Umisho, fight-o desu~! My final impression is included.

Summary:

With the major event finally taking place, the Umisho girls do their best to race past their rivals. They lack behind as Amuro’s turn approaches, but she speeds off into the water after hearing Kaname’s encouraging words. With this, Amuro successfully wins the race, amazing everyone. Kaname even rushes out to embrace her, causing some suspicious looks from the rest of the team. Momoko thanks everyone, and the rest of the competition goes smoothly. Momoko expresses that she might finally be satisfied after recalling memories of the Umisho’s build up, but to Sanae’s relief, she expresses the need to do her best for the upcoming tournaments.

Elsewhere, Kaname and Amuro look at her house, which is now done renovating. Kaname is relieved at the peace he will finally be getting, but Amuro expresses that she will be lonely. She brings up Kaname’s promise again, which turns out to be a swim together. Kaname falls into the water, but his memories suddenly return when Amuro jumps in with him. Kaname was not attacked by a mermaid when he was a child. Amuro had actually saved him while his ankle was sprained. This makes Kaname hug Amuro, as her father encourages them from afar. Returning to their normal activities at school, the Umisho starts to wonder why Kaname only fulfilled his promise to Amuro. This also results in the belief that they are going out.

Post ED: Kaname and the Umisho visit Amuro in her home, where they meet her family. After hearing about Kaname’s actions while she was away, Amuro becomes jealous. However, after being left alone together, Amuro suddenly kisses Kaname.

Impression:

I bet the episode title threw you off, huh? This episode was as epic as the last, with the competition finally coming to its expected conclusion. Amuro really stepped it up, with a bit of help from Kaname. As usual, there were plenty of hilarious parts to the episode. The best had to be when Seito’s camera actually broke. My room mate actually mentioned that I was laughing throughout the entire show afterwards. Oh man, that was kind of embarrassing. I’m glad the show actually managed to wrap up everything important in the second half of the episode, even with only 13 episodes. I thought the “picture book” style with the ED was an awesome touch. Next up is, you guessed it, the final impression.

Umisho was definitely the pleasant surprise of the season for me. At first, I wasn’t even interested in this so called “swimming anime”, and I just checked it out on a whim. However, after watching the first episode, I fell in love. Granted this is a love comedy, who would have thought I could enjoy a sports anime so much? All of Umisho’s episodes had me laughing constantly throughout each episode, and it really left that great summer feel that I haven’t had from an anime in awhile. In the end, I’m glad they capped the series off at 13 episodes. As much as I love the show, I feel like any longer would have been overkill. I mean, they already used the competition arcs twice, and neither of them were really different from each other. I’m just glad they ended the series how they did, with the kiss. That’s the best way to end a love comedy in my opinion. Everyone knows that already established relationships are no fun to watch!

BOKU!

Summary:

The Umisho regains their place during the next day of the competition, with many of the girls taking first place. After Amuro finishes her race, she reminds Kaname of his promise. This makes Seito wonder what that request will be, and he begins coming up with his own ideas about Mirie. The team notices a rival school to the side, so Amuro goes in to introduce herself. Amuro meets their captain, a very elegant person who mentions that she is the same kappa type girl like her. Amuro suddenly enters the pool in the middle of another competition, and seemingly runs into the same girl. However, her personality is quite different. This continues when she enters the bathroom, as the girl’s personality seems to be very different each time Amuro sees her. At the start of the next race, the Umisho discovers that the girls are quadruplets.

As the race begins, the Umisho finds that Tamatsuka begins to play a song for their team. This makes their swimmers sync with the rhythm, causing trouble for the Umisho. This isn’t enough to stop the Umisho, however, as they begin singing their own song. As the girls all do their best to keep up in the race, Masa causes a major distraction for the rival choir. Momoko has trouble with her ankle in her final run, but she gives it her all to get the first place. Fainting soon afterwards, she wakes in the hospital around her teammates. To her dismay, the doctor enters to tell her that she will not be able to compete with the injury. This puts Momoko in despair, until Kaname finally suggests that Amuro will swim in her place. The team’s spirits rise at the thought of hope, as they prepare themselves for the next day’s race.

