Hey there, Split Screen readers! It’s your self-isolated host Madelyn, and I’ve lost track of how many weeks we’ve been living that indoors life. Nothing like socially-distanced television to break through monotony! This week, Han-gyul grapples with his sexuality on Coffee Prince, and teenage students kick some drug dealer butt on My Hero Academia. Grab your caffeinated drink of choice, and let’s go!
(New Split Screen reader? You can read the entire series here!)
Coffee Prince Seventh Cup (up to minute 31)
M: These two episodes were so caffeinated, it’s insane.
E: Two different kinds of caffeinated though.
M: Yes, the difference between a double espresso shot and a Five Hour Energy.
E: That’s the precise difference I was thinking of.
M: This episode started out so painfully cute!
E: The hug was still a lot. Too much. But the rest of it was cute.
M: The facial expressions on this show are an underrated joy.
E: I really appreciated Han-gyul’s immediate regret in so many scenes. As well as his huge eye roll at the mention of Han-sung.
M: Han-gyul and Eun-chan are so precious, I can’t take it.
E: So precious until they are extremely not.
M: I should have known the fight at the end was coming, because it was always this way on Boys Over Flowers. I’ll never get over the episode where Jun-pyo and Jan-di competed in that phone competition and then he moved to the tropics for a year.
E: Wow, how did I forget that iconic whiplash episode?
M: The first half: they’re finally together! The second half: NEVER AGAIN.
E: Anyway, I do find Han-gyul’s situation a little more empathetic in that this dude just does not know how to handle this.
Flashing back to high school theatre where people were…*shudder*… huggy
M: He’s just his employee.
E: A pretty employee! But that’s it!
M: The fact that he can admit that much to himself feels so progressive. He’s definitely wrestling with his sexuality here, and he’s not chill with liking a dude, but the fact that he can admit Eun-chan is pretty while opening and closing his spreadsheets twenty times is pretty big.
E: That part was extremely relatable, specifically, the avoiding working in Excel at all costs. Like, big gay awakening stress versus Excel spreadsheets? One is worse than the other.
M: Their trip to the bookshop was cute, if totally out of nowhere.
E: Han-gyul was just seesawing back and forth between being mean and trying to do nice things this episode. The bookstore trip appeared to be for buying Eun-chan coffee books, since she’s been trying to learn more about that, if I remember correctly.
M: You’re right! I can’t wait for her to start a rival coffee cart and steal all of their business with that fluffy coffee that’s trendy on the internet right now.
E: Steal all their employees too. It’s very clear, that they are all on her side over Han-gyul which is great. Sun-ki, maybe not, but he’s too checked in to his own incredibly deep history apparently.
M: Are we sure Sun-ki isn’t a character from a different k-drama getting a spin-off here?
E: It kinda feels that way? Like, how on earth is this going to tie into the rest of the show? Beyond just establishing Min-yup as the resident secret-keeper?
M: When Sun-ki was sitting at the cafe listening to the news about his ex and their child, I was like “oh, Min-yup will be at the next table,” as a joke. And then the camera panned, and he was!
Min-yup has too much power
E: He was there, crying!
M: Remember when he barged in on Mr. Hong peeing, which again, we can’t escape the bathroom, to confirm they both knew about Eun-chan? Min-yup is like if you cranked Woo-bin up to a hundred, and Woo-bin was already at a normal ninety-five.
E: Listen, he was trying to pick a time that no one would overhear them, obviously.
M: Sometimes he’s very smart, sometimes he flips omelettes while the waffle cook steals his girl.
E: I was very surprised that he could flip that omelet though, I really thought he was gonna send it flying on someone’s face.
M: He does work in a cafe, give him some credit.
E: Han-gyul’s love of Legos also persisted in this episode, which was great.
M: When he gave everyone Legos because Eun-chan was carrying hers around…that was a big move. A power move.
E: He also gave her like twelve more Legos and then asked himself why he was so stupid.
M: I took it as he gave Legos to everyone to make it seem like he didn’t care about Eun-chan, and then he couldn’t go through with it when she was upset.
