Impressions:

I am very, very, VERY impressed. I didn’t think it could end so well. True, it’s another life-goes-on ending, as expected, but still was just awesome. It was amazingly funny, probably one of the funniest the whole season. What a way to finish! And the highlight was of course Miki getting drunk. Actually, it would seem the other way around, as she becomes so angelic and KAWAI when drunk. OMG it was too good – I was just hoping to see her in casual clothing, but instead of that, she becomes a goddess and blows everyone away with her sudden change of heart. I never thought it possible that I’d see her so feminine!! She also reminded me of April from Coyote Ragtime Show for saying ‘okaa-sama’. And the fact that she’s 20 also surprised me. I thought she was maybe 17 or 18, fresh out of high school. Oh well, it doesn’t matter anyway.

And like I never thought I’d see Miki so pleasant (the fake smiles from previous episodes DO NOT COUNT! Oh god don’t remind me of that…*shivers*) I also never thought I’d see Megumi so brutish. It wasn’t the usual evil, scheming Megumi, but someone who greatly reminded me of Two-Hands from Black Lagoon (Levy). Ahh…damn it’s over. It turned out to be such a great show. The ending was great and the quality stayed high all the way until the end. And of course, there was heaps of comedy; every episode had me laughing like crazy at one point or another, and this episode had substantial amounts of material, even if some of it is reused. Ohta getting skewered in the head is always funny. His reaction when Miki looked to him to defend her against Kankuro was also hilarious. Now that I think about it, Ohta was quite a good character with all the laughter he brought. In fact, all the characters were great. The whole show is great. I said in the first episode this is just a series where all you get is mindless comedy, and that still stands. That aspect is a good thing, for those times when you just don’t want to worry about sad things or romances etc. In the end, I highly recommend this show for those who haven’t watched it, but if you dropped it halfway because it was boring or just not funny, then you probably won’t find anything new if you start watching again. All in all, great show! And now it’s over…

Summary:

During the evening, some of the customers ask Miki to have some alcohol, but she declines the offer as she remembers her mother had warned her not to. This is because whenever Makiko drinks, she goes crazy and trashes the place, and as Miki is her daughter, it is likely alcohol will have the same effect on her. However, the customers say that they’ll stop coming to the restaurant, so Miki is forced to drink. She drinks the whole bottle, but is caught by Makiko. When she tries to punish her daughter though, Miki reacts surprisingly fast and manages to fend her off easily. Miki then calls her mother ‘okaa-sama’ and starts speaking very formally as well. When she sees the skirt she is wearing, she screams in embarrassment because she thinks it’s too short. So this is what happens when Miki gets drunk…

After Ohta closes his own shop, he goes to the Onimaru restaurant to have dinner, but is quite disturbed when he sees how Miki is acting. Makiko sees that Miki is wearing a long skirt now and asks her about the old one. She misunderstands this question for a perverted one and runs away all tearful, even calling Ohta horrible. Ohta is quite obviously very alarmed at the change in behaviour, so Makiko informs him that it’s because Miki is drunk. Even when Kankuro comes looking for a challenge, she refuses to fight. Kankuro is shocked like everyone else. The customers become restless as no one is fighting, so Makiko orders Miki to fight. She finally agrees to fight, but the best she can do is slap Kankuro. He starts crying and runs out of the store, saying he hates the current Miki.

The same thing happens when Toshiyuki comes looking for a fight. He lunges at Miki, but when she acts all nice towards him, Toshiyuki stops in midair. Miki offers him a bone, but as he is surely disgusted at Miki’s lack of fight, he simply turns around and walks away. When Miki returns inside the restaurant, Makiko tells her that it’s fine for her to go to sleep. Miki does so gratefully, unaware that Makiko just wants her to return to her old self, as her personality change had been getting on her nerve. The next day, Miki has returned to her normal self. Just as she is trying to get rid of her hangover, Kankuro arrives dressed like a rich woman; long pink dress, makeup, wig, fan etc. He plans to use Miki’s ’strategy’ from last night to fight her. Miki is so disgusted that she hits him so hard he tumbles through the air and crashes into one of Megumi’s pot plants.

During the day when the cherry blossoms are meant to look most magnificent, Miki tries to persuade her mother to go and save a spot at the park so they can enjoy the blossoms that night. Makiko doesn’t want to leave the store because she has business, so Miki decides to get Ohta to go and secure a spot. Makiko comes to his rescue and forces Miki to go herself. When night has fallen, it turns out that Makiko cannot go as she is sick. And so, Ohta goes with Megumi. He is quite afraid because of the possibility that Miki had been drinking. Sake is a common thing at these kind of outings, so it wouldn’t be strange if she did drink a little. But of course, we all know what will happen if she does get drunk. When the two get to the park and start searching for Miki, Megumi says she cannot sense her killing intent anywhere. Ohta fears for the worst, and those fears come true when he sees her…

Miki is sitting calmly on the blanket and greets Ohta and Megumi very slave-like. A few people behind her admit they gave Miki some beer, but it is quite obvious she’s drunk due to the number of empty bottles and cans around her. Megumi, having never seen Miki like this before, demands to know what had happened to her. When she realises Miki is not acting, she decides to take advantage of her like the little devil she is…After ordering Miki for a while, Megumi gets drunk herself and starts making unreasonable request, one being Miki stripping while everyone is watching (now why the hell would she want that?!) She even gets Kayahara-sensei to ask Miki to strip by bribing her with ramen. Before things can get any worse for Miki though, she throws up and her daze lifts. She then punches Megumi in the guts, which makes her throw up as well. Of course, now a fight begins with Kankuro and Toshiyuki joining in as well.

And so it looks like everything has returned to normal. And thus concludes…

MUTEKI KANBAN MUSUME!

Impressions:

Wow. The reason I say that isn’t because it was extremely amused with another hilarious episode (which, by the way, it was), but because it was both funny AND immensely grotesque and disturbing. I am referring not to rotting corpses with maggots gnawing away at eyeballs and flesh, nor anything similar, but the SMILES! Goddammit those smiles at the end REALLY put me off! Seriously, they were just disgusting! And the animators did that on purpose, as they definitely know how to draw a good smile. Example: Kayahara-sensei when she’s eating ramen…ah, so heavenly, that smile of hers! But no, not Miki’s or Megumi’s. I guess it was pretty important in showing us how bad the two are at smiling (though Megumi isn’t bad at all really).

Well, there’s one more episode to go, and it doesn’t seem like it’ll be wrapping anything up, as there’s been no plot at all so far. Well, when I mean no plot I mean nothing progresses – nothing get’s done. Sure, fights are fun, but do get boring after a while. I will be looking forward to see what’s gonna get thrown into the last episode of the series, though I do NOT wish for a second season, nor do I think there will be. It’s been fun watching the show to get a few good laughs, but I definitely want more than just that. Doesn’t really matter now, as there’s a long list of upcoming fall seasons soon to air – can’t wait!

Summary:

While this episode might seem like a repeat of some previous ones, with it starting off with Kankuro once again challenging Miki to a duel (my god when will he ever learn…), it is actually spins off to a completely new direction. Just as Kankuro presents his signature challenge letter, Wakana appears down the road riding on Toshiyuki (her dog). She tries to stop to say hi to Miki and the others, but doesn’t know how and continues down the road, screaming for Toshiyuki to stop. With that distraction gone, Kankuro restates his challenge…A short while later, when Kankuro has already been ‘taken care of’, Wakana appears down the road again, seemingly having just gone round in a circle. This time, Ohta instructs her on how to stop Toshiyuki, and this is done by pulling on his collar. She does so and the dog does indeed come to a halt.

As everyone is admiring Wakana and Toshiyuki, Miki comes and asks if she can have a ride on him too. Wakana agrees, but of course Toshiyuki doesn’t, being her mortal enemy and such. The two get into a fight like they always do when they are this close. Ohta (having failed to discern the real reason as to why Toshiyuki won’t allow Miki to ride on him), concludes that he simply hates his master’s friends (never though Ohta would be this thick). However, this assumption has already been disproved earlier in the day, as one of Wakana’s friends has already ridden on Toshiyuki. And so, Kankuro tries to ride on him and succeeds. After his success, Ohta decides to try and is also allowed to ride on Toshiyuki. Of course, Miki is furious that she is the only one who Toshiyuki won’t let on.