Preview: The finale of the swim competition and Amuro’s request

Impression:

This episode had me so pumped. I never thought I could get so excited over a swimming anime. I’m really loving Maaya and Mirei’s interaction, and Momoko really showed her character in this episode. There was also a nice balance of humor with the climax build up as usual. The introduction of the quadruplets was pretty interesting. I was honestly hoping that it was a personality change type of thing, just because I like those kinds of characters. I’ve been hearing Kobayashi Yu playing in a lot of different roles lately. She’s really building up her portfolio! As always, the team’s usual antics had me laughing hysterically. Masa’s “intervention” at the end was just too good. I’m so ready for the next episode, with Amuro stepping in for Momoko as expected. I wonder what her request will be?

Drama in MY Umisho? Get out of here!

Summary:

Momoka finds that she is not really improving much, even though the competitions are approaching soon. Masa appears with his own plans to improve, showing a list of things to do. He unveils his secret plan as a ridiculous suit, full of little gadgets. However, as soon as he jumps into the water, he electrocutes himself. The team decides to use a more traditional way of training, using rubber ropes to allow them to swim in place. This works pretty well, but Amuro swims so much that she is sent back in the opposite direction. Luckily, Kaname throws Seito into the pool to prevent her from hitting the concrete. While on the way home, Maaya suggests that Kaname let her ask him for anything if she does well in the finals. This makes the rest of the team agree, as many of them come up with their own suggestions.

The time for the competition finally comes, so the team settles into their rooms on location. Mirie is late to getting to the hot springs where the rest of the girls are, and the rival team enters the changing room. Mirie has conflicting thoughts of what to do, as she does not want to be discovered. Finally panicking after hearing them talk so much about the Umisho, Mirie runs out in panic. However, she runs right back in after seeing the boys in the hall. Nanako and the rest of her team arrives to the same springs as the Umisho girls, with Mirie as a captive. Nanako proposes a competition in which the winner is the team that can stay in the hot water the longest. The losers would have to have their under hairs shaved in front of their team. After the Masa and the boys cause the border to fall, the winner is decided to be the Umisho because of Mirie.

The next day at the start of the competition, the swim team does extremely poorly because of the exhaustion from the previous night. Despite her enthusiasm, even Maaya fails to do well. In the locker rooms, Momoka expresses that there is still hope in the next day’s events. However, Maaya despairs at her failure, because he has always done well before. She storms out of the room, so Kaname chases after her. Seito and Masa follow soon after. Kaname eventually finds her, but he stops approaching when he sees that Mirie has found Maaya as well. Maaya is convinced that Mirie doesn’t understand at all, but she begins to cry on her chest. Mirie comforts Maaya, telling her that it is hard for her to fail as well. Maaya regains her composure after this, and reminds Mirie to do her best the next day. The boys are knocked into the distance for watching soon after, with the exception of Kaname.

Preview: The competition continues.

Impression:

This episode was really funny until they cut to the drama portion of the episode. Masa’s suit was ridiculous. It even played music! The competition between the two teams seemed like an excuse to show all of the girls naked for a long period of time, but hey, this is Umisho we’re talking about. I was kind of taken back when they started talking about under hair though. I just didn’t think they’d go there. Makio asks “what about those who don’t have any yet?”. Haha! As I always like to say, a love comedy has to have a hot springs episode, and this one even had the stereotypical “boys falling through the border” situation. I really wasn’t expecting Maaya’s fit to be so dramatic, but her scene with Mirie was pretty nice to watch. I honestly kind of wish that Kaname would have helped her instead. There’s minus one for the childhood friend complex. Even the preview for this episode was funny, with Masa’s over the top dialog. It looks like the climax of the series will be based on the finish of the competition, which isn’t surprising for an anime based on a swimming club. I hope we’ll at least be able to see a bit of closure between Kaname and Amuro though. This is a love comedy after all.

Catching up….it’s time for the festival!

Summary:

Kaname and Amuro make it to the festival with their parents. When Maaya shows up, she starts to believe that Kaname would rather spend time with Amuro because she has bigger boobs. In reality, it is because of all the things she made him go through in the past. Momoko and the other girls also arrive, after Maaya has run off. Maaya finds Makio outside of the events area, and she joins her in a plan to make their boobs bigger. This involves groping each other in the bathroom. The rest of the group gets involved in one of Masa’s schemes again, but Amuro skillfully catches all of the fish in his game stand. This makes him put eels into the tank instead, and this results in a bad situation for Momoko and Mirie. Kaname and Amuro decide to participate in a watermelon eating contest, and they find that Amuro’s father is there as well. After it is announced that the losers will fall into the water below, Kaname panics with the resolution to win.

