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 features the return of the lovely rom-com anime series Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It, which stars the scientist grad students Himuro Ayame and Yukimura Shinya, who just might be in love with one another -- but only if they can prove it with an endless series of tests and experiments first.
Season 2 begins shortly after the events of Season 1, and in the first episode, Ena suggests that Shinya and Ayame meet a fellow Saitama University science student named Fujiwara Suiu, who can test the oxytocin levels of their saliva like a pro. Fujiwara Suiu is unlike any other scientist anime fans have seen -- she is a wannabe courtesan with a serious sadodere streak in the lab.
Ibarada Ena leads her friends to the next door lab, where the friends step into a dimly-lit room and are greeted by what appears to be a courtesan with a white lab coat over her robes. This is Fujiwara Suiu, who studies natural sciences and understands biodynamics better than anyone. She teases the main characters with her erotic introduction, striking a pose whole introducing herself with a soothing voice and more than a little saliva. She is an expert at studying saliva samples to study hormone levels, but unlike the logic-oriented Yukimura Shinya, she thinks science is fun and sexy, and she makes a game out of everything. She has no qualms about teasing the main characters or, for that matter, her longtime boyfriend Chris Florette.
Suiu loves to tease Chris even more than she teases strangers, often coming on to him in front of strangers even if Chris gets flustered and embarrassed about it. She will even show some serious skin to fellow students like Shinya and compliment them with Chris standing right there, and at first glance, it seems incredible that she and Chris have stayed together for four years. Suiu toys with the boundaries of infidelity with Chris and overwhelms him with displays of affection during lab experiments, but the events of Season 2, Episode 1 suggest that Chris is actually used to this and that no matter how flustered he may act, his love of Suiu is true. Suiu is a sadodere who knows where to draw the line with expert precision.
A sadodere is an anime archetype describing a character, often a female one, who expresses affection by teasing or annoying their love interest, even to the point of becoming a troublemaker. This was seen in the rom-com series Don't Toy With Me, Ms. Nagatoro!, where the titular Nagatoro Hayase constantly teased and harassed her crush, the shy and artistic Hachioji Naoto. At first, there were concerns that Hayase was taking things too far as a sadodere, but the soon series found its footing and stabilized its tone by balancing Hayase's obnoxious antics with moments of genuine friendship and compassion.
Something similar happened in an even more recent anime, My Dress-Up Darling, where the playful heroine Kitagawa Marin teased the shy Gojo Wakana more than once with some erotic, intimate moments that Gojo wasn't totally ready for. Marin knew how to hold back before doing any real damage though, and so did Nagatoro Hayase. Sadoderes like to push people's buttons, but their intentions are never cruel.
Meanwhile, Science Fell in Love's own sadodere, Fujiwara Suiu the courtesan saliva expert, takes it to the next level. During one test to raise oxytocin levels, Suiu shocks Shinya, Ayame and Kanade with her wild antics with Chris in a large closet, where everyone thought Suiu and Chris were having an X-rated party. In truth, Suiu simply has Chris lay his head on her lap, and that alone is enough to elicit a strong reaction on par with anything from a hentai OVA. Suiu can get a lot of mileage out of a modest amount of playful teasing compared to Hayase and Marin, and she might keep it up in future episodes too. This season promises to be much spicier than the last.
