Season two of Girlfriend, Girlfriend, also known as Kanojo mo Kanojo in Japanese, made its triumphant return with the highly anticipated episode one premiering on October 7th, 2023 in Japan. Tezuka Productions, who worked on 2021’s season one, is handing the baton over to SynergySP for season two. Episode one not only does a fantastic job in reminding us of the bizarre situation surrounding Girlfriend, Girlfriend‘s characters, but pushes the boundaries of the measures characters are willing to take to see their way. This season is slated for 12 episodes, and we’ll get to see the progress of Naoya Mukai’s two-timing dating life.
Episode 1 – “Get ‘Em Go Go Summer Break!!“
Shino Kiryuu’s determination knows no bounds when it comes to putting an end to Naoya’s two-timing ways, especially since her best friend is one of the girls involved. Meanwhile, Naoya and his two girlfriends and housemates, Saki and Nagisa, desire to plan a summer vacation only to realize that their school exams must be a priority. Shino, a diligent student, finds herself in an ideal situation. She offers to assist Saki and Nagisa with their exam preparations, but with a condition: they must do something in return. After the exams, satisfactory results are achieved, allowing everyone to focus on summer vacation. Though, first, it’s Shino’s turn to make a request, and her desire is to live with Naoya, Saki, and Nagisa so that she may keep an eye on their relationship in hopes of protecting Saki.
The introduction of Shino to the already chaotic household is the first major change we can expect to see as we transition from season one to season two. Since Shino had limited screen time in the last season, it will be intriguing to see her impact on the story. But Shino isn’t the only one taking measures to get her way, as content creator and internet star, Rika Hoshizaki, also insists that she be invited to live in Naoya’s household due to being infatuated with him. Rika’s measures are even more drastic – and I won’t get into the gritty details of it. The ridiculousness of her ways is better to experience by watching the scene.
Rika, using extremity after extremity, fails to convince Naoya and the girls to have her move in. As an internet star with quite a chunk of change, she takes it upon herself to rent the house next to Naoya so that she can have her hand in Naoya’s business. Rika takes the comedy in the series to a whole new level with her cringe-inducing moments, leaving us unable to resist watching and laughing along.
A lot happens in episode one. We are reminded that Naoya is dating two girls at once, that he lives with these girls, sexual situations are banned from the household (we’ll see if this holds up), and that Shino and Rika have their own goals in mind regarding the trio’s relationship. The episode effectively manages to depict the chaotic situation and surprises us with various twists in the plot.
The opening theme song of season two, “Dramatic ni Koi Shitai,” performed by Hikari Kodama, is an incredibly enjoyable and energetic tune that’s so catchy I can’t imagine skipping it while watching the show. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Claris, a personal favorite group of mine, performs the ending theme song, “Forira,” so it’s looking like the ending song will also be unskippable for me.
I noticed that the animation for this season seems to have more motion and smoothness compared to last season. With the addition of an eccentric ensemble and the script’s brilliantly delivered punchlines, I am confident that this season of Girlfriend, Girlfriend will be even better than the last. While you wait for episode two, be sure to take a look at our Fall season rankings for week one.
Episode Score: 7.5/10
Images Via Crunchyroll
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