Mirie makes her way to the bathroom after her eel encounter, but she finds Maaya and Makio in the stall. They convince her to give them the secrets to big breasts, so she gives the story of developing after seeing the underside of a cow. Makio ridiculously suggests that this is image training, and she further convinces Mirie to help them with this. A large light emits as Mirie shows the two her breasts, but Maaya storms out after barely touching them. Kaname almost reaches his limits during the watermelon eating contest, but he uses mental images to keep going. Amuro goes down, and her father eventually does as well. This makes Kaname the winner, but Amuro suggests a rematch once they return home.

While all of this was happening, Seito and two of the other boys were having their own fun at the festival. They make various failing attempts to pick up girls, and eventually run into the members of the rivaling swim team. They are left by the majority of them, but three remain. After watching the fireworks, Seito almost makes a move on one of the girls. However, everyone’s good chances are ruined when the police arrive to take them away for harassing a young girl earlier.

Preview: Masaka no…

Impression:

So I stopped by my house recently to get a lot of the anime I missed because of University limitations. I also got some other stuff, but I’ll save that for another day. As usual, this episode had me laughing all the way through. From Amuro’s odd ball dad to the numerous (and I mean NUMEROUS) boob grabs, it was really hard not to. Seeing Maaya and Mirei together was great. After watching so many love comedies, it’s become pretty easy to see the structure of the episodes. It’s really not different from any other plot structure, except for the build up to a huge punchline. This episode’s climax built up to the “light” in the bathroom. There was a freaking cow at random! How hysterical is that? Oh man, I love this show. The end of the episode was pretty nice with the geek squad finding the girls from the rival swim team. I almost thought things would go well, but humor came to kill off the plot progression as usual. Takeda, that’s a crime you know!

There’s a strawberry panic in my umisho!

Summary:

In the aftermath of the big swimming competition, nobody but Momoko wants to practice seriously. On the way home, Sanae decides to tell Amuro, Makio, and Kaname about how the swim team got started. Momoko had told Sanae that she would like to join a swim team, but the school did not have one at the time. Taking Masa’s idea, they decided to create a club for themselves. At first it was only Sanae and Momoko, but eventually a teacher decided to start helping them. Masa eventually got dragged in as well. The four of them finally proposed to the principle after cleaning up the swimming area, and he agreed. Amuro and Makio wonder what happened to the teacher that helped them start the club, so Sanae decides to tell them if they will keep it a secret. Sanae then tells them about the time that she guessed Momoko had a crush on the teacher. Seeing that she was too hesitant to say so herself, Sanae decided to tell the teacher for Momoko. However, the teacher confessed that he actually liked Sanae. This made Momoko run off in tears, but Sanae chased after her to comfort her. They exclaimed that they did not need men, and started making love to each other. A police officer stopped them, and the teacher eventually left the school.

Momoko catches up to the group sometime later, and Sanae takes the chance to run off. Momoko easily gets the group to spill the beans to her, so she tells them the true story. Sanae actually helped very little in building up the swim club, and the teacher was not the good looking person Sanae described. The teacher became attached to Sanae because of her flirting, and he eventually got kicked out of the school because of harassment. The group eventually walks by a store, where they see Sanae flirting with the clerk so that she will not have to pay. This shows them the true nature of Sanae. On another day, Makio comes up with the suggestion that the swim team should have a home page. With some positive comments, Makio decides to start working on it by herself. Her first attempt isn’t very promising, but after a bit more research, she succeeds in getting the home page quite a number of hits. When Amuro and Kaname inspect further, they find that Makio has altered many pictures to put the swim team members in different cosplay.

Preview: A encounter with some of the members from an opposing team….is there a chance for Seito?

