The worried Chiaki. My final impression is included!

Summary:

Haruka seems to be troubled about something one day, which Chiaki brings up to Kana. Kana initially suggests that Haruka is simply worried about dinner and breakfast preparations, but the two sisters soon discover that this isn’t the case. This brings the girls to come up with plans while Haruka is at school. Uchida and Yoshino visit Haruka at the apartment while the other sisters are still out, and Haruka finally mentions to them that she is worried about Chiaki and Kana’s recently strange behavior. Uchida and Yoshino simply suggest that she do something to make them laugh, and when the girls practice this, Haruka is brought to laughter with them. When Chiaki and Kana arrive home, Chiaki despairs at her belief that Haruka actually wants sisters like Yoshino or Uchida. Kana suggests that she is wrong again, however, joining the laughter by suggesting a game of niramekko (staring game) with everyone.

Chiaki wakes from a frightening dream in the middle of the night, then deciding to sleep with Kana. Haruka finds Chiaki quite attached to Kana the next morning, as she learns that Chiaki had a nightmare about Kana’s leaving to buy something and not returning. Chiaki refuses to leave Kana’s side for quite awhile, but as Kana gets tired of this, she eventually takes a nap in the afternoon. As Haruka returns home from a day out with her friends, she is greeted by a waking Kana quickly attaching herself to her. As Chiaki then explains, while still holding onto her older sister, Kana had a bad dream about Haruka going to the bathroom and never returning.

While Uchida and Yoshino are visiting the Minami apartment, they make preparations for Tanabata. Kana decides to make a wish of her own, though she refuses to let the others see it. Kana leaves to buy groceries afterwards, but not before being denied the ability to buy sweets by Haruka. Kana ends up taking awhile to return, and when Haruka and Chiaki read her suggestive card, they start to suspect that she has run away from home. This makes the girls recall previous interactions with Kana, as they start to cry. The two girls prepare to leave in search for their sister, but by then, Kana returns to the surprise of Chiaki and Haruka. Upon celebrating Tanabata later, it is revealed that Kana had two parts to her card. In reality, she had only wished for more meat.

In other places, Hosaka has a frightening dream about losing Haruka.

Impression:

Awwwwww~. While this episode didn’t feel like any of the episodes proceeding it, I did appreciate it for the slice of life and family themes. I don’t think there’s anyone out there with siblings who can say they haven’t experienced similar events. Chiaki’s attaching to Kana was adorable, as was her mistakingly believing that Haruka did not love her anymore. I’m also surprised that there were actually references to previous episodes this week. I guess this overall felt more like a second season episode than anything else. But while this was nowhere near as funny as most of the episodes we’ve been getting recently, I do feel like it ended the series gracefully. After all, Minami-ke is a show about family and friends in the end.

Final Impression:

I wasn’t sure what to think when I heard that Minami-ke was going to have a third season. While I had suddenly become a huge fan of the series after the first one, Studio asread had made a wreckage of the series in the second season. I went into the third season hesitantly upon hearing that this studio would again be handling the production, but fortunately for all of us, they had took all of their criticism constructively. Okaeri went back to the roots, and brought back everything we loved about Minami-ke in the first place. Gone were useless characters like Fuyuki and bad anime original episodes, as we once again experienced a blast of nostalgic humor.

Some fans may have been asking for more Hosaka or even Mako-chan, but I felt like their absence was necessary after being overwhelmed by them in the first two seasons. I do wish that the one new character to show up, Hitomi, had more screen time though. She had an astounding one segment of one episode to work with. Still, with some characters taking a backseat in this season, others started to shine. For one, I’ve definitely become an Atsuko fan after this season!

So yea, overall, the third season of Minami-ke was a blast. Sure, some of the production could have been better in the art/animation department, but that wasn’t enough to keep me from enjoying the show. Going into another series after this would probably be overkill though, so I’m hoping asread (or anyone else) stops while they’re ahead.

A bit more romantic than usual?

Episode 10 Summary:

Touma visits the Minami household after running through the rain, but after being helped to the bath, Chiaki notices that she seems to be full of herself despite being in the family’s hospitality. In response, Chiaki refuses to give Touma any clothes as Fujioka approaches the home. After being greeted by Kana outside, Fujioka enters the apartment to see Touma chasing and begging Chiaki to lend her clothes. This disturbs Fujioka because of the usual misunderstanding, and when Touma suggest that he mind his manners as well, he puts on an overly-formal type of speech for Kana who is undressing him.

Uchida enjoys hard candy at the Minami household, but when Chiaki mentions a bit of trivia about artificial coloring, Uchida’s enjoyment turns into panic. Chiaki goes on to tell more pieces of information, but when Uchida shuts this out, Chiaki choses to lay down. According to Kana, Chiaki hates it when people do not listen to her. When Fujioka enters the home, Chiaki quickly runs to his side. The two notice a contrail outside, which Chiaki reveals the details of to Fujioka. This frustrates Uchida, as this was a much more acceptable piece of information when compared to hers.

