This episode of Nijiiro Days introduced a new plot device character by the name of Mocchi, who is serving as the foil to our blond friend Natsuki.

The opening was pretty cute, what with Natsuki showing up early to class to copy Tsuyoshi’s notes, only to be denied because Tomoya and Keiichi beat him to it. After the opening credits the show poked a little fun at itself by having Natsuki read from a folder titled “Memo” and do some narration. vlcsnap-00002

In the end Natsuki gets in trouble for copying Tsuyoshi’s answers wrong, and has until the end of the day to redo his work. On the way back from the teacher’s office he bumps into Anna, and they chat until Mocchi shows up.

It’s pretty clear from the get go that Mocchi is like Natsuki, except better. He’s cuter, smarter, and knows how to speak to the opposite sex. A disgruntled Natsuki retreats to his classroom where he whines a little to his friends and tries to console himself about his friendship with Anna.

Tomoya however is absent, and it’s revealed that he went to see Mari, who wasn’t in her class. But he bumps into her in the hall with Anna and Mocchi, and gets his face clawed when he attempts to ask Mari a simple question. Back in the guys’ classroom, Tomoya muses that Mocchi must like Anna too. Well duh.

Mari and Anna leave the washroom together, and Mari berates Anna for talking to Mocchi. Apparently being cute means she can’t say hi or wave to her male friends, because it’ll encourage them or give them wrong ideas or some stupid shit like that. I honest to god dislike Mari’s character so much at this point that I think I just have to accept that I hate everything that falls out of her mouth.

vlcsnap-00014At lunchtime, Natsuki is about to go sit with Anna and Mari, except Mocchi beats him to it. Natsuki sulks and pouts, until Tsuyoshi brings up a good point – if he really cares for Anna as much as he says he does, then he should put his money where his mouth is and fight for Anna. Until they are dating exclusively, he has no right to get bent out of shape over who she eats lunch with. (Well even if they were dating, he has no right, but you get what I mean. Fight for your heart’s desire Natsuki!)  So that’s exactly what he does. Or attempts to do, until Mocchi slyly tries to twist Natsuki’s intentions around.

Natsuki ends up asking Anna to step into the hall so they can talk privately for a minute. He says that he wanted to sit next to her, not Mari, and Anna is happy to hear that. She asks if they can eat lunch together the next day… and then spoils the moment by saying their friends can eat with them too. But Natsuki is patient and will take what he can get, so he agrees.

Back in the lunchroom, the other guys interrogate Mocchi about his intentions with Anna. It doesn’t seem like he’s going anywhere soon.

My thoughts: I really want to like this show. And I guess because it’s a short, I shouldn’t expect as much as I would from a full-length episode. So I’m glad Anna and Natsuki are showing some progression in their relationship, because the other characters (namely the other 3 guys) are feeling a little… static. And I can’t put into words how much Mari pisses me off. Tomoya deserves so much better in a girlfriend and the way she clings to Anna is just ugh. Go away Mari!  щ(ಠ益ಠщ)