Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie Episode 4 - The Beach Day Feint

gamerant.com:

The fourth episode of Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie promised the viewers one of the most important of the events that have become a staple in slice of life and romantic anime – the beach day episode. The beach day is ubiquitous with slice of life anime, but forms part of a greater tendency anime to bring this particular event to the fore regardless of the overarching plot or context of the series in question.

However, Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie, in its consistent attempts at the subversion of expectations, managed to initiate the sequence of events that would have the characters frolicking at the seaside in true anime fashion, but did not follow through. The series' deception of the audience in this regard does the series more harm than good, and while the previous episode showed the anime's promise, the fourth falls back into old habits.

Spring 2022 Preview: Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie

The basic premise of Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie's fourth episode is that with the summer vacation upon them, Izumi, Shikimori and friends are trying to figure out the best way to spend their free days. As people who prefer culture to sport, Izumi and Hachimitsu feel more attracted to calmer summer days spent relaxing in relatively cool places, while Shikimori, Nekozaki and Inuzuka all prefer to be outside in the sun.

The three get carried away in their conversation, eventually coming to an agreement about spending one of their days at the beach; however, Izumi's frail physical composition and weakness against heat and strenuous activity leads the group to changing their beach day to a day at the local river, where the athletic group can swim and Izumi can enjoy all the shade. The group then head to the local mall to buy swimsuits, but