Chiaki is currently on great terms with Fujioka, but Touma recalls that this caused her trouble when she had first met him. Chiaki had one day walked in on Touma sitting in her spot; Fujioka’s lap. Chiaki made constant attempts to have her leave, but Touma constantly returned because of miscommunication. When the two girls started quarreling, Fujioka finally revealed his misunderstanding that Touma was a boy. This resulted in training for Touma early in the mornings.

Natsuki prepares to visit the Minami household, getting advise from his brothers about how to approach them. When Touma meets her brothers, she advises Natsuki on how to treat Kana and Chiaki. When Natsuki visits the the sisters’ home with these pieces of advice in mind, he causes various forms of misunderstandings for them. In the end, he simply requests that Touma come home earlier. Unknown to him, Touma had been at the apartment the whole time.

Episode 11 Summary:

Riko observes as Fujioka gets into a conversation with Kana as usual, and while asking Keiko what she should do, Hiroko appears to mention her observing of Fujioka. Hiroko assures RIko that she doesn’t have the same interest in Fujioka as her, but she does confirm that Fujioka can only see Kana. Hiroko tells Riko not to give up though, then allowing her to practice with her friend Yuu. Riko is able to get Fujioka’s image in Yuu, until she starts making unpleasant gestures. Further more, Yuu enthusiastically approaches Kana upon seeing her. This causes Riko to despair as if it were the typical situation.

Kana invites some of her usual classmates to study at her home, and when she learns that Fujioka would be attending, Riko quickly agrees to go. After awhile at the house, Kana allows her friends to use the apartment’s bath. Because of guilty consciouses or otherwise uneasy feelings though, everyone settles with a shower. Kana goes last, believing that her hospitality has been a success, opening up the bath to reveal that it is full of peppers. As this causes Kana a great deal of pain, she returns to her friends to ask for their true opinion about the bath they all supposedly used.

When Kana and her friends next meet, they all have positive news about their recent test grades. Riko is particularly delighted, as she plans to use this as a way to get closer to Fujioka. Fujioka eventually thanks Kana for helping him with studies, and when Kana next approaches Keiko for help with the next test, she denies out of guilt from Riko. This causes Kana to beg Riko for help, which she eventually gives half-heartedly, which coincidentally helps Kana to do well on her next test.

Valentine’s Day approaches, but despite none of them having any partners to present chocolate to, Kana convinces Chiaki and Mako-chan to make some. As Touma observes, this was actually all so that Kana could enjoy Chiaki’s chocolate for herself. Mako-chan has made some chocolate as well, but he does not have anyone to give it to. This brings Kana to challenge Chiaki to find a partner to give chocolate to. Makoto suspects the next day that Chiaki’s partner would be a nobody, and to his predictions, she approaches him from behind.

Episode 12 Summary:

Chiaki enjoys resting in the warm sun, but she is waken by Kana, Uchida, and Maki’s idiotic chatter. This brings her to confront them, causing Kana to throw Uchida in for the challenge. Despite Uchida’s suggesting that Chiaki sleep in her own room, she is quickly defeated. When Maki is put down just as easily, Kana steps in to finish the job. Kana clearly sees that Chiaki does not wish to move, and though she starts to upon Haruka’s appearing with a snack, Kana prevents her from doing so. This starts their usual battle, which Uchida and Maki describe as their good relationship with each other.

One day while visiting the Minami household, Maki approaches Kana and the others with requests to observe her face while sleeping. This is because of a previous event she experienced with her usual classmates. Maki and Uchida eventually go to sleep for Mako-chan and Kana to observe, but as they do, Kana takes the chance to write on their faces. The two can hardly hold in their laughter from this point, and they finally break when Maki says something in her sleep. Haruka and Chiaki return home to see this, and to Chiaki’s curiosity, Uchida has the word “princess” written on her forehead. This was because of her interest in one of Kana’s stories earlier.

With hopes of changing herself, Kana requests a try at sewing while she is alone with Chiaki. Chiaki cuts a piece of cloth for Kana, but to the sister’s panic, Haruka’s skirt was cut in the process. This brings the girls to panic while searching for ways to deal with this in the following days. Natsuki one day visits Haruka’s class to thank her for her usual taking care of Touma, but as he does, Maki notices a piece of string coming from Haruka’s skirt. When she pulls on this, Natsuki sees something amazing. At home, the younger Minami sisters continue to wonder what they should do. Haruka, on the other hand, searches for ways to present herself the next day.

Kana one day starts taking special note of Chiaki’s way of speaking and aggressiveness. Kana sees this as her not getting enough love, but as she advances on her sister throughout the night, Chiaki cannot help but feel that Kana is acting strange. This pursues as Kana requests to bathe with Chiaki, and she offers to read a book for her in bed. This brings Chiaki to Haruka’s room, fearing that she would be eaten while she sleeps.

