Much to my surprise, Ichigo 100% is a far better romantic drama than it is romantic comedy. At its core, it's merely a generic harem show - an unfortunate fate, in general - yet, thanks to a cast of relatively interesting (and complicated) characters, it somehow manages to shine...

Only in dramatic moments, that is.

When it plays for laughs, the show is little more than standard harem boilerplate. But, when it settles down and gets serious, the cast takes center stage. The drama plays to the show's inherent strengths.

And that's probably why the previous episode was such a drag, whereas this episode was a real treat - the portion dealing with Tsukasa's birthday, in particular. Bravo.