E: I’m sure the fact that it was her dad’s memorial also made him possibly feel a little guilty.
M: And then, everything got ruined.
E: Can I just say, Yoo-joo did not deserve that.
M: Yoo-joo almost threw herself off a cliff, that breakfast was so uncomfortable.
E: I was right there with her. I would have understood if she needed to throw herself from that cliff, because man, was that uncomfortable.
She’s going over the cliff! She’s getting out of there!
M: To be fair, I don’t know how I would cope if both the woman and man I was crushing on were taken by my cousin, the same cousin at that. A lot to unpack there.
E: He literally called Yoo-joo there, though, he brought the stress willingly upon himself.
M: I was so excited. Han-gyul was in his sweaty plum running tank, they were going to have breakfast, I thought it would be another shower farce situation. Alas!
E: Instead they just sarcastically snipped at each other’s most sensitive points and then Eun-chan stormed off after eating the cucumbers that Han-gyul apparently doesn’t like.
M: They add a new, highly-specific character trait for him every week.
E: It’s kinda great, honestly.
M: It was definitely rude to bring up Eun-chan’s many jobs, even though I do think he was saying it in a complimentary way.
E: I just don’t think he necessarily knew how embarrassing it would be for Eun-chan.
M: Yeah, he’s definitely never experienced feeling sort of weird about having to tell people you work twenty jobs.
E: Plus compounded that this is in front of a girl that Eun-chan knows he has a bit of a thing for, while she now has a bit of a thing for him. Which he couldn’t know, but certainly contributed to setting her off.
M: Ah, it makes me long for the simple love triangle of wannabe poet, Eun-chan’s mom, and Mr. Hong.
E: Did Mr. Hong really almost elope with Eun-chan’s mom?
M: I think it’s 50-50 that was a lie.
E: Also apparently wannabe poet and Mr. Hong are childhood friends? Sure.
M: Why not? Throw it in there. Sun-ki has a kid. Who cares?
E: And then, Eun-chan quits! And the half episode comes to an end.
M: That fight was emotional.
Break it up boys!
E: Madelyn was ready for the kiss.
M: I thought we were in kiss-cam position. They would scream at each other, and then kiss, and then Min-yup would come around the corner!
E: Min-yup has a hard job, protecting everyone’s secrets.
M: I can’t wait to find out what Ha-rim’s secret is. Do you think he’s been to jail?
E: He’s from a family of assassins, remember?
M: Oh, I forgot about that! He’s here to murder someone.
E: Anyway, I bet Eun-chan is back at Coffee Prince by either the end of this episode or the next one.
M: Things have been moving pretty quick on this show, so I don’t think they’ll be able to handle keeping her away for a full episode. That said, how long are we going to keep up the charade of her being a boy? Han-gyul seems ready to come out. Like not, ready ready. Not ready to admit it to anyone else, but to himself? Maybe.
E: Listen, this is healthy for him. Even if Eun-chan’s a girl, he has to come to terms with this part of himself.
M: Do you think, here’s my Romance Tracker prediction by the way, do you think he’ll start dating Ha-rim to make her jealous?
E: Wwwwhat?
M: Anything’s a possibility. I can’t emphasize this enough: Sun-ki has a kid!
E: Please protect us, Min-yup.
My Hero Academia S3E5: “Let’s Go, Gutsy Red Riot!”
M: They ruined it at the end, but it was refreshing to have an episode without Deku.
E: Wow. You’re gonna make Deku activate his waterworks quirk there.
M: Super crying. His true quirk: Weep Style.
E: But it was nice to check in on a few other of the students on work study with the other two members of The Big Three.
M: At least Aizawa didn’t say it this time.
E: He was ready. He was around in Osaka. Just erasing people’s quirks, ready to say the phrase. Big Three.
M: Visiting Joke, no doubt. How is Joke not Nighteye’s sidekick?
E: That would be a perfect pairing. Is that a prediction? Is Nighteye going to steal Joke away from her husband?