As the two start fighting again, Makiko comes out of the restaurant, screaming at Miki for making a ruckus outside her shop. Kayahara-sensei appears and says that animals are far more sensitive than humans and are able to distinguish between good and bad people, and likewise, enemies and friends. She then approaches Toshiyuki and asks him if he’ll let her ride on him. He allows her as well. When Miki’s anger simply rises because of this, Makiko tells her that the reason why Toshiyuki won’t let her ride on him is because she’s always picking on people – a bad person clearly. Because of this, Miki decides to force her mother onto Toshiyuki too and see whether he will let her ride him or not. However, the problem here is not whether Makiko is a good person or not, but her weight…Before she can get on, Toshiyuki leaps out of the way, onto Miki’s head.

Wakana remembers she has to go buy some fish and leaves riding on Toshiyuki. She sees something she likes in a shop window and tells Toshiyuki to stop, which he does (now why didn’t this work before?) Problem is, Wakana goes flying due to the sudden stop and lands in a rubbish truck (or at least some kind of waste dumper). Toshiyuki grunts out in horror, but realises the only way to save Wakana is to…depend on an equally capable person: Miki. He dashes back to the shop and starts tugging Miki’s apron. As she tries to swat him away with her broom, Ohta realises something must have happened to Wakana. Miki realises this too after he says it and asks Toshiyuki to lead the way. The two start sprinting off in Wakana’s direction, but it seems Toshiyuki is too fast, so finally, he decides to let Miki ride him (and this time, not like a horse, but like a skateboard!)

Along the way, they pass Kankuro, who decides to chase Miki just because he can’t help but do so if she is running. However, Kankuro is no match for Toshiyuki and quickly falls behind. As Wakana is helplessly riding in the truck, she imagines what her fate might be – get buried? Or worse yet, get tossed into the ocean, eaten by a whale and forced to survive by fishing in its stomach…But before she can give up hope, Miki appears behind the truck, tailing it on Toshiyuki. He jumps, giving Miki enough height to leap into the truck. As Miki is calmly explaining to Wakana how Toshiyuki let her ride on him, how she has a beautiful soul and then enjoying a laugh afterwards, both Kankuro and Toshiyuki are seen struggling to keep up with the truck from behind lol…

When they’ve arrived back at the restaurant, Miki tells everyone she rode on Toshiyuki, therefore indicating she has a much more beautiful soul than Makiko’s. However, when Megumi (the most evil, devious, scheming, heartless, untrustworthy, dishonourable person there is…ok, maybe I went a little too far) starts riding on Toshiyuki, Miki sadly concludes that beautiful souls has absolutely nothing to do with whether he will let someone ride on him or not. Worst yet, Megumi starts telling Miki how only people with pure souls like her can ride Toshiyuki, when she has the exact opposite a soul…And after all that, STILL no one has realised the reason why Toshiyuki won’t let Miki ride on him was because their enemies, and the only reason why he DID let her ride on him just before was to save Wakana…

Some time later in the week, Ohta comes to bring Makiko some spring onions just in time to see the horrors which the Getsushin Foods Company have brought!! When a customer complains of a cockroach in his ramen (which he put there himself), both Miki and Makiko respond with…smiles? Yes, that’s right – SMILES!! And not just smiles, but freakish, horrific, disgusting, gruesome curves of the mouth that would kill anyone who sees them! (But not me, since as you can see, I have lived to tell the tale…) Anyway, the reason they are smil- no, trying to smile is because of the photo-of-ramen-girl-with-best-smile contest, sponsored by the Getsushin Foods Company! However, when Ohta reads the flyer describing all this, he discovers that due to the age limit, Makiko cannot enter (there goes her smile! Thank god…) When the cockroach guy from before tries to get her attention again, he gets more than only that…

When Miki decides to continue practicing her smile outside, she sees Megumi doing the exact same thing. And so, the two start headbutting each other like retards while keeping their fake smiles. It seems that Megumi is also entering the contest, but Miki tells her that only ‘ramen girls’ may enter. Megumi explains that the competition isn’t open to just girls who work in ramen shops, but anyone eating ramen (as the photo must be taken of the girls eating ramen – and smiling of course!) The two start taking shots at each other while maintaining their smiles, although Miki does seem to have some trouble with this. The two decide to make this a challenge to see who will win the prize. Suddenly breaking the tension, Megumi asks Miki if she know the secret to winning. As she obviously doesn’t, Megumi explains to her that there are three aspects: the stance, the smile and the walk, though Miki sucks at all of them. It seems Megumi’s plan is to crush Miki’s confidence before the competition.

It is then that Ohta realises the due date for all submissions is today, so Miki and Megumi frantically try to get Ohta to take their pictures. He takes numerous shots, but none of them are good as the two girls try to sabotage each other’s shot. When all photos have been submitted, the judges of competition start evaluating all the pictures. They do manage to find Miki looking cute in one shot, but multiple others depict her being evil and violent to Megumi. In another picture, one of the judges points out Kayahara-sensei in the background of a photo, eating ramen with her usual, blissful ramen-eating smile. They are about to use her, but someone else discovers several other pictures where she is not so friendly looking…The judges are afraid that Kayahara is a ghost – a common misconception – and in the end decide to use…Wakana! Of course, neither Miki nor Megumi are happy about this and start duking it out again…

Preview:

Impressions:

Yay, Megumi’s in casual dress! It would’ve been more of a sight if she was wearing a skirt though, instead such a long one. The facial distortions are always hilarious though, and I still haven’t gotten over them. Aside from that, I didn’t find this episode as funny as the others. The series had a good run, but now it’s getting harder to come up with new ideas. If their was a plot, it could manage a full 26 episodes fine, but with frequent comedy as its only drive, I guess 12 episodes is its limit. Even a little romance would allow for more material, but it just wouldn’t suit an Anime like this, where everyone’s nature is to dish out damage. With all this in mind, the ending will probably be abrupt and not resolve anything, as their really isn’t anything to resolve in the first place.

Summary:

Kankuro is faced with the difficult decision of how to approach Miki with his usual challenge, as every time he tried in the past resulted in painful failure. As he has always entered the restaurant from the right, so he thinks if he enters from the left, he’ll have a better chance. This doesn’t prevent him from getting hurt, but his constant attempts does irritate Miki into accepting the challenge. Only thing is, she has to make a delivery first.

Hours later after Kankuro has stuffed his face many times over in the restaurant, Miki finally returns, only to get more errands from her mother. Makiko tells Kankuro that Miki probably won’t have enough time to fight him today, as she needs to do many more odd jobs. Because of this, Kankuro decides to help her with everything.

He goes on a delivery to Endou’s house. Tsohiyuki almost mistakes him for Miki, but stops in time before biting his face off. He delivers the ramen quickly, returns and completes all the small jobs that Miki was meant to do. He even starts cooking, getting to a speed where as the single cook, is able to keep every customer satisfied (and this is an achievement as the restaurant is full). Ohta sees this and is shocked to find the restaurant is using efficient services to attract customers (like a normal restaurant), instead of using fighting shows.

At the end of the day, when Miki finally returns, she finds out that Kankuro has done a much better job in the store than she ever has, and is afraid of losing her job as a poster girl. Because of this, she challenges Kankuro to a race where the winner gets the job of poster girl. Kankuro dresses up as Miki to make things fair (he wears a skirt) and races to the residence where they are meant to make the delivery. Surprisingly, he manages to beat Miki, as he is wearing a skirt, which doesn’t restrict his movement. Although he does make it to the destination first, his skirt frightens the woman who ordered the ramen, so Miki ends up winning the race.

However, Makiko convinces Miki to accept Kankuro’s challenge as he had been working so hard that day. She reluctantly agrees, but the fight is over in a few seconds, with kankuro lying in rubble as the result.