Preview: Last one.

Impression:

Episode 10: I was told that this was going to be the funniest episode of the season, and I was delighted to find that this was probably true. I was already laughing out loud upon seeing the KOF ‘95 parody and Natsuki’s preference of the joystick (fighting game fans would get it, eh?), as well as the typical Touma gender confusion antics, but the last part made it for me. It was just so ridiculously over the top, and despite being warned beforehand, I couldn’t believe the direction taken by the end. (Didn’t we see Chiaki as a dog in a previous episode though….?)

Episode 11: RIKO-SENSEI! So, while episode 10 was very central to Fujioka’s step-brotherish relationship with Chiaki, this episode went back to the usual love triangle we were all introduced to in the first season. While not as over the top as the previous episode, I still had a good laugh out of things like Kana’s special form of “hospitality” (Peppers? Ouch….). Megane jokes are always fun too, as is more Saeko Chiba!

Episode 12: I guess Kana is the father figure! The nostalgia factor was really high in this episode, which had me appreciating the most out of the last three episodes. From Kana and Makoto’s trying to hide their laughter after writing on the friends’ faces to the sisters’ panicking over an accident, I felt right at home while watching everyone. The art and animation were both really…..unique in this episode as well. I was guessing that asread wanted the episode to feel more like the manga? This season was already on the border between the first and second season’s art style, but this episode just went somewhere else.

I’ve been wanting to discuss this for awhile now, but since these episodes were full of love love antics, who are the suspected canidates for the Minami sisters in the future? There’s the obvious Kana and Fujioka angle, and Haruka seems close to Natsuki, but what about Chiaki? Would she end up with Makoto? Ah….the horrors….

DI GI, I FOUND A MIKAN BOX.

Summary:

Kana picks out oranges to eat while at the apartment, but when Chiaki reaches for one at the table, her hand bumps into Touma’s. The two girls seem to be arguing the next day, which Uchida worriedly relays to Makoto. Though Makoto does not have the courage to stop them, he does suggest to Uchida that they visit the Minami household for clues as to why they are fighting. The two both reach out for oranges when they see Kana eating them there, leading to her chopping them in response. In reality, Chiaki and Touma were mad at Kana. They decide that they were wrong on the way home, however, as their families typically picked out their own things when they wanted them. The girls arrive at the apartment with the intent of apologizing, but when a stray orange peel meets Chiaki’s forehead during a fight between Kana, Uchida, and Makoto, this only creates more of a quarrel.

As it approaches xmas time, Chiaki completes a very large sock in preparation for her gift from Santa. This causes trouble for Haruka and Kana, as Chiaki will not directly tell them what she wants. Fujioka visits the Minami household to learn this, then taking the chance to give Kana and Haruka gifts of gloves for the holiday. This causes Kana to believe that this would be enough for Chiaki. Kana shows this gift to Chiaki on xmas morning, which she seems to respond to with acceptance. Haruka asks what Chiaki really wanted later, but Santa’s thoughts in her mind, she confirms that she is alright with what she got.

Due to a certain mishap, the Minami brothers find that they had forgotten to give Touma a present after xmas. When Haruka learns this from Touma later, she quickly calls Natsuki to ask why. Natsuki explains that he and Touma were playing video games during the night, and he simply forgot to place it for her. Natsuki prepares the present properly after a scolding from Haruka, but even after Touma returns seemingly convinced that she had overlooked the gift previously, Natsuki blows it by describing how unlikely this could have been.

While Haruka discussed xmas and Santa with Atsuko and Maki, Hosaka was listening in from afar. After receiving Natsuki’s positive opinion about Santa, he went out into the city to come across xmas cake flyers. Hosaka later helps to sell xmas cakes, creating a usual fantasy. To him, Haruka would be drawn to the cakes before creating a splendid encounter between them. While Hosaka has been imagining this, he has actually stuffed his face into a cake. This causes panic to those around him, as the Minami sisters pass without knowledge of his identity. Kana begs for a cake, and although Haruka denies that she will buy one, she further reveals that she already has one prepared. With this, the Minamis and their usual friends enjoy a xmas party that night.

Preview: Touma runs around in a towel.

Impression:

DI GI, it’s not a ringo box this time!!!

Although there weren’t as many high points in this episode as last week’s, I still feel like the entertainment value was pretty quality all around. Irony was a big part of most of the jokes, creating a lot of the subtle humor that the first season was known for, and I loved the dryness of Natsuki’s video game playing with his siblings. The last segment with another Hosaka fantasy wasn’t very well placed, especially after just having had a more successful taste of this in the last episode, but seeing Haruka all blushy is still hilarious. Next week seems to have Touma running around half naked like a boy, so maybe that will be even more fun.

Oh, and the art/animation in this part of the episode was absolutely horrid and unnecessary. You call that a hand, asread?

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.