M: Stop that, stop validating my shipping. Next thing we know, Aizawa is going to have a kid. He’s the Sun-ki of My Hero.
E: I like that Uraraka and Tsu have a joint ultimate move. That’s big friendship goals.
M: I bet all the girls worked that out at their slumber parties. Meanwhile, at the boys slumber parties, Kirishima is crying while Bakugo plays mom, and Tokoyami is exposing his disturbingly normal calves.
E: His legs are weird, aren’t they? Like, his arms aren’t weird for some reason. But his bare calves are extremely uncomfortable.
Calves are thankfully censored by his name card
M: Maybe if he was hairier it would be better? He had feminine calves.
E: Do you think he has body hair or like body feather down?
M: Asking the big questions.
E: We also learn about the existence of the Hero Billboard Chart. In which Uraraka and Tsu are with Ryukyu- #9.
M: I mean, I guess it jives with Present Mic’s DJ thing. I hope they aren’t really called the Billboard Charts.
E: In reality, it’s just Present Mic ranking all these heroes. There’s no official thing, it’s just his opinions.
M: He runs a blog. Or just has a Twitter.
E: Meanwhile, Kirishima is in Osaka with Suneater and FAT GUM! BMI Hero!
M: People need to shorten it to FG or Gum. I expect next time we check in, someone will run around the corner just like, “Fatty! Fatty boy!”
E: Fatty boy is a good one though! Fatty, m’boy!
M: Fatmeister!
E: Small localization corner- in the Japanese, in Fat Gum’s Quirk explanation from Present Mic, there’s a Totoro reference that is left out of the English script. Which honestly, I feel like they could have left it in, and most people would get it.
M: Who do they think is watching anime?
E: I know My Hero has a bit more widespread appeal than most anime, but so does Totoro. So I think there would be a lot of overlap there.
M: I’m just thinking of Tom Nook calling himself a raccoon to my face.
Totoro!
E: Wwwhy?
M: Same idea: dumbing it down for the English audience. Poor Fat.
E: Anyway, Kirishima gets to have his hero moment. Which is fun! It’s nice to focus on side characters sometimes, step away, as you said, from the Dekus and Bakugos and Todorokis.
M: Agreed, but Kirishima, Uraraka, and Tsu are B+ list, you know? I need a solid C lister to have a shining moment at a work study.
E: The only work study we know about that we haven’t seen yet is Tokoyami’s with Hawks. But we’ll have to see if any more students get on the work study train.
M: Choo-choo! Kirishima is kinda dumb though, huh? Glad he’s hitting the books, because this idiot villain tricked him like three different times the exact same way.
E: He’s just a little too nice, I think. Which is a form of being dumb, but a more specific one.
M: He too would have benefited from a work study with Endeavor.
E: I don’t think that would have gone well.
M: Toughen him up. Harden the inside, not just the outside. Love that the Harden hero got the performance enhancing drugs storyline.
E: I’m not gonna make any jokes here. I’m refraining.
M: His bulldozer power was pretty dope though.
E: Yeah, his Unbreakable form is pretty intimidating. He’s like a big stone sharky dinosaur. Except not like that at all. I don’t know why I said that.
M: He looks like Rock Titan from Kingdom Hearts. Or Hercules, I guess.
rawr
E: That’s a much better comparison.
M: He also looks like Axel from Kingdom Hearts.
E: Remember like the first twenty of these in which he was just Axel.
M: I still think it every time I see him.
E: In addition to the quirk-boosting drugs, we also learn a little about Overhaul’s quirk-blocker bullets too.
M: I hope Twice can get his hands on some of those. Feels like that would help a lot.
E: Madelyn, please don’t push experimental drugs that haven’t been proven safe by clinical trials.
M: Fine, whatever. I’m so disappointed that all Shigaraki wanted was useful information and a partnership. He could have asked for anything!
E: I think they really might have gone ahead and shot him if he really did ask for a small army of unicorn children.
M: He would back down to ten billion yen if that wasn’t possible. The cash equivalent.
