Usagi Drop – Episode 9

The weather announces a typhoon is coming, which worries Rin, but Daikichi just remarks that they come every year. At school, Kouki is acting up, and the teachers can’t seem to get him to stop. However, after Rin tells him to stop or else he’ll get in trouble, he behaves (amazing both the teachers and the classmates). Rin’s girl friends are afraid that Kouki will start bullying her, but she reassures them he wont. That evening, it starts raining harder, so Daikichi decides to bring Kouki home from daycare along with Rin, where Yukari meets up with them later and they end up having dinner together.

I'd like it if this happened more often...

I'd like it if this happened more often...

Rin appears to be getting into the “boys!” stage a big, especially when Kouki acts up, though it appears like she already successfully has a leash on him given how he behaved after she yelled at him. But she’s still sighing whenever Kouki goes off and does something boyish.

Of course, the typhoon set up the situation where Yukari ended up coming over and having dinner. It seemed like Yukari didn’t really know how to react at the end. I don’t know if that’s because she has a thing for Daikichi and is just trying not to show it, or if she just doesn’t know what she’s feeling (or if she’s somehow jealous that Kouki gets along so well with Daikichi).

In any case, the lull in the DAWWW seems to have only lasted one episode, as this was another good one.  It’s too bad there are only 2 episodes left after this one. I think this show is begging for a 2nd season, at least.

Usagi Drop – Episode 8

It’s approaching Obon, so Daikichi decide that he and Rin should visit Soichi’s grave. Once there, Daikichi notices Masako’s already been there so he runs after her and asks if she wants to look on Rin secretly, which she does. The pair then go to Soichi’s old house, only to find the yard graveled over. At home, Daikichi presents Rin a chocolate cake to celebrate her 7th birthday.  Meanwhile, Masako is taking on even more work so she can try to put everything else out of her mind.

Watching Secretly

Watching Secretly

This was an OK episode I guess. It’s nice to see something like Rin’s birthday and Obon, but there wasn’t particularly anything “new” per se in this episode, except Masako working herself to exhaustion, partly because she’s afraid that her time in the limelight will pass her by as well as to help her forget some of the choices that she probably regrets to get her where she is.

Otherwise, I’m not really sure there was much to say about this episode.

No. 6 – Episode 7

Nezumi asks InuKashi for information about the new wing of the correctional facility, which she does after initially refusing. Meanwhile, a man named Yoming saves Karan from a probable city agent looking for dissenters. In the correctional facility, they are experimenting on Safu, where they find her to be the “perfect sample.” In a clothing store, Shion finds one of Safu’s coats and confronts InuKashi over it, who then confronts Nezumi over the situation. Nezumi and Shion fight the next morning over each hiding things from the other, and then they agree not to hide anything from each other anymore.

Safu: Sorry, you lose

Safu: Sorry, you lose

Well, it finally seems like Nezumi and Shion have come to some understanding to where they won’t hide things from each other anymore, which hopefully means we’ll soon learn why Nezumi is so intent on destroying No. 6 (though he seems to be less intent to, in deference to Shion).

Also, despite their claims of being independent and not trusting, both Nezumi and InuKashi seem much more worried about each other than either of them are willing to admit, and of course the whole situation with Shion is what has ultimately pushed some of this to the surface. Meanwhile, Shion and Nezumi finally share a kiss. Sorry Safu! Shion looks like he may have decided to share his sperm with someone else, heh.

Usagi Drop – Episode 7

Daikichi’s cousin Haruko suddenly shows up, having run away from home, where she lives with her husband and his parents. Apparently she can’t stand any of them anymore so she ran away to Daikichi’s until she figures out what to do next. This is generally a blast for Rin and Reina, though Reina does confess to Rin that her parents are fighting all the time, but she pretends to be asleep.  Daikichi also has a run in with Yukari at the grocery store, which causes Haruko to tease Daikichi over his obvious crush for her. In the end, Haruko decides the best option is to go back home, even though she doesn’t particularly like it.

The adults know that the children are right

The adults know that the children are right

This was like, the greatest episode of anime ever to air in the history of the universe lol. Reina and Rin’s discussion about adult affairs (and right in front of Daikichi and Haruko) was hilarious, with Kouki just piling on top in the way only he can. And then Haruko teasing Daikichi about Yukari just made it even better. I was having a hard time not grinning in amusement through most of this episode.

This episode did display a nice contrast between the troubles of the life of the adults – living with a husband you don’t particularly like as well as trying to raise children on one’s own – with the innocence of the children, who know what’s going on, even if they don’t know why.

Of course, this whole ordeal brought up the issue of Yukari’s divorce again, which we didn’t learn anything new about, but Daikichi just reaffirmed that he’s pretty sensitive to the subject. However, I still have to think that we’re eventually going to find out what happened, either because Yukari needs someone to talk to about it or because Kouki ends up spilling the beans on what happened, though he hasn’t even really done that with Rin yet.  I still think Yukari and Daikichi should get together, but I somehow don’t think Yukari sees Daikichi in that way.

In any case, this show just keeps rolling and rolling and rolling.

Mayo Chiki! – Episode 6

So the school festival comes, and almost immediately, Subaru starts disrupting Kinjiro and Usami’s “date” until finally it pretty much breaks down. Kinjiro and Subaru then go to fight S4′s rival group in their war, which ends up being a quiz contest run by Kanade. The question to win who Subaru’s first kiss was with, which she has to confess is Kinjiro (which surprises him since he was unconscious at the time). Later, Kinjiro finds out that Usami quit S4 and she ends up confessing that she was just lonely and wanted to see what Subaru saw in Kinjiro. In the end, Kinjiro accepts Usami in their group of friends.

Somehow I knew it would come to this

Somehow I knew it would come to this

Not that I didn’t think it was already obvious, but I was pretty much right about Usami just being lonely and having her fake date with Kinjiro not really being about the S4. She ended up not being all that bad of a character, I think, though there is still a bit we don’t really know about her. We’ve gotten several clues that her homelife isn’t great, but we haven’t gotten any real specifics on that yet. However, Kinjiro is now in double-trouble with his girl phobia now. Not only does Kanade want to try to “cure” him of it, but Usami does too, though I seem to doubt that Usami’s methods will be quite as sadistic as Kanade’s.

Subaru, meanwhile, can be pretty jealous as was obvious in this episode, but I wonder how both she and Kinjiro will feel now that Kanade forced her to admit that her first kiss was with Kinjiro, albeit when he was unconscious. One might think that might create a bit of awkardness between the two in the future (though it didn’t seem to at the end of this episode).

Overall, the whole S4 “fight” was a bit silly, but at least it wasn’t too over the top. The quiz show kind of toned downed what was building up to be a pretty silly situation. I guess the quiz was also Kanade’s sadistic event for this episode, though it was actually pretty tame compared to some of the others (though it was still mean to make Subaru confess her first kiss). Hopefully we’ll see a bit less of her and a bit more of Usami in the future, though.