The next day, Kankuro once again challenges Miki to a bout, but is hit with such might that he flies into Megumi’s bakery and blacks out. After waking up, Megumi asks for an alliance with him to defeat Miki. Kankuro does not want to involve anyone else in his quarrels, but if Miki wants him to help her with her own revenge, he would gladly accept. Putting it that way, Megumi accepts this and the two start their ’special training’.

And what might that special training be? As crazy as it might seem, the kankuro trains Megumi in riding a unicycle and pretending to be a train. Kankuro had used both techniques against Miki, but although he failed both times, he reasons that they can beat Miki by combining the two techniques. Megumi foolishly believes this.

And so they continue their training.

Later in the day, Kankuro sets up a boxing ring for Megumi to fight Miki in, and even sends the enemy a letter of challenge, saying it was from Megumi. And so Megumi starts her battle with Miki. However, as she is wearing boxing gloves, she can’t use her skewers. She tries to implement the ‘unicycle and train’ technique, but fails miserably and goes down with one blow to the stomach. She says she shouldn’t have listened to Kankuro in the first place, as she only ever fights underhandedly and never honourably.

Because of their different personalities, Kankuro and Megumi get into an argument. To escalate things, Miki tells them to fight physically. She offers kankuro to accept his challenges whenever he asks if he beats Megumi, and offers Megumi to shave her head and apologize to her if she wins. And so, with this new motivation, the two start clashing with all they have. Miki then realises she’d get the worse end of things no matter who wins, so decides to defeat both Megumi and Kankuro herself. With this new threat, Megumi and Kankuro join forces and launch an attack from two sides. However, before they manage to impact Miki, Makiko interferes by stopping them both in midair, and at the same time burying Miki’s face in the ground with her foot. Irritably, she drags her daughter away. Megumi and Kankuro start arguing again about which way was better to fight Miki with: the honourable way or not.

Preview:

Impressions:

Ah, another hilarious episode. Muteki Kanban Musume is definitely one of the funnier Animes I’ve watched. Too bad it’s coming to and end. With this series finishing and all the funny spring season ones wrapping up as well, I’ll have to find a good comedy in the autumn season. This episode, it was more than just visual jokes. Makiko’s disturbing acting as she tried a new way of scolding Miki was absolutely hilarious. I love disturbing things! It was the same with Kayahara… And – OMG – next episode Megumi is NOT in her bakers’ uniform!!! I wished Miki would wear some casual clothes too sometime, but this is just as good!

Summary:

As Makiko is calmly cooking ramen in the kitchen, Miki, Megumi and Kankuro are having a little free-for-all. However, when one of Megumi’s skewers is deflected into one of the restaurant’s glass wall panels, Makiko comes out and loses it. She kicks Miki into Megumi and Kankuro, toppling everyone over. Ohta comes and points out the fact that Makiko is the strongest out of all of them. Reluctantly, everyone agrees. Because of this new revelation, they decide to join forces and find a weakness in her to take her down. Ohta is not convinced that this is possible.

The three set up a small base on the bakery’s porch. After a short discussion which yielded no results as to what Makiko’s weakness might be, Megumi is forced to use her pet, Poemi. She is convinced that it will work, and the looks on Miki’s and Kankuro’s faces when they see this make the plan seem plausible.

However, it doesn’t work. The three let the animal into the restaurant, which turns out to be a deadly scorpion. However, Makiko finds nothing wrong with discovering a scorpion on the table and picks it up to toss in the soup she’s preparing. Megumi lunges to save her precious pet, but ends up getting stung. She is then taken to hospital. I presume the scorpion was not harmed.

Even though they are short one person now, Miki and Kankuro refuse to give up. This time, they prepare a meal for Makiko. The lunch consists of a large steamed bun and some dumplings. The plan is to disgust Makiko with the meal, as the bun is filled with hot chilli and the dumplings contain custard cream. BUT! It fails again. How typical. Makiko eats it all without too much trouble.

In the end, Kankuro gives up and decides to go on another training trip. Even though Miki is by herself now in this little escapade, she does not give up. She asks Ohta for help, who just happens to remember the time when something had appeared in the store and scared Makiko. Before he can say what got inside, Makiko pulls him into the store and desperately warns him not to reveal her secret. She explains that long ago, one of those things landed on her face. When Miki stupidly gives her presence away, Makiko whacks her out of hearing range. She tells Ohta that he can’t tell Miki what happened even at the cost of his life. But if he does, he will die, so it’s the same either way.

Once he is outside again, Miki drags him inside his own store, closes the rolling door and starts whipping. Kayahara sensei comes by and, hearing the whipping noises, thinks someone is being abused. However, when she pulls up the rolling doors, she sees Miki whipping Ohta’s mahou shoujo figurine. Miki’s excuse for doing this is that a full grown man – Ohta – is into such things, which she personally finds shameful. It seems that Kayahara sensei has similar views and quietly leaves without doing anything.

Even when Miki breaks the figurine through constant whipping, Ohta remains silent. Miki decides to search for all sorts of small animals to test on Makiko, as surely one of them must be her weakness. As she is doing this, Ohta tells Makiko about what her daughter did to him. She apologises for this, but then Miki shows up with a large sack of bugs. She is confident that she will win this next fight and tosses the sack of insects at her mother. She dodges all of this and punches Miki in the face. However, she has another sack, but before she can toss it, the bag rips and everything lands on her face. At this sight, Makiko falls silent and her expression tells Miki that her weakness is now on her face. She discerns that it must either be the worm, caterpillar or spider. When she taunts her mother about this, Makiko tells her that it is in fact her face that she’s disgusted of and gives her a whack on the head. This causes the spider to land on her own head, which is in fact the thing she is afraid of. However, this time she flicks it off and says it is nothing compared to Miki’s disgusting face.

And so, Makiko continues to reign supreme.

Another day, Makiko takes notice of a program on TV when she is cooking, which explains how to properly raise children. While this is happening, Miki picks a fight with a couple of punks on the street, but ends up spilling the ramen she’s meant to be delivering. By watching the program, Makiko learns that the worse the child behaves, the kinder the parent should be. When Miki returns to the restaurant with the empty ramen tin, prepared for another beating, Makiko starts acting nice and kind, with a smile that looks genuine. However, Miki does not believe she is her mother. She becomes frustrated, manages to keep her smile on. In the end, Miki leaves extremely disturbed and thinks she is being punished for misbehaving. She decides to behave from now on.

Back at the restaurant, Makiko explains her new strategy to Ohta, who decides to help her with this. She practices puns, but they all suck. Bad. Kayahara sensei comes and enquires about why Makiko is acting the way she is. She explains, but now that Ohta has heard the full story, he thinks the idea is crazy, as if Makiko didn’t discipline Miki properly, she’d turn out a lot worse than she is now. After more discussion, Kayahara expresses her opinion on the matter and suggests that Makiko pretend to be sick, as children with weak parents tend to be more responsible. They decide to try this idea.

Ohta goes to find Miki, who is beating up some more thugs. He tells her that Makiko has fainted and calls for her to return to the restaurant. When she does, Makiko (who is in her futon looking weak and all) reassures Miki that she will be fine after some rest, but she won’t be able to look after the store. Miki naturally tells her to leave everything to her. While at first it looks like she’s doing a good job with the customers by herself, it turns out that she has literally enslaved Kankuro, Megumi and Ohta into doing all the cooking. They start quarrelling, which leads to a fight inside the restaurant. While the customers watch with great interest, Makiko decides to take a peek at how Miki is doing. Seeing her display such violence, she reverts to her old way of disciplining and smashes Miki in the face.

Preview:

Impressions:

This show never fails to entertain, though I was hoping for some kind of plot. Actually, I’ve been hoping for that since the start of the series, but with two thirds of the show gone, that possibility is getting less and less. This time, we see something knew as it’s Ohta whose getting more facial distortions. I guess, depending on how you look at it, you can call this something new. The animation and quality is good as always, but I find the show to be sightly too hectic. Apart from that though, the series is still good on my list.

Summary:

The Star Rangers, Ohta’s favourite show, has a new character called Hell’s Bunny, who has captured the hearts of audiences, including Ohta. Currently, his heart is in turmoil, as his Hell’s Bunny-loving side is conflicting with his justice-loving side. He tells Miki as she approaches him, who decides to help him get through this problem.