Impression:

This episode was absolutely hilarious. I had to try to keep my laughs down so my dorm mate wouldn’t look at me funny (by the way, it didn’t work). It was easy to see that Sanae’s representation of the story was going to be completely false, but things like her and Momoko kissing were just so random that I couldn’t help but laugh. Typical things like all the crotch kicking also had the episode flowing. Despite being highly altered, Sanae’s story was actually really good. I loved the soundtrack that played in the background, and I still haven’t gotten tired of “Dolphin Jet”. Things like the confession also had me rolling because it was just like all the other romance anime that I’ve watched. I knew that there was going to be more after the credits because of how much time was left, and I wasn’t let down at all by the extra. Makio building a web page was something that I could obviously relate to, and the mistakes she made really had me grabbing my sides. Even better was the modified pictures. Wow, I am still laughing. The next episode is a festival one, and with Umisho being a summer anime, it should be very promising.

Boobs.

Summary:

After Momoko preps the team for the upcoming competition, Masa tells Kaname to meet him sometime that night. This makes him believe that it will be something important, but it is actually a meeting to play mahjong with the boys. While playing they ask Kaname what he likes about Amuro, but he changes the subject by telling them that Mirei is staying at his house along with Amuro. The boys start searching for the girls’ things in the clubroom, and they end up finding one of Mirei’s garter belts. They also find their swimsuits for the competition, and Momoko walks in the next day to find the boys wearing them. While in the dressing room, the girls see Momoko’s rival Nanjo on the other team. She starts boasting about her boobs being bigger than anyone else’s, but Amuro appears to prove that Mirei’s are actually bigger. Once the event starts, members of the Umisho beat out their competition in various ways. Mirei has a particularly surprising win, after being tired from thinking about her lost clothes the night before the competition. Before the final race, Nanjo proposes a penalty game to Momoko for the person who loses. Nanjo is vexed by Amuro’s actions during the race, and taken back when Momoko manages to beat her. Momoko boasts in front of Nanjo while making her play the penalty game, but the bottom of her suit ends up ripping because of the events of the previous night. This causes Nanjo to lose her embarrassment as she takes off her top, and even Masa joins in on the ridiculousness.

Preview: Looks like we’ll see a bit of Momoko’s past among other things.

Impression:

This was a hilarious episode as usual, and the blatant nudity has returned. The boys searching through the girls’ things while in the clubroom was something normal, but it was really creepy when they put on the girls’ swimsuits. Nanjo’s introduction was exactly what I expected it to be, with her “ohohoho” personality. The boob jokes were pretty hilarious too. I mean, Nanjo just went *bump* on Maaya’s cheek. What the heck was that! Haha….bump. The actual swimming competition was fun to watch, but everything was pretty predictable. I remember some of you guys discussing the stereotypical appearance of American characters in these shows with their blonde hair, and that made me laugh in this episode because they also had the chinese type character with black hair. Really, I can’t wait till I actually meet a Japanese person with purple hair. The episode preview suggests that Momoko has not always been the same person she is now, but I’m sure they’ll turn the background story into a joke as usual.

Initial D…..in MY Umisho?

Summary:

Amuro loses one of her hair bands while practicing for the upcoming competition. Seeing that she seems to have lost all of her strength, the swim team believes that she needs it to function properly. The team chases after the hair band all over the school and into the city, but they continue to lose it after various events. After returning to the club, Amuro guesses that her weakness could be the result of the curse her grandmother told her about. The team starts trying to find replacements for Amuro’s hair band, but none of them work. Kaname remembers that the bands were an important gift from Amuro’s grandmother, and after he tells this to everyone they decide to go out again. They try different things this time like distributing flyers and checking inside shops, but this doesn’t do any good either. After meeting, the group sees the band attached to the back of a running train. They chase it to no avail, and even decide to pray for it afterwards. To their surprise, they find the band attached to the Buddah’s head. Everyone stacks on top of each other to reach it, but Amuro quickly retrieves it herself. They see that after she had eaten something, she turned out to be completely fine. Amuro thanks Kaname while walking home with him, and reminds him of the place where they met for the second time. When they return home, Amuro’s dad tells Kaname that the curse Amuro’s grandmother talked about was a lie.

Preview: The big competition starts.

