WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Season 2, Episode 1 of Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It, now streaming on Crunchyroll.
The Spring 2022 anime season has begun, and it marks the return of one of anime's most charming and romantic edutainment series, Science Fell in Love, so I Tried to Prove It. Back in Season 1, the gorgeous student scientist Himuro Ayame decided to test the validity of her affection for her handsome classmate Yukimura Shinya, but they are far from being Saitama University's power couple.
Ayame and Shinya think they understand the hard science of romance, but the Season 2 premiere proves them wrong when the real power couple arrives: Fujiwara Suiu and her boyfriend Chris Florette. In fact, this new couple calls everything Ayame and Shinya believe about love into question, and they might be right.
Ayame and her new kuudere boyfriend Shinya realize that they cannot study their oxytocin levels from their romantic trip to Okinawa last season, so their friend Ena leads them to another lab on campus with the right equipment to run new tests for oxytocin levels. This lab features the seductive, wannabe courtesan scientist Fujiwara Suiu and her easily flustered boyfriend Chris Florette, who not only understand the hard science of love but also doubt Shinya's and Ayame's quest. According to them, Shinya's and Ayame's romance is already doomed.
Ayame and Shinya believe that data and tests alone can prove the existence of true love, but as Chris and Suiu explain, true love is a more abstract and poetic concept that exits on a "you know it when you feel it" basis. That is frustratingly un-scientific for Ayame and especially the logic-oriented Shinya, but based on Suiu's and Chris' strong and healthy relationship, they know what they're talking about and can speak with authority on this topic.
Chris even turns Ayame's and Shinya's methods against them, challenging them to explain what they would do if their experiments proved that they had no love. Would they simply part ways based on those test results and ignore their feelings? Chris thinks that is ridiculous, and Ayame and Shinya can't muster a counter-argument of any kind except to double down on their methods. Ayame and Shinya are clearly out of their depth and on the defensive, but they won't give up. That is the shonen way.
Ayame and Shinya have no choice but to defend themselves with the only method they know -- experiments and data analysis. Fortunately for them, Chris and Suiu are generous and thoughtful people, and their strong relationship hasn't made them arrogant or judgmental of others. Even if they doubt Shinya's and Ayame's science-only approach to romance, they still volunteer to help the main characters test their oxytocin levels to get some hard results.
This is Suiu's specialty, and the playful scientist has fun collecting samples and using simple experiments to raise everyone's oxytocin levels, such as snuggling or paying compliments to one another. To Ayame and Shinya's shock, Chris and Suiu are not only more experienced and comfortable with their relationship but also have massive oxytocin levels to prove it. Even during the climactic Season 1 kiss scene in Okinawa, Ayame and Shinya only managed about 75% of what Chris and Suiu are capable of in the lab.
For now, Ayame and Shinya are on the defensive, having their methods questioned and their oxytocin levels trounced all over the lab, and this puts their budding romance in peril. Already, Ayame and Shinya have kinks to work out in their relationship, including their overall lack of experience and their awkwardness, and if they can't use their best weapon to prove these skeptics wrong, that could spell trouble for them.
Shinya and especially Ayame are somewhat insecure about the validity of their amorous feelings for one another and their relationship, and if they don't find a solution fast, they may become disheartened in the face of Chris and Suiu's superior relationship. This is a bigger challenge for the protagonists than every obstacle in Season 1 combined, but any real scientist will relish a challenge, not run from it. Season 2 promises to be a serious romantic battlefield with higher stakes than ever.
