Masamune-kun's Revenge Episode 11 Review: Snow White of the Yasaka Festival

Masamune’s naivety in Episode 11 of Masamune-kun’s Revenge puzzles me. During the Fujinomiya arc, he seemed intelligent enough to grasp the basics of human interactions, but now even the most logical assumptions elude both him and Gasou. How could they believe that a single post-festival dance will make Adagaki fall in love with either of them? I’m probably overthinking this, but after a great penultimate episode, I had to put my two cents on a thought or two.

Japanese Title: 八坂祭の白雪姫

Plot

With this festival backdrop, Masamune-kun’s Revenge went through all the necessary anime tropes. Last time, the lack of serious comedy and the absence of any serious plot development made me a little bitchy. I complained that the series took a turn for the worse. One episode later and the series took a 180 degrees turn to deliver a setting with so many twists and comedic bits that it was both funny and informative.

Kanetsugu’s motives are not as noble as he let the Yuri club (Aki’s guardians) believe. Though he’s by no means a bad person, his reasons for going after Adagaki are financial. His family is running out of cash and they need a way to restore their former glory. Being mistaken for Masamune clearly worked on his favor, and as he says in the episode, the only one who could mess his plan is the real Masamune who is ‘a bullied fatty.’ He’s not aware that Masamune is the Masamune, but that’s probably going to be revealed in the finale. Even if his intentions are not based on romantic feelings, they are still way better than the revenge Masamune (still) wants to have. I still find it hard that Masamune is dumb enough to miss the OBVIOUS clue that Adagaki is attracted to someone that he would have looked just like if he hadn’t gone the ‘stud’ way, but maybe it’s just me. Probably the story is going for the big revelation ‘I’ve always liked you’ moment during the last episode. Having Masamune taking the hint would have ruined the moment.

The comedy of the episode begins with a funny coincidence – without informing either Gasou or Masamune, the Yuri club and Yoshino kidnaps the other class’s prince – which continues with a series of events that are tightly connected to one another. For once, Masamune-kun’s Revenge flowed smoothly, built on almost every character, and set the events for the finale.

Episode Highlights

Neko: I am on Neko-team. Neko is amazing. She still likes Masamune and she even goes as far as taking him to the nurse’s office to rest after she took wind of his illness. Like a true lady, she gives priority to the important stuff, and tells Masamune that if his plan fails, he still has a partner for the dance. NEKO!

Kojuurou: It’s probably too late to have any significant character development on our Snow White, but I wish we had known him a little better. His crash for Neko was the sweetest moment of the episode, and I would have loved to see the romance blossom into something more concrete. He is a sweet character who deserved more screen time.

Themes & Trivia

Outward Appearance: It feels weird that a show that criticizes bullying spends writing space on having its protagonist make fat jokes and complain on their chest size. Masamune-kun’s Revenge needs to decide if it’s sending a message that looks matter or not.

Wall Slam: The trend of having a character pinning someone on the wall is called kabedon and originates in classic shoujo manga. In Japanese, ‘kabe’ means ‘wall’ while ‘don’ is the sound effect (Japanese use a lot of onomatopoeias for sounds) for when a person slams a wall. Kabedon is the action of (usually) a guy placing one or both hands on the wall to pin a girl who has her back facing the wall. It is often a sign that things are getting serious and somewhat flirtatious, or that the person doing the kabedon is angry or frustrated.

Comments

Masamune-kun’s Revenge is making clear that Adagaki may be attracted to Masamune, but in the end it’s all about making it on her own:

I always knew I couldn’t rely on any prince

The cliffhanger of this episode points to the obvious: Masamune will play the prince Adagaki is missing on stage. Is that performance going to change his mind on carrying out his revenge?

Where’s the prince?

The finale of Masamune-kun’s Revenge will have a lot of revelations. I’m not sure how the dynamics will play out, but my personal preference would be some kind of epiphany for the two main characters through which they will be able to mature and possibly agree on a relationship that will not be based on either revenge or regret? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Did you like Episode 11 of Masamune-kun’s Revenge? Let me know in the comments below! Don’t forget to check the rest of our episodic anime reviews for Winter 2017.

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