Score: B

This was a cute way to start the season. In some ways I’m glad that the steady run of good romances we got last season hasn’t prevented some good ones from making their way into the summer season. Shinozaki and Katase are going to be a fun pair. If for no other reason than the fact that they are already pretty into each other. In a sense there won’t be much buildup outside of showing how they met in a flashback sequence. I wouldn’t be surprised if they did get together at some point in this show since really, it’s just about one side or the other stepping outside the senpai/kouhai relationship and stating how they feel.

This is just good for healing the soul!

Katase might be the best cat girl of the year! Even though she is technically human XD. Honestly, I loved how we got a couple sequences of Katase just going all out meowing and trying to lure out a cat she saw on her way to work. Clearly, she gets quite into it. Shinozaki has an easy time surprising her just by calling out to her. Which is great for both him and the audience since she is adorable when embarrassed like that. I wouldn’t be surprised though if Shinozaki picks up some kind of fetish by the end of this show. Seems as if it would be quite the treat just to have her around and meowing at the top of her lungs.

No surprise that a few people tend to consider her to be a cat. Hayakawa’s ability to draw in cats was completely believable upon seeing how badly Katase wanted to befriend her! I’m partly surprised the title of the show wasn’t “my tiny senpai is the cutest of cat girls”. I guess her not actually being one kept that from being a solid option…

This is just from wearing a jacket!

I did appreciate a few scenes that show how Katase is plenty into her kouhai as well. It would be fine if it was mostly a one-sided thing for a while. But I think knowing how both sides have something for each other will make their interactions a bit more fun going forward. I will say it is surprising how powerfully she was affected by the whole jacket thing. Katase alone can’t be singled out of course since Shinozaki was plenty affected once he started wearing his jacket again. These two are just fired up in a few ways! Both can really let their imaginations run wild which is fun to watch.

Both sides really are having fun here

The big thing really is just going to be how cute these two are together. In a sense that’s probably why I won’t likely pick up this show to talk about all season. While saying “man these two are cute” is completely accurate, there’s not much depth to dig into in that way. But I’ll still enjoying watching this show for those cute moments. I mean seeing Katase working to give a shoulder massage was utterly adorable. But I also enjoyed the world’s cutest abuse of authority (both the original and the sequel!) It was nice seeing her (likely intentionally) getting a second drink for Shinozaki who was working as hard as he could there. Hopefully these two can just keep up the cute antics going forward.

By season’s end I wonder where they’ll end up?

There honestly isn’t that much for me to say about this one. I like the dynamic between the leads and both are likeable. I can only roll my eyes at how this show got any kind of negative attention coming off trailers and such. In the end there’s nothing more here than a very cute little budding romance. It’s nice every now and then to have these romances about characters that are adults and working. Katase being short doesn’t change that she’s a couple years older than the male lead and supporting him nicely. This was just a cute first episode and a nice way for me to kick off talking about the Summer 2023 shows.