[Kaoru Chujo]

I knew Yuuki Aoi was supposed to be in this episode, but kept waiting until the end without being sure I'd heard her -- and then saw her name in the credits playing Mio. It's clear now that I listen to it again, but I even heard hints of Koshimizu Ami there.

As a poster on Yuuki-san's 2channel thread said about this episode, there are three kinds of seiyuus:
1. Those who succeed or fail by the special features of their natural voice.
2. Those who have ordinary voices, but succeed or fail by their acting ability.
3. Those who succeed or fail by using many voices.
And Yuuki can do all three. As other posters said, this is one time where she is giving us a standard type of voice, rather than embellishing it with her personal flavours. But just to correct the balance, one poster called her a jack of all trades and master of none. I think there's something to that, too: she keeps experimenting and learning.

I think Shimono Hiro is doing a great job. There's lots of force in his portrayal. I find Itou Kanae's voice too ordinary, but that's probably my fault, and her portrayal here is clear and consistent.

The standard tropes that kept popping up in ep2 put me off, but the main thread, and the sharp relationship between the leads, is working very well.