E: Where do you think the quirk-blocking bullets are coming from anyway? What’s your theory on their deal? Slash Overhaul in general, I guess.
M: What’s Overhaul’s deal?
E: Yeah, what’s his deal? Beyond child abuse.
M: I was about to compare him to Sun-ki, but I won’t, that’s mean.
E: He does have a child. His intentions are less pure, however.
M: I mean, obviously the unicorn blood is in the bullets. Like in Harry Potter where it keeps you alive but a half-life, a cursed life. That came back to me as I said it.
Look at these kings, wearing masks, social distancing
E: That is slightly different from what’s going on here. At least as far as we know. Maybe Tamaki is cursed forever now.
M: To be clear, I was not saying it was exactly the same as Harry Potter. Just that there’s precedent for unicorn blood being used by villains for evil deeds.
E: Fair enough.
M: I think it’s a terrible idea for UA to let all of their students work on this highly dangerous yakuza case.
E: Too late now! They approved their work studies!
M: Who was in charge of the approval process? Was it Present Mic?
E: Present Mic, as the omniscient narrator of this world, would do a better job than whoever it actually was.
M: I wasn’t that impressed by Girl Big Three Member’s power. Depressed dude had a cool power, although it was probably really weird when he was nursing.
E: Quirks develop at like four, so I hope he had move past that by then.
M: Okay, so he was sprouting like, rainbow goldfish and PB+J arms in preschool.
E: I think it’d go down to whatever those are made out of. So like wheat and peanuts and whatever fruit was in the jam.
M: Fruit gusher arms.
E: That’s just puberty, am I right folks?
M: He probably blames his acne on the gushers.
He’s already having a rough adolescence
E: Any other thoughts for this episode?
M: The work study kids seem tired. Glad Kirishima is taking fame in stride, at least, but sorry that the girls got totally objectified. Where are the fluff pieces on Kirishima and his rock hard abs?
E: You’d think there’d be more on him, right? With his hero outfit the way it is? But I guess Kaminari doesn’t-
M: Are you saying he’s asking for it?
E: No, just commenting on the realities of society. Anyway, I was gonna say, I guess Kaminari doesn’t read like….Buzzfeed or whatever.
M: I would not have picked Kaminari as the one to be reading their equivalent of the New York Times, but okay.
E: He’s boosting his IQ, Madelyn!
M: You’re right, he’s working so hard! He’s going to be top of the class at midterms, just wait.
E: Are you ready for next week’s episode title?
M: Sure am!
E: Season 4 Episode 6 is called “An Unpleasant Talk”
M: Oh man. Where to begin?
E: Give them to me.
M: Prediction one: it’s human growth and development week at UA! Girls with Midnight, boys with…who’s the worst? I can’t decide.
E: I think All Might.
M: Yeah, Aizawa would just read from the sheet, Cementoss would be weirdly okay at this, All Might would like, try to tell stories.
E: 
M: I hope UA has protection around for the kids in the dorms, that’s all.
E: Nooooo.
M: Okay, forgetting that. Prediction two: the unpleasant talk is almost certainly Nighteye and All Might talking about all their baggage.
E: 
M: That was so elaborate.
E: I’m a storyboarder.
M: Hire her, folks.
E: I only work in emojis.
M: Prediction three: Shigaraki does meet the unicorn girl and I think they’ll actually weirdly get along? He’ll be the soft-on-the-inside big brother she never had.
E: 
M: Prediction four: Deku does something dumb on patrol again and gets yelled at. That’s my prediction for every episode.
E: 
M: Prediction five: Tokoyami gets scouted by Hawks and never comes back to UA. He’s like one of those college sports stars that goes to school for one year and then goes pro.
E: 
M: Nooooooooo. Not his downy legs!!!!!
–
Thanks for watching My Hero Academia and Coffee Prince with us! We’re watching the MHA dub on Funimation and Coffee Prince on Tubi.
Next time! We do some talking on My Hero Academia and the fight on Coffee Prince is resolved one way or another.