An imaginative little girl named Ai Yasumi discovers manga and falls in love. Flash forward seven years and Ai is in high school, still reading manga. A grumpy teacher named Teshima reprimands her on the way to school for engaging in such an immature pastime. Also along the way to school, Ai helps out some random girl with a runaway painting. Ai later gets reprimanded again by the stern Teshima for reading manga in class; the teacher rants about the evils of manga, saying they are all lies. Meanwhile, Ai discovers that the author of her favorite manga is going to be selling a new volume at a doujinshi convention in Tokyo. Ai goes, and as you might have guessed, the mangaka turns out to be Teshima herself! Where will their relationship, and Ai’s love of manga, go from here?

That was a lot of fun! Ai is just great! She’s likeable and expressive, and her sense of whimsy and imagination is conveyed really well. The tropical island setting is really pretty, and of course there’s also a quite a bit of humor to enjoy. This episode seems like it’s setting the stage for Ai to start drawing manga herself. I imagine we’re also going to see the icy Teshima start to defrost…and what was the deal with that girl with the errant painting? I had a blast with this episode and am eager for more! I think this show looks super promising, and I can wholeheartedly recommend you try it out.

Draw This, Then Die! is streaming on Crunchyroll.