This episode was just pure serotonin injected straight into my brain. After last week’s fakeout finale, there was a big question as to what the rest of the show will be about, but kudos to Pseudo Haram, they’re actually exploring territory that most love stories don’t dare touch! Here we actually have our two leads… in a real relationship! Scandalous, I know! The episode opens with Eiji introducing Rin to his mom as his girlfriend and them agreeing to meet up every week since they don’t go to school together anymore. I’m surprised at how natural it all feels, although I don’t think anyone uses the term “boyfriend” or “girlfriend” in the entire episode. It almost feels like the show is trying very hard to create something similar to what was established in the first episode, while also making it clear that these two have come a long way since then.

While it’s not strong, there’s an overarching theme of what it means to grow up in this episode, as Eiji goes off to college, which is often seen as that significant step into adulthood. Rin feels like she’s falling behind even though there’s nothing she can really do except skip a grade, and Eiji makes it clear that even though their circumstances have changed, they’ll still have their childlike moments. Those playful, childlike moments are what brought them together in the first place, so while the fear is valid, the show also makes it clear that everything will be OK.

I have to say that the final part where a classmate asks Eiji out on a date in college seemed a little contrived. I know it was meant to reinforce the idea that improving Eiji’s fashion sense could backfire on Rin because he could now get all this attention while she’s away, but the way it was presented seemed very odd. It almost felt like the writer wanted to introduce a little conflict and then immediately backtracked. Honestly, I felt like this part of the episode could have been cut the most. This was one of the lighter and more casual episodes we got, but I’m excited to see what other avenues the series will explore in the remaining episodes.

Evaluation:

Pseudo-harem is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.