Drool stealing is an ancient art, steeped in legend, and relies on lightning fast reflexes. It’s like Kung Fu but the exact opposite of that.

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Episode 7 is in my eyes, one of the defining stories of Nazo no Kanojo X: concise, cute, and quirky. If there is any episode you could pin as the bar for quintessential, this is it. Oka being sly, Urabe being seemingly emotionless, and Tsubaki caught in the middle of it all. And by the way, I’ve always that Urabe’s stunt at the end straddled the realms between cute and sexy really well. I challenge any man to defy that if their girlfriend told them her legs were yours, they’d spontaneously combust. Same applies to the sick visit, actually; it all just adds to her overall appeal. Plus, she has the whole  p-p-p-poker face thing going on. Sometimes it can get a bit annoying, but her mysteriousness works amazingly well for her in this episode.

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And unlike Episode 7, I don’t remember episode 8 happening at all. I don’t think it was an original storyline because enough of it felt familiar, but it really took the show in a completely different direction. Episode 8 was also a more sexually driven episode and despite the generous fanservice and  the general premise of the series, I didn’t miss it. The transition between the last episode’s quirky cuteness and this one’s unabashedly awkward one was pretty smooth, though. They didn’t move wildly in either direction, but enough to make the change noticeable. This one was much more uncomfortable to watch specifically because of the change, yet it didn’t deviate from the precedent the previous episodes have set. Overall good episode, though not exactly my favorite.

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I don’t really have anything to add on top of episode 9; it was pretty much verbatim what happens in a couple chapters of the manga. I don’t know why I remember episode 9’s manga chapters so vividly and episode 8 is hazier, but whatever. Though I will say that this episode may be the briskest pacing of the anime. Most of the other episodes have covered only a chapter, but this one tackles two. Mind, they are very closely related to each other and not very weighty, but for Nazo no Kanojo X, that was an all out sprint of storytelling. 

I’m secretly hoping Tsubaki’s sister comes into play at some point during this season. I’m really enjoying her small cameos. Between episode 7’s uniform scene and episode 8’s meat bun quips, it’s hard not to like her. She is so much more fun to watch in the anime than read in the manga. Whoever voiced her did such a great job adding some character into her. I’m hoping there’ll be room in the series for her to have more than one liners and a full episode or something, but I don’t think it’s likely.

Definitely a good group of episodes from Nazo no Kanojo X. Every episode has been following manga’s storyline and atmosphere very well, though these two definitely stand out. These three sum up that this show is about better than any that have come before them and probably any that have yet to air. Though next week might be the most serious test for these two. Or at least, as serious as Nazo no Kanojo X can really get. 

GO Rating: 3.5/5