We are now halfway through Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable‘s winter season run with the release of episode 6 this past week. The episode is overall a happy-go-lucky 23 minutes with our characters and during the second half, we are introduced to a new adorable Hokkaido gal! As with many anime in the romantic comedy genre, more characters means more complications in the love life.
Exams are nearing at Tsubasa’s school, and as a studious academic, he isn’t too worried about his grades. Contrary to that, Minami Fuyuki isn’t so good at academics and has some anxiety over future exams. The two, plus Sayuri, gather at Minami’s house for a study session, where Sayuri is shocked to learn, and slightly jealous, that Tsubasa had been to her house before.
During the study session, Minami pours the trio cups of “Ribbon Napolin”, a famous soda drink exclusive to Hokkaido. The drink is rarely sold outside of Hokkaido prefecture, and former Tokyoite, Tsubasa, tries it for the first time. With almost every episode, there has to be some kind of Hokkaido exclusive product placement, and as a Hokkaido fan, I’m happy to see that people who might not be familiar with the region are being informed on some exclusive products.
Tsubasa loses track of time while studying at Minami’s house and breaks his curfew, which leads to some friction between him and his grandmother, setting up a huge twist set by her later in the episode. But before that, we are introduced to Rena Natsukawa, as she captivates Tsubasa when he first lays eyes on her while walking to school. Rena has the face of a foreigner and gives a lasting impression as she dramatically gets rid of some crows on top of a trash heap. Later at school, Tsubasa learns that Minami finds Rena adorable and interesting as well.
Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable episode 6 keeps Rena a bit of a mystery. She’s impossibly smart after helping Tsubasa figure out a math question in her head, she’s infatuated with Japanese traditional wear for some reason and seems to already be taking a romantic interest in Tsubasa.
Sitting on the fact that Tsubasa broke curfew, his grandmother ponders some conditions he must meet in order to stay with her in Hokkaido. After an awkward encounter with Rena as she unexpectedly appears at his front door, Tsubasa’s grandmother informs him that if he wants to stay in Hokkaido, he must score high enough on his next exam to be in the top ten students at his school. While Tsubasa is normally a serious and studious student, I could see his antics with the adorable Hokkaido Gals to be too distracting for even him to focus on his tests.
Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable episode 6 does a lot more than previous episodes. Tsubasa now has a condition allowing him to stay in Hokkaido, and we were introduced to a potential third love interest. With season one’s character finally established, I think the second half of the series will come with many more plot points and story beats that are worth sticking to the anime for. Episode 7 starts the second half, so look forward to it in a few days!
Images via Crunchyroll
© Kai Ikada, Shueisha / Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable Production Committee