After the unfunny disaster that Okawari was (no thanks to that useless shota Fuyuki), I wasn’t sure what to expect from Okaeri. But after seeing the OP (freaking YouTube, always deleting videos and rendering old video links useless. Damn you! *ahem*), my high hopes were rekindled. And for the most part, I give Asread credit for going back to the drawing board and putting in the work to try to reclaim Minami-ke’s golden first season glory. It wasn’t perfect, but I thought it was definitely a success, as Okaeri was exponentially funnier and more enjoyable than Okawari.

The Good:

• The Minami brothers, woefully ignored in Okawari, were back and kicking it in Okaeri. This also included arguably the funniest scene of the season, Natsuki’s visit to the Minami sister house.
• Riko/Fujioka/Kana love triangle was back, with some sharp insights from observer Keiko.
• No Fuyuki. Yeah that dude sucked. What the hell were those Okawari writers thinking? In another life, I’m positive that Fuyuki grew up to become either Saji Crossroad or Kururugi Spinzaku.
• The side characters. MK’s always had really solid side characters, like Mako-chan, Fujioka, and Touma, of course. But I was glad to see a little more love spent with Uchida, Hayami, Hitomi (the 5 minutes that she existed for), the Minami Brothers, and my new moe princess, Atsuko.
• Kana-love. Of all the Minami sisters, I think Kana got the most love from the writers this season, which is cool, because she was always my favorite Minami.
• I haven’t mentioned his name yet. Because he doesn’t even need an introduction. Mr. Let’s Be Friendly. Mr. Curry Yousei. The Future Mr. Haruka Minami. Yes, the one and only Hosaka! And while he seemed to be forgotten about in the second half of the show, he stole every scene he was in.
• The writing. Just generally sharper, wittier, snappier than Okawari’s writing. Again, it didn’t quite capture the glory of the first season, but it made a heckuva run at it.

The Bad:

• Well, the art wasn’t… horrendous for a slice of life… and, um… I was glad the two-toned hair was gone… and once in a while, certain characters looked good, but… AGH. Who am I kidding. Maybe my eye has become more discerning, but Okaeri was the absolute fugliest show that I’ve ever seen. I can’t even count how many times I noticed characters with bowed, matchstick-thin legs looking at the screen with fishbowl eyes and misshapen heads. It was awful. I can’t describe it in words enough. If I could give a negative score, I would.
• The cast is getting too large. They introduced Hitomi, then we never saw her again. Later they introduced two more of Kana’s friends, and I assume we’ll never see them again. The Minami uncle had a pretty prominent role in the first couple episodes, then completely disappeared, not even showing up in the final montage. Not enough Atsuko. Not enough non-Natsuki Minami brothers. And an inexcusable absence of Hosaka in the last half of the season. And where the hell was Haruka? This was the second straight season where they shafted Haruka. And this season, not only did they shaft her screentime and character, they butchered her looks.
• The joke-meter’s running low. While I enjoyed all the comedy throughout the season, I think the writers are getting close to running the barrel dry. You can only repeat the same jokes and storylines so many times. A telltale sign is the flanderization of certain characters.

The future?

I enjoyed Okaeri enough to be amenable to a 4th season. But under one condition: someone besides Asread needs to produce it. Not just because of the epically terrible design and animation – although that’s a key reason – but because I think if there’s a 4th season, it needs fresh eyes. Someone who’ll look at all the characters with a new perspective. Someone who can tease out new story angles and jokes. And yeah, fix the broken animation too. Seriously? If Asread didn’t have enough budget to make 13 episodes look reasonable, they should’ve just cut the length in half.

If this was indeed Minami-Ke’s swan song, which I suspect it was, it was definitely a nice rebound from Okawari. Now instead of my last MK memory being filled with bile and cursing towards Fuyuki Crossroad Spinzaku, I’ll remember it fondly as the lovable, enjoyable 3-season slice of life, in which the 2nd season never existed.

                          

Part 1: Say goodbye to Haruka

Who the heck is that girl in the first screenshot and where the heck did the real Haruka go? That looks nothing like her. Argh.

When I clamored for more Haruka screentime, I should’ve specified that consistent character design and familiarity with basic anatomy was a requirement. Every time I see Haruka, it looks like her head has been run through a food processor and her legs are withering away from some exotic disease. Ok, that’s all for my weekly animation complaint feature.

