unlike other series that are obsessed with this obnoxious gag.
The second half was hilarious as well. Basically, it is a cosplay-based picnic with the entire cast… oh, come on, do I really need to say any more than that? Well to be more accurate, it is the aforementioned picnic, and lots of wacky hijinks. Particularly, you find out why it is a bad idea to invite Tsumorin to anything involving alcohol. The reason for this is that she not only gets incredibly smashed, but she also decided to get everyone else drunk as well. After the shenanigans, the episode ends on an extended version of the catchy ending theme, but decides to through in a stinger skit about how the new recruits for the shop are trained.
So for my final impressions on this show; I loved it. It was funny as hell, and the characters were very likable. It also managed to properly pay tribute to otaku culture instead of mocking its target audience, unlike some other recent anime (*cough* I Can’t Understand What My Husband Is Saying *Cough*). The recurring gags were also hilarious and the whole thing was just very fun to watch. I am hoping that there will be a second season for this show. And if you have not seen it yet then I recommend doing so.
So anyway, take care you all. And remember, you can get drunk, but don’t let drunk get you.
Denki-Gai is currently available to watch in its entirety on Crunchyroll.