At the park, Miki gathers five kids to do a role play of Star Rangers. When one of the kids screws up his role, Ohta gets angry, but somehow interprets this into his justice side winning. (I don’t get how correcting the boy for his mistake is necessarily ‘justice’). Ohta rushes home and returns with a box of his Star Ranger collectibles. He then proceeds to teach everyone the correct moves of the characters and such. As he is returning to his old, justice-loving state, Megumi walks past and catches the kids’ attentions. They all think she looks like Hell’s Bunny. Hearing the name being called out, Ohta goes back to being troubled. After a while of internal fighting, the evil side of Ohta finally prevails. He then resumes the role play, but this time, makes Megumi the main character, Hell’s Bunny. He reverses his side and plans out the invasion of Earth.

All the while Megumi is enjoying the attention, while Miki is trying to think of a way to return Ohta back to normal. She remembers something and starts rummaging through Ohta’s box of collectibles. She finds two figurines, which she shows Ohta. They are the figurines from the show before Star Rangers and the one before that – Bushi Ranger and Eco Ranger. (Note that this is all in his head) The two Rangers help Ohta overcome his Hell’s Bunny loving side and he returns to normal. Megumi is forgotten…

The role play continues with Miki as the bad guy and the five rangers combining to form some mecha giant, which is played by Ohta. Kankuro walks past just in time to see Miki getting pummelled by Ohta, and cannot believe his eyes. He runs up to Ohta and punches him in the face. He thinks he has just beaten the person stronger than Miki, which means he must be stronger than Miki. Hearing this, Miki’s fighting passion returns and she asks Kankuro to repeat what he just said. Kankuro is not afraid as he thinks someone who can’t even beat Ohta must be incredibly weak. Poor Kankuro. We all know he get’s his ass kicked now…

Ohta is feeling sad as he was hurt even though he didn’t do anything wrong. In his head, he is comforted by his Hell’s Bunny side.

The next day, Ohta watches a video of Star Rangers, but is disappointed at Pink’s knee attacks, which seem to be very unglamorous, compared to Miki’s attacks. Outside, Miki has just bashed Kankuro again, this time with spectators. There are two onlookers that are wearing sunglasses, quite obviously to conceal their identities of the Pink Ranger and Hell’s Bunny. Megumi starts attracting customers to her store by pretending to be Hell’s Bunny. When everyone else has left, a little girl asks Megumi if she really is Hell’s Bunny. Megumi gives a blatant lie of an answer, which shocks Miki, Ohta, the real Pink and Hell’s Bunny. Pink is about to expose Megumi, but Hell’s Bunny stops her as their cover would be blown.

Inside the bakery, the little girl explains about her younger brother who is in the hospital, waiting to go into surgery. He is scared to go through the ordeal, which is why the little girl asks Megumi to go and encourage him. She agrees, but after the girl leaves, Megumi finally comes to terms with the huge lie that she told. The only option now ids to actually go through with her promise. She asks Ohta to help her act more like Hell’s Bunny. Miki says that since she already acts like a criminal, she is already perfect for the job. Megumi is slightly slow to pick up the insult in the comment.

At the hospital, Megumi uses her mallet to knock Miki out in her act for the little girl and boy. However, Miki gets back up, now angry, and knocks Megumi out. Ohta comes and quickly takes the unconscious Megumi away. Miki is struggling to tell the kids that Hell’s Bunny won’t be returning, when the real Hell’s Bunny appears (she had been watching the whole thing). Pink also appears, now in the proper costume, and challenges Hell’s Bunny (the girl and her brother are both enjoying the show). Pink proceeds to use her signature move, Starlight Knee, but the attack is extremely weak and does not even knock Hell’s Bunny off balance. Miki is furious to see such an appalling attack and demonstrates a proper one. She is about to hit Pink with her deadly knee, but Hell’s Bunny stops her and challenges her. Miki accepts, but tells Pink to come at her as well. The fight is quite intense, and Hell’s Bunny is the only one who can stand up to Miki. However, when Pink collects her courage, she is able to use her Starlight Knee with more power and determination. But of course, it is still not enough to bring Miki down. Suddenly, the door is flung open and the nurse who is standing there starts yelling for everyone to be quiet. Although the fight stops, the little boy finally gets the courage to go through with the operation.

Two days later, on TV, Pink displays her new found power by using her Starlight Knee in a much rougher manner. Ohta is quite shocked at this, as Pink now reminds him of Miki.

Preview:

Impressions:

Muteki Kanban Musume seems to be losing its edge – for me at least. Most of the jokes and moments that are meant to be funny have been used before – some overused so much that it’s become boring. Miki getting going agro on others has been overused, as well as her getting pounded by her mother. I wish some sort of storyline would develop before the end of the series, as even something remotely interesting will enhance the series greatly. I don’t usually watch comedy that’s nothing but mindless fun – which Muteki Kanban Musume sort of is. The reason I watched it was because it was one of the funniest Anime I’ve ever seen, and the comedy I watch from last season – School Rumble ni Gakki, had lost its hilarity for plot – which is a good thing, though I always want a good comedy to just sit back and enjoy a few laughs. Muteki Kanban Musume allowed me to do that, but now it’s gotten old and unless it finds something interesting to animate, or if it is able to come up with new jokes, my interest in it will greatly drop. However, for better or worse, I tend to watch Anime that have been downgraded, such as the Bleach fillers, so I can say I will definitely watch this series until the end. All that crap I said earlier are just some thoughts to occupy you, who is reading this very sentence right now. With all that said – hopefully this series will get better (argh what a crap closing statement! My English teacher would scream at me…)

Summary:

After a meal of ramen at Makiko’s shop, one of the customers lets slip that he eats bread for breakfast in front of Miki. She aggressively pinches the man’s nose with chopsticks and demands to know where he got the bread. He says he bought it from the bakery across the street – Megumi’s shop – wrong answer! As Miki is about to punish the man for talking about the bakery in her shop, her mother approaches her from behind. We all know what happens next … Miki gets another pounding, though this time not as brutal as it seems her only injury is a bump on the head.

A little later, the man from before and his friend talk about the excellent service they get from the bakery and Megumi’s wondrous smile. They (including Miki) find out that everyone in the shop shares the same views. Miki of course gets pissed at hearing her mortal enemy be praised like this.

The next morning, Miki starts advertising the restaurant outside to try and sway those who ate bread for breakfast to eat ramen instead. She acts a bit forceful, which catches Makiko’s attention, who then slams her into the ground with a flying kick. In the span of two seconds when which Miki was attacked, Megumi’s bakery somehow started overflowing with customers! This of course makes Miki even more angry. She explains to Ohta, who is admiring Megumi’s success, that the girl is a completely different person on the inside. She may be sweet and nice on the exterior, but her true nature is vengeful and malevolent. With this said, she decides to ruin Megumi’s business by revealing her true self.

Later in the day, Miki takes some time off from work to visit Megumi’s shop. Upon sighting her arch nemesis, Megumi whips out her skewers, but Miki is too fast and holds them down with a pair of tongs. Miki demands that Megumi lower her weapon as she is a customer. Megumi does not comply, until a customer comes in and she is forced to stow them away. She buys a large amount of bread and sits down in the bakery to eat, in order to distract Megumi, hopefully making her accidentally reveal her spiteful nature. When she tries one of the breads though, she finds it to be extremely tasty. Megumi quickly analyses the locations of each customer and where they’re facing. When they all look away, she takes the chance and flings a skewer at the unsuspecting Miki who is enjoying the bread, but unfortunately misses. Shortly after this first miss, Megumi tries again, but this time Miki is ready and had even set up a trap. Megumi apparently doesn’t notice the man behind Miki and shoots a skewer anyway. Miki dodges quite easily, but it was very lucky for Miki to not have hit the man’s head. In gets lodged in the bread shelf right beside the man. Miki thinks she’s won, but the man turns the whole thing around by complimenting Megumi on her skills, as the skewer had actually killed a fly.