Even more traptastic than Maria Holic.

Summary:

Makoto attempts to practice with Chiaki for the upcoming sports festival, but Chiaki unenthusiastically gives up. Makoto expresses his worries to Kana at the apartment later, but when Chiaki joins the two, she surprises them by expressing her own worries about doing well in the event. Chiaki asks for Mako-chan to help her with practice, and with this, the two get to work with Kana’s coaching. By the time they are done, both Chiaki and Makoto gain the confidence to do their best at the festival. When Makoto meets Chiaki the next day, he surprises her with his enthusiasm. Further more though, he makes her uncomfortable by getting very close to her. Of course, Makoto and Mako-chan would always be treated as different beings.

Alone with Uchida one day, Kana expresses how perfect her plan to make Makoto “Mako-chan” has been. However, Uchida credits this to Kana’s usual follow up. While Makoto spends time with Haruka later, Kana observes him quite intently. Makoto takes the chance to use the bathroom after having a lot of tea to drink with Haruka, but Kana intrudes on him with toilet paper. This is because they had run out, and it would have been bad if it were Haruka to bring it in. Haruka eventually does appear, but both Kana and Makoto react accordingly to avoid revealing their secret. Kana confirms to Uchida later that Mako-chan is not perfect, but with her help, the secret would remain in darkness.

In class, Riko brags to Kana and Keiko about her gaining a size around her chest recently. As Kana talks to Makoto about this later, she starts to believe that he would be suspicious if he continued to remain flat. Despite Makoto’s suggestion that he would quit before he became suspicious, Maki arrives with Haruka to note that Mako-chan is still flat soon after. This causes Makoto to search for ways to make it appear as if he has grown, and when Chiaki overhears the two talking, she gives Makoto a dress that makes it appear as if he had a few sizes more than he actually does. Further more, this dress would allow him to match up to Haruka in the future. Makoto is initially hopeful, but soon realizes that he is becoming too involved. When Makoto walks in on Maki doing measurements for Haruka, he remains in a flustered state for the rest of the afternoon. As Maki implies, trouble with breast size can work both ways.

Kana one day notices that Makoto has gotten so good at playing “Mako-chan”, that he has gotten into a very good relationship with Chiaki. Chiaki spills some soda on Makoto in the meantime, but her trying to pull off his skirt and wiping the drenched area only causes him panic. This brings Kana to tell the two the story about the raccoon, who disguised himself to get along with humans. This lasted for awhile, until the girl the raccoon spent time with noticed that it still had a tail. Kana wonders what Chiaki thinks of this, so she comes up with her own story in response. There was once a woman who owned a raccoon despite their not being allowed, so she called it a badger. After this, it was decided that it couldn’t be helped if that was the case. In the end though, Chiaki suggests that it would have been better if the raccoon did not keep secrets. After all, raccoons are cute. This brings Makoto to approach Chiaki the next day, but she ignores him as usual. Of course, this puts him into the usual despair.

Chiaki breaks a cup at the apartment, leading the sisters and their friends to buy new ones at the store later. Chiaki and Haruka pick rather decorative ones, but they decide against them because of their own or friends’ differentiating opinions. When the sisters return home, they all find that they have bought the same cups. As this would cause trouble, Chiaki and Haruka end up buying the cups they originally chose. This leads Kana to giving Touma and Fujioka the cups they bought previously. Fujioka sees this as only something a couple would do, since he and Kana’s cups match, but Touma’s reappearance after an exit causes quite a bit of confusion. Kana then starts to say something about her sister’s cups, which makes them suspicious because of their earlier thoughts, but she only expresses how nice they are.

Preview: Fried yams.

Impression:

Huh? Racoons!? I really wasn’t expecting this much Makoto in once episode, but at least most of the segments were pretty funny. The dialog that Kana produced among other things made it clear that this season is continuing from where season one left off as well, and ironically coming from asread, it was like season two never happened. I loved how a lot of this episode was approached, like the leaving out of fanservice where it wasn’t needed (unlike in season two). It was also fun to have more of the classic fun return, with simple things like Chiaki’s “Bakayaro!” line making a long overdue reappearance.

Notes:

• Five episodes in one!
• With which comes new eyecatches.
• Kana’s walking in on Makoto in the bathroom….not awkward at all?
• This isn’t the first time Makoto has had real boobies.
• “What are you looking at?”
• The return of Chiaki’s cute hat; will Yamada be next?
• Makoto’s illness really is like one of cigarette smoking. Will this ever end!?

Episode full of melons.

Summary:

While at the Minami household, the sisters and their usual friends recall events that had happened previously during a beach trip. Chiaki eventually appears wondering if Kana had hidden her stuffed bear again, but since she had not, Kana wonders if Chiaki did not leave it at the beach. Fujioka relieves Chiaki by arriving with the bear, but this leads the group to wonder how it ended up in his belongings. A chain of events had led to this, and when Kana remembers that she was the one who had put it in Fujioka’s bag, she fears admitting it to a soon to be angry Chiaki. The group notices that Kana has remembered something though, so Kana distracts them by saying that she loves them. Of course, this only causes more awkwardness.

