Welcome, one and all, to my continued weekly review series for The Helpful Fox Senko-San, aka Sewayaki Kitsune no Senko-san. I’m now up to episodes 5 and 6. Let’s get into it.
Episode five is called I’ve got a tail, too, you know? The title is kinda fitting because there was plenty of tail focus in the episode. That’s not really a bad thing though, as the show has been doing a great job with making the tails look cute. Anyway, the episode started with Nakano wanting to find a way to show Senko some gratitude for the work she does. By the time he gets home though, he finds that they have a visitor.
Shiro, the white-haired kitsune we keep seeing, has stopped by. Senko apologizes for not asking first but says that Shiro was planning to leave after dinner. Nakano is fine with it and is immediately taken by Shiro’s tail, as it means there’s now twice the floof under the same roof.
The theme for this half of the episode is that Shiro comes across as fairly young compared to Senko. From the over the top declarations of things like her white fur being proof of her lineage to her jealous outbursts, she’s framed as childlike. She even throws in a few insults when she’s feeling left out of the attention. In the end, she draws out Nakano’s innermost desire, which is that he wants to stroke her tail. She isn’t as fond of that – though she did enjoy his petting earlier on – and leaves via the wall to Koenji’s apartment.
The interesting thing here is that, thought Nakano in his trance-like fluff-hunter state is a bit creepy, and the foxes clearly really enjoy the petting, it didn’t really come across as too lewd. We were also treated to an explanation as to why Senko cooks so much tofu: as foxes, they like all meats, but they ended up getting a lot of tofu gifts from worshippers. Being the best cook, Senko learned new ways to cook it all, and it became a habit.
The second half of the episode can be summed up as ‘bath time’. Nakano returns home absolutely shattered, and Senko draws him a bath to relax in. She then appears – completely naked – and offers to scrub his back. Nakano initially refuses, but she insists. He feels a little awkward at first and asks if she can wear a towel, and she says that she’s built more like a plateau than a mountain. That leads to him offering to scrub her back too as a way to show gratitude, and he then realizes that doing so comes with the bonus of seeing the base of her tail.
Again, this all came across as fairly sweet natured. For Nakano, it felt like bathing with family as a child – which Senko says must make her the mother – and they have some fun squirting water with their hands. Senko also admits that she was really just worried he’d fall asleep and drown. When Nakano apologizes, she says he should just tell her, because whether it’s work or a bath, she won’t let him drown.
Of course, the tail featured again too. When wet, it wasn’t fluffy at all, but after she’s dry, Senko’s fluff returns. She explains that tails are important to kitsune, so she takes the proper time to maintain it. That ed to Nakano throwing himself at it, and Senko saying that his love for fluff is a little troubling, but it’s okay because it makes him happy. Meanwhile, Super Senko-san Time sees Senko grooming her tail for us with a brush.
Episode six is titled You just want to fluff more. The first half of the episode is all about Shiro again as she stops by for a visit but initially gets the wrong apartment and barges in on Koenji. Poor Koenji is convinced that Shiro is a hallucination now. Anyway, Nakano is having a day off, but Shiro is insistent that she wants Nakano to pay attention not her pampering him. In keeping with the relaxation, Nakano offers to play video games. His games all seem very fox and fluff themed. Shiro picks a fighting game called Super Fluff Bros Melee, then settles on Nakano’s lap so that he can pet her. Nakano picks up on the difference between the two foxes and thinks that it’s like playing with a child. He enjoys watching her play too, even when she’s accusing the game of cheating.
When Senko makes ohagi for a snack, things get a little more competitive though. Shiro ends up challenging Nakano at the game for the food, and she beats him easily by using her inner eye to read his thoughts. With Shiro having taken all of the ohagi, Senko says she’ll make more and Shiro complains that she hasn’t been able to taste Senko’s cooking in ages. This leads to another match and another loss for Nakano. When Shiro finally leaves, she almost leaves via Koenji’s wall again, and once the main pair realize that she’s dropped in on their neighbor, decide they should apologize.
This was all very nice too, as Nakano is beginning to view his time with the foxes as being like a family. Shiro also pointed out that Senko is too old to keep up with the new trends, which kinda confirmed there’s a big age difference there. It’s not quite as sweet the set-up in Miss Koboyashi’s Dragon Maid, but the family unit is fun.
The second half of the episode features a lot more Koenji. She enjoys her life but has one problem: her neighbor is too cute. Senko drops by and apologizes about Shiro. She also has food for the manga artist. As it turns out, Koenji hasn’t been taking care of herself. She isn’t eating properly, and her home is a mess. So Senko does what Senko does and gets to tidying.
Koenji runs through her thoughts on Senko here, as she finds the fox quite confusing. She looks like a young cosplayer but comes across as more mature. She’s convinced that Nakano and Senko are a couple, and describes Senko as being like a Lolita but legal. There have been times that she’s thought Senko’s ears and tail are real and that she may actually be a kitsune, but this is real life, not a manga so she can’t be…by the time she’s gone through all that, Senko has finished cleaning.
As a show of thanks, Koenji focuses on how she thinks Senko is a cosplayer and pulls out a maid outfit in her size. Senko quite rightly questions that and it turns out that Koenji bought it as reference for her manga but doesn’t need it anymore. She convinces Senko to wear it by pointing out that he ‘husband’ would love it. I smell an ulterior motive here though, as the moment Senko emerges in the outfit, Koenji starts snapping a ton of photos for her Senko album.
As if to further prove the point, once Senko leaves, Koenji gets upset. She has decided that she hates Nakano because Senko is too cute and she’d have been all over her if she wasn’t sure they were together. She notes that he self-control is top notch and that she wants a cute cosplayer wife too. This was interesting because Koenji could have fallen into that terrible aggressive-lesbian trope here but didn’t. She has a sense of boundaries and isn’t just throwing herself on the woman she likes. I was happy to see that.
The end of the episode sees Nakano return home. He likes the maid outfit but prefers her normal clothes as they’ve become part of ‘home’ for him. At the same time, Shiro is in the fox realm and thinks that Senko’s maid outfit is adorable. Super Senko-san Time gets replaced with Super Shiro-sama Time, and the white-furred fox basically points out that her outfit is cute and she wants us to praise her, then gets upset when Senko comes in and the viewer apparently prefers her outfit.
In all, these were decent episodes. They felt a lot more like four shorter stories than the previous episodes, but they worked well enough. Shiro was an interesting addition to the cast. I actually expected her to become a rival to Senko for Nakano’s affections, but instead, she just took o the role of a pseudo-child for the pair. I’m going to guess that the other fox will turn out to be more like a mother-in-law than another rival too.
The episodes did a good job of balancing the sweet moments with the silliness though, and it was fun seeing a bit more of Koenji too. As it stands, the show isn’t the greatest thing to ever be released, but it has been harmless fun, so I’m happy to stick with for the time being.
So, those were my thoughts. But what about yourselves? Did you enjoy these episodes? Do you agree or disagree with any of my observations? Let me know in the comments below.
Matt Doyle Media 