Impression:

I think I actually had to try to make that summary because there wasn’t really much to summarize. The episode could probably be summed up like this: Amuro loses her hair band, and everyone goes out to get it back for her. The majority of the episode was straight up gags based on that. With that said, there were plenty of laugh out loud moments in this episode. The first one was probably Kaname’s “bumping into” Momoko. I also love how Mirie was the only one who was sensible to think that they shouldn’t run out into the city in their swimsuits, yet she is actually the weirdest one of the group. Her purchase in the store was so over the top. The Initial D spoof totally caught me off guard, because I didn’t think this anime was going to be one to do parodies like that. The preview from last week was also extremely misleading because it had me thinking that it was going to be a Maaya centric episode, but she had a total of two short random parts in the entire episode. I doubt the next episode will be the same, because it is clearly about the major swimming competition….and an American on the other team with a huge rack.

Let Maaya show you her Geass powers.

Summary:

After putting the finishing touches on her new home, Amuro leaves for school with Kaname. On the way, she meets a red haired girl, who introduces herself as Nanako Maaya. It turns out that she is an idol, as well as a swimmer. She is also a childhood friend of Kaname. After finding that both she and Maaya wear swim suits under their dresses, Amuro suggests that they swim in the ocean. However, Maaya denies after seeing how big Amuro’s rack is. After going to school, the swim team finds that Maaya is a very fast swimmer. However, she is very full of herself, and even uses her appeal to win over the boys. While the girls are changing afterwards, the boys find Maaya sitting alone outside. Kaname realizes that she does not want to change with the other girls because they have bigger boobs, while Maaya convinces the boys to make her a private changing area in the lower storage room. Amuro drags Makio and Mirei into this room after seeing it, while the boys and Momoko look in shock. Because of the modifications to the room, it ends up collapsing from the pressure. The next time at club, a competition is proposed to see who will be able to change in the remaining room. Mirei races for the girls, while Seito races for the boys. Masa also appears with his own ridiculous proposal. While looking anxiously at who the winner will be, Momoko suddenly sees Ono appear. This is actually a teacher wearing a hat, so he is quickly disposed of. Maaya continues to try having things her way afterwards, but Amuro scolds her. She tells her that everyone should have fun together, but Maaya kicks her into the pool alone when she suggests that they swim together.

Preview: Maaya tries to imitate Amuro.

Impression:

So the word going around is that this show is no good. Apparently it showed a lot of potential in the first episode but didn’t use it. Well, I don’t see what everyone is talking about. The first episode looked to me like the basic set up for a love comedy, and that’s what we’re getting. Anyways, this episode was as funny as ever. A love rival appears! Maaya is certainly an interesting character, being Kaname’s childhood friend, an idol, and a tsundere. She even has Geass powers! Her interaction with Amuro was very fun to watch, but I think the highlight of the episode was the misleading shadows cast by the girls while they were changing. Where did those mushrooms come from!? Oh man, I am still laughing. The random teacher’s appearance was also a laugh out loud moment because it was so unexpected. This is probably one of the first times that I am glad a love rival is appearing in a love comedy. I think Amuro needed a bit of competition, and she looked like she was getting a bit irritated in this episode. The next episode looks very fun as well, with Maaya trying to compete against Amuro and imitating her.

And the show that actually has to do with a swim club ISN’T at the pool this week. Coincidence? I think not.

Summary:

Amuro and her father end up staying at Kaname’s house because of the incident that happened with their house. Soon after being invited in, Amuro asks to use their shower. However, Kaname is shocked when he sees that Amuro is only using the garden hose outside. Amuro quickly runs to Kaname’s room afterwards, and takes some of his clothes to wear. Amuro starts going through Kaname’s things in his room, and he tries to stop her, but he ends up falling on top of her in the process. The situation almost gets pretty heated, until Mirei’s underwear falls on top of Kaname’s head. Kaname’s mother also stops by his room and misinterprets the situation. Becoming annoyed with Amuro, Kaname puts signs on his door and tells her not to come in through it. Kaname has trouble sleeping that night because of what happened with Amuro, and she even shows up in his dreams. Kaname wakes up with Amuro on top of his bed, and she explains that she went through the window since she couldn’t use the door. Amuro has Kaname walk with herself and her father, while her father gathers wood. Amuro pulls Kaname into a temple, where Mirei has hidden herself after hearing them come in. While listening to the two struggle over the offerings, Mirei becomes interested because of her misinterpretation. However, after her shirt becomes undone from leaning over, she runs out in embarrassment.