Haruka seems to be down and Kana and Chiaki can’t figure out why. Later, Uchida, who proves that she can be bright at times, notices that Haruka seems down and asks why. Turns out Haruka’s got a cavity, but that’s not why she’s down. Turns out she’s concerned about Kana and Chiaki, because they’ve been secretive and acting strangely lately. Yoshino decides making funny faces… with Uchida’s face will cheer Haruka up. Kana and Chiaki come home to Haruka laughing with Uchida and Yoshino, and Chiaki starts bawling, because she’s afraid Haruka wants new sisters. But Kana keeps the cool-head and drags Chiaki into the face-making fun. Moral? Never cry when you can make a face.

Part 2: Chiaki-Kana-Haruka sandwich. NOM.

Chiaki has a bad dream that Kana disappears and decides to grab hold of her to make sure she doesn’t disappear. Kana complains about the nuisance, but Haruka thinks it’s cute. I wondering if it was a school day, because that would’ve put a damper on Chiaki’s glomping. Later, Kana decides to take a nap, while Chiaki follows, spooning her. Chiaki wakes up to see Kana, hangdogging with the prototypical emo look – hair covering eyes, face covered by shadows. Apparently, she’s had a bad dream about Haruka disappearing. So when Haruka comes home, Kana immediately glomps Haruka and then Chiaki immediately glomp sandwiches Kana.

Like all of the skits in this episode, it wasn’t laugh-out-loud funny, but was still amusing and cute to watch.

Part 3: Dear World, Goodbye. – Love, Kana

It’s Tanabata time, and Uchida and Yoshino offer to take some Tanabata wishes for Kana. Do you get the sense that Chiaki’s friends actually like Kana better than they like Chiaki? Chiaki doesn’t seem like she minds though. Kana then agrees to take Uchida and Yoshino home, but not before getting into a minor tiff with Haruka about buying sweets and groceries on the way home. When she’s late to return, Haruka notices a Tanabata wish that Kana’s left behind, which reads suspiciously like a suicide (or runaway) note. Haruka and Chiaki both freak out and fret – complete with flashbacks of good memories and past episodes – just as they plan to head out to search for Kana, she returns with the groceries, and no sweets, in hand. Turns out it was a big misunderstanding (duh, obviously), and Kana’s Tanabata wish actually consisted of a hidden message.

This wasn’t a bad skit, but for a while it was a little too serious and heavy for Minami-ke. I mean, you knew it wasn’t anything serious, but the scene didn’t really fit the atmosphere of the show. Plus, the secret message punchline was lame, so it felt like a contrived case of forced and unnecessary drama.

We end with a nice montage of the show featuring most of the characters. Even the ones they introduced and promptly forgot (what happened to the uncle though?). And just when I thought they were going to leave us without another Hosaka scene, they brought him back for the final seconds of the show. A nice surprise, even though his part was more sad than funny. Final thoughts to follow…

                          

Round 1: Spring brings out all the bakayaros

Nekko-Chiaki wants to take a nap in the sun, while Kana sends her minions to convince Chiaki to go sleep in her room. Alas, the argument skills of Uchida and even Maki are no match to a well-timed, utter condescending “bakayaro” retort, which means Kana’s gotta go in and do the job herself. But Chiaki stands her ground, vowing not to leave the warm, sunny spot. However, fate intervenes, as Haruka arrives (looking like the beautiful Haruka we’ve come to forget vs. the geometric monstrosity we’ve seen this season) with some sweets in hand, Chiaki finds herself torn. Kana, the Champion of Arguing, pushes just the right buttons, keeping Chiaki pinned, choosing between pride and sweets. But when Chiaki breaks for the sweets, Kana goes for the kill.

Round Winner: Kana

Round 2: Let sleeping girls lie

It’s not just the animation that’s different, but the design style is significantly different as well. Everyone has slightly rounder faces, softer angles, and big rounded eyes. Personally, I really liked the look. It’s different from any of the designs I remember seeing from seasons 1-3, but besides season 1, I think I liked this the best. It just made everyone look cuter, which fits the show well.

Maki’s haunted by an old memory of waking up to her friends laughing at her, and wants to get to the bottom of this. She asks Kana to watch her sleeping face to see if it looks strange in any sort of way. Seeing as how this is a good way to get guys or something, Uchida decides to jump in on the fun too. Neither of these gals have been known for their sparkling intellect, since asking Kana to watch over you while you sleep is like asking the wolf to watch the sheep. Mako-chan meanwhile gets beat up by a girl. Is there special meaning in this? To get beat up by a girl, while pretending to be a girl? To be fair, Maki’s a high schooler, but I couldn’t help think that this was the final step in the transformation of Mako-Chan.

Round Winner: Kana.