After the customer leaves, Miki asks Megumi for a free coffee as she’s heard that she treats many of her customers. Megumi has no choice but to comply, but intentionally makes the coffee salty. Miki makes a big fuss to grab everyone’s attention, but Megumi responds by crying and making everyone pity her. Miki’s second try – failure! Unable to take this anymore, Miki finally decides to resort to violence. Before she can start a fight though, Makiko comes in looking for her. Miki, who is not supposed to be skipping work, quickly hides under a table and signals for Megumi to not reveal her location. Surprisingly, Megumi doesn’t tell Makiko where her daughter is, but it turns out that Megumi just wants to tease Miki for a bit. She says she needs to move the furniture around a bit and pushes the table against the wall. She can’t come out as she’ll get caught by her mother, and so is forced to endure being squashed for a bit.

At night, Miki has returned to the restaurant and is fuming over her failure at ruining Megumi’s business. She is telling Ohta all this, which prompts him to point out the fact that Megumi only turns nasty at her. All discussion ceases though, as the arrival of Miki’s mother signifies doom … muahahaha!

The next day, Megumi is getting a lot of customers early in the day as usual, though at noon, they stop coming and go to Miki’s shop instead. Megumi doesn’t understand why this happens and decides to go and investigate. She goes to the ramen shop as a customer and orders fried rice. Miki just has to stir things up and pours some sort of poisonous blue powder on it. Megumi is not stupid and demands to know what it is. Miki claims it’s pepper, but a fly lands on it and immediately dies. Miki obviously isn’t very good at these things…

After being asked, Megumi explains to Miki that she has come to find out exactly why the shop thrives so much. She can find no explanation initially, as she states that she is cuter than Miki and the store is dirtier than her own. Miki calls her mother and tells her that Miki just said their shop was dirty, but Makiko beats up Miki for allowing the place to get dirty in the first place. All around, people start whispering about her display of power. When Miki brings Megumi another plate of poisoned food and stirs things up again, she gets another whack to the face. Once again, people start whispering about how ‘it happened again’, referring to Makiko using her fists again. Ohta comes in with a delivery, and seeing Megumi, approaches her to say hi. He sees the fried rice, and noting how hungry he is, takes a spoonful of it. His face goes blue and suddenly he needs to go to the toilet. Makiko takes a bite from the rice as well, but the poison doesn’t affect her at all. However, she does discover that it’s been poisoned and takes her anger out on Miki again. With that, the whispering escalates to general chatter.

Everyone is about to leave, when suddenly Kankuro open the door. All the customers are delighted to see him and sit down again, ordering more food (they don’t know Kankuro personally; they just know that whenever he comes, it’s to challenge Miki). Kankuro approaches Miki and shows his trademark challenge letter. With all eyes on him, Kankuro reveals that he had managed to heal eight broken ribs in one night. When he charges at Miki, Makiko bars his way and tells Miki to go make a delivery. Everyone is disheartened, but someone yells out that the greatest enemy has come – Toshiyuki! Sure enough, the fearsome mutt dog is bounding on the dirt road toward the shop with Wakana desperately trying to stop him. Everyone gathers at the entrance to see the fight, but Makiko’s presence halts the dog in mid-air. It seems no one is brave enough to stand up to her. With nothing else to watch, the customers leave. In the end, Megumi does realise that the reason why Miki’s shop is so successful is because everyone enjoys watching her fight. Megumi plans to stop the fighting so that people stop going to Miki’s shop. Before that though, she decides to toss Kankuro in the river…

Preview:

Impressions:

The first thing I noticed was that the lyrics the subbing group gave for the OP was very different from the past 5 episodes. Oh well, that really has nothing to do with the actual episode. I have to say this episode wasn’t as funny as some of the previous ones. Although it did have a few highlights, I felt that they didn’t use enough exaggerated expressions (I love those!) Everything remained fine – the animation, characters etc. There were a few scenes that were repeated though. Even one from a few episodes ago was taken and adapted for this one. I really have no problem with this, but overusing it will give a negative effect. I’m sure that won’t happen though.

Summary:

The As Ohta is setting up his shop, Miki gets booted out of the restaurant for slacking off and is told to sweep the entrance. Ohta muses about how the same thing happens every day. He suddenly notices Megumi hiding behind him, her eyes set on Miki. He tries to tell her that fighting here will interfere with business, but Megumi replies by lodging a skewer into Ohta’s head. With him taken care of, Megumi launches her attack – a barrage of skewers. Miki, however, is able deflect all of them by twirling around her broom. Ohta is stuck in between everything and before long finds himself covered in skewers. In the end, Miki stalls Megumi by throwing the broom at her, before getting close and kicking her into the bakery. Just as it looks like the fight has finished and things will settle down, a man’s voice from down the road indicates the arrival of Kankuro. He is running at Miki with frightening speed, clutching a letter of challenge in one hand. On the other side of Miki, Toshiyuki is charging at Miki, with Wakana desperately trying to control him. Miki considers the situation for a while. She doesn’t seem worried at all – and she shouldn’t be, as just before Miki’s two enemies reach her, she ducks, making them crash into Ohta. Kankuro regains his composure quickly and is about to restate his challenge, but Miki has already involved herself in a heated battle with Toshiyuki. He gets angry that he’s being ignored, but before his rage can escalate, he realises that Toshiyuki is able to hold his own against the almighty Miki. He is astounded by this. Before any further fighting, Wakana manages to retake hold of her dog and leads him away. She threatens Toshiyuki that she’ll her mum about the incident, which makes Miki remark about how Wakana’s mother won’t forgive him. Ironically, Makiko is standing inside the restaurant just by the door and knows exactly what’s going on. She emerges and proceeds to teach Miki a lesson … using her fists!

The As she is being dragged back into the restaurant, she says goodbye to Toshiyuki. Kankuro is crushed at the fact that Miki remembers the dog’s name but not his. He runs after Wakana and Toshiyuki and demands to know how the dog was able to make Miki remember his name. Wakana reminds him that dogs can’t speak. Kankuro then decides to pretend to take Toshiyuki on a walk but actually fight him. He feels that if he is able to defeat him, he will be able to defeat Miki as well. He makes up a story about missing his old dog, which Wakana buys and so allows him to walk Toshiyuki. As they are walking, Toshiyuki suddenly bites Kankuro on his arm. This would have initiated the fight, if it wasn’t for Miki showing up on her bike to make a delivery. The two decide to fight later and go for Miki first. Seeing them charge toward her, Miki speeds up on her bike. Toshiyuki moves aside just in time, but Kankuro does not succeed in avoiding the collision. Although he is badly hurt, he was able to destroy Miki’s bike. He also manages to ruin Miki’s ramen, which forces her to go back and ask her mother to make more.

The When Miki leaves, Wakana runs to the fallen Kankuro. It seems that she had been following them out of concern for Kankuro’s safety, but somehow failed to witness the bout between him and Miki. She blames Toshiyuki for his injuries and decides to accompany Kankuro as he walks Toshiyuki so he doesn’t get hurt. Both Kankuro and Toshiyuki are eager to settle their fight, but with Wakana’s presence, that’s impossible. Luckily, they are able to fight for a brief second when Wakana sees one of her friends. While she doesn’t notice the short brawl, her friend does. She doesn’t say anything though, as Kankuro’s scary ‘blue aura’ is enough to silence her. The three continue walking when the friend leaves parts with them. Before long, another opportunity arrives when Wakana catches sight of a dragonfly, which is rare in this part of the country. Kankuro and Toshiyuki continue their fight, but Kankuro is pinned to the ground, making him realises he is no match for the dog. As the two are struggling, Wakana starts to chase the dragonfly but ends up in front of an incoming truck in the middle of the road. Toshiyuki tries to save her, but his leash had been caught on a tree earlier. Miki, who is across the street, runs for her, but knows she won’t make it in time. It’s all up to Kankuro! Now, we can’t have such a young, innocent girl dieing in this carefree, cheerful anime can we? Of course, Kankuro manages to grab her and push her out of the way. However, he is unable to stop and relies on Miki’s ramen container to stop him (see the screen cap). Kankuro dies – I mean NO! Sorry if that got you excited… He gets a blood nose and a dark mark across his face. Miki runs back to the restaurant to get new ramen again, while Wakana runs off to call an ambulance. This leaves Toshiyuki and Kankuro alone together … muahaha … but aww, they don’t fight. Kankuro is too exhausted to continue the fight and is prepared to submit to Toshiyuki. However, the dog is uninterested in fighting anymore. Instead, he is simply grateful for him saving his owner. Instead of biting Kankuro’s face off, he licks it instead…

The Later, Kankuro challenges Miki again, saying that he had fought with Toshiyuki who rivals her power. His challenge is interrupted by the arrival of Wakana and Toshiyuki. Instead of fighting Kankuro, Miki asks Toshiyuki if he’s up for another round. Toshiyuki doesn’t respond, but instead trots behind Kankuro and nudges him forward, indicating that he’s willing to give the challenge to him. Toshiyuki thanks him and charges at Miki, but is instantly defeated by a kick up his neck. Before Miki can return to her work, Kankuro demands that she at least remember his name. Miki replies by saying that she already knows his name. However, she thinks his name is ‘Hatashi Jou’, but this actually means ‘letter of challenge’, which is what’s written on the challenge letters he has. Too bad, Kankuro, looks like you’ll have to try again next time to make her remember your name… Oh wait, it seems that Kankuro has decided to use that name starting tomorrow.