Maki visits the Minami household to get help on her summer work from Haruka. When Fujioka arrives with a gift of watermelon for the family, Maki quickly guesses that this was for Kana. When the group starts eating, Maki further makes Fujioka uncomfortable by telling him that the spoon he plans on using is one that Kana always uses. This has him avoiding the use of it, getting into an eating competition with Touma instead. The group has curry made by Kana that night, and though Maki teases Fujioka yet again, Kana presents him with a guest spoon to his relief.

Makoto visits the Minami household in his usual disguise, finding Uchida working on homework. Uchida explains that she had forgotten about her summer homework, and both Chiaki and Touma had refused to help her. As Makoto had forgotten about his work as well, he attempts to get Chiaki to help Uchida. Chiaki refuses, however, as Uchida had only caused trouble for her each time she visited during the summer. Chiaki eventually does let Uchida borrow the work though, as she isn’t that unkind. Touma wakes to see Uchida working hard, then taking the chance to ask Makoto to let her borrow his summer work when he is done. As Uchida will not currently help him though, Makoto refuses to help Touma too.

Kana expresses her disappointment that summer is ending, having Chiaki come with her to wear swimsuits in the bath. Hearing Kana talk makes Chiaki remember all the terrible things she did to her during the summer, causing her to express that her summer was the worst. The Minamis’ usual friends show up with gifts of autumn-like foods later though, giving Haruka and the others happiness towards the season. Everyone enjoys the grand dinner that night but Kana, as Chiaki makes most of her food disappear as payback.

Preview: Autumn school days.

Impression:

Oh man. As simple as it was, this episode brought all kinds of humorous slice of life greatness to the table. Missing stuffed animals, watermelon attacks, and copying homework had me remembering my old childhood. Even Chiaki’s remembering Kana’s pranks on her made me recall things I typically did with my own siblings. Nostalgia factor aside, the episode was also solid in presentation on its own. The misleading shots towards the beginning caused some really funny misunderstandings, and Uchida’s laughing at the possibility of Fujioka becoming Chiaki’s sibling had to be some of the best form of irony ever. (Don’t forget the premonition from episode 301.)

Gonna have to pull another one from speedy Aroduc again too though. Spoons are washed. They really don’t count for indirect kisses or anything like that! And though Mako-chan is reappearing quite often again recently, he’s really just not as funny as he was before. Maybe we’ve been jaded by having too much of him in season two?

Some of the art was really dodgy in this episode as well. For example, Haruka’s proportions being way off towards the end. Eh, can asread only redeem itself so much?

Mako-chan’s underwhelming return.

Summary:

Chiaki’s class has pool cleaning duty, but Chiaki refuses to help because she would not benefit from it. An enthusiastic Makoto still believes that he would make a spectacularly clean pool without Chiaki’s help, but she soon interrupts her friends by entering the pool with a running hose. This has Makoto, Yoshino, and Uchida forming a plan in secret. Yoshino and Uchida promise to help Chiaki learn to swim at another pool, but while they do this, Makoto takes the hose from her. Makoto accidentally sprays Chiaki with water though, causing a water fight between the girls afterwards. Makoto panics when he sees the girls’ wet clothing afterwards, and Chiaki quickly has him bring buckets to carry (already prepared) as punishment.

Uchida notices how hot it is on another day in class, annoying Chiaki with how much she has to express this. Yoshino brings up how good it would feel upon entering the pool after being hot for so long though, giving Uchida even more hope. Chiaki thinks to herself that humans have no need to swim, but as she starts to think about how their bodies are composed, she comes up with a theory. Going to the hall’s water fountains, Chiaki attempts to raise the amount of water she has in her body slightly above the usual seventy percent. This causes her to have a bit of a stomach ache though, leading her to Kumada-sensei’s office. When Chiaki meets the rest of the class outside, they notice her bulging stomach as she feared. Yoshino and Uchida, noticing what appears to be an injury on her finger, decide that Chiaki shouldn’t feel forced to enter the pool like this. This relieves Chiaki, but as she sits in the sun while everyone else plays, she realizes that it is certainly hot.

After coming from the pool in class, Kana expresses to her friends that she would like to swim even more. She of course invites Keiko, and Riko quickly agrees to go after believing that Kana would be inviting Fujioka as well. To Riko’s surprise, Kana stops with these three people. This causes her to make implications that Kana should invite more people. Fujioka, having overheard Kana’s conversation, also attempts to make obvious suggestions that he would like to go to the pool. Keiko easily realizes the two’s feelings, but Kana remains oblivious. Kana eventually takes into consideration Riko’s suggestion to invite some guys as well, but after realizing that everyone would be together in particularly unattractive swimsuits she decides to change her plans all together. Shocked at this conclusion, Riko and Fujioka wonder if they had made some kind of mistake.

