Episode 8 finally settles the debate of whether Go For It, Nakamura! thrives on secondhand embarrassment and gloriously cringe-worthy mix-ups, once and for all.
This latest chapter doubles down on everything that makes the series work: Nakamura’s wildly overactive imagination, his painfully relatable inability to act normal around Hirose, and the kind of absurd comedic timing that turns even the smallest misunderstanding into full emotional catastrophe.
But what is really interesting about this episode is the arrival of an unexpected wildcard, someone who might know Nakamura’s obsession with Hirose just a little too well.
And somehow that makes it all the funnier.
A New Beginning Soon Becomes a Known Catastrophe
So Episode 8 starts with what looks like a breakthrough for Nakamura.
Hirose asks casually to walk home together and for a moment it feels like the series is finally rewarding its protagonist’s endless emotional suffering. The two talk easily, tease each other, and then the impossible happens: Hirose leans in for a kiss.
Of course, Go For It, Nakamura! snaps viewers back to reality pretty quickly.
In another fantasy sequence, Nakamura wakes up with his pet octopus Icchan attached to his face.
It’s a classic fake-out, but one that perfectly sets the tone of the episode. When things seem like they might be going somewhere, Nakamura finds himself stuck in the cycle of hope and humiliation that is his high school life.
Summer vacation is over, and he tells himself this is the start of a “new season” in his relationship with Hirose, a reset button where things will finally get better.
Of course, they do not.
Comedy of Jealousy Reaches New Heights
What’s brilliant about episode 8 is how it takes Nakamura’s jealousy and warps it into chaos.
A simple classroom interaction is all it takes to send him spiraling. Oomori just hands Hirose a CD casually, which is instant overthinking, but it’s just the beginning.
When a classmate casually borrows Hirose’s gym clothes, Nakamura’s imagination begins to spin complex emotional narratives.
Then comes one of the most hilariously uncomfortable moments of the episode, when Nakamura is asked to return the gym clothes and decides to secretly smell them.
The pay off is immediate and brutal.
The uniform stinks.
But it’s not only the absurdity that makes the scene so successful. It’s how perfectly it encapsulates Nakamura’s hopelessly romanticized perception of Hirose, perpetually clashing with awkward reality.
Then the final punch line: the clothes don’t even belong to Hirose.
They are Todoroki’s.
It’s the kind of layered joke this anime does so well, stacking embarrassment on embarrassment until Nakamura just short-circuits.
His dramatic fainting spell is less hyperbole and more the only logical response.
Matsumura Switches Things Up
The episode really comes alive once Matsumura enters the picture.
It’s a smart move to bring in Hirose’s friend from middle school because it immediately sets up a dynamic that the series hasn’t fully explored before. Direct competition.
Nakamura’s struggles had been largely internal until now. His worst enemy has been his own inability to function around his crush.
Matsumura changes that.
He’s confident, he knows Hirose’s history, and he has the kind of easy intimacy that sends Nakamura into a full-blown panic attack.
Their first meeting is awkward and stilted. But when Nakamura learns Matsumura has stories and photos of middle-school Hirose, their conversation becomes a hilariously passive-aggressive battle for emotional territory.
The stupidity of the similarity is what makes this rivalry so entertaining.
Both of them are too busy proving their link to Hirose.
Both are oddly possessive.
They both cross borders on very uncomfortable routes.
Neither of them appears to have a clue how ridiculous they look.
It’s like watching two reflections of the same kind of obsessive energy crash head on.
The Uniform Gag is a Comic Perfection
The climax of the episode, no doubt, is the showdown over Hirose’s alleged middle-school gym uniform.
Matsumura tells us he kept the uniform, and Nakamura immediately calls him a creep, and then immediately tries to take it for himself.
That contradiction is the sum of Nakamura’s whole character.
He can’t help but judge things he would do without a second thought.
The ensuing tug-of-war is absolute chaos, and the eventual reveal that this is again Todoroki’s uniform is comedic perfection.
The repeated misidentification makes a potentially one-off gag an ongoing joke with a growing payoff.
By the time the second reveal happens, the joke is no longer on the uniform, but on how much both boys have made fools of themselves over nothing.
Visual Direction Keeps Impressing
The episode’s creativity in its visuals is one of its greatest strengths.
Go For It, Nakamura! gets creative with how it expresses Nakamura’s feelings externally, and Episode 8 gives us some of its best examples to date.
The stylized black-and-white sequence showing his ideal walk home with Hirose feels like a nostalgic silent film, perfectly capturing the melodrama playing out inside Nakamura’s head.
His emotional crashes involve sudden changes in colour, giving even small disappointments the theatricality of the end of the world.
These flourishes are not just for show.
They underline the show’s central joke, which is that for Nakamura every little interaction has the emotional stakes of a grand romance epic.
There is so much humor in that dramatic mismatch.
What the Episode Reveals About Nakamura
But underneath the laughs, Episode 8 quietly underscores an important truth about Nakamura.
For all his delusions and over-reactions he has made headway.
His argument with Matsumura shows that he knows Hirose better than before. He may not realize those little wins yet but he has built real memories and experiences with him.
And that’s what makes this rivalry surprisingly meaningful.
Matsumura may have known Hirose historically, but Nakamura has arguably something more valuable: a contemporary tie.
He hasn’t got it yet.
And that emotional irony lends a subtle sweetness to the comedy.
Where the story might go from here
Matsumura doesn’t feel like a one-off joke character.
His chemistry with Nakamura is too good to waste and bringing him back could lead to some of the funniest future scenarios in the series.
A continuing rivalry might make Nakamura more proactive around Hirose, less likely simply to freeze up.
At the very least, Matsumura’s presence is a reminder of how many people are in Hirose’s orbit and how far Nakamura still has to go.
That tension can be a rich source of both comedy and growth.
The Final Verdict
This is Go For It, Nakamura! Episode 8 at maximum comedic power.
By bringing in Matsumura, the anime is able to breathe new life into its formula, while doubling down on the awkward misunderstandings and emotional theatrics that define the series.
It’s chaotic, visually inventive and laugh-out-loud funny in an increasingly assured way.
Most of all, it reminds us why Nakamura remains such a lovable hero: he’s dramatic, awkward, irrational, and impossibly easy to root for.
Rating: 9/10
This is about as self-aware and entertaining as the show gets, and if Matsumura sticks around, it’s only going to get messier from here on out.