Yoshino can hold quite the grudge…

Well lelangir was busy this week and seeing as how it’s Super Bowl Sunday this weekend I might as well fly solo on this one until next time. The quest for a new soeur for Yumi and Yoshino continues with a tea party that in the end result few concrete results. Yoshino seems to be very particular while Yumi is in no shortage of aspirants. Too bad Touko was a no show. The girl who claimed either one of them will have sufficed was seen off while Yumi is clearly the favorite amongst the first years. Sadly few if any had much of a work ethic and even Sachicko was stirred to anger. The underwhelming showing of the first years was indeed lackluster, hair problems, getting autographs, and running away from washing dishes.

Cue blaxploitation music

O_o

Curse Catholicism its way too tame.

I liked how Eriko, Yuko, and Sei returned if only briefly to try and pick out who was Yoshino’s soeur. Yoshino seems to have had issues with sharing Rei, but now it will be her attention that is divided. The defeat of the Lillian team was sad, but I hardly think that it was worth crying over, there is always next year. There is little point in getting sad, but there is something to be said for getting even. It’s odd but good to see that Kanako and Touko are getting along just fine. Given how Eriko was starting to plot, it seems Yoshino has a lot to learn about manipulation. Even if Yoshino thinks that she got away this time Eriko knows better, seems that Nana-chan while the designated successor of the House Foetida there was the issue of her not being of age. Clearly Eriko has x-ray vision that can see through clothing, among other things…Nonetheless it was quite entertaining to see Yoshino desperately trying to lie her way through the ordeal, a little honesty would have gone a long way but I suppose losing to Eriko was just that undesirable. Still I fail to recall how intimate Eriko and Rei were…this omission needs to be touched upon at a later date.

Still Yoshino at least found some one to BE FRIENDLY with after Rei graduates. It was great to see Eriko back though I never got the sense that Eriko and Yoshino were ever in any serious competition. Next week we have another dayot for Yumi and Sachiko, I wonder what Touko will do form now on though, BE FRIENDLY with Kanako perhaps?

Yoshino frowns up on your shennanigans

Is Sachicko going to have to choke a bitch?

Hi.

LET”S BE FRIENDLY

The Girls are back in town, the Girls are back in town.

Looking for prey…

Eriko like pink…

Oh a “recommendation” eh?

Hello again, Yoshino.

There is no escape.

Deer in the headlights…

Oh ho…Yumi this is what we call an open invitation for a three-some. Do the right thing and make it happen.

Looks like Yoshino has found some one to pick on…

This time, perhaps a general list of key events will provide for a more streamlined, focused discussion.

1. Audition for petite soeur

Crusader: Well if you need to find some one quick it’s not like you have time to be picky. Yoshino herself admitted that her own interactions with the first year class was minimal and almost non-existent, I like how the metaphor of a village without wives was used in reflection of the current gender disparity in some East Asian countries, normally I would have used a village without men considering how WWI left a whole generation of unmarried women all over Europe.

Besides time seems to be of the essence as Noriko is the only attached first year. Shimako had fate, Yumi has her oddball people skills, but Yoshino just stuck to Rei like a remora and retarded the scope of her playing field. I wonder how would Yoshino deal with life after Rei, but since they are neighbors I suppose it’s only going to be a temporary separation at most. Lord forgive me for a dirty thought crossed my mind when concerning a lonely Yoshino stealing to Rei’s room the dead of night. Funny how Noriko thinks it was all a mischievous ploy by Yoshino to apply pressure on Yumi via Sachicko.

lelangir: You could say that the audition is indicative of the girls’ much-too utopian lifestyle. On the one hand, it’s kind of arrogant, but on the other, just playful. I was up for the tea party instead, since it didn’t have much of a “you’d better impress us” feeling.

Crusader: Yoshino is being smart about it. An audition isolates those interested and the most spirited and courageous to put pride on the line. More over it was characteristically aristocratic in the 19th Century Prussian sense. The strategy was offensive, her tactics defensive.

May Sachicko bully Yumi like Haruhi-sama bullied Mikuru.

