Kamiina Botan, Yoeru Sugata wa Yuri no Hana Ep.07 - Chin-lan is either a strategist or...

Episode 7 of Kamiina Botan: Yoeru Sugata wa Yuri no Hana continues exactly where we all expected the story to go. Yes, the transfer student Chang Chin-lan is being paired with Gojou Kanade, and the direction seems to indicate that they want the three couples to become official, and then...

...and then what? That's what I'm unsure about. One of the parts that makes anime series interesting for me is the presence of a conflict of some kind, but this series seems to go toward the "they were destined to be together, here is some cute shit between them" trope, and honestly, it's not even cute.

The eyecatches are, as always, just way too good. Just look at Chin-lan, she really emanate that energy...

The camera angles very extremely predictable in this episode, I guess the director this time had a particular idea and interest in Chin-lan

Look, I'm an avid fan of slice of life, and I can easily watch Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka for the xth time without batting an eye, enjoying every second of it. But something in this series just reeks and makes me feel bored while watching it. There are small bursts of "oh, this is good" in between a sea of nothing.

I've pretty much lost all interest in the protagonist, Botan, and her heroine, Ibuki. Their story is plain and continues to revolve around the "you're the destined one" trope and doesn't give any indication of why they feel well together. There's no development, no reasoning; they just are together, and that's magical. That might have worked many years ago, but after reading Adachi to Shimamura, I feel like I deserve more from a series.

Adachi to Shimamura also played the "destined one" card, but the developments were present. Both Shimamura and Adachi worked for their relationship, grew together, and faced small challenges; this made me feel attached to their story and want to know more. I found myself cheering for one or the other and just immersing myself in their thoughts.

Here, that element is just not there, and it's sad because the premise is good. Six girls, under one roof, yuri. Damn, it's a great situation to build up something nice, and yet—talking of which, do Yaeka and Akane even exist? The series seems to make excuses to push them to the sidelines at every opportunity.

This scene was particularly hilarious, poor Kanade, she isn't used to this type of happenings.

Yaeka was KO this episode too, this time because of a fever. Honestly are they even part of the cast?

Yaeka at least got an episode in which she had something of an important role, but Akane remains a completely background character. We know very little about her, and honestly, I can't even bring myself to criticize her because I can barely remember who she is and what she does.

As I mentioned in last week's episode, I'm bracing myself, as I'm already too deep into the series, but I wonder if the manga is the same or if this is a problem with the adaptation instead. I'm curious about giving it a chance, but who knows if the anime won't turn me off the idea completely by the end...