Episode 5 is so far the most normal episode, and that is saying a lot. Boys antics, the coming of summer, a trip to the beach, and another step in Urabe's and Tsubaki's relationship due to a strange tan line.

One of the interesting aspect of the episode was the beginning part where the boy took a sneak peek at the girls in their swimsuits. It similar to other animes where the boys catch a glance of their female classmates figures but it isn't over the top or anything outrageous. It more innocent since they are just curious. The one note that sticks out from this is the way Ueno and Tsubaki were only interested in seeing their Girlfriends, showing that they have little care about the other girls and only focus on the ones they truly care about, despite being slightly perverted about it.

Next comes Urabe's and Tsubaki's first date. Things have been pretty hard on Tsubaki when he and Urabe hardly see each other in the summer, only to meet up for some drool exchanges. However, Tsubaki's suggestion for a date definitely breaks the ice between the two's lack of time being spent with each other, where Urabe agrees to it after she comes back from her fathers house. It possible that Oka's influence may had a impact on Urabe decision to agree with Tsubaki idea for a date since she didn't agree to anything before.

Now that the date is all set, Tsubaki is hype to see his girlfriend in a nice bikini. What he didn't expect was the nice tan Urabe got from her trip to her father. This leads on to Tsubaki appreciating Urabe exotic looks while getting a spacial moment with seeing her scissor shape tan like. This makes it spacial since he the one who only knows that Urabe holds in scissors in that position. At the end of their date, Urabe taste how Tsubaki feels about the tan line and makeing her understand how he feels and his needs.

Nothing too spacial about this episode compare to the others, but this helps cements the small amounts of development that the two are going through.

next episode: past love comes back to the picture.

Highlights

The Oka X Urabe episode is here and so is many male fans wet dream, including Tsubaki and Ueno apparently.

Now for the more serious matter. The meeting between Oka and Urabe is a strange one, mostly on Oka part than Urabe (Imagine that :D). Oka was hellbent on having lunch with Urabe and when Oka offered food to Urabe, as Urabe replies by eating it to everyone's surprise. We see Oka always watching Urabe and immediately offering her help when she got injured. And, as it turns out, she shares a drool bond with her that is similar to what Urabe has with Tsubaki. So what is Oka’s deal? She clearly interested in Urabe but how far does that interest goes? Is Oka a lesbian? Well not really..

You see, Oka isn’t interested solo on Urabe but on the relationship Urabe has with Tsubaki. We know that Oka has a relationship going on with Ueno, which is a normal relationship. However, after seeing the routine that the other two goes through, she is curious about Urabe standing in the relationship. She even goes as far as doing her own droll test with Urabe, which results in a sweeter taste than Urabe had with Tsubaki, stating that Oka is a step ahead in her own relationship with Ueno. Due to the drool connection, Oka and Urabe have a bond between each other that can be taken as close friends, even if Urabe was nevering planning on making friends. However, it also could be taken as a homosexual relationship between each, mostly on Oka’s part. However, Oka never goes any further than just drool exchanges and teasing with Urabe and views her as a buddy that needs a little help in her relationship. We see soon that, like Urabe, is very loyal and caring about their boyfriends and wouldn’t do any harm to their relationship.

In a way, Urabe needed a friend. Friends are there when you need some advice from someone with a different perspective. Tsubaki asked his friend, Ueno, when he was wondering what to do with a girlfriend. Urabe, while having some good ideas with bonding and exchanges of feelings, doesn’t have anything else to build upon that alone without some help. Someone that can listen to her problems that isn’t just her boyfriend.

Oka is voiced by Hirohashi Ryou who have done similar type character with that tiny yet deep voice of hers. The way she plays Oka is similar to Aoi Yamada from Working, where she talk with a slightly quiet voice gives off a lot of energy. It is very fitting with how Oka is. Amazing how much has changed with her since Kyou Fujibayashi.

While this episode wasn’t an relationship building between Tsubaki and Urabe, it was more on what else Urabe needed in her life. It was simply a friend that she could use for advice.

Highlights

Don't have any good jokes, so here are some pics of delicious anime food.

Mysterious Girlfriend X continues to surpass my expectation with this weeks episode involving kissing, test tubes, confessions, and being pantyless.

At the start of the episode, we see Tsubaki discovering that his best friend, Ueno, kiss a girl in a empty classroom. It was pretty obvious that he did have one but if you think about it, not many best friends in anime usually don’t get a love interest. As of now, Oka, Ueno girlfriend, hasn’t shown much of her character but it’ll all change once she starts hanging out with Urabe and helping her out in her relationship building.

After the kissing scene, Tsubaki wants to have a kiss with Urabe. Urabe agrees but not in the way he was expecting. Urabe spins around and proceed to put her drool in a test tube. She tells Tsubaki to taste it when he is going to sleep. And so he dreams of him and Urabe having a mouth to mouth exchange of candy. He notice, from the little exchange, had no feeling to it and so he tells Urabe that they should wait till they can truly understand each other. Despite having a relationship, the two haven’t exchange feelings with each other and would explain why Urabe doesn’t want any physical contact just yet. In a way this enforces that idea and it leads into the other part of the episode, a confession from another person.

