10 Second Anime - Aoharu x Kikanjuu - Episode 5

Tachibana witnesses Team Gun Gun's tactics and teamwork from the other side. Tachibana discovers Matsuoka's issues with women team members.

Episode 5 - "I don't want to leave the team!"

Heh.

I like this Sagara woman. Too bad it's probably the last time we'll see her.

 

Not surprisingly, Matsuoka has game and tries to pick up girls during a match. He doesn't seem very serious about it, though.

 

Just when you thought Tachibana ran out of reasons to tell Matsuoka and Yukimura that she's actually a girl, we heard about Matsuoka being forced to watch some cruel teasing during that big tournament.

 

I liked the boys-will-be-boys banter going on between Matsuoka and Yukimura, and then they suddenly stopped because Tachibana wasn't joining in trying to knee each other in the groin.

If Matsuoka knew Tachibana was a girl, there's no way he would slap her back like that!

 

Horseplay. It's a guy thing.

Tachibana didn't quite get the fun in horseplay, but when she lost her patience, she made a reasonable facsimile.

So, um, does Tachibana shave her legs? Does she go crunchy? I have so many questions about why the dudes didn't say anything when she wore shorts.

Hmm.

This upcoming tournament has some different rules about hand-to-hand combat that is a big clue for how that other team cruelly treated Team Gun Gun. You can hit or grapple all you want, but nobody dies unless they're actually shot. That's how they made Matsuoka watch whatever they did to their first female team member. I doubt Tachibana could be overpowered physically, so I can imagine there's going to be some psychological pressure put on her about revealing her gender.

 

I can also tell that this isn't a sports anime. Usually the humanization of the opponents happens during the match. The audience is supposed to really hate them at the beginning, but then come to understand their "feelings" or whatever as their backstory is revealed through flashbacks. Here, the opposing team is showing their quirkiness and personalities before we see them in action.

 

I can see how these little details will be used during battle to explain motivation or inform the decisions they will take. Perhaps we're supposed to take it as a given that these people, Team Gun Gun included, just flip switches to their dark sides or alternative personas when they hold a gun in their hands on the battlefield.

 

Right now, Tachibana hiding her gender is adding a bit too much melodrama. The story is dragging this out longer than I'd like. Make a decision already, which will probably be keeping the secret, and then let's have our big impact during the revelation at a pivotal moment near the end of the tournament. Let's stop this teasing will-she-won't-she business already.