Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend Flat Episode 5 Review: Deadline or Awakening

Hello everyone! And welcome back to the review of the new episode of Saekano! The latest episode was quite an entertaining one. A bit different from the previous ones, if you ask me. Nonetheless, we observed some progress in the making of the game, and isn’t that what matters the most? With all of the routes completed, the storyline finished, the only thing that left to do would be completing the artwork and creating the music, of course.

But then again, in my opinion, the most important thing about a successful VN (Visual Novel), as well as a modern anime, is the artwork. It goes without saying, that the story as well, carries a lot of importance (obviously, duh). Yet in the modern world nobody will appreciate something that is ugly, old-fashioned, weird-looking, no matter how good of a story there is behind it.

Well, let us see how Eriri’s art is progressing throughout the episode.

Japanese Original Episode Title:締め切りが先か、覚醒が先か

Plot

The beginning of the episode tries to emphasis, put a great deal of an accent on the fact that there is not much time left until the winter comiket: the main way of showing this was having Kato turn down a completely okay guy who confessed to her, just because she wanted to concentrate on helping everyone on the team with tiny things that she can handle.

It may be the pressure of the deadline slowly but surely creeping by, or maybe the pressure of not wanting to lose to a childhood rival, that is Izumi-chan, but as we get to observe in more detail in this episode, Eriri is going through some tough times, and is having a lot of problems while trying to finish up her drawings. It is in this setting that she decides to seclude herself from the world in her family’s vacation house away from Tokyo and civilization, away from the noise and distractions of the big city.

Episode Highlights

Unlike Tomoya, who does not seem very worried, and blindly believes in Eriri, we see Utaha worrying and fussing about all that’s going around Eriri. Utaha even goes as far as to suggest that Eriri is just running away and won’t be coming back. She tries to back this up with quite an interesting theory, which I’ll present below. It comes in five steps as she says:

Level one – The creator’s language becomes rough

Level two – They start to blame themselves for all the mistakes

Level three – Their replies become more and more infrequent

Level four – “I want to die”, “I can’t do this anymore”, these phrases are said in a manner of self-pity

Level five – Editors and other staff will be unable to reach the creator entirely

Surely enough, just as Utaha was predicted, Eriri does go through these phases, but Tomoya keeps believing in her. It is probably Tomoya’s existence and encouragement that help Eriri, it is probably thanks to Tomoya that she stops at level three and doesn’t progress into level four or further. Makes you wonder how much does she love him, eh?

Themes & Trivia

Childhood – To me it felt that the theme that was kiiiiiind of behind everything was the childhood and friendship between Eriri and Tomoya. It might end up being the key to something important. We see scenes very similar to what’s happening in present day: Eriri leaving and promising to come back, Eriri getting sick and telling Tomoya that everything is daijoubu (alright). The two used to be best of friends, but then a black cat passed between them. I feel like this incident is going to fix up their relationship completely. But let’s wait and see.

Epilogue

Well, that was quite a cliffhanger-ie ending wasn’t it? What is going to happen next on Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata Flat? Is Eriri going to be alright? What will Tomoya’s next move be? Just like a thriller, isn’t it?

My guess is that Tomoya will rush to Eriri’s place, probably alone, or else together with Utaha and Kato, and it will turn out that the new pieces she has drawn are amazing, beautiful beyond belief and on a whole new level. At least that’s what my intuition is telling me after watching over 500 shows. Let’s see if I’m write. What is your opinion? Make sure to share with us here, on Manga.Tokyo! I’ll be waiting to hear from all of you guys 🙂