The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You Season 2 Ep 5 Review
Masochism is a noun describing the act of deriving pleasure from one’s pain. And in the anime world, no masochist is more famous than Darkness from KonoSuba. Darkness will throw herself in front of enemy attacks to experience pain. She regularly (and openly) fantasizes about painful and humiliating scenarios she can go through. She might be the ultimate masochist, but 100 Girlfriends may have just given us someone who rivals her interest. And for extra irony, this new girl is voiced by the seiyuu of Darkness’ party member, Megumin!
Also, good on the anime for updating the OP to now include Mei Meido.
Megumin Joins the Family!
As Rentaro is walking near the entrance to his high school, he sees a girl in a baseball uniform asking other girls to join the baseball team. But then, the two’s eyes meet and…zing!
Rentarou’s 9th girlfriend – Sutou Iku the Masochist baseball gf ⚾
This girl resembles Konosuba Darkness in every aspect fr 😭
Also, when it’s the last time I heard Rieri went crazy for voice acting like this AHHHHH ❤️#アニメ100カノ #100カノ#hyakkano pic.twitter.com/X7zzTXF9Aa— 𝓡𝓲𝔁𝓲 🌺 (@Rixi0303) February 9, 2025
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Meet girlfriend #9 Iku Sutou, a tomboy and only member of the girl’s baseball team. She loves the sport and is determined to be the best at it. She’s so determined, in fact, that she will practice until every part of her body is screaming at her to stop. And she likes it! She’s a colossal masochist!
Most of the girlfriends have quirks that viewers and readers will consider funny, but Iku might be among the funniest. Rentaro sees her have hearts in her eyes while dealing with the pain of swinging the bat 10,000. And when she finds out Rentaro already has a girlfriend(s), she’s heartbroken…and loves it!
The funniest part about Iku isn’t even something found in the manga; it comes from anime. Her seiyuu is Rie Takahashi, AKA the seiyuu of Megumin from KonoSuba. This was a brilliant casting choice, and it cannot have been a coincidence. Someone must have realized how hilarious it would be to have a character that takes after Darkness’ looks and personality but has Megumin’s voice. She’s easily the funniest character to join the cast since Hahari’s reveal as one of Rentaro’s soulmates, and the same goes for her love confession. He pretends to reject her confession because he knows she’ll love it.
Doing that is so painful it makes Rentaro vomit blood. Peak comedy, and girlfriend #9 is now secured.
Masochism+Determination=COMPLETE DISASTER
Iku’s masochism might be used for laughs, but her determination is very genuine. With all her teammates training in America, the girl’s baseball team is in danger of being shut down. Hence why she’s spent every day asking girls to join the team for an upcoming practice game so it can stay open. Once the Rentaro Family accepts her, though, they all agree to help. Partly because they’ve been trying to burn off the calories from the eating contest but mostly so they can exercise with Rentaro.
Playing baseball with Hahari 👀 pic.twitter.com/hZr3dQJfD9
— LoKo (@LoKoKaBoosTeR69) February 9, 2025
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As expected, the girl’s practice is full of jokes and visual gags centered around how their quirks affect their practice. They’re all pretty funny, ranging from Kurumi trying to eat the ball (it reminded her of a candy,) Nano throwing the ball like a pitching machine, and Kusuri copying Zoro’s three-sword-style with bats. If you like the jokes about each girl, you’ll like the training. However, things do take a serious turn when Iku stays up practicing all night, only to collapse from exhaustion!
Like every girl, Iku deconstructs an archetype found in fiction. In this case, her determination to do better, combined with her masochism, feed into this loop that could quickly become self-destructive. She is what would happen if Goku or Vegeta trained themselves past their limits but never gave themselves the time to rest. It’s not something one should always do, and it moves the Rentaro Family enough to stay overnight to look after her.
This is gonna be fun
Black comedy points for the reason they found it being Hahari overhearing Iku underneath the bed in the nurse’s office. The anime even shows her doing this!
Iku might be one of the best girlfriends to join the Rentaro Family thus far. Her determination is endearing, she gets extra points for being a tomboy (#tomboysupremacy), and her quirks, combined with her seiyuu, are hilarious. Welcome to the family, Iku, and good luck at the game.
