Crystal Tokyo Anime Blog

      This episode begins with Makoto trying to get Chiaki to practice with him for a three legged race that they have to compete in during the upcoming sports festival, but Chiaki doesn’t want to practice with Makoto. So, Makoto goes to visit Kana as Mako-chan to get some advice, Kana tells her that Chiaki hates sports, and when Chiaki walks in she makes the observation that Mako-chan is the same body type as Makoto. Chiaki asks Mako-chan to practice with her, and Kana decides to be the training coach. At first Mako-chan is slightly uncomfortable about the close physical contact with Chiaki but she soon gets into the swing of things.

    So, the next day at school, Chiaki goes to practice with Makoto, and when Makoto tries to be as casual with Chiaki as he was as Mako-chan things don’t go as well for him. Then we see Kana and Uchida talking, Uchida tells Kana that thanks to her Mako-chan doesn’t get exposed, so back at her place she notices Mako-chan and Haruka talking alone. When Mako-chan heads to the bathroom Kana barges in to give him some Tp and to protect his secret identity from Haruka, later Kana tells Uchida that she was able to save Mako-chan again.

      Then in Kana’s class, Riko brags about her new bra and how it makes her breasts look bigger, she also makes a comment about boyfriends and breasts, and this train of thought carries over to a discussion between Kana and Mako-chan about guys and breasts. When Haruka returns home with Maki, Mako-chan gets worried because Maki touched her chest and made a comment about how flat she is. Kana suggests a bra but Mako-chan asks if there’s a way to make her breasts look bigger with out a bra? When Chiaki overhears this she suggest that Mako-chan wear a dress that’s loose up top but tight around the waist. So, Chiaki has Mako-chan try on a dress, and she tells Mako-chan that the dress was Haruka’s and if she wears it she’ll grow like Haruka. While a vision of him looking like Haruka flashes through his mind he has to turn down the offer of the dress, this pisses off Chiaki. She begins to chase Mako-can and they end up in another room with Maki measuring Haruka for a new bra.

     As Kana is watching Mako-chan talking with Chiaki, she makes the observation that he’s really getting into being Mako-chan, and that she senses a friendship growing between Mako-chan and Chiaki, but she’s afraid he’ll get exposed at some point. Soon, Mako-chan spills his drink on herself and Chiaki grabs at her skit saying  thatif it’s not washed it will get sticky, but Mako-chan puts up a fight. Chiaki goes off to get some towels and Kana gets a devious look in her eyes, Mako-chan thinks he’s saved until Chiaki returns with the towel and proceeds to wipe down her crotch area. Then Kana interrupts the wipe down with a Tanuki story that  parallels Mako-chan’s experienceswith the Chiaki.

      Then the next skit starts off with Chiaki breaking the household coffee cups, so the girls have to go buy new ones. Kana picks her cup out pretty quickly, Chiaki spots one with a “Fujioka” bear on it but she thinks it’s too cute and they might make fun out of her. Haruka spots one she wants to buy but Maki tells her “no”, so she picks out another one. When the girls get home they see that they all got the same cup, Chiaki has a problem with this, so they end up going back to the store and getting the cups they really wanted.

      The next day, Kana gives Touma one of the duplicate cups as a gift, then Fujioka shows up and Kana also gives him one of the cups, oh joy. Fujioka thinks that sharing the same type of mug with Kana raises his status with her to at least the level of a lover until he sees that Touma also has the same kind of mug, oh heartbreak. In the end, Kana is disappointed that she picked such a plain mug in comparison to Chiaki and Haruka. Well, that’s all for this episode.

        Well, this episode was very interesting and enjoyable for several reasons. Firstly, Mako-chan is back in full force, it was very funny watching him trying to carry his girl/girl relationship with Chiaki over to a boy/girl relationship with Chiaki. It seem that puberty or should I say a awareness of the existence of the other sex has struck both Makoto and Chiaki. While it was cute watching Makoto’s infatuation with Haruka, it would never happen, but in this episode and in the previous episode close proximity to Chiaki seems to be having a enlightening or should I say a arousing affect on Makoto. Could it be that out little trap is slowly falling for Chiaki? It was also quite amusing watching Makoto having a disconcerting affect on Chiaki, and watching Chiaki blush all up when Makoto put his arm around her for the three legged race was cute.

       It seems that Maki is also having a greater role in the series and at the Minami household, it would seem that she’ll play the role as a foil for Fujioka, and she’ll be used to amp up the sexual tension at the household. I don’t know how common it is in real life, but the way she just went and grabbed Mako-chan chest and made the flat chest comment was very funny, girls does this happen in real life? Well, it will interesting seeing how long Makoto can keep his secert identity as Mako-chan going as he gets into more situations where his maleness might just expose his little ruse. I think that Haruka will find it funny, but Chiaki’s reaction will be very interesting after her initial anger wears off.

      Well, after reviewing several depressing episodes of Clannad ~After Story~, and the ever frustrating White Album I’ve decided to lighten the mood by publishing another post in my cute girl/idol category. This entry will feature the winners of the Seikore Girls  2005 contest (Zenkoku Joshikousei Seifuku Collection) it’s a national contest open to high school girls who get photographed in their school uniforms, swimsuits, and other alluring outfits, then the winners are published in Shueisha’s Weekly Young Jump. Almost all the girls selected as winners go on to have careers as popular gravure idols.

