The fourth episode of Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie promised the viewers one of the most important of the events that have become a staple in slice of life and romantic anime – the beach day episode. The beach day is ubiquitous with slice of life anime, but forms part of a greater tendency anime to bring this particular event to the fore regardless of the overarching plot or context of the series in question.
However, Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie, in its consistent attempts at the subversion of expectations, managed to initiate the sequence of events that would have the characters frolicking at the seaside in true anime fashion, but did not follow through. The series' deception of the audience in this regard does the series more harm than good, and while the previous episode showed the anime's promise, the fourth falls back into old habits.
Summer Vacation
The basic premise of Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie's fourth episode is that with the summer vacation upon them, Izumi, Shikimori and friends are trying to figure out the best way to spend their free days. As people who prefer culture to sport, Izumi and Hachimitsu feel more attracted to calmer summer days spent relaxing in relatively cool places, while Shikimori, Nekozaki and Inuzuka all prefer to be outside in the sun.
The three get carried away in their conversation, eventually coming to an agreement about spending one of their days at the beach; however, Izumi's frail physical composition and weakness against heat and strenuous activity leads the group to changing their beach day to a day at the local river, where the athletic group can swim and Izumi can enjoy all the shade. The group then head to the local mall to buy swimsuits, but Shikimori is disappointed to hear from her boyfriend that he won't be swimming, so she won't get to see him in a swimsuit. Since Izumi will be sitting it out on the sidelines, Shikimori decides that she won't be swimming either.
Shikimori's Envy
The episode suggested that it would go in the direction of the age-old tradition of the water-activity episode, but only took the characters as far as going to the mall to buy their swimsuits. The funniest part of the episode was when Shikimori found Izumi gawking at a picture of a model in a black one-piece swimsuit.
Impressed by the model's chiseled body, Izumi was gawking at the model a bit too much, at least as far as his girlfriend's concerned. She buys a swimsuit similar to the one she saw on the model Izumi was staring at, and when spotted by Nekozaki, an interesting aspect of Shikimori's character is revealed; she does not like to lose.
Nekozaki's Admiration
To prove her point, Nekozaki goes on a tirade about her belief that Shikimori is the ideal woman, a "Yamato Nadeshiko" and the image of femininity before revisiting how she and Shikimori became friends in the first place. Similarly to the first two episodes, it would appear that much of Shikimori's appeal in the eyes of the characters around her lies in her athletic prowess juxtaposed with her "picturesque" femininity.
After going head-to-head in a heated class basketball match, Nekozaki, who was initially too shy to speak to Shikimori, asked her to lunch. Like Izumi, Nekozaki noticed the contrast between Shikimori's general demeanour and her moments of cool, and this juxtaposition intensified her interest in Shikimori. While the cutaway to Nekozaki's flashback may be welcomed, the long-winded distraction from what was meant to be the episode's objective is not.
No River, No Beach
While it isn't necessarily disappointing that the characters did not end up going on their planned adventure in this episode, the set-up in the initial stages of the episode created expectations of a pay-off of some kind. This wasn't the case, and we got a glimpse into Shikimori's competitive nature. While this new information about the series' titular character is definitely important, it very well could have played part of the overarching narrative of the river day episode, had it actually happened. This puts the series in a worse position than it was in last week, when it appeared to be finally breaking out of the self-imposed restriction that is Shikimori's supposed gravitational pull.
Despite the strange decision to initiate a beach day and deliver something else entirely, the fourth episode of Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie produced some tender moments, like Shikimori's embarrassment at the mall when Izumi asks what she bought, and the phone call between them towards the end of the episode. Izumi's interest in astronomy and intimate knowledge of the stars serves as a bonding moment between them. Shikimori didn't know that her boyfriend liked stars, and due to his misfortune, bad weather has thwarted his attempts to go stargazing throughout his life. She promises to take Izumi on a trip to see the stars together someday, a kind gesture showing Shikimori's desire to get to know him better and get closer to him. While appreciated, the lack of payoff regarding the series of events in this episode is quite the dampener on the episode overall.