Round 3: The Melancholy of Haruka Minami

As a part of the Hosaka brigade, I’m not sure how I feel about Natsuki being the first one in the show to see Haruka with her pants off, figuratively speaking. Especially after brutally punishing Maki. Anyway, we’re back to the crappy animation version, which is a shame, because the latter two segments were funnier than the first two segments. Chiaki accidentally cuts Haruka’s skirt in half, and she and Kana act quickly to cover it up. Obviously, they end up doing a slipshod job and it just so happens that Maki is the one to unravel it all. Lucky for Natsuki, but my mind boggles at how Hosaka would’ve responded.

Round Big Winner: Natsuki

Round 4: Keeping the bakayaros in check

There was something particularly hilarious about Kana freaking out when Chiaki calls her bakayaro, one last time. I mean, I’m cracking up just looking at that screenshot. I couldn’t tell if she was being serious or playing more mind games with Chiaki. Either way, Chiaki goes for it hook, line and sinker, fumbling to find the best possible back-handed apology, before punching out Kana. Kana wonders where Chiaki went wrong and decides that she needs to show Chiaki more love to lead her away from the perilous path she’s walking. This is all very unnerving for Chiaki, as she’s not used to this sort of kindness and justly wonders what Kana’s true plans are. Until it reaches a boiling point in which Chiaki realizes she can no longer find safe haven in her own bedroom, because of the caring monster that Kana has become.

Round Winners: Kana for the freakout. And also Chiaki for her cute response to the freakout.

This was the most Minami sister action we’ve had in a while. Minami-ke’s got a great set of quirky and hilarious supporting characters, but I always love it when they focus on the sisters just being sisters. Now if only they’d let Banchou Haruka in on the fun. She needs some air time man!

                          

Part 1: Practice? You’re doing it all wrong!

Riko’s stressing out like usual, depressed about her inability to get closer to Fujioka in the handful of episodes she’s been in over the past three season. And just when you thought we were going to get the same ole, same ole, Minami-ke introduces a new character. Two actually. Will these two girls get any future airtime? Or will they be forgotten like moe banchou Hitomi? Probably the latter since there’s only two episodes left, but perhaps the producers are prepping for a fourth season? Hmm…

A round of applause, let’s give a warm welcome to Observer Hiroko. Long time fan, first time character. She’s a big fan of the Kana-Riko-Fujioka broken love triangle. She’s tired of watching in the background and wants to step into the picture. And lucky for Riko, she roots for the underdog too. With her sidekick and partner in crime, Yuu – standing in as the doppelganger Fujioka – she gives Riko an opportunity to engage in some confession practice.

Positive reinforcement is key to building up confidence. However, things go terribly wrong when mid-practice, Yuu breaks out of character (or more aptly, breaks into character) and cheerily greets Kana, giving her full attention. Unfortunately, this practice session is too much like reality for Riko to stand, and any hopes for a direct confession probably went out the window. LOL @ Keiko, who’s the true observer in all of this. She’s so clued into all of this, it’s funny seeing her in contrast to all the other clueless parties.

Part 2: Red hot bath time action

It’s always nice to see characters learn from prior experiences. Like when Kana mistakes Riko’s incredulousness, and is just about to probably disinvite everyone, Riko jumps in to stop her and clarify the situation.

Kana decides that true hospitality is warmth. Thus, she has big plans for her study-mate guests. Hospitality – Kana style. Or in other words, a hot bath with red hot peppers. When I saw Kana step in, I immediately wondered whether if it’d be painful. If anime reflects real life, then it looks like it sure does. Kana’s reaction to the hot pepper bath was cute though. Fortunately for her guests, they stuck their nose up at Kana’s hospitality, and chose to take showers instead. Leaving their most loving host to suffer by jalapeno.

So is taking a bath at a friend’s place part of Japanese culture? Is sharing water as well? I’m sort of like Keiko. I hate showering in foreign bathrooms. And hell if I’d share someone else’s bathwater. Although, it did make me think… if sharing a straw is considered a secondhand kiss, what would sharing bathwater be considered?

Part 3: Hot for teacher

I’ll be honest, I did the math in my head. If Keiko got a 100. Kana got a 99, Fujioka got a 98, Riko got a 97, and those two random girls got a 47 and a 46, then the minimum amount of questions on the test (assuming each question was worth 1 point) had to be 100. So? That’s an incredibly long test from my experience. That’s pretty hardcore. I’m rather shocked that Kana got a 99, even with help. I don’t know if they ever alluded to her actual grades before, but I always assumed she was a below-average student. Mostly because she never studies.

