Fate/Camp Night

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

While everyone’s getting ready for the school camping trip, Futaro only wants to think about studying. Even with talk about potential romance opportunities, he dismisses dating between students (you poor naïve fool). Ichika has to skip out on another session because of a shoot, but also needs someone to cover for her at the Student Council, so she enlists Miku to impersonate her (and does it pretty well). But turns out it there wasn’t even a meeting, it was just another student asking to dance with her (Ichika) at the campfire. When she can’t give him a clear answer, Futaro comes to save her, which Miku uses as a chance to say that Futaro will be the one dancing with her (Miku, as Ichika). Things are starting to get pretty awkward.

And to make matters worse, Raiha comes down with a cold, forcing Futaro to miss the meet up for the trip. Luckily, the sisters show up to give him a ride. Miku and Ichika also discuss Futaro and the dance, specifically if Miku is actually okay with Ichika dancing in her place. Then, in the obligatory steam bath fanservice scene, the topic comes to their sleeping arrangements, since all of them will be in the same room for the night. There’s talk about worrying what HE’LL do, but there also seems to be a bit of subtext about them being too shy to be next to him. Eventually, a compromise is met that they’ll all wear their hair the same way so that he’ll be too confused to do anything…only to find out he’s already fast asleep.

The next morning, everyone ends up tossed and turned all over the place anyway, including Futaro, who ends up next to Ichika. Unable to stop herself, she almost kisses him while he’s asleep before Itsuki wakes everyone up and spots her, but the light keeps her from seeing that it’s Ichika. So, she determines that this trip will be to see if Futaro is up to the task of NOT getting involved with ANY of them.

OUR TAKE

DRAAAAAAAAMAAAAAAAAAA! As the bus climbs in altitude, so does the awkward romantic tension! Miku likes Futaro, Ichika likes Futaro, Miku rejects a guy as Ichika so she can dance with Futaro but actually gets Ichika to dance with Futaro but doesn’t know that Ichika likes Futaro and Ichika wants Futaro to like Miku while Nino also likes Futaro but doesn’t know that she likes Futaro because she thinks it’s just a relative of Futaro while Yotsuba may or may not like Futaro and Itsuki is just kind of outside the blast radius…for now. There, I think I’m all caught up. But this is only the prelude for the hormonal romance fest that is to come! School field trips are boons for nudging along budding feelings in these types of stories, so I guess it was the right choice to have this arc be the closer for this season.

There’s also some development of Futaro as a dedicated older brother to Raiha, showing that he’s willing to put time with a bunch of hot sisters to take care of his cute little sister, which is adorable, wholesome, and endearing, unlike what a lot of other anime have been doing lately, unfortunately. Weird that he’d never admit it to the girls since that would earn him a lot of brownie points, but I guess he’s really not the type to brag about that sort of thing. It also shows that, while he’s got his flaws, he’s still a guy with principles, meaning he’d likely never do anything to any of them at night despite their worries. Still, it was kinda funny to see them ping pong between actual concern and kinda hoping for it.

But the most important thing is that my girl Ichika is finally up to bat! Sure, it might not have been through her own doing, but she got the dance ticket and it’s her time to shine! She’s also really having a hard time keeping her urges in check, as the end of this episode shows, so perhaps we’ll get some more emotional honest coming her way! Because let’s face it, that’s as much as we can hope for at this early stage AND…she’s probably not going to win anyway, but I’ll save my reasoning for that until the Season Review. Still, I have to say I’m still having quite a bit of fun with this series despite it’s pretty standard execution of this sort of story. It might be the same ol’ recipe, but if you can cook it right, it still tastes just as good.

Score 8/10