Ogata, a classmate of Tsubaki and Urabe, confess to Urabe. He is popular with the girls at school, he’s on the soccer team, and has nice looks. All this makes Tsubaki worry about whether Urabe will choose him or Ogata. However, Urabe doesn’t care for looks or status, she cares for the bond and so she offers Ogata to taste her drool. When he does, nothing happens and so Urabe leaves him. When Urabe offers her drool to Tsubaki, his nosebleeds. Turns out Urabe wasn’t wearing any panties the whole day and only Tsubaki would know through the bonding. Its a pretty bold move on Urabe’s part, especially if Ogata did get an reaction to the drool. But nothing happened and Urabe was happy that her bond with Tsubaki is special. In the end, the two are getting closer and closer as they walk home hand in hand.

It impressive how the show can use these strange concepts and implement them so well in a romance build theme.

Next episode, Oka X Urabe!

Episode 3: http://www.crunchyroll.com/mysterious-girlfriend-x/episode-3-mysterious-test-tube-595629

Highlights

Our discovery of relationship understanding continues with episode two of Mysterious Girlfriend X and the on going impressiveness of the series. I said this before that this would be the make or break point for me since it has one of my favorite scenes from the manga was going to be shown in this episode. Well it here, and it was handled with respect and crafted with details.

The first note is the opening sung by Ayako Yoshitani with a dream like voice that fits with the opening scenes and feel. The opening also had some interesting imagery going on like the lemons, which I found out that they are a symbol of love but it could also connect with the sweetness of lemons like how the drool is sweet.

Next comes the struggle that Tsubaki is going through. He has a slight understanding, from his best friend Ueno, on what boyfriend and girlfriend do but not all of it works with Urabe. Physical contact is out of the question, both holding hands and hugging, and the strange behavior of Urabe from the way she response to things and her hobby of cutting things up with scissors. However, Urabe tells him there is one way they have an relationship with each other, it is the drool that carries their bond.

To understand where Urabe is coming, she shows him by going nude in front of him, while he isn't looking, and passing on those feelings through the drool. This results making him nose bleed and feeling flush and embarrass. This particular scene had incredible lighting, well shot camera movements, a very intense but gentle musical score, and captured the moment of their connection well that was shown in the manga. They even want with a dark shading to cover Urabe's naked body to not only censor it but to fit with the scene, unlike bars of light coming out of nowhere or fog. The music continues to work with every scene, specially the crazy drum solo when Urabe pulls her scissors out to teach Tsubaki a lesson.

Two episodes in and Mysterious Girlfriend X holds strong with it premise without sorting to overly cliche devices.

Next episode: test tube and a confession?

Episode 2: http://www.crunchyroll.com/mysterious-girlfriend-x/episode-2-mysterious-bond-595627

Highlights

Out of all of the new spring shows popping up, one has one of the strangest premise that, in the end, works to it benefit. That show is Mysterious Girlfriend X, a romance shows that looks at the bond between our two characters, Tsubaki and Urabe, through the use of drool. Yes, thats right, drool. And while strange and kinda disguising that is, it is the key that connects the two characters together, from how Tsubaki first fell in love with Urabe to how tasting the drool allows the two to understand each other feelings. It is weird but that is the whole point of the series is the weirdness of love.

When I first heard of the adoption of one of my favorite manga series I was a bit worried. The studio behind the animation and art work was being handle by Hoods Entertainment, which their resume is filled with the most over the top ecchi, fan-service, hentai shows like Seikon no Qwaser and Manyuu Hikenchou. The manga was very subtle with it fan-service so giving it to a studio that had been all about fan-service will probably harm the series. To my surprise, the show isn't over the top at all and instead is focus on the main theme of the show and allows the fan-service to help it instead of being a ploy to get views. The whole art style has a very old school feel with a touch of modern coloring. The characters don't have overly big eyes, hair colors are of real life hair colors, and simple body shapes. While this retro style may not be for everyone, it works to make the show nostalgic feeling. There also a interesting using of lighting and symbolism, specially in the dream sequence, showcasing the capability the Studio can do.

The director, Ayumu Watanabe, is famous for the Doraemon series that also has a very old fashion and it is apparent that he is bring this good nice nostalgic feel to a few modern series like MGX and Space Brothers. Deko Akao, the script writer, has done some weird titles like Natsu no Arashi! and Arakawa Under the Bridge and it is uncanny how sorta Shaft like MGX is when it isn't Shaft behind it. It is telling that she is behind the script by how well paced the episode was and the clever set ups. The cast is compose of two upcoming actors, Miyu Irino as Akira Tsubaki and Yuki Kaji as Kouhei Ueno. Both have a very boyish voices that fit the innocents of their characters. However, the most striking voice of the bunch is Ayako Yoshitani as Mikoto Urabe. This is her first time voice acting (She been in movies and live action dramas) and has a interesting deep and intriguing voice that is unexpected to what would Urabe would sound like but kinda fitting. All of this combines to make a solid series.

From the first episode, it looks that MGX will be able to hold up well with it strange premise. Cheers to it premiere.

Next episode: Panty scissor attack and nakedness.

Check this series out on Crunchyroll and coming soon to Hulu and Sentai"s Animenetwork.

Highlights