Episode 12

## Done, Being Less Than Love.

* Episode
* Title Card

## Episode Chronology

****"Done, Being Less Than Love."**** (以上、恋愛未満。, *Ijō, Ren'ai Miman.*?) is the twelfth episode of the More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers anime series.

## Plot

### Prelude

Akari is shown returning the same shrine where she wished to be paired with Minami for the Marriage Practical. She is shown holding a 500 yen coin to give as tribute, but changes her mind and instead drops a 1,000 yen note into the well. As she begins to pray, she apologizes to the Gods and says that the person she wants to be with has changed. A flashback is then shown in the aftermath of Akari and Minami returning to group after the former became lost during the Test of Courage. Akari overhears Sadaharu talking to Mei, saying that something happened between Jirō and Shiori while the two were separated from the group. Akari continues to pray, realizing her chances of being with Jirō are slim but that she will try her hardest nonetheless.

Meanwhile, Shiori is shown doing laundry in her training dorm. She is distressed as she keeps remembering the kiss she had with Jirō during the Test of Courage and appears to be glad that summer break started after that incident. She seems to slightly regret kissing Jirō because she believes that they are committing an affair behind Akari's back. Shiori then questions if she will only remain as Jirō's childhood friend before looking down at the freshly washed floral-patterned dress that she wore when she kissed him. She then smells the dress while she simultaneously thinks about Jirō

### Post-Credits

Akari and Jirō return to their dorm after a grocery shopping trip. Akari tells Jirō that she will take care of the rest and he goes into his room to play on his handheld console. Eventually, Jirō decides to stop playing and help Akari with cooking. As the two are in the kitchen preparing their meals and happily interacting together, the scene shifts to the school where the practical scores have been posted, showing that both the pairs of Akari/Jirō and Shiori/Minami have reached A-Rank.

## Characters In Order Of Appearance

* Akari Watanabe
* Jirō Yakuin
* Shiori Sakurazaka
* Minami Tenjin *(Flashback, Photograph, No Lines)*
* Sadaharu Kamo *(Flashback, Photograph)*
* Mei Hamano *(Flashback, Photograph, No Lines)*
* Natsumi Ōhashi *(Photograph, Dream)*
* Sachi Takamiya *(Photograph, Dream)*
* Shū Terafune *(Photograph)*

## Anime & Manga Differences

* Akari returning to the shrine and the flashback that occurs while she is praying is exclusive to the anime.
* Many scenes from Chapter 27 in manga were cut or altered in the anime.
	+ The manga has Jirō and Akari spending time together in their dorm before the summer break starts. The anime has the summer break begin immediately with Jirō only seeing Akari during their date.
	+ The anime shows Jirō to be thinking about the repercussions of his kiss with Shiori while he is back home. In the manga, he does this when he leaves the dorm.
* In the manga, when Jirō was craving for chips and soda, he asked his mother if they have soda at home. In the anime, Jirō decided to go buy the items himself and made no mention of his mother.
* In the anime, the group photo that Shiori shows to Jirō has everyone who worked at the café present. In the manga, Minami and Mei are absent from the group photo.
	+ While Natsumi does appear in the photo in the manga version, her face is obscured by a speech bubble.
* The anime episode's ending is altered from Chapter 29.
	+ In the anime, after Akari and Jirō finish their date, Akari realizes that she forgot to purchase a charm at the shrine. This culminates in the two running into Shiori followed by the race between Shiori and Akari to the shrine before they all pay their respects at the shrine. In the manga, their date simply finishes with Akari returning home via the train. Shiori also does not run into Jirō and Akari, as the former does not appear in the chapter.
* The post-credits scene in the anime reveals that Shiori/Minami and Akari/Jirō were ranked 3rd and 4th respectively. However, the manga shows that the pairs were ranked 5th and 6th.
	+ The anime also revealed the scores earlier as they would not be revealed in the manga until Chapter 32.

## Trivia

* This episode has a meta-reference as the manga magazine that both Shiori and Jirō reached for was an issue of *Young Ace,* specifically the September 2022 Issue*.* *Young Ace* is the magazine that serializes the More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers manga series.
* The cover art for the mangas that are seen in the shop where Jirō and Shiori meet are references to various real life media, including:
	+ Ash Ketchum, the protagonist from the Pokémon anime series.
	+ The Archons from the video game, Genshin Impact.
	+ Minato Aqua, Virtual YouTuber