Well, turns out Sato has a pretty nice mom. When the episode begins, he’s scrambling to be cleaning his room when he’s supposed to be picking her up at the airport. So Misaki comes over to help, and they basically just throw everything in the loft. That’s when Sato is walking downstairs to hide his porno mags when his mother arrives. And they ever so nicely fall in front of her face wide open. But it turns out Sato’s mom doesn’t even want to see inside, and after seeing those magazines I wouldn’t want to either. So the three of them go out of dinner on the charade of Misaki being Sato’s girlfriend. When Sato goes for a bathroom break and comes back, he overhears his mom asking Misaki if this was all just a big lie, and she’s a pretty good guesser, because she got it instantly. So his mom heads off, and it’s a little convenient. But that’s the character she plays, and it would make sense she’s kind of the nice don’t say anything mom. Sato might have turned out a little differently if she were different. If she said things before, she didn’t say them very well. But before leaving she put in some advise they should go on a "little date” since they were already out. And of course they do, and they nearly make out when Yamazaki calls. That cock block. That’s twice in one episode Yamazaki! Not cool! Anyway, the episode ends, and it’s far from a cliffhanger. In the end Sato’s parent explanation was a lot simpler than it could have been. I’m thinking a strong three on this one. It was funny at times, showed more of Sato, and we got hints and pieces of who Misaki is, and know her own mother situation sucks. Not much, but at the time I took it. Anyway, really good episode, and glad to have that knowledge out of the way. Now we’re only closer to adventures of cult suicides, MMO addictions, and SO MUCH MORE FUN!

Welcome to the NHK Episode 8 (Welcome to Chinatown!) gets a 3/5

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