Gorilla God's Go-To Girl

Episode 7

This one's for the romantics. If you were disappointed that nothing came of Louis and Sophia's little love scene last week – well, nothing except Louis getting pushed through a wall – then you'll be much happier after this episode, because Louis has been doing “research.” I'll it that statement gave me pause when he first made it, because it seemed to have been from some questionable sources, given that his newly acquired information told him to hug Sophia immediately. But later on, he asks for her permission to kiss her, and that's a much better sign. Consent is sexy, everyone. Louis may be new to romance, but at least he knows that much.

His sources seem to be all over the place, which leads me to suspect that he's been asking the other knights for advice with mixed results. At least that one guy told him that giving his first girlfriend a ring for their first holiday together might be a little too much. But the various strategies Louis employs speak to varied sources, and he's a smidge better at everything than Isaac or Eddy, neither of whom quite gets the words out of their mouths. In Isaac's case, it's pure nervousness and an unfortunate onset of bucket; he's all ready to ask Sophia out, but he's just prevented from it before he's dealt the death blow. Eddy, on the other hand, gives her his gift, saying it's a thank you for saving his life as well as for “other reasons,” which he doesn't care to elaborate on. If we're dealing strictly in stereotypes, that's very feline of him, since cats have a reputation (undeserved, in my experience) for being aloof and blowing cold. Pay no attention to the several cats sitting near me. It must just be because they're orange.

In any event, Louis and Sophia are official now, even if she's uncomfortable letting the world know. Isaac and Eddy's actions indicate that this is meant to be a reverse harem story, but one that's much more old school. Multiple guys have crushes on Sophia, but she's only interested in one of them, rather than struggling to choose between them. I reading once that Yu Watase felt that if a heroine was trying to pick which boy she was in love with it meant that she didn't truly love either of them (the context was Tamahome versus Hotohori), and even if I'm ing that incorrectly, it does ring true to me in a strictly non-poly setting. Sophia likes Isaac and Eddy as friends quite a bit, but she's only in love with Louis, and that's been consistent from the start. I feel bad for the other two (especially Isaac), but I appreciate that things are kept from devolving into messy love geometry.

Or at least they are so far. In the least surprising plot twist ever, evil guy turns out to be evil – the two bombers Sophia and Louis caught were working for him, and we already know he's embedded in the school via Carissa. None of that means that he doesn't have a thing for Sophia, although I could see the bigger draw for him being her gorilla powers. I am curious as to what's going on there, and I'm not sure that devoting this episode solely to the romance plot was a brilliant move. On the other hand, I enjoyed Louis' utter cluelessness about his popularity, and the cuteness factor was through the roof. Both he and Sophia want to be left alone to live their lives. Louis has a heaping helping of insecurity born not just from his adorable furry blessing, but also from the idea that he's somehow not as masculine as he's supposed to be. His offhand comment about how he loves that Sophia doesn't tease him for having a sweet tooth is incredibly sad. Imagine being so fragile in your societally mandated gender role that you have to pick on someone for enjoying cake. Looked at in that light, Sophia couldn't have given him a better present. To Louis, it's just as heavy as a ring, and maybe even more significant.

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The Gorilla God's Go-To Girl is currently streaming on Crunchyroll on Sundays.

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