Science Fell in Love was a charming rom-com anime series that returned for a second season in the Spring 2022 anime season, and this time, the romance goes far beyond the main pairing of Himuro Ayame and her beau, Yukimura Shinya. Several more couples emerged or made strides in becoming legitimate, and that includes the Kosuke/Ena pair.
While the Chris/Suiu couple is clearly Science Fell in Love‘s strongest of all, that pairing is not necessarily the show’s most compelling. Instead, the budding romance between Kosuke and the petite chunibyo Ibarada Ena is at least the anime’s second-best, and it might soon overtake the Shinya/Ayame pairing too. The shipping wars are really heating up this time around.
The Chemistry Between Kosuke & Ena
Every romantic pairing in fiction is based on chemistry, or how well the characters play off one another and draw out the best in each other. If two characters have weak chemistry, they have nothing to say or do with one another or might even bring out the worst in each other. Fortunately, the game-loving Kosuke and his childhood friend Ena have excellent chemistry together — a fact that’s been evident since Science Fell in Love‘s first season. Kosuke and Ena understand one another intimately, and they know how to tease and annoy one another without doing any serious harm. They admire each other’s respective hobbies and share a love of Super Smash Bros. as well. Ena is a bit bothered by Kosuke’s excessive love for 2-D dating sim waifus, but that’s being worked on.
Kosuke and Ena delight and amuse viewers whenever they interact, with Kosuke making Ena laugh out loud and Ena being remarkably similar to Kosuke’s dream waifu, from her appearance to her slight tsundere tendencies. This was taken to the next level in Season 2, with Kosuke doing more than shielding Ena from punks on the Okinawa beach. This time, after seeing Shinya and Ayame get together, Kosuke’s heart suddenly overflowed with amorous feelings, and not even his little mental trick could keep those feelings at bay for long. Kosuke can’t help it — he’s definitely falling for the goofy Gothic chunibyo Ena, and just looking at her or hearing her speak gets him worked up. He just can’t bring himself to admit it yet.
Kosuke is slowly weaning himself off 2-D girls, even if he doesn’t realize it, and he may soon realize just how wonderful real-life girls can be. In return, Ena’s playful tsundere side means she’s keeping Kosuke at arm’s length, but then again, she gets intensely jealous when Kosuke spends quality time with other women, such as the manga artist Yamamoto Arika. Ena and Kosuke even cosplayed as a bride and groom during the Saitama festival, playing along so a little girl could ship them.
How The Kosuke/Ena Ship Compares To Shina/Ayame
In most regards, the Kosuke/Ena and Shinya/Ayame pairs are evenly matched, with both ships being healthy and amusing ones based on mutual respect, friendship and compassion, although there are still some differences that might favor the Kosuke/Ena ship. The main difference is that the Shina/Ayame pair is for plot reasons, so that ship is subjected to the pacing and whims of the story itself. The Shinya/Ayame romance can only develop at a pace suitable for the storyline, and the romance may progress and hit the pause button accordingly.
Of course, the need to involve real-life science can also warp the relationship’s pace of development and sometimes leave viewers frustrated. In short, this ship is almost a plot device, and even if Shinya and Ayame have genuine chemistry, literally and otherwise, it can make the relationship feel a bit artificial at times.
By contrast, the Kosuke/Ena relationship can advance at a more organic pace since it’s a B-plot that has minimal impact on the overall story. Put another way, the Kosuke/Ena pairing has more maneuvering room in the plot of Science Fell in Love, and the two characters can interact more organically without having the burden of carrying the overall plot. This means the Kosuke/Ena ship gets less screen time, but in exchange, it can move freely and act more like an ordinary, relatable romance based on perfectly ordinary events and dialogue rather than constant science experiments.
Combined with the lively personalities of these characters, this helps to drive the ship, not to mention their personal history together to add another layer to the romantic shenanigans. With all that in mind, the Kosuke/Ena pairing caught up to Shina/Ayame with astonishing speed and might even overtake it in a possible Season 3. No one could blame viewers for putting the Kosuke/Ena ship at the top and declaring it the OTP of the world of science.