The biggest loser here? Riko and her now-dashed sexy sensei dreams. It would be weird if someone with a 98 was being taught by someone with a 97 right? Yeah, Riko, that is true. But as one opportunity is removed, another arises, as she could allow herself to be “tutored” by Fujioka. She doesn’t command the same level of respect, and she couldn’t pull the seductive sensei routine, but she could pull the desperately longing student routine. Alas, she may have to wait for a future season to think that plan through.

Part 4: Ultimate winner… Kana

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and the girls start talking about chocolates and who they could give them to. Meanwhile, Kana just wants to play Othello, except no one seems to want to play. By stroke of genius, she devises a plan to sucker Chiaki into making chocolates using Othello as an analogy. So in the end, Kana plays Othello (or Touma suggests she does, since we never see her do so), and gets chocolates to boot. Ultimate winner? Kana. Ultimate loser? Well, there’s got to be someone right? In this case, Mako-chan takes the bait, as Kana teases Mako-chan about who she’d give the chocolates to. Mako-chan concedes and gives her chocolates to Chiaki. Kana tells her Chiaki all about practice and she should just give the chocolates to anyone within reason.

But what Makoto wasn’t supposed to know was that Chiaki and Mako-chan knew that some of the chocolates fell on the ground. So you’d only give them to someone you really didn’t care about. And who could that be? Oh, I wonder.

General thoughts

This episode lacked the lulz of last episode, and some might consider it more boring, but it felt more Minami-ke-ish to me: more subtle humor, more realistic situations. As much as I liked season 1, the major LOL moments were the Hosaka moments. Otherwise, it was the type of show that’d just make you smile the whole way through, and that’s what I got from this episode. With that said, as the season winds down, it looks like the writers are running out of angles to pursue. Their main angles so far have been the gender-bender stuff and the love triangle stuff. And while you can keep that fresh for a long time. You can only do that if it goes hand-in-hand with some plot/character development, which obviously, Minami-ke isn’t really about.

I do hope one of the last two episodes focuses on Haruka. She’s really gotten the shaft for the past two seasons.

                          

Part 1: Clothes fit for a King

Touma comes in from the rain, soaked from head to toe, and Haruka quickly ushers her to get warm and take a bath. A rare instance of Touma girlishly enjoying the pleasures of life. Chiaki, however, isn’t happy about Touma’s increasingly ungrateful attitude. As punishment, Chiaki refuses to lend her any clothes. This cues a memory for Touma, in which Natsuki – who’s apparently a game otaku – tells Touma that as a man, it’s up to her to pay back both debt and gratitude twofold. This is actually a rare good lesson that Natsuki shares with Touma. But Touma’s mind has been so distorted by her brothers’ piss-poor parenting, she completely screws up the moral of the message.

I found it sort of amusing that Touma refers to herself as “King” and a “man.” I think she could use some quality time with Mako-chan to learn what being a girl is all about. Meanwhile, Fujioka walks in to find Touma – in a towel – fighting with Chiaki about clothes. Finally Touma apologizes sincerely, and Chiaki takes her into her room to “clothe” her, which leaves Fujioka stunned at the turn of events. Meanwhile, Kana figures this is a good a time as any to jump Fujioka’s bones, and forcibly begins stripping him. Cut to OP. I’m convinced that Fujioka will join a monastery one day.

Part 2: Trivial Pursuit, now with scars!

Chiaki freaks out Uchida with some trivia, which leads to Uchida blocking her ears to block out Chiaki. Chiaki goes into emo mode, until Fujioka shows up and she takes shelter behind him. Tellingly, the trivia Chiaki shares with Fujioka is much more benign, some would even say romantic, than the trivia she shared with Uchida. Not much to say about this short skit. It was sort of cute to see Chiaki taking refuge behind Fujioka. You don’t often see her deredere side. And sort of weird to see the two standing side by side like a couple.

Part 3: Deredere Chiaki

I don’t know when Chiaki’s crush on Fujioka started, but it’s very… weird to see her going all love-love over someone. Meanwhile, Fujioka’s a slut who’ll let anyone sit on his lap.

When Uchida comments on how much Chiaki seems to like Fujioka, Touma mentions how Fujioka causes trouble every time he shows up and shares a flashback of when they first met. Touma, thanks to her soccer knowledge, has the captain’s seat, which Chiaki is none too pleased with. Her attempts to pry her away ultimately break down into a fight between the two, which leads Fujioka to break the two up by grabbing Touma by the chest. He then goes on to criticize her for being all chubby around the bosom area. One thinks much misunderstanding could have been averted if she had just told him she was a girl. I mean, why not? But then that would destroy half the material the writers have been working off for the past two seasons.