Chiaki wakes one day to find Kana already awake. She mentions how rare this is when she meets her sisters afterwards, but Haruka brings up that she only wakes early when she is ready to play. At the pool afterwards, despite her initial excitement, Kana becomes annoyed when Fujioka and her other friends will not approach her as she swims away from them. The usual group of friends easily notice Kana’s annoyance at the apartment later, and Touma guesses that Fujioka is the reason. Fujioka explains that they were playing onigokko (tag) at the pool, but he couldn’t come up with the courage to touch Kana since she was a girl. Touma understands, leading her to demonstrate how easy it should be for him to touch others. This has the group touching each other in a circle, but Fujioka continually touches Touma in inappropriate places because of his belief that she is a boy. Fujioka eventually guesses that Touma is ready to play a man’s game of onigokko, chasing her around the house as she panics.

Preview: A beach episode right after a pool one? NO WAYZ.

Impression:

Fujioka is da man. It’s so unfortunate that the only guy in this series who has the guts to take direct action is always screwed over. Most of this episode was nostalgic of everyone’s childhood days, as usual. I can’t remember the last time I played tag, or made such hilariously indecisive suggestions in class with friends. Chiaki’s side of the episode was more out there, with things like her image of changing the percent of water in her body being completely ridiculous. Uchida’s dumb theories weren’t something totally uncommon back in the day either though.

Despite not a lot happening in this episode overall, I took the chance to notice how much the gestures in sequences make things so unconsciously fun to watch. Instead of talking heads for entire scenes, things like the characters’ crazy hand movements had me smiling all the way through.

But yea, for the return so many people were waiting for, Mako really didn’t do much in this episode. Maybe next time?

EDIT: I’m going to have to agree with Aroduc too. School swimsuits, suggestive water drinking, and Fujioka’s straight up grabbing Touma? Oh my.

Gender role disaster.

Summary:

Kana arrives home to the delight of being served one of her favorite deserts by Haruka, but she still can’t help but steal some of Touma’s when she meets her in the living room. In response, Touma head-butts Kana into submission. While the Minami sisters have dinner that night, Kana brings up the previous conversation she had with Touma’s brother Akira at school. He was quite grateful for Kana and the other sisters for giving Touma the chance to be around girls, and to develop more feminine qualities. Kana decides that this was all Touma’s brothers’ decision though, guessing that Touma may actually prefer otherwise. This leads Kana and Chiaki to guess that Touma would come to the house to seek inspiration from Haruka. The two sisters further wonder which of them is above each other in skill, but when Touma arrives at the house, he finds Haruka subduing both of her younger sisters in punishment.

When Touma returns home one day, she finds Natsuki quite angry at her for arriving late. Because of this, she denies Haruka’s offer to stay for dinner when she visits the sisters later. After hearing Touma’s explanation, Haruka recalls the conversation she had with Natsuki earlier. Natsuki had suggested that Touma was acting more like a boy, but this didn’t bother him. If she were to do so, he would just treat her more like one. Because of this, Kana comes up with a plan to help Touma. This involves her giving Natsuki a certain feminine photo. Natsuki is angry when he finds Touma arriving home late once again that night, but to Touma’s surprise, her giving Natsuki the photo successfully calms him down. This picture turns out to be a risque one of Haruka.

At home, the Minami brothers wonder what they should buy Touma for her upcoming birthday. This leads them to recall the gifts they got her previously, but most are situations from when she was younger. Natsuki had given her a game console more recently, but it had broken to Touma’s disappointment. With this, Natsuki decides that he will purchase her gift. Later at school, Kana is met by Hiroko who wishes to learn news about the current banchous. To Hiroko’s disappointment, Kana cannot do much more than recall the situations of the previous three. Elsewhere, a girl named Hitomi watches Natsuki intently over lunch. Realizing that he has forgotten his wallet, she helps him in her own way. Natsuki freezes when he sees Haruka in the halls, but when Hitomi looks at the gaze in his eyes, she believes that they are meant for her. This leads her to run away in embarrassment, bumping into Haruka and Maki in the process. Haruka and Maki wonder if Natsuki had done something to Hitomi, so he tries to put on a look that suggests otherwise.

On a particularly rainy day, Hitomi approaches Maki asking for advice on how to be more adult-like. Hosaka eventually shows up to give his own suggestion, which deals with his unwavering plan to save Haruka from the rain with an umbrella. Hitomi takes this as meaning that having an umbrella will make one adult-like, so she offers an umbrella to Natsuki later. He tries to avoid her, seeing that the said umbrella is pink with bunnies on it, but he seems to have sight of hope when the sun appears outside. Haruka is also relieved elsewhere, but for her sisters rather than herself.

Preview: Fun in the sun…Manabi Straight style!

