Binbougami-ga! episode 3- Money can't buy me love

After last week’s episode my expectations of Binbougami-ga! were lower than an elderly woman’s breasts. This week, even in spite of the preview’s promise of the introduction of a new character, I steeled myself for more of the same: a lot of girl-on-girl abuse, yelling and boob jokes, but this episode actually turned out much better than expected as the aforementioned new character, Tsuwabuki, brought with him a whole new perspective that resulted in a momentary overhaul of Ichiko’s character.

I mentioned just how unlikeable Ichiko was during my first post on Binbougami-ga! and how strange that was considering how she’s supposed to be the protagonist an’ all, but her spiteful personality has actually worked in favour for this comedy. During the large majority of the episode Ichiko continued to be detestable, first, wanting a boyfriend just ‘cause, second, going for the first pretty boy that glanced, bleary-eyed, in her direction, and third, changing her mind about him on the grounds that he has no money, placing her firmly in our bad books, the contrast of Tsuwabuki’s positively angel-like character further making her seem abhorrent. However, this all soon changes when Ichiko realises that sharing her fortune can actually bring about a sense of satisfaction within herself, linking back to Suwano’s suggestion that you need others to be happy- sharing good fortune isn’t something you can do by yourself- and acting as the first indication of a change of character. The next sign that Ichiko may have changed comes from when she decides to rescue Tsuwabuki’s little brother. Even though she inwardly claims to have decided to do that to make herself look better, you can’t help but doubt her words when she remembers all the time she spent alone, without her parents. She obviously doesn’t want Tsuwabuki and his sisters to be without their brother, as she was without her parents, showing that she’s developed a little empathy. So why is this development so important? Well, as previously pointed out, there is rarely ever any significant development plot-wise in comedies- the focus is firmly on placing the characters into situations to create humour, therefore, character development really helps act as a substitute for this, giving the sense that the show is actually going somewhere, which is, of course, very important in preventing it from stagnating, becoming very boring, very quickly as a result of going nowhere, which is the succinct impression I got from last week’s episode. So basically, thanks to Ichiko’s unpleasant disposition being altered somewhat, this episode actually felt as though it moved the show forward, fractionally, in a positive direction, making it a far more valuable contribution to the series than last week’s lacklustre episode!

Wait, what did I think of Tsuwabuki himself, you ask? Well, he seems like a genuine kind of guy- not falling for Ichiko just because of her pretty face, or generous helping of boob, like the rest of the boys in her school (in fact, he’s so not bothered about her, he’s been virtually unconscious in her presence for the last two episodes!), providing a refreshing contrast. But really, I think he’s just a flat character, existing for the sole purpose of aiding in Ichiko’s character development, now he’s served his main purpose, I doubt he’ll play much of a role in the rest of the series.

As for the jokes used in this episode, my favourite had to be the ol’ angel-on-the-shoulder gag- ironic that the mini Ichiko’s were depicted as angels, complete with halos, when they were equally as shallow as the girl they represented!!

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Looks like Sadaharu’s back next episode…