Nobuta wo Produce – Episode 4: The choice between flowers and water

Nobuta power enter: A super power to overcome shyness. Coming soon near you!

Another episode with character progressions and developments. I like how the series doesn’t rush towards people having a change of heart; it progresses gradually and slowly, with the cardboard characters slowly moving towards being well-developed.

The fall of the flowers

Take Shuji, for example. In the first scene, he meets his sort-of girlfriend and they walk towards their class. He is aware that people around him are watching them (I think everyone notices themselves being watched), but then his inner voice says, ‘I dont wanna go out with her.’ Throughout this episode he keeps reminding us that he is not such a good guy/hero. He lies through his teeth, admitting twice that  - “I’m a hypocrite” when he thinks that all his behaviour is for the public view and popularity and “I’m good at lying” after his girl friend finds his birthday date written in Nobuko’s diary. Even I had my doubts when he has to choose between pouring water or flowers on Nobuko. But in the end, he says that he would have chosen flowers, even if he lost his popularity over it and that was “probably because I liked the two of them.”

What a mentally deranged tradition: Water over flowers?

I think the series is not about changing Nobuko, but more about the people around her. Take Bando, the bully. She is given the choice to change – either she can replicate the beat Nobuko like her boyfriend beats her, or she can choose not to. And Bando thinks. That was all that was needed. There is no shameful berating by Nobuko who instills in her guilty feelings – but rather just an option to change.

A very good scene between the girls: “Becoming a good girl now? How can I?”

The other change visible was in Akira, who has started to shape up, proving he is a much better friend to Nobuko than Shuji. (I guess that is obvious considering Akira and Nobuko are always on the periphery). Akira threatens to chop Shuji if he chooses water over flowers. And by the end, in his encounter with the truth-man (what an interesting concept – tell the man the truth and he stops hounding you), Akira says that he is in love with Nobuko.

The origin of the Nobuta power:
Akira’s great physical prowess

Developments all around.

Thoughts: Series is starting to take shape and finding a direction. Although there are often diversions in the form of teachers :P

Rating: 3.5/5