2. Yumi bumps into Rei

Crusader: Unless Rei gets demoted to a first year Yumi will have to look elsewhere to find her petite soeur.

lelangir: I don’t know what the creators were doing with the weird sense of irony. Yumi was thinking how she was mimicking Sachiko’s actions a year prior, but of course, she didn’t fantastically bump into her petite soeur by chance. Actually, as we’ll see at the end of this episode, the whole “I see yourself in me” trope comes up again, but Yumi’s lack of luck is probably a foreshadowing for the very clear and in-your-face drama we’re going to see.

3. Eriko’s appearance (clothing too?)

As long as it takes you to show up I suppose…

Crusader: Out of the three Eriko is by far the most feminine considering the dress and all, even her method of goading Yoshino was less direct and more subtle. Yoshino kept walking into Eriko’s snare and in the end Yoshino could not back out, that chance was lost the moment Yoshino lied about the whole thing.

One thing that sturck me as rather odd was that, compared to Sei and Yoko, Eriko was wearing darker colors, perhaps to indicate a mild level of malicious intent? Still I suspect that Eriko is aware of how Yoshino just latched on to Rei and wasn’t meeting new people, bringing into question of what will things be like for Yoshino once Rei graduates. It’s rather odd that when the series first started there was already a breech in the line of succession for House Gigantea, and now House Foetida seems to be undergoing a similar crisis in terms of heirs.

lelangir: Eriko as most feminine, hmm, not so sure. You could say she is because her “normal” clothes are remarkably similar to her school uniform, while Youko and Sei had very different garb. I don’t know if “dark color” is stringently linked to “femininity” and thus “malicious intent”, but at any rate Eriko always seemed like the eccentric one. She was into some old paleontologist…

4. Tea party!

Yoshino there is always time to tea…

Crusader: The tea party front was a good idea so that candidates can be studied in something that approximates their natural environment, and interview or audition is much more overtly competitive. Besides having tea is quite civlized as the blokes from Tytania will attest to.

lelangir: Yep. Less intimidating than the audition, IMO.

5. “Ever since middle school, Touko’s wanted to become a Rose.”

Crusader: This is only second hand information really and for now it’s really only hearsay until Touko herself confesses to this. Nonetheless it seems that Touko’s high profile has made her the primary target, that or Kanako is already so tall and intimidating that none of the girls wish to stir the gentle giant.

lelangir: Yeah, the second hand information really paints how Touko is very passive-aggressive, I think: she’s very “none of my business”, but is probably extremely perturbed by these kind of subtle putdowns. All the random classmate’s giddy and non-remorseful impressions of Touko also suggest that this kind of gossip has been going on for quite a while, as I suppose it’s a norm to talk behind Touko The Stoic’s back.

6. Noriko and Touko in the hallway

Touko frowns upon your shenanigans.

lelangir: What is Touko carrying? A paper shredder? Well, Touko let’s Noriko help her, though we didn’t get to see the manner in which Touko accepts her help, which we can speculate would probably be like “fine, I don’t care.”

Crusader: Clearly Touko was disposing of some sensitive documents. Still Touko is rather touchy and in a sense was similar to Sei in that she did not like other people meddling in her affairs. Since every one assumes that it is a given that Touko will go, Touko wishes to do the oppostite if only to suggest that she marches to her own tune and no one else’s.

lelangir: Touko said “and she’s very popular amongst the first-years, it seems,” which sets her apart from the group. Perhaps a sociable person would say “and she’s very popular amongst us.” With the more or less careful detail to the paper shredder, it’s a reinforcing metaphor for Noriko’s help.

7. Shimako and Noriko and the statue

chuuuuu…..

lelangir: WHY AM I SUDDENLY CRYING??? I D…DO….DON’T K..KNOW….

Crusader: Good Lord man pull yourself together, Noriko likes Touko like Shimako likes Yumi and Yoshino. In the grand tradition of Hosaka the want to BE FRIENDLY or something like that.

lelangir: dood I was kinda joking, there’s the “why am I suddenly crying” trope in anime. Icystorm mentions this, and it elicited some brief face palming. I guess it’s just some hyper overdramatizing, unless Japanese Christians actually do randomly cry, then ask outloud why they are crying.