Impression:

Anybody taking sociology, psychology, or communication courses this semester? Hitomi is a pretty pro observer at taking hints from Natsuki’s nonverbal language! Okay….so she’s not. I’d say the said character’s introduction stood out the most in this episode though. She’s played by a seiyu that I hate oh so much, but otherwise, I like her character just as well as I do the rest of the cast. (Stalkers in love FTW.) It was also a plus to hear Saeko Chiba make a return as Hiroko, rather than the more commonly shown Hayami, though this didn’t last for very long.

The other half of this episode dealt a lot with Touma again, which was kind of surprising. The play on gender roles was as funny as ever, and I loved all the Street Fighter action. (Natsuki dodged that dragon punch like a champ!) The subtle humor made these parts of the episode as usual, while I laughed at things like “99 in 1″ and Chiaki’s general awesomeness while watching the bad informercials on TV. On a more random note, who else remembers how annoying it was when people blocked your way like Natsuki did to Touma in this episode??

Notes:

• Holding chopsticks in your mouth like Kana did in this episode is very dangerous. I don’t recommend it.
• Also, loli Touma. That is all.

I feel like eating pudding and apples now.

Summary:

Touma returns home energetically from school one day, but upon looking in her family’s refrigerator, she becomes disappointed at the fact that the pudding she has been saving is missing. She asks Natsuki about this, but to more of her dismay, her brother is clearly the one who had taken it. This brings Touma to the Minami household, hoping to stay there for the night. When the sisters gather in the living room, it doesn’t take long to guess what had happened. This has Haruka contacting Natsuki to relieve him of worry, but after getting into a conversation about the source of the argument, she clearly sees that Natsuki is underestimating the pudding he took from Touma. As Chiaki and Kana reveal through dialog, the pudding actually comes from a particularly high quality store.

The Minami sisters recall that they had some of the same pudding at home, but when Haruka goes to find it, she disappointingly reports that there are now only two servings of the sweets. When Takeru appears at the household, he further surprises everyone by announcing that he has brought some pudding from the popular shop. With this, the three sisters admit to each of their earlier eatings of the pudding without telling anyone. As there is enough pudding for everyone now, the sisters and their guests experience a bit of bliss.

Uchida excitedly visits the Minami household after buying several apples to give them, but when she arrives, she finds that the sisters are all acting quite strange and avoiding her. Haruka leaves to prepare her gift of apples in the kitchen, and Chiaki claims to be feeling unwell while going to her room. Kana stays for awhile, but before claiming to go to the bathroom, she tells Uchida to not look inside the nearby box in the living room. Uchida obviously can’t resist, and when she looks inside the container, she finds that it is full of apples. Kana reappears afterwards, explaining that several others had the same idea as her. Of course, the sisters had to accept their offers kindly. As Uchida had learned the sisters’ secret, she is forced to eat several apples.

When Touma arrives at the Minami household, she actually becomes excited at the chance to have apples. This results in her having much more than she can handle, and when she returns home, she presents Natsuki with a single apple as a gift from Haruka. The Minami brothers wonder what the apple that has been given them could symbolize, then finally deciding to make something for Touma. This ends up being “yakiringo,” or fried apples, preluding to disaster for the already damaged Touma.

Kana and Chiaki overhear Haruka talking over the phone with someone in a rather serious and commanding tone, and when Touma appears, she explains that Haruka is talking to her brother Natsuki. Natsuki is rather good at cooking normal dishes, but not so much when it comes to sweets. As Kana and the others start becoming impatient from waiting for Haruka to cook, they take the liberty to finish the curry in the kitchen themselves. As the group and Haruka begin giving instructions for their two dishes, both sides become influenced by the other. Of course, this results in a disaster for both sides. The curry ends up being too sweet, and when Touma returns to her brothers, Natsuki presents her with what appears to be curry filled pastries.

Touma one day finds that Natsuki has again eaten her pudding. Though he argues that there was no way to tell it was hers, Touma had clearly written her name on the packaging this time. The other Minami brothers appear to tell Natsuki that he is wrong, and that she should apologize, but they are both easily pushed away by him. Touma refuses to forgive her brother, then visiting the Minami sisters again. Touma is treated to eggs for dinner, and when she takes the chance to ask for suggestions for her problem, Kana gives her more creative ideas for adding her name to things. This involves using numbers in a decoding fashion, which Touma tries as well, but this proves to be quite ridiculous when Haruka is unable to guess what the writing on their eggs is suppose to mean.

Preview: SNAKE BITOOOOO~

Impression:

From a pissed off Haruka to ridiculous puns (Kabitzin, where?), I definitely enjoyed this episode from start to finish. As last week’s preview suggested, Touma and her brothers had quite a bit of screen time this week to make up for their usual absence. I typically find it interesting how insignificant the other Minami brothers are compared to Natsuki, but I was laughing out loud when this was played on at the end of the episode. Uchida was as stupidly hilarious as ever too, and seeing Chiaki sleep on her bear brought back random nostalgic memories (Did you sleep on your stuffed animals when you were a kid?). It looks like Haruka will be pulling off some Getbackers moves next week, so it should be as fun as ever to see how that turns out.

