Episode five ‘Wow, A Trip to Kyoto’ Exciting
Its time for Naru and Keitaro to take their disc long awaited Tokyo University entrance exam. They both fail and decide to take off for Kyoto, coincidentally taking the same train, staying at the same inn and visiting the same sights. There are some hijinks, but we end with a nice bonding scene between the two. There is little deformation of the character designs in this relatively serious episode. Not much fan service either. Once again I give up on the English dub halfway.

Episode six ‘Keitaro’s First Kiss is with…?’ Journey
In this we see the rest of the Hinata girls heading for Kyoto, getting lost and running out of money in various amusing situations. We also meet Ms. Mutsumi Otohime for the first time, a female version of Keitaro whom ditz’s around and generally makes Naru entirely jealous. There’s a whole deserted island bit where Mutsumi and Keitaro kiss, and Naru and Keitaro nearly kiss, but the critical moment is interrupted by the belated arrival of the rest of the Hinata gal’s. There’s some swimsuit fan service, a g-g kiss between Naru and Mutsumi and the prerequisite cute animal of the series (a turtle) makes its first appearance. May we now experience the true power of the cute?

Episode seven ‘First Date, Keitaro’s True Feelings’ Nowadays
Then Naru is picked up for her graduation by Kentaro, a wealthy, sophisticated rival for Narusegawa’s affections. Both Keitaro and Kentaro want Naru to go to a new theme park with them. How to decide? A virtual date using Su’s patented new dream scope device. Kentaro wins hands down, but does Naru go with the dream guy? The other girls will happily take up any missed opportunity on her part. No, the girls including Naru all go together with Keitaro, leaving Kentaro out in the cold. Ahhh, Sweet. Dub still sucks.

Episode eight ‘Kendo girl – the legend of the Dragon Palace’ Is this a dream?
The scene: Su finds an old games console system, Keitaro finds an old Role Playing Game cartridge, our lovers play, fall asleep, and dream…
…themselves into the game. Chibi form’s in character, real forms out of character. Motoko’s point of view as the heavy blade struggling with the requirements of her character, particularly the skimpy outfit which somehow conspires to be unsexy. On the whole an excuse to let reality slide for the episode – odd, this series has never need to a reason before. Was it a dream, I just don’t care. Fans of the series will enjoy, but don’t expect plot or character development this episode. Dub still, you know, bad.

Overall:
A nice little disc, we see ‘normal’ life in Hinata House, introduce the last main character and get a bit of development to the ones we already have. Pleasantly filling.

JMH