Subculture Anime Blog

Atsuko, the love sensei, and the amazing bosom of happiness.

Summary:

Uchida and Yoshino pass by a yam vender on the way to the Minami household, so they by some before visiting. The two girls and Kana eventually get to the topic of relationships, leading Kana to test the girls based on a guide in a magazine. This has them attempting to open juice cans without success, which Yoshino pulls off better than the clumsy Uchida. Haruka and her friends eventually arrive at the house, and when Maki sees what the girls are doing, she recalls doing the same when she was younger. She eventually guesses that Atsuko would be better at showing the girls how the technique is done, and as the girls gather around her, they find that she is almost too good at it. This has Kana and Maki calling Atsuko a witch, as she hides behind Haruka in response. By the time Chiaki arrives at the house with Touma, she panics at the sight of Kana using her drinks. When she is splashed in the face after opening one of the cans though, Kana can only blame this misfortune on the witch in the room.

Continuing her antics on another day, Kana proposes that Maki teach the girls about ways to seduce boys as their teacher. Maki is pulled away by Haruka before she can begin, however, leading Kana to move on to Atsuko as the teacher. Atsuko is unable to answer the girls’ high expectations, but when a sleepy Touma implies that Kana should leave her alone, she is pushed into Atsuko’s bosom. With Touma falling asleep quickly in the position, and Atsuko being unable to remember Touma’s gender, Kana labels this as a lesson learned. Uchida and Yoshino recall how fun these events were at school the next day, but Touma cannot remember some of the events because of her falling asleep. When Makoto accidentally knocks down Touma on the way to the bathroom, she replies to his apology with a punch in the face.

Kana one day asks Keiko if she knows a good way to get a boyfriend, but when Keiko implies that there may be someone close to her already, Kana only replies with her disappointment with such a boring answer. This leaves Keiko depressed in the classroom later, and when Riko appears while happily mentioning close contact between two certain people, Keiko struggles to come up with an interesting explanation to the event. Of course, this leads Riko to punishing her for giving a more detailed answer than she wished for. When Keiko next meets Kana, she treats her to her own medicine by pouring a series of questions about two nameless individuals onto her.

As volleyball practice is ending at the high school, Atsuko notes that Hosaka is not that bad when he isn’t speaking. Hosaka eventually compliments Atsuko on one of her earlier serves, leading Maki to wonder if he had done anything weird to her afterwards. Atsuko wonders if Maki hates Hosaka, but she of course only states that he is creepy. Natsuki arrives to practice late, causing Hosaka to make him pick up the remaining balls in the gym as punishment. Hayami eventually meets Maki and Atsuko, asking to hear interesting stories as usual. Hosaka approaches the girls after Natsuki leaves, and upon a mention of Haruka, he falls into one of his usual fantasies. This leads to the girls’ usual reactions, and Hayami’s slapping him across the head to wake him up. Looking upon Hosaka and Hayami’s conversation afterwards, Atsuko cannot help but reflect on her earlier observation again.

Preview: Suddenly, Mako-chan everywhere.

Impression:

“Waaaaaaa!!!!!” – There’s something about the way Minorin plays that line that makes it more than just awesome. The classic soda joke only added to the hilarity at the perfect moment. Atsuko easily stole the episode though, especially since this seems like the first time she has had major screen time throughout the entire series. The combination of Touma gender confusion and amazingly cute timidness might have made me a new fan. Hosaka made a long overdue reappearance as well, probably to the delight of devoted fans (but he’s not in the US, guys). That love towel was the most amazing item I’ve seen in a long time.

Part three was strong in its own rights, dealing with more implied humor than the other segments, but it just didn’t stand out as much when put with the other greatness this week. It’s funny how some episodes in the show seem like strong punch-lines placed deliberately throughout the series. I’ll still never forget the over the top ending we had for the first season, and I’m hoping for another by the end of Okaeri.