3ET: Nourin

Is it weird that I think Kousaka wanting to kiss his favorite idol makes him less creepy?

Studio: Silver Link

Director:  Oonuma Shin (Baka to Test to Shokanjuu, Kokoro Connect)

Writer: Yokote Michiko (Genshiken, Kobato)

Main Cast:

Asanuma Shintarou as Hata Kousaku

Tamara Yukari as Kinoshita Ringo

Hanazawa Kana as Nakazawa Minori

Character Design: Onoda Masato

Music: Kikuya Tomoki (Hidamari Sketch), Matsuda Akito (D-Frag)

I thought Nourin would be some sort of culture clash story about an idol (Ringo, stage name Kusakabe Yuka) moving to the country to go to an agricultural school. Something like Idolm@ster meets Gin no Saji. It's not exactly that, it's more the story of how dumb high school kids can be with some awkward love triangle nonsense thrown in. The main character (Kousaku) is obsessed with Kusakabe Yuka, and his reaction to her sudden retirement and arrival at his school, as well as how this affects the relationship with his childhood friend (Minori). Hilarity is supposed to ensue. Oh, and there are boobs. 

The first episode was a pleasant surprise. I enjoyed getting to know Kousaku, he's the basic crazy idol fanboy, but not overly creepy. So, when Kusakabe Yuka retires, he has a completely expected and comical reaction. He and his classmates seem to be the kind of charming idiots that can carry a show. Even the perverted comedy bits were decently done. I mean, when a girl with giant tits is called "boobs" by the cast, it's a sign of self-awareness I rarely see in anime. And when Ringo shows up, and she's by far the most sane character despite coming from the insane world of idol culture, that works. I was shocked at how much I was enjoying it.

This sure is a necessary thing that is happening.

And then the love triangle stuff had to start. Literally from the B-side of episode two, the show takes a severe downturn in quality, and it's because it stops being about how dumb the characters are. Instead, it starts playing up how Minori and Ringo are vying for Kousaku's affections. Cue the panty jokes, skimpy outfits, ridiculous "competitions", and the equivalent of a wet t-shirt contest. It got old, quickly. Then there are the references. For references to be funny, they have to be tangentially related to what is going on. Having one of Kousaku's plans to try to get a pair of Ringo's panties come to fruition and cutting to a Death Note style shot while saying "Just as planned" is funny. Random other Death Note references with no relation to what's going on is not. These also quickly got tiresome made me relieved to be done when the credits rolled after episode three.

So, I'm left with a show that had a funny first episode, a painful third episode, and a second episode that was in-between. Now, this blog isn't called "One Episode Test", so I can't just pass it for the quality start. But, it wasn't so bad that I can instantly throw it away. I will say that this is a close call, and I usually lean towards passing a close call. The exception is when the show is getting demonstrably worse as the show progresses. And that is definitely the case here. Because of that, Nourin gets a fail.