8. Kanako’s deredere

In my heart you two always will be.

lelangir: This part just kinda freaked me out. Kanako is supposed to be this giant, brooding hulk, but now she’s all gokigenyou fufufu like the rest of the matriarchs. Would you call that effective character development? I dunno…I didn’t enjoy the emotional scene last episode, the whole huge-age-gap between stepmom-senpai and Dad ruined it for me.

Crusader: Kanako is getting removed from the line of succession, even if it is a bit abrupt given the time constraints it was good to see that Kanako was finally one step ahead of Touko. Maybe its one of those epiphanies that have become prevalent in literature in the last century in the vein of James Joyce? Still I think all things considered it was time for Kanako to face the music and let how go. Her problems were resolved and maybe holding an infant in her arms awoke some maternal maturity in her. Suffice to say though Kanako has leveled up and can now operate on her own. Perhaps now she can be tall dark and bishoujo now.

lelangir: Though it was relevatory how Kanako initially thought of Yumi as Yuuko, and Kanako was using Yumi as some weird proxy for her problems with Yuuko – the “I wanted to protect you” trope was eye-rolling-inducing.

Crusader: “I wanted to protect you” = LET”S BE FRIENDLY.

lelangir: -_-’

9. Sachiko confronts Touko

She is not amused…

lelangir: As in section 2 of this post, the “mirror of youth” (or however you want to phrase it) appears in Touko via Sachiko. Aren’t they related [it must be familial]? Touko is largely aggressive here and repeatedly misconstrues Sachiko, probably since they’re related they have that unspoken warrant to do so.

Crusader: It seems to me that Touko hates following directives, and what Sachiko said hit close to home. After a certian point Touko just clammed up and didn’t say anything. Moreover the silver lining is that Sachiko is not playing favorites with Touko and since that is the truth it matters little what lies other people come up with. Next time promises to be a real party as Eriko, Yoko, and Sei will be showing up as well as a potential new aspirant in for Hoes Foetida. As to Touko’s fate I am sure it will take some time to simmer and get some more flavor. Also here’s the obligatory funny face image dump.

To make the template easier to follow, this time our collaboration has been formatted as a chat.

Crusader: Well while Sei is keeping her hair short and looking rather masculine it seems that Yoko has stayed largely the same. Sadly Eriko was absent, I wonder what became of her and her eccentric target, but perhaps another time, one thing I kind of don’t like is that we never see much of life after Lilllian though I suppose it prevents the cast from getting BIG and HUGE. As for the young mother scaling the wall…well if she was going to do an urban assault she lacked the upper body strength.

lelangir: Yoko’s appearance was interesting. She was kind of this “dominating” maternal figure when she was at Lilia Gakuen, though now she’s, at least in appearance, the quintessential business lady: trousers, blazer, big purse, dress shirt. It does make one ponder, as you said, about life after highschool. Is her change in appearance not really a change in her personality (because we rarely see the girls out of their uniform), or what else does it signify?

Crusader: I wouldn’t call Yoko a business lady it just seems to be casual dress and nothing too formal, besides she just graduated last year unless she has connections she either in college too or at a low tier position. Gotta love how Sei made the aspiring infiltrator squirm. If I had to make a judgment on what their new civie clothes signify it’s that hey have gone into a new world probably the real world in relation to Lillian. The universal use of pants instead of skirts is probably the real significance if you think about it, most women I see these days don’t wear skirts.

lelangir: But…this is Japan. TvTropes tell us that “[e]ven the author admits that the series should best be seen as a fantasy story. None of the girls even use a mobile phone, even though it’s obviously set in the present.” I was getting a strange 90’s vibe from the clothes. Especially when Sachiko got jeans with Yumi. As for skirts, I guess in the American northeast, as it is fairly cold, I never see pleated skirts. Though the Catholic all-girls school as fantasy vis-a-vis “the real world” makes sense.