Part 4: Never take advice from a Minami brother

If there’s one thing that this season has shown, it’s the complete domestication of Chiaki. I’m not sure if season one Chiaki could’ve stood up to Cujo Natsuki, but I’d like to think she wouldn’t have backed down so shamefully.

The other thing this season has shown is, do not take advice from a Minami brother. It never works out well. Either that or Natsuki has been otaku-ing a bit too much with his games these days, because I think he’s now completely out of the Haruka running after this disastrous showing. With that said, I literally caught myself cacklingly loudly everytime he flashed his smile, and the background music followed up with the horror stab, and the screen cut to a horrified Haruka. I was also cracking up everytime he went out of his way to ignore everything Kana said, and growled at Chiaki based on Touma and her brothers’ advice, (although, how does not ignoring Chiaki = growling at her?). All this just to have Haruka tell Touma to go home earlier, as she’s sitting next to them while all this happening. The whole scene was terribly contrived and way over the top, but it didn’t stop me from laughing and anointing it to be one of the two funniest scenes of the season.

One question: when did Natsuki go from stern brother of few words to  complete social failure? Did he always have this in him? Or is he getting flanderized before our eyes?

                          

Part 1: Brought to you by the orange growers of the world

After watching this little skit, and Kana devour those delicious, little orange slices I had a hankering for some oranges myself. Actually, clementines specifically. When Uchida finds Kana and Touma fighting she tries to get Makoto-kun to help out… as if the whimpy, incompetent Clark Kent persona of Makoto could do anything. No, this is a job for… Mako-chan!

It’s pretty funny that he refers to his cross-dressing get-up as a “transformation set.” Yeah, it’s trans- something. I wonder what his parents would think if they happened upon all those girl clothes one day. Would they think he’s growing up a little too quickly? Or that he’s just a confused little boy? In reality, it’s both isn’t it? Anyway, Mako-chan doesn’t solve the fight between Chiaki and Touma, but he and Uchida do stumble onto find who the real enemy is… It’s those damn orange growers.

Part 2: It’s starting to feel like… Smarch.

Like I mentioned, the timing felt out of place for a Christmas-themed episode. I couldn’t quite get into the Christmas mood, even though it is extremely cold and sort of snowy outside. Lousy Smarch weather.

Chiaki comes home having knitted an oversized stocking, but tells Haruka and Kana that she doesn’t care what present Santa brings. Haruka and Kana are skeptical and end up re-gifting (or forward-gifting?) some mittens that Fujioka got all for all of them as presents. And then the skit ends. Yeah, there really wasn’t much to this one. Even Fujioka nervously giving a present to Kana didn’t have a punchline. I AM (HUGO) BOSS lingerie, perhaps? Nah.

Part 3: Another crap gift for Touma

Between crappy birthday gifts and crappy Christmas gifts, no wonder Touma’s all jaded about receiving gifts. This is eventually going to turn her into a girl who’s either really easy or impossible to shop for. When Natsuki forgets to give Touma her Christmas gift because of an intense gaming session, he figures he can skip Christmas, since she’s at the age where she doesn’t need any more gifts. That is until he gets dressed down by banchou Haruka, who apparently helped him pick out a present. I don’t know if Hosaka is aware of this illicit relationship between the two, but I don’t think he’d be pleased.

There were a couple amusing moments in this skit, like when elder Minami brother scolds Natsuki and when Touma just keeled over onto Natsuki during their gaming session (e.g., the *thunk* sound effect), but this was another skit that didn’t really have many legs.

Part 4: HOSAKA IS SANTA!

It’s been a long while since I’ve gotten into a real Christmas-y mood. At least a few Christmases. I think I’d be more apt to get in the mood if there were more Santa-dressed girls in real life. But failing that, Hosaka declaring “I AM SANTA!” would be a close second. I like how Haruka basically turns into Atsuko in all of his fantasies. I’m telling ya, he’s barking up the wrong tree.

                          

YES! Okawari!

Part 1: Atsuko and Yoshino’s Weakness Appeal

“Weakness appeal.” Does such a thing exist in real life? Because I’ve never noticed it. I’d like to think that I’d find it irresistible, but in reality, I’d probably be like the guy that blew Maki off. In fact, I laughed out loud at the part, because I know that’s exactly what I’d say. Have you tried opening a can? You need strong fingernails man. If you want me to open a jar, that’s fine. But opening cans? That’s woman territory there. My fingernails are much too short for effectively opening cans.