The Sometime later, Miki and Kankuro are at it again, but Kankuro obviously gets his arse kicked. He refuses to give up, but Miki gets distracted by a dragonfly (probably the same one from earlier) and runs after it. Kankuro is mortified at being suddenly ditched like that and tries to run after her, but trips over an uneven part on the road. How sad … lol. Wakana, who had been watching the punch up, declares that Kankuro is actually in love with Miki. She reasons that Kankuro goes after Miki everyday, so it must be love! Ohta isn’t convinced though … Wakana decides to help Kankuro with his ‘pursuit’ for Miki. After observing Miki for a bit, Wakana confronts Kankuro, who is angry that he can’t even land a finger on Miki. Wakana asks him about Miki, but the conversation is completely taken the wrong way by Kankuro. This part is hilarious … Wakana asks Kankuro if he’s troubled by Miki. He thinks about the numerous times he’s had to run away from her and replies yes. Wakana asks about how long this has been going on, and he says 10 years (he means 10 years of rivalry, not love). Wakana is shocked that Kankuro hasn’t made any progress (at capturing Miki’s heart). Nevertheless, Wakana decides to help him. She tells him a the secrets to getting Miki ‘in his grasp’. Of course, Wakana is taking about how he can make Miki fall in love with him, but Kankuro thinks she’s talking about securing her for a sever beating.

The At Wakana’s house, the first lesson to getting close to Miki begins. Wakana says that Kankuro needs to invite her with a letter. Kankuro says he already has one, but Wakana tells him that challenge letters aren’t appropriate. She hands him a love letter, which Kankuro gladly accepts. Next: he should take Miki out to develop things between them. Thirdly: give her a present. A gift would be perfect in lowering Miki’s defences. Wakana suggests Kankuro get her the ‘thing with wheels’. She means bike, but Kankuro is thinking about something else.

The As Miki is cleaning the panes on the entrance to the restaurant, she is approached by Kankuro. She is shocked to see him in a flashy suit with flowers and the love letter. He hands her the bouquet and letter, and runs off. She is dazed about the sudden incidence, but actually reads the letter. While she is doing so, Wakana tells Kankuro that the key phrase is ‘I love you’. For some odd reason, Kankuro finds this to be the ultimate battle plan and decides to go through with it. Kankuro and Miki go watch a movie at the local cinema. Ohta sneaks in to watch over them, but meets Kayahara-sensei. He is horrified at the horrid face that is Kayahara’s. After the movie, Miki says it was so boring that she fell asleep. Kankuro is shocked to hear that piece of information, as he realises he could have attacked at that time. After the film, they go eat lunch (both have a pretty big appetite). The two go the park after the meal. Kankuro buys Miki an ice-cream and as he is giving it to her, he utters: ‘I love you’, and with passion too! However, along with that also comes a swinging fist from Kankuro. Miki is ready for it though and easily dodges. As the fight resumes, Wakana is confounded at the sudden change of mood. She cannot comprehend what just happened as all her planning comes crashing down. However, she feels somewhat relieved when Kankuro says that he has a present for Miki. But no, it’s not a bike. Instead, it’s a choice between a pogo stick and a unicycle. They’re for the battle to come. Miki chooses to fight on the pogo stick, leaving Kankuro with the unicycle. With this, the two start fighting again (Kankuro loses). In the end, she still doesn’t realise that Kankuro is in fact NOT in love with Miki…

Preview:

Impressions:

I didn’t find this episode as funny as others. The main thing that made me laugh this time were the faces the characters make, but that’s what happens all the time so it really shouldn’t be that that’s the main comedy aspect. The past few episodes had mores spoken and acted jokes. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the shows turned bad or boring. I still love it and find it to be the funniest series I’ve ever seen, although I must say I haven’t seen many comedy series. The only other series I can compare to Muteki Kanban Musume is School Rumble (the first season) and perhaps episode 16 of School Rumble 2nd Term – that was the funniest of the season! Ok, getting side-tracked now… The flashback that Miki has of her childhood is awesome because it shows her mum before she became so tankish. Take a look at the 8th screenie, which is 2nd column and 3rd row. I wish Miki had actually gone shopping in casual clothes. Pity she didn’t… I can’t talk about the animation or the character design of Muteki Kanban Musume as it’s always the same (good of course, but the same). The many, many trademark Anime facial distortions they use is what is most memorable (oops, I am talking about the animation and character design, hehe…) Let’s take a look at what will happen next episode – what am I saying? You can never tell what the previews are about. From what I can make out, there will be fighting – like in every episode – and one shot depicts Miki being attracted to Kankuro. But of course, this will definitely not happen! But if it does it’ll be nice laughing material. This reminds me to some previews I’ve seen where they have nothing to do with the real storyline (e.g. the preview shows five seconds of a dream some guy has). I really hate those…

Summary:

Miki is bored on her day off and decides to go shopping, as she doesn’t have a television or any games. She goes to the kids section of the Hanasakiya mall (wonder why she went there…) She sees a pink stuffed animal and is reminded of a time in her childhood when she had slept with the same toy (and holy crap her mother isn’t a tank!). She decides to buy and starts rummaging through her handbag to see if she brought enough money. As she is checking, someone comes and takes the bear (which is the last one on display) and is about to purchase it before Miki intervenes by taking a shot at her head. Yep, you guessed. Who better to take the animal and start a fight with Miki? Megumi! Actually, Miki started the fight, but oh well! They fight over it using fists and skewers, but somehow ends up becoming a tug-of-war using their teeth! As Megumi is struggling to take the bear, she makes a weird face. Seeing this, Miki begins to laugh and gives up the bear (which has been torn now anyway).

The next day as Miki goes outside to sweep the ground, she sees a truck drive off after delivering a box to Ohta. He opens it up, revealling the same pink bear from yesterday. He explains it’s a prize for this years competition. Miki had won last year, which had been a sumo competition. Ohta announces that it won’t be a sumo competition anymore as Miki injured too many people last year. He goes on to explain the history of the competition. He says that the district sumo competition will still commence, but it will be on where no one will get hurt, even if Miki shows up. With the some help with Megumi, Ohta concludes that both thumb wrestling/sumo and paper sumo are both VERY hazardous to Miki’s opponents. Megumi suggests that they pick something Miki isn’t good at. Ohta enquires Miki about this, to which she replies that she is bad at taking a hit from her mum. Ohta rejects the stupid idea, saying the population will drop if they did that. When Miki leaves, Megumi remembers that Miki isn’t good at holding back laughter.

On the day of the competition, the feature match is a staring contest between Miki and Megumi. They will hold water in their mouths and and whoever spills loses. Megumi makes a face and Miki already feels like she is about to lose. Eventually, when she is on the verge of losing, water spurts from her eyes and ears. Megumi laughs at the sight, lets the water escape and loses. Miki wins once again! However, that was only the first game. In the end, the winner is not Miki, but Kayahara-sensei, as she simply never smiles unless she is near or eating ramen. She wins the bear and a new television. Afterwards, Miki treats her to ramen, but her mum tells her that she has to pay for it.