While walking outside with Amuro, Kaname asks how she can be so carefree after what happened with her house. Amuro says that it couldn’t be helped, and it wasn’t that important to her anyways. What is really important to her lies in the ocean. Kaname meets with Amuro’s father after being separated from her, and he tells Kaname that Amuro lost her grandmother to the ocean. Thinking of Amuro, this makes Kaname run home in search for her. Meeting Makio after finding that Amuro isn’t inside his house, he has her help him look for Amuro. Makio also contacts the rest of the swim club to have them help. While looking for Amuro inside a cave, Kaname imagines that he has seen the same creature he did as a child, but it is only Omo. Kaname finally finds Amuro outside of the cave, and sees that she is crying. After making his way to her, Amuro explains that she only had a stomach ache. When Kaname asks Amuro about her grandmother, she tells him that she isn’t dead. Amuro had only went out to find seaweed to give to Kaname’s family, since they were causing trouble for them by staying at their house. The whole group ends up having a cookout, and Amuro decides to jump into the ocean because of her desire.

Preview: A sly new girl joins the swim club.

Impression:

This episode was hilarious. Thank goodness there was less nudity and more jokes this time. No, that doesn’t mean the episode was completely free of it. It wouldn’t be Umisho if there wasn’t! Amuro staying at Kaname’s house was a typical love comedy situation, but it didn’t exactly go about it in the usual way. We also find out that Kaname’s mother is one of those easy going types. Man, that was way too funny. Even better was Mirei’s misinterpretation in the temple. I mean, how the heck did those three even end up in there? That was hilarious on all kinds of different levels. We started getting a bit of character development towards the end, as Kaname got closer to Amuro again. We did get to see Amuro’s grandmother in a flashback (what’s with the bandages?), but we don’t learn too much more than that. Next week we’ll meet another seemingly cliched character, but I bet she’ll surprise us in some way.

It’s not hentai, I swear.

Summary:

After dealing with some trouble from Amuro in the dressing room, Momoko tells the girls that they will start practicing seriously. Masa also comes in to explain that they will be building their teamwork, causing some panic. After settling in their rooms, Momoko starts trying to get everyone to practice. However, nobody seems to want to, and Momoko is even forced to eat a barbecued mushroom. This makes her lose her senses, and she strips naked despite Kaname’s attempt to stop her. The captain follows her example, and the two start swimming in the nude. Afterwards in the bath, Makio asks Amuro how she has such large breasts, and she tells them that it is because her relatives would rub them. Returning to their room, the girls express their want to refill the refreshments. During the commotion, Mirei takes the chance to head to the bath, because she does not like bathing with others. However, while she is in the bath, the boys enter to have their turn. This makes her hide in the bath under a tub, even though she wants to take a peek at one point. Kaname almost notices her, but luckily there is a blackout which lets her escape.

The boys do not believe Kaname when he tries to tell them that there was someone in the bath, but he finds the underwear that Mirei left behind afterwards. Meanwhile, Amuro has taken Momoko and Makio to her house to find refreshments. To their shock, the house leaves the shore. The boys go to check on them after hearing about this, but they end up just leaving once they see that they cannot help. The girls express their want for food and drink while drifting in the ocean, when Seito appears. He had made his way to Amuro’s house after buying refreshments. Momoko tells him to give them the snacks, but he makes them do something for it. Momoko and Makio start acting like cats at his request, but he is not satisfied with either of them. Amuro almost succeeds, but she gets a bit too into her act. This causes Seito to fall off the house and lose the snacks he was holding. The girls become angry at him afterwards, while a ship finds them. The next day, Kaname and Masa are surprised to see how calm Amuro’s father is about the event.

Preview: Kaname gets in a typical love comedy situation with Amuro.

Impression:

Wow. This show really makes me feel guilty from just watching it. Probably more than 70% of this episode had all the girls either naked or in their underwear. I mean a lot of it was funny, but it just seems like they are throwing fanservice at us at any possible point that they can. As far as the plot goes, well…what plot? They started practicing so that we could see fanservice, they went into the bath so that we could see fanservice, and they got stranded in the ocean so that we could see fanservice. I guess no one is complaining. The next episode looks like it will be giving us some development between the two protagonists, with Kaname getting into a bad situation with Amuro in his room. Oh, and the OP and ED singles came out today as well. I’m loving them!