Either way, I think I’m in love with Atsuko. Her performance makes me want to take back everything I wrote above, and open every can across the world so she’d never fail again. Whereas Yoshino failed with a cute smile, showing that she’s still got much to learn, Atsuko came in and showed the difference between a master and a child – it’s the blush and effort that’s crucial in displaying weakness appeal. So good was she, that she drew catcalls of witchery from Maki and Kana, who were momentarily spellbound by Atsuko’s helpless moeblob mastery.

Part 2: A wonderful, narcoleptic world

I get Haruka’s friends confused all the time. But I think I got it now. Hayami, loosely rhymes with kitsune, the trickster of the group (plus she’s got those shifty, kitsune eyes). Maki, I always connected her with the scene where Hosaka took off his shirt and hugged a large fish, so she’s easily grossed out. Atsuko was the one that was never around, said anything or did anything. Well now she has two claims to fame. Not only is she the moeblob I’d open all the cans in the world for, she’s the one with breasts that can knock a girl out cold. Touma’s sudden and convenient bout of narcolepsy, the subtle tension from Atsuko realizing that she didn’t know if Touma was a boy or girl, and Kana sensei’s subsequent lesson of the day, had me rolling.

Part 3: Keiko, Riko, Fujioka, Kana = FAIL. Keiko = REDEMPTION WIN!

I felt shades of bored Haruhi when Kana was sitting at her desk, looking out the window, wondering if someone would tell her something interesting. What sort of havoc would the two of them wreak if they got together? Hmm, I wonder…

Anyway, I like how Kana warped Keiko’s mind when she categorically rejected Keiko’s response to her “How can you get a boyfriend?” question. Which then led to a downward spiral of hilarity as Keiko sucks the joy out of Riko’s life, points out Fujioka’s domino fail, and then returns to destroy Kana at her own game. You don’t wanna mess with Kana. Seriously. Even when you’re Kana. A nice moment for Keiko though, considering she typically gets like 3 lines a season.

Part 4: The return of Hosaka

Minami-ke’s too silly to ever develop a love triangle, but if they did… Atsuko x Hosaka x Haruka? Oh man, that could be great. And you could go as far as a pentagon. Atsuko x Hosaka x Haruka x Natsuki x Hitomi. Now that would be epic.

Hosaka spends most of this segment acting normal and looking cool, silently winning Atsuko’s wavering heart (easy to do when Daisuke Ono’s voicing you). Of course, who could resist the curry youkai? But when he overhears Hayami mention that Haruka might join the volleyball team, it sends him into fantasy land. And while it was a pretty tame hallucination by his standards, his “My serve was too powerful” line just cracked me up. But still, Atsuko can’t deny the inherent coolness of the curry youkai.

Well, keep hope Atsuko! Since Asread does such a terrible job animating Haruka, all you need to do is be yourself and get some more airtime and soon Hosaka will see you for your moeblob glory.

                          

Part 1: LET’S BE (trap) FRIENDLY

Makoto can’t get no love as male Makoto, but as soon as he transforms into female Mako-chan, she becomes a shoulder groping, 3-legged race running, sweet nothing whispering, chick magnet machine! And by the end of the scene, all that girl-trap bonding gave Makoto the confidence he needed to grab hold of Chiaki in pure manly fashion, and lead her to the promised land. Of course, she responded by decking him, but it’s that no holds bar, I’m not going to blush about playing tag or sharing utensils, I’m going to grab this girl because I’m a man, and I want to – that’s gonna make Makoto a stud when he hits his teenage years.

Unless his fantasy comes true and he grows boobs – in which case, all bets are off.

There were a couple cute Chiaki moments in this ep. One was seeing unconfident, humble Chiaki worry about being a bother, because she’s bad at sports. It was also nice to see the Mako-chan and Chiaki friendship grow – in contrast to the complete disregard Chiaki has for male Makoto. It’s amazing what a hairpin and some girl clothes can do for you. Oh, if I only knew these tricks of trade in my formative years. Alas.

Part 2: Getting in Mako-chan’s pants

Just in case you were getting a little too comfortable with Mako-chan the trap. This disturbing, but hilarious scene should’ve snapped you back into reality. It’s a minor miracle that bakayaro Makoto has been able competent enough to pull this charade off for so long. Especially, when he’s doing things like going to the bathroom standing without locking the bathroom door. Of course, as Uchida points out, without Kana’s help, Mako-chan probably would’ve been outted long ago. It’s funny Kana doesn’t even flinch when she walks in on Mako taking a leak. Shows what she thinks of him.

