Subculture Anime Blog

Boob in face, punch in face.

Summary:

Touma’s brothers discuss her sisters recent actions, completely ignoring that she is in the room with them. After realizing that she has been coming home later then usual, they mention how she has become friends with the Minami sisters. This leads to their believing that she may be gaining girlish characteristics from them. The three have one of the brothers follow her to the Minami household one day, which Touma reveals to the Minami sisters. Haruka worries about this, but Chiaki suggests that they just let him in. This happens, so Touma’s brother introduces himself to the girls as Akira. After he presents the family with a gift, Haruka makes a call to Touma’s brothers. She changes her voice a bit too much though, causing a big misunderstanding.

Kana jokes about Akira wanting a girlfriend at school the next day, but she finds that she was actually right. After hearing Akira’s preferences, Kana wonders what he thought of Haruka. Akira had a frightful image of Haruka at first, but he liked her long hair. Kana suggests that Akira may like Riko, and he agrees. Riko meanwhile admires Fujioka, who is worried about who Kana is talking with. When Akira wonders who Fujioka is, Kana frightens Akira by labeling Fujioka as a bancho. Akira gets caught up in the atmosphere when Fujioka approaches, and since Riko is behind him, he assumes that Fujioka is angry at him for looking at his girl. Akira states that he likes girls like Kana to get away, but this results in Fujioka wanting to challenge him even more. When Kana finds that Akira hasn’t been doing well later, she tries to cheer him up. This results in more trouble.

One day on the way home from school, a rock falls from a truck to Chiaki’s feet. Naming this rock Yamada, Chiaki begins kicking it on her way home. She goes through a few obstacles, but finally makes it to the apartments. At this moment, Kana runs past her, kicking the rock in the process. Through some twist of fate, the rock makes it back onto the truck it fell of off in the process. Chiaki is very saddened at the dinner table because of this, and when she blames Kana for the loss of her friend Yamada, Haruka wonders what she has done.

Another Minami brother, Natsuki, joins the volleyball team with Hosaka. Akira explains this to the Minami sisters while picking up Touma, even though he stays over to eat. Hosaka visits Natsuki during lunch break and has him try a lunch he made. Hosaka wants him to try it before he gives it to a girl, but Natsuki avoids it because he does not have experience with this type of thing. Akira tells this to Kana over the phone at night, getting beat down in the process. Natsuki goes to visit Haruka in her classroom later, but his face falls into her breasts when Hayami pushes him. Haruka realizes that this is an accident as Hayami runs away, but she still proceeds to give Natsuki a punch in the face. This causes various reactions from Natsuki and Haruka while they are by themselves afterwards.

Natsuki tells his siblings that he met Haruka later, but he he falls over when he remembers what happened. Touma finds Haruka in a similar state when she visits the Minami household. Kana tells Touma her observation of what happened, showing Haruka’s appearance to her as proof. Touma remembers that Natsuki has come with her, so she has him come in. Kana wakes Haruka up at the table, but Natsuki falls over when he sees her appearance. Haruka finds this kind of rude, until Chiaki arrives to tell her what is going on. Natsuki is in a bit of trouble in the meantime, but Haruka does not exactly help him. At home, Akira expresses his wish that he could have gone to the sisters’ house.

Preview: A xmas episode just in time for the holidays!

Impression:

Haruka acts all innocent when she’s around her sisters, but we all know that she’s actually a bancho! Like I predicted, they are really going all out for the last few episodes. I recall calling the last episode the “best ever”, but this just topped it. It amazes me how fluidly new characters are introduced in this show, especially with how well they work with the rest of the cast. Akira being scared out of his mind of “bancho” Fujiwara and “his girl” Riko was brilliant. When they did a double take, I couldn’t stop laughing. It was like a perfect chain of misunderstanding, almost on the same level as Zetsubou Sensei. Chiaki’s adventure with Yamada made me laugh out loud when I least expected it, and it’s hard for me to even say anything at Haruka and Natsuki’s incident. That was like a punch in the face.

They totally played on the “ignored sibling” theme early in the episode, which I’m sure a lot of people have had experience with. I also loved the misunderstanding Chiaki caused with her sisters after mentioning Yamada. When Haruka scolded Kana, I was dying. This show represents family themed humor so well, and it amazes me how nostalgic I can get over it. I’m also wondering how much cultural knowledge can affect enjoyment of this show. I was talking to a friend of mine earlier, and he mentioned how some anime just isn’t successful in the states because people just don’t “get” them. Of course, since you’re reading an anime blog, this probably isn’t you. The “this isn’t much but…” joke was probably a good example . Another friend of mine labeled anime with girls falling over randomly as horrible. I’m sorry man, but I happen to find that hilarious.