On a hot summer day, Victorique attempts to battle the scorching rays of the sun with a terribly boring book. She’s on the losing end of the battle until a parasol comes to her rescue. Wait, parasols can’t move on their own.

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A tale about Kujo’s escapades in spending summer in Saubure because it’d be impossible to go back to Japan and still have time to stay. Avril initially invites Kujo to go to the Mediterranean Sea with her because her grandmother owns a house there. Kujo agrees and tries to tell this to Victorique, but this ends in a small squabble between the two. At the last minute, Kujo tells Avril that he can’t go with her because he’s worried about Victorique.

Kujo arrives just in time, with a parasol, to save Victorique from the scorching sun. Victorique is internally happy, but shows annoyance in order to cover such happiness. Kujo shares gifts that arrived from Japan with Victorique and that includes a note from Kujo’s brother involving a puzzle Victorique had asked his brother to solve. The note amuses Victorique along with Kujo’s skill of climbing trees because Victorique never tried such an activity. This prompts her to attempt tree climbing without Kujo’s supervision. Sadly, this ends with her getting stuck in the tree and losing an orange cake that Kujo had left for her. The event happened because she wouldn’t let Kujo help her get down from the tree. Everything would’ve been all right until it rained.

The rain worries Kujo and he returns to the tree to still find Victorique stuck. He tells her to jump and that he’ll catch her, but Victorique, being her prideful self, does it without Kujo’s help. The two go back to Victorique’s house to dry up and talk about other things like a problem Kujo’s brother wanted Victorique to answer. We all know the outcome of the question being asked. 

Likes:

That momentary scene wherein the animation went into chibi form.

I never expected such a form to arise in this series because Victorique’s cuteness is a great enough factor in the cuteness level. No, BONES just had to level up and add a chibi-like scene. I personally found this cute and really a surprising factor in terms of the animation.

In this episode, I was able to notice a lot of the animation. From the shiny texture of the hard candy that Kujo gave to Victorique to the detailed leaves when Victorique climbs the tree, I was able to take note of the beauty in this one episode.

Other than that, Victorique’s seiyuu, Aoi Yuuki, has gotten the different emotions down perfectly. Her voice acting skills amaze me and it’s no wonder her roles are increasing. 

Dislikes:

Other than episode 12 being just a filler-like episode, I disliked the lack of screen time Avril had. She’s an interesting character with a loud personality and I really want to see her develop as a character. I understand that the focus of the series is between Kujo and Victorique, but I really want to see increased Avril screen time. What I actually hope is for Avril and Victorique to finally meet because Kujo talks about Victorique with Avril and vice versa. I can already see the loud clash Avril and Victorique will have because of contrasting personalities, but I want to see such a development occur because it allows a character to grow and gives them more screen time. 

GO Rating: 3/5