Crusader: Actually I went to high school near an all girl’s Catholic school, and an all boys school too. Catholic School Girls are really mean spirited and a few are public school rejects. The rotten bastards think otherwise, but they got the money to hide the fact they got kicked out of public school. Rich Bastards. I digress though, still I like this fantasy the reality sucks. Still how did Yoko come to the conclusion that Yuuko Hosakawa looked like some one she knew? Neon green is a rather hideous color though, they stick out but so does a county jail jump suit.

lelangir: They put a lot of emphasis on Yumi’s squirrelish behavior, and it’s partly her “duty” to balance out the other polarized personalities in the Yamayurikai, like the Twin Drills Tsundere, etc. I don’t know how Yoko drew a deeper connection between Yuuko and Yumi though. Any thoughts?

Crusader: None at the moment, though since Yumi is one of those meddling kids I suppose she shares that much in common with Yoko given how Yoko was into meddling in the affairs of others while she was Queen of Lillian. Despite bieng bigger poor Kanako retreated before Touko, I guess there’s just no fighting fate. Poor Yoshino has to hold the fort while Yumi is out and about, though I guess having Yoshino make a funny face was worth it.

lelangir: This episode did a lot more to subtly establish that Touko takes precedence over Kanako. Kanako was reduced to a “sub-plot” within this episode, she was the focus of the filler, while, despite the brief contact Yumi had with Touko, such contact helped develop Touko’s deredere side. I suspect that Kanako’s relation with Yumi only provides for a memetic “journey to find the true self” as Kanako eases up more and more to others.

Crusader: Lord forgive for some vulgar thoughts had crossed my mind when Yumi had two hotdogs on a stick. Kanako, I suppose find her own way, and stand tall on her own, not that she needs to be any taller. Still maybe someday Kanako will end up being tall, dark, and bishoujo. Lack of fullbody shot of Shimako was a tad disappointing. Though if Yoko is to be believed then Yumi might end up banging a coach and drive Sachiko into a jealous rage. Still for Yumi and Yuuko to be similar it’s bit of stretch. Comparatively I was a bit surprise that Kanako beat out Sei in stature.

lelangir: What surprised me most was that this Yuuko-senpai had a child with Kanako’s father. I have no idea how old Yuuko is, but she looks fairly young; young enough to be hailed as “-senpai”. This is the second time we’ve seen a fairly controversial relationship, the first being Eriko’s love for a weirdo paleontologist. It is perhaps also significant that Kanako was comforted by such a small girl, Yuuko is Yumi’s height, so the appearance there would suggest that Kanako’s stature only emphasizes her small confidence and insecurity. She’s more vulnerable.

Crusader: Yeah it seems Kanako’s dad is living the dream. In terms of age gap Yuuko is is at least one year older possibly two or three years older, but still that’s pretty young given how old Kanako’s dad looks. Hey if nothing else at least Kanako has an awesome step mom. For me age isn’t much of an issue, it’s just that Yuuko was his student after all not to mention his daughter’s friend, but hey they’re happy I hope that is what really matters. Still Sachiko was deliciously duplicitous this time with her half truths, way to wind up Kanako.

lelangir: Sachiko’s playful deviousness did indicate quite well how she was keen not to sake things too seriously. She had the insight to make a mess out of things, but I wonder if her perceptiveness will last until she’s able to make sense out of the ensuing Yumi/Touko drama?

Crusader: Also I just realized that Kanako’s dad was crying too. Reunited and it feels so good, indeed. I am all for a yuri three-some, and I doubt Sachiko is unwilling to share Yumi. Sachiko certainly had mellowed out a bit and I think that she understands how Yumi will need to have a souer once she is gone. Yumi can’t be the last to hold the torch. Was it wrong of me to think for a moment that their crying was coming from the bag? In any case some one needs to shop Sachiko from pointing off into the distance, either Objection or Fleet Engagement will do. BTW I have to ask comrade how much did you enjoy Touko with her hair down or are you only in love with the twin drills?

lelangir: I thought that was a wig lol. She looked weird with the long hair, and the old fat mom dress didn’t help. But on another Yumi/Touko note, there was their short exchange concerning gifts: Yumi gives some food tickets to Touko as a gift, but Touko refuses her generosity, saying there’s no need for such a gift, then Yumi retorts by saying that Touko helped the Yamayurikai with the play and that she would go see Touko’s performance later. When Yumi says she’d watch Touko, we get a slight Touko Facial Contortion, coupled with her forgetting about the gift entirely. Touko is soooo tsundere.

