天下制覇

Nothing like a Christmas episode in the middle of July.

Impressions:

I really am loving this show. The joke delivery is some of the best around on the sheer unexpected factor… like when they’re in the extended joke about Sunao being unable to keep his pants up while trying to play the cymbals, ending with him just giving up and smacking the kid in front of him. Plus, the first half was solid quality Guchuko action. And casualwear Kyo. Delicious casualwear Kyo.

Summary:

Autumn gives way to winter, and thus brings us to poor Guchuko sitting under the falling snow, falling off branches  because of snowflakes landing on her nose. She heads up to a play structure to try to attack the snowflakes, but soon loses her temper and starts flailing wildly. Mudou, or whatever his name is, happen to be wandering by and once again receive her wrath.

Potemayo’s not faring too much better in the cold and ends up strapped to Sunao’s back via a scarf. She starts making noises at some older man who feeds her some food and then shares it with Sunao as well. Mikan shows up as Potemayo starts to feel sick from the sweets. It takes about three seconds before Mikan loses herself in a daydream about Christmas with Sunao.

In the gym, everybody is freezing their asses off during the lecture. All the girls run from it to be the first to hug the warm Potemayo, but as soon as she’s squeezed, she vomits all over the poor girl. Kyo is there to save the day with her own basket of sweets. Potemayo is about to be handfed by Kyo, but Guchuko coldcocks her. Instead of getting fed, Kyo scolds her, and then the two… thingies… end up growling at eachother until Mudou butts in to try to feed Potemayo his own sweet.

Kyo has another bag of chocolate truffles though, and Nene hatches her own plan. She tries to get Kyo to handfeed her while glancing over at Guchuko, still fuming on the tree. Nene gets her treat, and Guchuko just looks angrily on.

The class eventually begins decorating the room for a Christmas party and then celebrating, temporarily forgetting their teacher. Once the party starts, the chicken is with Potemayo, eating more chicken meat. Guchuko has vanished from her tree perch though and Potemayo looks sadly out. She takes some food and tries to hold it out to the tree, but ends up falling out the window. The distraction allows the hidden Guchuko to grab some food from under the table.

Once the party is over, everybody is dispersing. Sunao and Potemayo take off, but Kyo and Nene razz Mikan a bit about her plans with Sunao for Christmas Eve. Recall that it’s a romantic holiday for the Japanese.

Later that night, Guchuko is wandering along and finds a trail of chocolate truffles. Not being the brightest of the bunch, she starts following them, to the point of laser-torching a dog that gets in her way. At the end of the truffles is a decorated tree with a pillow, a cake, and a card saying “Merry Christmas.” Kyo waves from her room at Guchuko and tells her that she’ll bring out dinner later. The next morning, Kyo’s mother opens the door to their yard and finds a slaughtered cow.

On Christmas Eve, Mikan is wandering the street alone when she runs into Sunao looking into a window at a Christmas Cake. She takes the chance and offers to eat the cake with him, but the man who was feeding Potemayo earlier in the episode has bought it for them by the time she manages to say anything.

For side B, Sunao and Potemayo are relaxing in front of the TV when suddenly an arm grabs them, takes them to an inn, undresses them and throws them in. It’s Sunao’s father, Moriyama Koudai. He’s quite a bit more energetic than Sunao and immediately begins chasing him around the bath until running headlong into Potemayo.

Outside of the bath, Potemayo is drooling over a menu along with Koudai. They want the best and most expensive things, but Sunao, showing the most emotion ever, orders cheap stuff. Koudai then tries to feed it to Sunao, but Potemayo grabs the food. Another pair of adults come running through… Mikan’s parents… and she takes the chance to introduce herself to Koudai.

Koudai starts telling embarrassing stories about Sunao, like the time he was a cymbalist and his pants fell down. Actual embarrassment and annoyance from Sunao… this is amazing. He made it through wearing a dress fine, but a story about a dog smacking his head when told to ‘shake hands’ makes him ashamed. How strange.

Mikan tries to leave, but Sunao doesn’t want to be left alone with his father, so he grabs her hand, sending her into a New Years fantasy, complete with eggplant and Mt Fuji. He ecstasy eventually causes her to faint.

A little later, Potemayo’s desired hamburger steak has made it, but she’s too stuffed from stealing the food before to manage to eat it. Mikan has recovered, but Koudai runs off to go karaoke with her father. She tells Sunao that she thinks his father is interesting, but Sunao says that he’s just annoying. Mikano just rationalizes it as another thing about Sunao that she likes. Koudai tries to call Sunao up to karaoke with them, and gets slapped around for it.

They finally leave the inn and part ways. Sunao immediately takes off, but Koudai wants to play in the snow. He grabs Sunao and says “Happy New Year” before fixing his jacket and then letting him peacefully head home.