Second half: Miki comes after Megumi when she finds out she has complaints filed against her. It seems that Megumi had said she skips work to play and spreads rumours about the bakery, which is all true, but Miki doesn’t listen to reason. The chase leads into a narrow alleyway, up some exterior stairs, over a wall and into an enclosed space where the only way up is a broken ladder that is too high to reach. Uh-oh! They both decide that they need a springboard to reach it and fight each other to determine who will be it. As they are fighting, Kankuro leaps into the enclosed space to fight Miki but gets stabbed in the head by a skewer and side-kicke on the face. He is down immediately and is used as the springboard. However, it is too low so they prepare to fight each other again. Before they can do so, Ohta appears by abseiling the side of one wall with a rope. Megumi and Miki run jump off him (who had actually come to save them) to make the distance to the ladder. They would have made it too, if it wasn’t for Toshiyuki who shows up and slams them both back down.

Miki decides to have a battle royale to determine who’s bodies will be used as a springboard. Ohta is about to protest, but Kankuro makes him realise that everyone has their eyes on them. Kankuro thinks of a way to make Ohta fight, which is to mention Star Rangers. Ohta gets a confidence boost, but a confidence boost is all it is. Both Kankuro and Ohta get the sh*t beaten out of them. Miki is left with Toshiyuki to fight, which is settled surprisingly quickly as the dog has been worn out. Megumi reveals herself after hiding behind camouflaging piece of cloth (where’d she get that?) Anyway, Megumi is confident that she’ll win as Miki is already at her limit. However, as she is about to attack, she notices Kayahara-sensei sitting in the corner and identifies her as a vengeful spirit. She passes out. Miki goes to talk with Kayahara and she agrees to go get help. She scales the wall with no equipment, rope or anything, astounding Miki. However, when she gets into view of the public, people start screaming in horror. Kayahara returns back down depressed and refuses to budge for the rest of the day. Meanwhile, Makiko is furiously waiting for Miki’s return.

Preview:

Impressions:

What and episode! There was hardly a moment that I wasn’t laughing. It’s definitely the funniest so far. Kayahara’s devil face is just so hilarious, especially when she tries to smile. The second half was less funny, though at he end of the episode, when Megumi touched Kayahara’s warm hand and concludes she’s only recently deceased, was probably the funniest part. Also, Megumi is drawn far cuter than she normally is when she’s worrying about being cursed while in the bath. Kayahara’s cute too, that is, when she’s smiling. Properly. Hehe, this episode could easily be turned into a horror; just take out all the comedy, throw in a bit of blood, kill someone off maybe… Kayahara reminds me of the girls in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, where their faces change from sweet to evil in a second (only with Kayahara, ramen is the switch). Looking forward to the next episode! I think this series is becoming my favourite this season…

Summary:

As Makiko is preparing ramen as usual, Miki receives a delivery call. The person on the line asks for her ‘last ramen’. When Miki goes out to make the delivery, Ohta tags along, concerned about the caller saying ‘last’. Before they reach their destination, they encounter a so-called delinquent, attempting to draw graffiti, but only succeeding in creating stick figures. Miki demands to know why he’s skipping school. The guy tries to act tough and says he’s a delinquent. Ohta mocks his crap drawings and creates a masterpiece on the wall. Miki gets angry at him for joining in and punches him in the face. She suddenly remembers about the delivery and proceeds ahead, warning the guy to get rid of the graffiti.

Miki and Ohta wind up at Hanami High School. Miki asks two students inside about Kayahara, the person who ordered the ramen, but both freak out when the name is mentioned. The second person directs them to the gym’s storage room. As the two make their way to the gym, they discuss the reasons for everyone being scared of this Kayahara person. Ohta suggests he/she is a ’super-delinquent’. Miki is excited about this idea. She opens the door to the storage room and at first it seems they have walked into a television with bad tuning. They both startled at the sight of a woman inside, but after a few seconds, everything turns back to normal. The woman turns around, asking about her delivery. Miki asks her why this is her last ramen. She says it’s because she doesn’t want to go to school anymore. Ohta assumes she is being bullied and reveals his history of being a victim to it. However, it turns out that she is not being bullied as she is a teacher. She explains how she has lost confidence in teaching, as everyone around her is afraid of her. In order to determine the areas which need to be improved, Miki and Ohta dress up as students. They are acting as if they are getting a new teacher. On cue, Kayahara walks in, though she has a devilish look on her face, which makes her look like a cursed old lady. Ohta accuses her of looking freaky on purpose, but she has no idea what she is doing. Miki tells her to smile, giving a wonderful example! However, when Kayahara tries to smile – note the word ‘tries’ – she becomes even more disturbing.

Miki suggests Kayahara just quit after seeing her scary face. Ohta is shocked at the sudden change of heart. Miki asks her to come over to the restaurant after school, as the ramen has gotten pasty. On the way back, the delinquent is still spray-painting the wall, which causes him to get the side of his face whacked by Miki’s shoe, followed by repeated pounding to the back. In order to properly teach him a lesson, she takes him back to the restaurant with her, as Ohta is examining the new graffiti, saying it’s better than before. When Miki gets back, she gets bashed by her mother for taking so long. After a speedy recovery, she sits the guy down at one of the tables and asks why he wants to be bad. He says it’s because school’s boring. He says he’s not afraid of his parents or teachers. At that moment, Kaahara comes in, prompting the guy to quickly cower underneath the table. Kayahara explains that when he was young, he got lost ina cemetery and has been scared of the supernatural all his life. He has only recently conquered his fears, but at the sight of his teacher on the first day of term reignited everything. Now he gets extremely frightened just by looking at her. After he says this, Kayahara starts talking with Akiko. She tells her that there is a student in her class who never goes to school. She says she is worried he might be led astray and his life ruined. She looks very grieving and says she wants to die. How sad! Miki convinces the guy to talk to Kayahara and say he’ll be attending lessons from now on. He works up the courage to approach her, but when he sees her bloodcurdling face, he breaks again. The teacher recognises the boy as Suzuki. Terrified, Suzuki tells her that he’ll be going to school now. Miraculously, this causes Kayahara to smile! No, not the freaky smile like before, but a nice, ‘normal’ smile. At that moment, Suzuki falls in love. When everyone except Ohta isn’t looking, the moment Kayahara finishes her ramen, her face becomes terrifying once again. Ohta notes that the ramen is what makes her pretty. From then on, she eats ramen in class.

Outside some temple, Megumi is driving a nail into a doll of Miki, expressing her hatred for her. Kayahara falls from above after picking fruit from the tree. The moment Megumi sees her, Kayahara’s evil face is etched into her mind as the ‘vengeful spirit’. She tells her off for hating some one. She asks her to talk about it to her. Megumi explains her history with Miki, how she’s bullied her since their childhood. Kayahara asks her to bring the bully to her. Megumi thinks the ‘vengeful spirit’ will ‘punish’ her, which gets her excited. She asks Kayahara why she’s helping her. She says it’s because she’s a teacher. Megumi thinks she was a teacher before she died (still believing she’s a ghost). At the restaurant, Makiko receives an order – but the order is just her daughter. Miki runs up to the temple where Megumi is. On sight of her, she tries to hit her because she thinks Megumi had called her up for nothing. Kayahara sees this and tells Miki to sit down. She tells her that it’s not good bullying others, but Miki claims she’s not the one being bullied. Megumi is the real bully. Miki supports this accusation by showing Kayahara a skewer Megumi had placed in her shoe. Megumi becomes frightened as she thinks Kayahara is going to get her. At night as Megumi is sitting on the porch step outside her house, the sudden appearance of Kayahara causes her to faint immediately. Kayahara decides to try to approach her again another time. The next day, Miki and Kayahara visit Megumi again, only to be greeted by three flying skewers. When night comes again, they try again, but this time Megumi nails the front door shut with planks of wood. She has even set up various spirit/ghost countermeasures. Megumi starts to hear and see things, constantly afraid of Kayahara.