Crusader: You wanted more hopes and dreams I take it? Touko won’t last much longer… I love how Sachiko reaffrimed her onee-sama rights before telling Yumi that it was time for her to find a souer. Still next ep looks like Eriko will be making a return and I wonder how her life has turned out.

Crusader: black text
lelangir: blue text ←[105]

Note: In an effort to remedy the current lack of team work I hope you all don’t mind me conscripting Comrade lelangir for this one, I normally have trouble blogging about non mecha shows and this time it was easier since lelangir is a rabid marimite fan. I thank him for his cooperation and hopefully we can do this again sometime. I hope that the format we used is realtively easy to follow.

So far so good even if the ED is spoilerific as hell I suppose that at least Kanako seems to get a conciliatory prize in the OP. I thought the ED was very trashy, and the song was awesome – awesome wah and cheese synths are awesome. Still the OP was like hey did Yumi just get magical powers or something, must have been a subtle knife or some such. Well Cuchlann said how the new pop OP suited the matriculation well – leave the classical music behind for the seniors, the new girls are in power now. Well at least it will be a bloodless coup I suppose. I also see that we have some minor consistency issues still, but this washed out color pallet seems a bit weird. if memory serves me correct it use to be a bit brighter, might be the sub though. I still see little resemblance between Yuki and Yumi though. They’re using the art style they used in the third season OVAs, which I actually prefer. I suppose so still for a genderbend it’s just not as fun as I was hoping it would be, though pretty much everything is subdued.

Well the cat’s out of the bag already…

Will they finally kiss this year? It’s tradition…

One day Yoshino will be writing fan fics about this…

I thought this episode did a fairly good job of painting Kanako as a ‘tragic’ character. It’s also good because they didn’t have to start from scratch, as they had three previous expository seasons at their base. I would have been more partial to Kanako being petite soeur, but I guess with Touko it’s borderline selfscest. The boys on the other hand, well at least it is still not about them so much. Nevertheless Yuki in Kimono is very much glam band cross dressing. You have to wonder though what kind of parents would name their kid Alice. Oh Alice…I don’t know what to make of him. His presence in the previous seasons wasn’t memorable and he was parodied a bit in the DVD funny specials.

I wasn’t particularly fond of Kanako’s blatant sexism. Besides that, it’s an obvious ploy for later character development, but feels rather contrived. She’s right you know men are scum, I know them very well, hell I am one. Any way since the cat is out of the bag anyway they have to peel her off some how. The only guy in the show I didn’t like was Sachiko’s incestual cousin or whatever. Pretty full of himself, trying to come onto Sei. According to Wiki he’s gay for Yuki…any way the guy is an ass, they ought to trade him for Hosaka. Haha oh lord Hosaka…

She totally ate your lunch dude.

Yuki has a much to learn about the Oyama way.

I fail to see the resemblance as well. Looks like Mako-cakes and Maria will not have to worry about competition here.

What did you think about Touko’s appearances? Liked the (no pun intended) drama? As for myself, well, I always like twin-drill tsunderes. But Touko’s “natural” grace was nicely complemented by Yumi’s internal thoughts, especially when she notes how Touko is a natural liar. So there, they set up a nice contrast between Kanako and Touko. You could say both are introverted, while one is silent, the other is blatantly false. Well I guess Touko wants to be a manly man for Yumi, the Drama Club thing was kind of meh. Still I understand why she felt that she could not show her face there. Touko has a lot of pride.

