天下制覇

Honestly, I’m surprised that she doesn’t wax.

Impressions:

After Kyouka’s terrible introductory episode last week, I’m very happy that we didn’t get very much of her this week at all. The Kyouka parts of this episode were still the weakest bits by far, but at least there weren’t many of them. Actually, the episode kind of went off in increasingly strange directions as it progressed, particularly with Yamada joining a military squad. I’m pretty sure that was an episode of Comic Party Revolution as well, and since they used the power of sex appeal to defeat the enemy, it’s almost a pity that Yamada didn’t go for hers too. She is pretty hot with an AK at least. The rather metaphor-heavy beginning of the episode was also quite a bit beyond what this show normally goes for. The camera’s normal, sure, but I don’t think I’ll be able to look at sheep in the same way ever again, and this is from somebody who is a fan of a movie where Willy Wonky seduces one.

I wish they had done a little a lot more with the ending bit though. Yamada drags her butt all the way out there, gives Kosuda the usual routine, and then it just sort of stops, as if him finally taking pictures of her is an emotional moment for them. I can see it, particularly with how they’ve shown he thinks about his photos, but they really didn’t sell that scene well at all. It was particularly disappointing because Kosuda spent the entire episode thinking about her, even while all the guys were drooling over the other girls. I think that the only time I’ve ever seen that kind of devotion in a romantic comedy is between siblings. Wouldn’t that be a twist?

Brief Summary:

Yamada is desperately to defeat Kyouka, and Takeshita’s advice is to figure out her good points. With swimming coming up, Yamada’s got her chance barring an unfortunate accident while trimming the drapes. All the boys are drooling over the girls at the pool, but Yamada attracts everybody’s attention, aaaaand gets a ‘male reaction’ (shall we say) out of Kosuda as well. After Kyouka wows everybody with her speed, Yamada challenges her. After a brief pose-off, Yamada pulls the old "Look, a UFO!" trick and tries to cheat her way to victory, but Kyouka wins anyway. Yamada decides on special training to defeat her and ropes in Chika to check out the competition, but it backfires and the two man-eaters become friends immediately.

Later in the summer, Kosuda’s shipped off to the mountains with his family. Yamada’s touched until she learns the Miyono’s there too, so she sets out after them on foot. Eventually she tries hitchhiking and gets picked up by a military squad en route to combat. She becomes the wolf of the battlefield and the only survivor before continuing on and stumbling onto Miyono and Kosuda stargazing. Once Miyono leaves, she assaults Kosuda and is finally calmed when he explains he was taking pictures of the stars. She gets him to start taking pictures of her and throws herself at him the moment he’s distracted by his camera running out of power.

Preview:

School trip.