The next day, Megumi heads to the temple, where Miki and Kayahara are waiting. The two come out and surprise Megumi, turning her to stone (or rather, causing her to be encased in rock). Kayahara approaches, trying to explain she’s not a ghost. Megumi refuses to let her talk and starts listing all the strange occurrences that have been happening so fast. She speaks so quickly that cracks begin to form in her rock shell. Before long, her entire upper body breaks free from the rock, allowing her to defend herself against the approaching Kayahara using her darts. Kayahara blocks the constant attacks using Miki’s metal ramen box. However, she gets hit on the hand, causing her to drop the box. As it looks like another set of three skewers is going to pierce her through the head, she deflects it with her resignation papers, runs up to Megumi and grabs both her hands. At first, Megumi is scared to death, but realises Kayahara’s hands are warm. She comes to the conclusion that Kayahara has only just recently died, and faints. Looks like things didn’t go so well…

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Impressions:

I didn’t find this episode as funny as the last. It was too repetitive, and I generally don’t like it when things are repeated to make it funny (Miki getting pounded multiple times). However, this doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the episode. The second half was easily predictable (how Toshiyuki was the dog and not the boy), so that downgraded the comedy slightly, though overall it was still a funny episode. I’m wondering if there will be any form of progressive plot in the show – so far there has been none. Megumi and Kankuro fighting Miki is a side story that can always be referred to for a few laughs – sand pointless laughter is just what this show is all about, though it wouldn’t hurt for a bit more development. The woman in the OP holding the staff has not yet made an appearance yet. I suspect she will appear soon as the series is only twelve episodes long. I believe the ending will be focused on the war between Miki and Megumi, as that seems to be the main focus of this ‘Invisible Poster Girl’ show. Toshiyuki may be of great importance too, as the entire ED is on him (although this could just be another random thing that was thrown in).

Summary:

In the middle of the night, a masked man trespasses onto the ‘Endou’s’ property. He sneaks up to the front porch and proceeds to pick the lock. As he is focusing on the task, a dark-purple haze begins to emanate from behind him. The shroud of darkness closes in on him, and by the time the man notices, he lets out a loud wail, but it is already too late…

The next day, Miki is sent on another delivery – to the Endou house! Her mother informs her about something she should look out for when making the delivery. ‘When you reach the front gate, please just call out loudly and we’ll come out and get it.’ She suggests that maybe they don’t have a doorbell, which is a reasonable explanation. Miki rides her bike to the Endou house and is about to call out, as she had been instructed to, but sees that they do have a doorbell. She walks up to the door and is about to ring the bell, when the same purple haze appears. When Miki arrives back at the restaurant, she is dirty and the noodles have been spilt. She asks her mother to make the ramen again with a pleading face; something she does not fall for. As punishment, Miki receives a beating from her mother. On the floor and struggling to move, Miki grasps her mother’s trousers, desperately trying to explain that it wasn’t her fault. She claims that there was an unexpectedly strong enemy at the Endou household. Her mother does not believe this and beats her up again.

Outside, Megumi is eavesdropping on the conversation. She is amazed that there is a person who can cause so much trouble for Miki. She pictures the ‘man’ as an amazing fighter, surpassing Miki is all aspects. With an evil face, she decides to befriend this unknown person, then team up with him in her war against Miki. She arrives at Endou’s house and enters through the front gate. Immediately, she is confronted by the purple haze. Defending herself, she flings three darts at the mysterious enemy. The enemy leaps out of the way – now appearing to have some kind of form. The beast lunges at Megumi, and it looks like she’s done for when Miki shows up, stopping the beast with a metal tray. It turns out the ‘purple haze’ was actually a dog – a small one too. Miki says that she was unprepared before, but now she’s ready to fight it. Megumi still hasn’t gotten over the fact that the Miki’s incredibly strong enemy is a dog. Miki and the dog begin to fight, and for once Miki is having trouble. Megumi is amazed that there is an enemy that can make Miki this serious. She feels that it is a battle that cannot be missed, but notices that the noodles that Miki brought are getting pasty. Shocked to hear this, Miki breaks free of the dog (which had sunk its teeth into her arm), scrambles for the delivery and dashes back to the restaurant.

Miki asks her mother to remake the ramen and gets beaten up again. She hurries back to the Endou residence. Giving herself three minutes to defeat the dog, the two resume their fight. The dog lunges at her, but she dodges easily. Miki is surprised that the dog made such a weak attempt, but realises its target was not her but the ramen. The dog tips the ramen over and begins eating, as Miki falls into the bushes. Once again, Miki returns back to restaurant, ruffled and dusty. Once again, she asks for her mother to make the ramen again, and once again, she gets beaten. Seemingly unfazed, she rides back to the Endou house. However, the ramen gets spoilt again just seconds later. The cycle of the ‘ramen being ruined – returning home – asking mother to remake – getting bashed – going back to the Endou house – fighting – then ruining the ramen again’ is repeated many, many times, yet Miki seems relatively unhurt after everything.

After countless trips to the Endou house, Miki finally gets the idea of leaving the noodles out of the dog’s range (by the way, he is on a leash). As she resumes her fight, Megumi asks her why she doesn’t just stand outside the dogs reach and yell for the Endou to come out and take their delivery. Miki says it’s not about that anymore; Miki is determined to win against anyone who challenges her. Megumi thinks for a moment. She ponders about Miki’s way of thinking; the more difficult path she’s taken. Thinking about this, Megumi’s expression turns from (awe? pity?) to pure evil. She believes she has figured out the perfect plan to get Miki: tip the ramen over so she has to go back and get another beating from her mum. The more Megumi ruins the ramen, the more pain Miki will suffer. Carrying out her plan, Megumi kicks the container, loudly exclaiming that she’s knocked the ramen over. However, when the container’s lid falls off and reveals nothing inside, Miki explains that she had foreseen this course of action and, taking preventative measure, had placed the ramen on top of the exterior wall. Miki says she will deal with Megumi later, after she settles things with the dog. As she prepares her ultimate move – the ‘Onimaru Style Burial Technique’ – a giant fist flies down and forces Miki’s head into the dirt. Her mother had tracked her down and is looking pretty pissed. Even the dog is shocked at the strength that had just been displayed (or maybe it was shock from seeing Miki get defeated so quickly). Both the dog and Megumi watch (both looking frightened) as Miki is dragged away by her mum.

The second half: Akihiko Ohta is watching ‘Star Rangers’; a popular kids’ superhero show, much like ‘Power Rangers’. Ohta seems to be a great fan, having collected the action figures and imagining himself as one of the Star Rangers. The next day, he overhears a young girl crying over Toshiyuki, who she had lost while shopping. As he is about to ask her about it, several darts lodge themselves into his skull. It seems that Miki and Megumi are waging another one of their little wars. When the two run off, Ohta manages to escape a fatal brain injury – getting back up and looking fine in just a few minutes. The little girl explains that her mother had asked her to go shopping with Toshiyuki, but by the time she noticed, he was already gone. She’s worried that he might get run over by a car or eat off the ground. Ohta does not think this would happen, but he doesn’t know the truth behind Toshiyuki.

Anyway, the little girl starts begging Ohta to help her look for Toshiyuki. He is reluctant, but then imagines himself as a star ranger and becomes all fired up. He gathers Miki, Megumi and Kankuro to search for Toshiyuki. Ohta takes the bike and starts pedalling away from the shops. Kankuro then reminds him that he doesn’t know what Toshiyuki looks like. He feels depressed until he decides to ask children around for Toshiyuki. After asking numerous people, they are directed to the riverbank. When the two arrive there, they see a young boy and a dog (yes, the same dog from the first half of this episode). Ohta fights the dog but is easily beaten (many times). Wakana (the little girl) comes running with Miki and Megumi, calling out Toshiyuki’s name. Ohta says that Toshiyuki is safe, pointing to the little boy. However, Wakana runs up to the dog, delighted to see Toshiyuki again. Everyone finally realises the truth. Seeing Miki, Toshiyuki charges at her, ready for another fight. Miki braces herself as she holds the dog off, commenting on how she will remember the names of strong people (and pets!) Kankuro becomes annoyed at hearing this, as Miki had forgotten who he was (last episode). That night, covered in bandages, Ohta continues to watch Star Rangers.

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