Romance is in the air for Switch, not that he truly realizes it.

What They Say:
When Switch's laptop is on the fritz, he's left speechless. Can Switch finagle a backstage pass to Momoka's concert and be his usually suave self when he's only got a sketchbook to work with.

The Review:
Sket Dance has worked on a variety of characters as of late but Switch has taken kind of a back seat to a lot of events. That's not been too bad of a thing as he's been able to get in some good cracks and comments along the way that have kept him involved in a good way without dominating an episode. That changes here as he becomes the focus of the story, one that deals with Momoka as well. With her career going well and him being a good part of her fan club, one of the more active and involved members at that, he's excited about where things are going when he gets the limited invite to her fan appreciation event after putting in the right work to win the lottery for it.

What complicates things for him after he wins is that his computer goes offline, leaving him unable to talk, research or do anything else that he normally does. He's so wedded to not being able to talk except through a computer that when this does happen, he reverts to the only other thing he can do, which is to grab a sketchbook, a big black marker and write away at things. Amusingly, he's like a bad version of Draw Something when it gets down to it at times because he goes to a lot of effort for something simple that's almost unrelated. Which of course ticks off both Bossun and Himeko. There's definitely some cuteness in seeing how Switch handles this situation and his job in general as a part of the Sket Club since a lot of what made him key was his technical prowess.

Thankfully, the show does make some slow but endearing progress when it comes to the relationship between Switch and Momoka. The two definitely have a connection and seeing it done in somewhat traditional slice of life/romance material here works very well when the two get their time alone together, complete with the misunderstandings you'd expect and the mild twists that come from it. It only goes so far, but there's something really welcome about seeing these two at least on a path. When you consider Switch's past and what he's been through, he's got his friends but has otherwise been focused on things that are just more solitary than anything else. Having a connection with someone like Momoka gives the viewer a bit of real hope for him.

In Summary:
While the show is focused primarily on one story, which it hasn't done for a little bit, it's not the only story here. The opening and the last few minutes of the episode has a side story that essentially puts the cast into little kid mode at a kindergarten and just runs with it with a series of small gags that hit quick and fun. It does tie Bossun to Sasuke well herewhich is pretty cute in itself and they go through a series of little adventures that more than anything else reminded me of Hanamaru Kindergarten and made me wish that show ran longer. While this is a fun one-off, I could see more being done on occasion, but it's something that has to be done spariingly.

Grade: B+