The following contains spoilers for Episode 6 of Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie, "With Fireworks Comes Summer's End," now streaming on Crunchyroll.
The sixth episode of Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie was a treasure trove of familiar slice of life and romance anime tropes, with the main couple, Shikimori and Izumi, going to the local festival to see the fireworks that draw in crowds each year. Having missed his chance to ask Shikimori to the fireworks the previous year, Izumi is excited to be going with her, but no one is as excited as she.
The episode continues the series' upward turn in the past few weeks, giving easy, wholesome moments between the main couple, a good mix of supporting cast, and just enough clichés. It is unfortunate that the familiarity of the aforementioned clichés also led to the expectation of something a lot more passionate than what was offered, but perhaps the following analysis of the episode will be a fitting explanation.
The Premise
The episode begins with a phone call between Shikimori and Izumi. Izumi, sunburned from their day at the river, is trying his best to keep cool on the living room couch when he hears about the upcoming festival and fireworks while watching the news on TV. This reminds him about the previous year, when he'd been too scared to ask Shikimori to watch the fireworks together, so he makes sure to ask her this time around. An interesting element from this episode lies in the old slice of life trope of having an episode where female characters wear traditional yukata, often in an attempt to impress someone they like.
Shikimori herself dresses in her grandmother's vintage yukata, braiding her hair to go with the look, but what's interesting about it is how Izumi also attends the festival in a yukata. As a result of the yukata being employed as a kind of secret weapon in the arsenal that anime maidens employ to gain the attention of their love interests, their male counterparts generally don't wear them. However, Izumi does, and it isn't even his first outfit choice for the day, with his father's old jinbei making way for the plain yukata he wears for the episode's duration.
In Classic Shikimori Fashion
During the festival, the pair initially enjoy the various features and stalls together, walking around, talking and laughing in a pleasant montage. The montage ends when Izumi spots a stall selling delicious cotton candy. Since Shikimori doesn't like sweet things, she decides to pass on it but Izumi is adamant on doing something for her because she saved his life at the river, and because she's always doing things for him. This becomes Izumi's main objective of the episode, to do something for his girlfriend that she'll like and appreciate. They soon come across a souvenir stall with a basic premise – use the little rifle to shoot down the gift you want, and it's yours. Izumi, despite his burning desire to win a wolf plushie for Shikimori, fails dismally, allowing his girlfriend to do what she always does: display incredible levels of competency at almost anything. She not only knocks down the wolf Izumi wanted for her but every other available gift.
The episode begins to peak after Shikimori offers her prize to Izumi. They run into their friends, Inuzuka, Hachimitsu and Nekozaki, and explore the festival features together for a while. They even do the slice of life festival staple of goldfish-catching, with Shikimori's competitive streak emerging when Inuzuka starts outperforming her boyfriend. However, a new Shikimori weakness is revealed – she can struggle with tasks that require extra dexterity. The activity serves as a great distraction, but Shikimori's friends remind her that the fireworks are due to start at any moment, so she and Izumi begin their procession to a better viewing location. Unfortunately, Shikimori experiences one of romance slice of life anime's familiar events – the breaking of the geta sandal, in addition to the fact that all the walking has put her feet under immense strain, so Izumi offers to carry her to their viewing location, a secret place that Izumi's dad told him about prior to the event.
Izumi, The Dependable
Despite Shikimori's initial protests, Izumi is adamant on carrying her because it is the least he can do for her, having wanted to show up for his girlfriend in some way for effectively the entire day. They go up a flight of stairs to a shrine-like structure in an empty courtyard. Placed in front of the sky where the fireworks will be is a bench, perfect for viewing, so they sit there and enjoy the privacy. It's there that Izumi tells Shikimori that he didn't see the fireworks the year before because he lacked the courage to ask her then. She reveals that she was disappointed that he didn't ask her, but it no longer matters because they're able to see them together this year. When it's time to leave, Izumi attempts to carry Shikimori down the same flight of stairs but slips, nearly injuring them both if it weren't for his father catching both of them on his own back. His parents reveal that they'd been there the entire time, so Izumi and Shikimori weren't alone up there as they'd initially thought.
The episode's wholesome moments between the main couple and honest conversations about how they want to be perceived by their significant other make this episode more introspective than its predecessors, but it shines because of its solid but not overdone reliance on familiar tropes, and the subtle evolution of one of those tropes embodied in Izumi's yukata. The biggest issue with this episode is that the strong deployment of the varied tropes, such as the festival viewing, goldfish catching, broken geta, girlfriend carry and of course, fireworks, is that they build up to a particular climax, with the fireworks becoming the backdrop of something like a kiss or in other cases, a confession would go there. That didn't quite happen, which may negatively affect the episode's payoff.