Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines – Season 1 Episode 3 Recap & Review

Losing the Battle Before It Is Ever Fought

Episode 3 of Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines begins with Kazuhiko tampering with a water fountain at school. Komari arrives and asks Kazuhiko what he’s doing. Kazuhiko says he wants to drink water from a specific source. Komari says she’s here to conduct water foundation research. Then, the two engage in a discussion about one of their school’s floor’s drinking fountains. 

Kazuhiko learns Komari eats her lunch in the girl’s bathroom through this chat. Then, Shintaro arrives and tells Komari and Kazuhiko he wants them to visit the classroom. Shintaro tells them Koto has an important announcement. Kazuhiko and Komari head to the Literature Club’s room. Koto tells them they’ll be submitting their stories to a certain website. 

Koto says folks at her council meeting got on her case because the Literature Club doesn’t write stories. She explains why that was the case to Kazuhiko. Koto says she booked a training camp outing for the Literature Club. She eases the two up on the notion and asks them to create a plot by this weekend. Koto says she’s writing a rated X isekai reincarnation story. 

Then, a girl named Shikiya exits out of one of the clubroom’s lockers. Shikiya tells Koto she needs a proposal submission from the president if she wants that training camp outing to happen. Koto promises to get that for her tomorrow. Komari tells Kazuhiko that Shikiya is a student council member. Shikiya says she likes to observe all the clubs. 

She uncomfortably lists all the things she monitors clubs for. Kazuhiko departs and meets Anna at their usual staircase location. Anna thinks the outing sounds fun and insists on going. Then, Anna rambles about her recent encounter with Sosuke’s mom. Anna pleads with Kazuhiko to let her accompany the Literature Club on this outing. 

Anna says she’ll join the Literature Club to avoid attending Sosuke’s and her family’s “make-up barbecue” party for Sosuke and her. Kazuhiko checks his phone and we learn Anna successfully joined the Literature Club. Kazuhiko wonders if he and Anna will be able to produce great stories. Then, he arrives at a comic store and bumps into Komari there. 

Komari says she’s researching and asks Kazuhiko if Anna is joining the literature club. He says Anna is. Komari finds that strange since gorgeous girls like Lemon and Anna never join the literature club. Then, Kazuhiko spots Kaju at a store. Kaju tells Kazuhiko she won’t be home this weekend. Kazuhiko understands and tells Kaju he’ll be attending training camp. 

Kaju’s happy Kazuhiko made friends. She asks the shop owner to get her red beans. She wants to make Kazuhiko a meal to celebrate his achievements. Then, we cut away to Kazuhiko helping Shintaro set things up at the beach. Shintaro praises Kazuhiko for getting cute girls to attend the beach with them. The former’s excited to see them wearing swimsuits. 

Koto arrives and tells them to stop talking about that stuff. Lemon, Anna, and Komari arrive seconds later. Everyone besides Komari and Kazuhiko heads to the ocean. Kazuhiko insists that Komari head to the ocean because this may be her chance to spend time with Shintaro. Later, the gang regroups and chats. As for Kazuhiko, he stares at the sun and says he’ll never forget this moment. 

Then, someone wonders what type of meal they should eat. Anna suggests yakisoba and informs everyone of a neat place that sells it. Lemon offers to purchase the yakisoba. Shintaro tells Kazuhiko to travel to the yakisoba shop with Lemon. While walking, Kazuhiko brings up the incident between Chihaya, Lemon, and Mistuki. 

Lemon says Mistuki never saw her as a girl. Kazuhiko insists they focus on having fun today. Eventually, the two return to the beach and Kazuhiko says the yakisoba tastes delicious. Then, Komari tells Kazuhiko that Shintaro is reading her story. Shintaro says he likes Komari’s tale but thinks she should “spice” things up by including some erotic content. 

Koto confronts Shintaro and Lemon spots an event nearby. Lemon suggests they all attend it. Later, Kazuhiko and Shintaro chat about the latter’s story. Then, Lemon, Anna, Komari, and Koto arrive with a bag of prizes Lemon won at the event. Before they change, Lemon forces Komari into the water. Next, they all head to a barbecue location, eat, and play with the items Lemon won. 

While Kazuhiko chats with Anna, he notices Koto and Shintaro chatting. Kazuhizo also spots Komari staring at Koto and Shintaro from a distance. Anna steals Kazuhiko’s meat he was cooking and Kazuhiko tells her it was his. Anna cools it off and feeds it to Kazuhiko. Anna jokingly asks Kazuhiko how much of her debt will be depleted. 

Kazuhiko says he’ll chop off 700 yen. Anna says she’s joking and Kazuhiko notices Komari messing with one of the fireworks. Before it ignites in her face, Shintaro saves Komari and comforts her. Komari tells Shintaro she loves him and lists what made her fall in love. The episode ends with Komari asking Shintaro to go out with her. 

The Episode Review

Atri: My Dear Moments and Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines (Makeine) gives off the same energy Pokémon fans get when they purchase both video game versions. While these shows have their notable differences, they’ve both been great to experience as a pair. Observations aside, Makeine episode 3 further indicates that this show’s characters are its best offering. 

From Anna’s colorful reactions to Komari’s nervous attitude, it’d be hard not to find any of these characters interesting. At the same time, Anna’s Sosuke issues haven’t ended yet. While it was weird to see that brought up again, it’s great to know she hasn’t completely abandoned her sadness about Sosuke dumping her for Karen. 

Nonetheless, it’d be great to see the story lean more into that storyline so Anna can have closure. The same can be said regarding Lemon’s predicament with Mistuki and Chihaya. Yet, based on Lemon’s trip with Kazuhiko to the yakisoba beach shop and Kunoki’s romantic hypothesis at the end of the previous episode, Lemon may develop feelings for Kazuhiko. 

This episode pulled a Tomo-chan is a Girl move this week by giving us a confession scene between Komari and Shintaro, too. The series did a fine job of building up to this moment. They achieved this by giving fans subtle interactions between these two characters in prior chapters and this one. Additionally, it’s a pleasure seeing a rom-com anime like this one break away from the norm. 

Besides some minor visual issues and strange pacing at the start, this was another brilliant episode of Makeine.