Part 3: Getting in Haruka’s pants… or dress

I lol’d at Mako and Kana’s whole, “I’ll quit when someone gets suspicious,” “Isn’t that like saying you’ll quit smoking after you finish these cigarattes” conversation. It’s one of those it’s funny, because it’s true things. And of course, when Maki comes in and comments on Mako-chan’s flatness, he asks Kana for what to do because Maki seemed suspicious. Speaking of which, I don’t know where Maki looks when she’s looking at girls, but she noticed Mako-chan’s anti-bustiness faster than you can say “trap.”

Let it also be noted that Mako-chan got more action in this episode than Fujioka has gotten for the past 3 seasons. Not only did he get snuggly with Chiaki. He had some alone time with Haruka. He received Chiaki’s confession. He got to wear Haruka’s old clothes. And he saw Haruka half nekkid. That’s a helluva lot of (sort of) action in about… oh, twelve minutes of airtime.

Part 4: Getting under Mako-chan’s skirt

Oh, and then in the thirteenth minute, Mako-chan gets a rubdown from Chiaki. Oh man, this was sooo wrong. Hilarious. But soo wrong. I imagine Mako-chan has learned many life lessons from the events of this episode. There should be no situation that he can’t face without being able to protect his trap identity. Clark Kent wishes he received the same training Mako-chan has.

Amidst the ecchiness, the Tanuki stories were actually pretty well placed and interesting anecdotes that fit the scene well. Innuendo included.

Part 5: Couple’s cups for you, me and… are you suggesting something Kana?

The other cute Chiaki moment was seeing her cry after breaking everyone’s mugs (mostly because she broke Haruka’s cup). The Minami sisters then go out shopping for mugs, because I guess they only have one mug for each of them. And somehow they end up all buying the same mug, because Chiaki and Haruka don’t follow their hearts and get the mug of their choice. Well, they decide to try again, and Chiaki and Haruka get the mugs that they originally wanted to get. But having extra mugs is disgraceful, so Kana decides to give the two extra pink mugs away. She gives the first to Touma, who gets really psyched about it. I don’t know, maybe mugs are in short supply in Japan. But it was funny to see her go gaga over a simple pink mug.

Then she gives the last extra mug to Fujioka, who starts to freak out, because he thinks it’s a sign that they’ve gone beyond just being lovers. But like last week, it turns out to be just a big tease. Either that or Kana’s got some kinky things in mind. Because just as he’s marveling on the cup, Touma walks in with the third cup. Either way, I think Fujioka’s head is going to explode sometime soon. It’s time he got some lessons from Mako-chan about the intricacies of the fairer gender.

                          

Part 1: Slice of life brilliance

Between twintail Haruka in a bikini, sea turtle Kana, Fujioka-stealing Chiaki, Fujioka’s “sike” grab of Haruka booty, Fujioka-stealing Fujioka and Kana’s blushing confession, there were just too many wins. You should be able to tell, because there’s 6 screengrabs vs. the usual 4. It was just that hard to cut. The humor part of my brain was a Hosaka fantasy away from exploding from overload. There were also like 4 different stories happening here too. From Kana’s car-sickness, to watermelon love, to the Chiaki/Fujioka oni-san love, the Fujioka bear disappearance, to Kana’s confession save, there was something for everyone. It played out like a slice of life matryoshka doll, little mini-slices of lifes inside a larger slice of life. Say that three times fast. Damn brilliant I must say.

Part 2: The love spoon

Maki, not so smart, but a devious gal. It was great to see her see through Fujioka’s charade of trying to woo Kana with food. And then she totally psyches him out and keeps on hounding him, making him think about whether or not Kana used the spoon he was going to use. He, of course, totally wusses out and instead of glomping down on the spoon for a secondhand kiss with the dishwashing soap and a thirdhand kiss with Kana/Haruka/Chiaki, tries to play it off by challenging Touma to an eating contest.

One of the great things about the side characters is they fill out the Minami-ke universe. The Minami sisters are awesome, but they can be… dense. So it’s up to the others to cut through that denseness and bring the punchlines. I’m so glad that they’re back in force in season 3.

Part 3: “I am no demon.”

It’s been a while. I’d totally forgotten that Mako-chan is still a secret to Chiaki (there’s that classic, lovable Minami denseness). Mako-chan keeps it pretty chill this episode too. And still he has not yet met up with Haruka-sama. Minus points for wearing the same thing he wore last week though. He’s gonna have to try harder if he wants to yuri-trap Haruka’s heart. Best parts of this section was Uchida’s not so brilliant moments. Almost calling Mako-chan, Mako-kun. And being the subject of Chiaki’s wrath. Oh and who could forget Chiaki’s “I am no demon” line. They sort of downplayed this, but that’s as good a line as “let’s be friendly.”