One interesting thing was how Kanako reacts to Sachiko’s bidding. Of course Sachiko is the big boss around there, and Kanako was acting incredibly submissive, putting on a disgustingly insincere smile. And while Sachiko can easily see through Touko’s masks, could she see through Kanako’s? Practicality trumps pride any day, though you are right Touko is proud to the point of arrogance sometimes. Kanako is a bit harder for Sachiko to read, after all they hardly know each other despite both being tall dark and bishoujo. Still for now they seem similar in some respect, I like that Kanako is at least trying to kill every man she sees.

Some like Rule 63 more than others…

Touko makes funny faces too.

Varying degrees of want?

Honestly though I kind of wanted a “YOU SHALL NOT PASS!” when Yumi confronted Touko. Oh man that scene was LOL. What was Yumi doing? – I was clearly waiting for a bitch slapfest. It’s freaking marimite, a bitch slap is as likely as a colony drop, still I wonder if they are going to do Little Women, after all relatively speaking Touko is rather little. I mean, Yumi’s antics are pretty hyperbolic (and they satire that in the DVD specials too), which is why I enjoy watching her. She’s very moe, I suppose, a quintessential klutz. Touko does at least have the funny face similarity going for her, come to think of it it seems the House of Chinensis is populated with dojikkos of one sort or another, only Yoko wasn’t in the habit of embarrassing herself. Even if Yumi is hyperbolic I suppose that is the mark of a politician, and there does seem to be a Chinensis Dynasty. Yeah, you could call Sachiko hyperbolic in ways, subdued hyperbolism, especially her drama (particularly season one), though Sachiko really seems in control of herself this season, the true mark of maturity, perhaps? – so you can see how we’ve been through three years of students, and this rite of passage theme is always evident. The generational thing is an aspect I do like, in most cases time seems to stand still for other slice of life type shows.

That one’s enthusiastic to say the least.

Would you kindly?

A man chooses, a Yumi obeys…

I wonder if we are going to get Yakk Deculture Touko and Sachiko when they finally visit Yumi in her natural habitat. Well I think Sachiko’s already been exposed and attuned to Yumi’s rather wild-side, especially when they go jeans-hunting in the first season. But I think the Yakk Deculture might come around for either Sachiko or Kanako when they have to confront each other. This will be important because Yumi has to decide between Kanako and Touko, so you’re going to have Sachiko, the grandmother, incur her divine matriarchal intervention somewhere along the line. As if Sachiko is ever going to give up Yumi. Well, I mean that this first episode was a really good exposition in that it clearly established the Kanako/Touko dichotomy. What is left is how Yumi is going to deal with it, therefore setting herself up for some intruiging character development. I have no idea what the solution will be but I doubt it will be orthodox. I suppose though given the preview it will be time to meet some one’s parents, probably Kanako’s. It’s certainly off to a good start, though with a series this venerable I don’t think much will change, not sure if it will draw in any new fans though since it was not beginner friendly and requires the viewer to be privvy to some past events as well. Yeah, one thing I like about this anime is that parents actually exist, however marginally. Overall I think that at least given the spate of parental problems in the stuff I have been watching or at least noticing, it’s nice to see parents that are fairly normal in that they do not intervene heavily into the lives of their children. The Girl That Leapt Through Time also displayed this in a very nice manner, IMO. We rarely see Yumi’s parents, but it was funny when they showed up during the sports fest and there was a whole bunch of irony going on; just a typical “my parents embarass me!” moment. To be honest kids embarrass their parents plenty in return…

In case you missed it.

Nervous eh?

So moe you died?

Because we’re not finished with the school festival, we’ll still see how effective Sachiko’s ploy is – she’s just trying to use dramatic genderbending as a means for extroversion, but it’s backfiring for Kanako. It hasn’t backfired fully yet, and she was sort of agonizing over two tickets, I can already guess who they are meant for though. Hah! – well, I think the genderbending trick can’t go wrong. However it ends, it will produce some sort of drama that leads to character development, though this development – regardless of the drama the path takes – will probaby be the same. Indeed in marimite as much things change many things stay the same, or you could call it two steps forward one step back!

Would you kindly?

I think Touko is very similar to Yumi…

Very similar…