     This post features the winners from the 2005 contest, and the winners where Yuki Terada, Michi Saitou, ? Fakudome, Sayaka Ando, Eri Yukawa, Noriko Kijima, and Erika (?) Noguchi. I’ve included two pics of each girl and several group shots, click on pics to view at full size, enjoy.

     This episode begins with the continuation of Misaki’s tearful phone call to Touya, she explains her situation to him, and his first reaction is to tell her not to do it. But, she tells him that she wants to do this play, so after hearing her tearful plea Touya reluctantly agrees to help her. After the call is over we see Touya making his way to Yuki’s apartment, and we also see Yuki getting ready for Touya’s visit, making tea or coffee for two and so forth. When Touya makes it to Yuki’s building we see him stop and stare because Yayoi’s car is parked in front of the entrance.

      After standing there and watching Yayoi’s car for a while, Touya loses his balls and turns around and walks away. The next day at school, Akira and Touya discuss Misaki’s problems, Akira tells him about her trouble with  Tamaru. A year or two earlier,  Tamaru came on to Misaki but she rejected him, and a professor had to get involved in the situation, now Tamaru is paying Misaki back with trouble. As all this is going on, Yuki continues to practice for her debut, and Rina keeps trying to contact Touya, but he’s busy helping Misaki.

      Then as time passes we get a loop of Rina trying to call Touya but he’s never home, Touya stopping by Yuki’s apartment but she’s always at rehearsal, and Yuki trying to reach Touya with no luck. Then one night we see Rina walking towards Echoes in disguise, but she stops when she sees Yayoi’s car pull up. Inside the cafe, as closing time nears, Yayoi asks Touya what he’s doing later? “I’m going to rock Yuki’s world and keep her awake all night!” As if; Touya had the balls to say that, he actually says, “nothing”. She offers him a ride home, and he tries to refuse, but gives in quickly. As she’s driving him home, she says she knows he hasn’t been seeing Yuki and it must be tough. When the finally arrive in front of his apartment, Yayoi tells him it’s time for his reward, she leans over and starts kissing him, Touya pushes her off him, and he tells her to stop because this is meaningless.

      Yayoi gets a phone call as Touya is leaving her car, and she drives off. When Touya gets to his door he finds Misaki waiting for him, she wants him to look at her costume designs, as Touya is opening his door Misaki collapses from exhaustion. Once inside, Touya makes her some coffee, Misaki notices that Touya’s table is covered with pictures of Yuki. Touya has to leave his apartment to buy some cream, and when he returns he finds Misaki asleep on his bed.

      As Misaki is sleeping, Touya looks over her costume designs making written comments and notes for her use. Touya then gets a phone call from Yuki, and Yuki tells him she’s sorry for falling asleep and leaving the note with Haruka. Then they both sort of apologize for not being able to connect with each other lately, and Yuki has to soon hang the phone up when she sees Yayoi walking towards her.

        After Touya puts the phone down we notice that Misaki was awake and overheard the whole conversation. Inside the recording studio, we see that Yuki has a mini meltdown over her call to Touya, she goes on and one about how she just talked with him and didn’t agree to meet with him, when she realizes how silly she sounded she apologizes to them and asks to continue the session. When Touya awakens he finds that Misaki has left him a note saying thanks for the advise on the designs. Then next day Yuki continues to work on her release, and Touya starts helping Misaki buy the supplies she needs to make her costumes.

       As Touya and Misaki continue their shopping, Yuki is having a very bad time in the recording studio, all her stuff is bad but the director insists that they complete the final session, and when things seem the darkest for Yuki, Rina shows up at the studio. While Touya and Misaki are doing their shopping we see the high school girl from a few episodes back following them around, she makes the incorrect assumption that Misaki is Yuki.

      After Misaki and Touya finish their shopping they head back to school to begin work on making the costumes, but everywhere they go they get turned away; sorry but all the requests have been turned in already, no space available, no equipment available. Well, that’s all for this episode.

        Well, like I said in the title it’s hard writing with clumps of bloody hair in my hands, as I’ve watched the last couple of episodes of White Album my frustration level with this series has risen greatly. All the problems and emo longings that the main characters experience are caused by zero real communication of their feelings towards each other. Touya has no man card or balls, in fact, the only two characters with any balls in this series are both women, Rina-chan and Yayoi. Both those women know what they want  and make no bones about doing whatever it takes to do it.

       In a perverse way I feel that this series would have been better off as ecchi anime with Touya being a dog and taking advantage of Misaki, Haruka, Yayoi, Rina-chan, and the high school girl behind Yuki’s back. And when it seems like all hope is lost for the virginal and pure Yuki, she can have a transformation changing her from a good girl to a bad girl like what happened to Sandy from Grease, then she could replace Rina as the #1 idol at the studio, oh-well, I can only dream. I guess I’ll just have to keep watching White Album in frustration, and a ever decreasing amount of hair on my head.

Good girls go to heaven, but bad girls go everywhere.