Part 4: Kana don’t give a crap about no Geneva convention!

As Kana and Chiaki reminisce about the summer, soaking in their bathtubs while wearing their school swim suits, Chiaki laments how her summer totally sucked, thanks to Kana’s torture. Watermelon seeds spat at her. Wasabi in her rice (ouch!). Soy sauce flavored shaved ice. All for the sake of Kana’s sick, twisted Shawshank warden-like, fun. Although judging by how often Kana’s head proportions were drawn out of wack during this part, I wonder if she really had as good a summer as she thinks.

But this section was just the Minami sisters at their best – Kana and Chiaki at their best. Sometimes Chiaki wins, sometimes Kana wins. It’s just what siblings do. And it cracked me up seeing the typically banchou-esque Chiaki become the helpless victim to Kana’s antics.

Anyway, like I mentioned at the top, this was Minami-ke at its best. I’m quite amazed that I’m saying that even without a Hosaka showing.

                          

Part 1: Chiaki. Outsmarted.

Chiaki’s apparently not a big fan of the pool because she can’t swim. So she impedes the cleaning efforts by taking control of the hose, rationalizing that “she who controls water, controls the pool. And she who controls the water, controls the cleanup.” I’m not sure that’s the best plan for delaying the pool opening, but whatever. She dares her three dunce friends to think of a way to get the hose from her. Amazingly, they succeed, outsmarting her in the process. Having been intellectually pwned, Chiaki turns to her devil side, and whomps Mako, taking the hose by force. This leads to a funny scene like something out of an eroge, in which Chiaki sprays Uchida and Yoshino with the hose. At first they’re all like “No!!! I’m getting all wet!” then next thing you know, they’re dancing under the water, screaming, “Yes! Soak me like you mean it!”

Part 2: Chiaki’s strange water science

Chiaki continues to ponder her inability to swim and decides the best course of action is to raise her body’s water percentage in order to float. At least, that’s what I gathered. Her logic was so wacked, I’m not sure I followed. Anyway, all that does is give Chiaki a chubby looking tummy, which she decides is best hidden by diversion – a bandaid. On her finger. Another questionable decision. Clearly, no one buys the gambit. But that just leads Yoshino and Uchida to tell her to take it easy and not swim while injured. I guess finger boo-boos can be dangerous maladies. So in the end, Chiaki doesn’t get to go in the pool. And while I think that’s what she would’ve wanted in the first place. She seemed pretty miserable in the heat. So maybe not. Anyway this whole segue was a little too random and unfunny for me. This seemed more like Mako-chan logic than Chiaki logic.

Part 3: The Kana-Riko-Fujioka oblivion triangle is back!

One of my favorite subplots from season 1 that was completely missing from season 2 was the Kana-Riko-Fujioka love triangle that everyone, besides Keiko, was oblivious to (now all they have to do is bring back Sensei and Ninomiya-kun, and they’ll hit a trifecta, with this, and the Minami brothers already in the fold). This may have been my favorite part of the episode, actually, because it was so predictable. Kana invites Riko and Keiko to the pool. Riko then sneakily tries to get Kana to invite Fujioka to the pool. Meanwhile, Fujioka is within earshot, moaning about how he wants to go to the pool. And in the end Kana decides to disinvite them and invite Chiaki’s friends. Classic! Short but sweet.

Part 4: Fujioka’s let’s be friendly time

Isn’t it funny that guys are willing to do things like slap other guys in the butt, but would never do that with girls? Similarly, when the gang plays the most chill game of tag ever, after having pissed off Kana for not playing tag with her, Fujioka decides simply tapping Touma on the shoulder is not good enough and chooses to tag her in some choice spots. If Touma’s ever revealed as a girl, I’m not sure who’s going to be more traumatized by that point, Touma or Fujioka. My bet is on Fujioka. Anyway, this was pretty hilarious. I think the first season director loved Hosaka and Haruka. I think the second season director loved Mako-chan. And it’s clear the third season director loves Touma. I guess that’s one benefit from cycling directors, they all have their own favorites.

Few other thoughts:

Angry Kana was megas kawaii.

Mako is getting better and better at the cross-dressing thing. And Haruka wasn’t even around this time. He’s starting to border on trapalicious. That’s when you know you’ve crossed a line.

No Hosaka. =(