Notes:

• Quote the Zyl: “I can’t believe it’s Mizuki Nana!”
• When I saw the box, I was thinking “Pani Poni Dash”.
• I’ve seen this deal in some other anime this season, but I don’t think it was Minami-ke?

A look at what Chiaki will become as an adult.

Summary:

When Touma visits the Minami household on a particular day, she brings a gift of snacks from a certain store that Kana likes. Kana prepares to open this upon reaching the living room, but Chiaki reminds her how bad it would be to do this while Haruka is still out. Touma eventually falls asleep, and Fujioka later shows up to hear Kana’s bragging about eating the snacks. Still wanting to have more of the snacks for herself, Kana finally questions Chiaki if the food would be more delicious between two or three people. This leaves Chiaki battling her conscious, but when Touma wakes, she snaps her out of her dazed state. Chiaki and Touma begin tickling each other, and when Fujioka sees this, he is amazed that Touma can get close to Chiaki so easily. When Touma even approaches Kana the same way, in attempt to get the snacks from her, Fujioka has his own battle of consciousness. When Fujioka attempts to approach Kana, however, she quickly slams the snack tin in his face.

In the morning, the Minami sisters vaguely describe how large the places they will be visiting that day are. When Chiaki returns in the afternoon, she finds a white board on the table that has obviously been altered by Kana. This leads to Chiaki to enter yet another battle of consciousness, as she asks herself if she should buy cream puffs or take action that Haruka would prefer. As her two consciouses battle though, they look in surprise to see that Chiaki is taking action herself. Confronting Kana who was hiding behind the door, she questions what she has done with the board. Kana explains that though she did alter the board, she did so because she accidentally dropped her bag on it earlier. Further more, “cream puffs” were certainly written on it. With this, Chiaki expresses how big her heart is as she hugs her sister.

At school, Hayami approaches Maki by asking her if she hates Hosaka. Maki states that it isn’t a matter of like or dislike in response, instead clearly stating that he is just creepy. Obviously taking this as a chance for her usual meddling, Hayami then approaches Hosaka in class with a suggestion of how he could get closer to Haruka. By first befriending Haruka’s friends, this would bring him closer to his goal. This has Hosaka quickly meeting Maki in the halls, hoping to get along with her, but she rushes off soon after. Hosaka goes for Atsuka in the library next, but because of his odd way of approaching, she runs off in fear as well. Hosaka takes his last chance at Hayami, but this results in a slap in the face to signify his defeat.

Haruka takes notes on a cooking show at home, but when she suggests that she needs to go shopping, Chiaki offers to do so instead. When Chiaki reaches the market though, she finds that she does not understand the list Haruka gave her at all. Hosaka, who is also at the market, decides that he will make a spectacular curry as Chiaki passes. As he enters his usual delusional world, Chiaki realizes that she has been given a list of curry spices. This brings her home with such ingredients, believing that she has just met the curry fairy. Haruka realizes that she had given Chiaki the wrong list, but when Chiaki returns with the curry ingredients, they have a great meal that night all the same. The next day at school, Hayami finds that Hosaka has brought a curry bentou to class. She fears what would happen if he were to release its aroma there, but with the title of the curry fairy, Hosaka opens the box with pride.

Preview: Touma has trouble with her brothers?

Impression:

Devil Chiaki? Mmm. Pimp Fujioka? Wow. I probably laughed for about five minutes straight after the second passing of Angel and Devil Chiaki’s battle, but the other three segments of this episode were just as great; especially with the return of a few familiar faces. I’m amazed that Fujioka still thinks Touma is a boy, but even more impressed that this running joke hasn’t gotten old yet. The “attack” on Kana was brilliant! Hosaka as the “curry fairy” also had me calling him one of the creepiest [dudes] ever, only adding to the hilarity he caused while stalking Maki and Atsuka. What would you do if you saw a man playing air piano in the supermarket!?

[4:38pm] Aroduc: I would flee
[4:38pm] Aroduc: In terror.
[4:38pm] Totali: I would probably tell the nearest little girl that she shouldn’t look, then slowly walk away.

Notes:

• “I’m not going to give you any!” >:)
• “Okay.” =)
• Fujioka has to count on his fingers to figure out whether dividing something into halves or thirds would be more delicious.
• Touma visits the Minami household just to sleep.
• “It was thiiiiiis big!”
• Chiaki’s kind heart is truly from the heavens.
• I don’t know how to play shogi, but I’m still pretty sure that Hosaka is going about this wrong.
• Four episodes in one! How’s that?
• The nonstandard OP and ED placement is going to take some getting used to.
• They’re really going for the character singles this season, it seems.
• Where’s Mako?