Score: A-

It was certainly nice for the show to bring a bit of focus back to Kanna again. Even if things aren’t really changing for Kanna the show makes most of her scenes extremely enjoyable. There isn’t much change in terms of Saikawa’s intense attraction for Kanna either. But sometimes you really don’t have to change something for it to continue working. Those two have a stable dynamic and it was allowed to shine brightly in this third episode. They even managed to pull in Ilulu and allowed her character arc to continue to build up. And certainly Ilulu is the focal character of this season in terms of growing, changing, and becoming even more likable as time goes on.

Ilulu’s life has gotten…interesting

I can appreciate that Ilulu is trying to figure things out. She isn’t simply able to forget or ignore what she did at the start of the season. Of course I’d be worried if she could. But it is still nice to see her grappling with her guilt. She obviously wanted to play with Kanna and Saikawa, but needed a push to actually do so. Of course there is a solid gap between Saikawa acting out and Ilulu trying to blow up a city. But at the end of the day both of them have room to grow and change. Although I suppose you could debate if Saikawa is growing. It is more like she’s just changed her focal point in life and her habit of completely living true to her desires hasn’t changed at all.

Not that it is wrong for Ilulu to mimic that to some degree. Her childhood was truly messed up. An attempt to reach out lead to betrayal by humans and the deaths of her parents. Then the adults around her pushed her hard towards hate and she had to adapt in order to have a place there. She isn’t a child any longer being around Tohru’s age. But that doesn’t mean she can’t use this as a chance to start fresh and build up towards maturity. It might not be bad to follow along with Lucoa’s idea and just have fun for now. At least until she can properly handle the weight of her sins. On that note I did love how Lucoa could have easily send Ilulu back in time. But I also appreciate that Ilulu didn’t want to lose the good that came from her mistakes.

Shouta’s highlight moment in the series

The comedy as always was on point in this episode. There’s a lot of good little stuff to enjoy as the episode plays out. I did get a smile from Saikawa intentionally losing games so she could engage in the punishment game…of rubbing Kanna’s belly. Setting up something like that would definitely make Saikawa lose every time imaginable. Tough break as well being on the opposite end of Lucoa’s…’need to go to the bathroom beam’. But it did allow her to gain a new friend which is nice. But maybe my favorite part was the game of monopoly that Shouta was part of. He was trying and mostly succeeding at being mighty and evil in that game. Too bad for him the “power of love” won the day. He fought alone and was defeated. But Saikawa had no qualms about helping Kanna win and seeing her ‘King’ thrive.

Nothing bad to say about the whole Kobayashi’s maid outfit segment. I think it was heartwarming to have her be accepted by those around her. Maybe the important thing was that she herself needed to grow and accept herself. If she wanted to dress up then she should. The important thing was how she felt about it and not just accepting the premise that she isn’t cute enough. I do think having good friends around her mattered. That combined with her own change of perspective did more for her than her family just shooting her down in her youth. I also like how she changed her tune over Tohru’s maid outfit. It isn’t the classic maid outfit, but so what? The important thing is that Tohru wears it with the mindset and desire to act as Kobayashi’s maid. And honestly…the outfit did actually suit Kobayashi a bit.

This was just another really fun episode. I even had a good laugh from Tohru’s hobby search. It makes sense that she’s great at so many things, but it doesn’t matter if she doesn’t have an interest in it. Her focus and love is centered on Kobayashi which is good…but sometimes dangerous. I’m just glad this episode let Kanna just be her lovable self and allowed Saikawa to be her amusing self. Throw in Ilulu continuing to mature as a character and you have a nice combination. This has been a very comfortable and enjoyable return for this franchise and I’m glad to be able to watch it.