minami-ke ~okawari~, dangos over flowers

Hayami’s juice, Haruka’s apron, Kana’s brokenness, and wasted potential.

(This screenshot is like an onion. There’s just so many layers, I don’t even know where to start peeling.)

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The last time Hayami paid a visit with “juice,” we had almost sisterly loving, maybe some sexual assault, and an epic Hosaka fantasy that involved Haruka in a dress with a plunging neckline. Needless to say, it’ll be tough to top. This episode of ~Okawari~ just didn’t come close and felt a bit unfinished and like it felt gags waiting to be made on the table.

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At first glance, adding Mako-cakes, Touma, and the rest of the underaged brigade to the juice mix seems like a fantastic idea. I mean, Mako-cakes alone with juice seemed to be a winning proposition under any circumstance (even better if blaxploitation music is involved). So what happened? Hayami’s juice arrives, we don’t get any Haruka fanservice shots, we have Kana escaping Hayami’s grasps, and we have a lot of giggling, sobbing, and sleeping. Basically, they reverted to the Republican Party.

The only semi-bright side was Fuyuki questioning Mako-cakes’ gender as well as Hosaka breaking out his Art of Hosaka philosophies:

1. You’ll get killed if you fight to die.
2. You’ll be despised if you only want to survive.
3. You’ll take rash action if you’re not emotionally unstable.
4. You’ll fall into the enemy’s trap if you aren’t humble.
5. You’ll be unable to fight properly if you worry too much about the citizens.

OH MY KYRIOS! I figured it out! Hosaka is the founder of Celestial Being! It now makes perfect sense to me… Hosaka wasn’t able to ever work up the courage to talk with Haruka, so in a round-about Hosaka way, he decided that nothing is more courageous than stopping wars and conflicts. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like any of the Gundam Meisters are taking his advice.

(Don’t worry. He’s actually frozen near Aeolia and is to be thawed out once technology allows him to get a brain and mack on Haruka… or Haruka’s great-great-great-great-grandchildren.)

Funniest Moments

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Mmm… Haruka is amazing, but Tomoyo looks a lot hawter in her apron. That apron must have shaved two or three sizes off of Haruka’s bust.

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When Hayami makes this kind of face… and we don’t get any interesting juice effects… well… that’s a wasted episode in my book.

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Felt bad for Chiaki getting teased by making a grammatical mistake. It happens to everyone.

(I do chuckle whenever someone posts a comment commenting on one of my spelling errors. On a “desperately needs a life” scale, if having an anime blog is a solid 1 out of 10, then posting spelling errors for that anime blog is a solid -5 out of 10.)

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I see a line of used car salesmen salivating over the chance to sell Uchida anti-rust spray, bear repellent, and extended cup holder warranties.

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Rocking an emo facial distortion… I like I like.

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The first ten minutes of this episode was sub-par for Minami-ke, and then after they decided to do the hanami, there wasn’t a lot of humor generation. I felt like I went to a Cleveland / Golden State game where LeBron only got 19 points, 8 boards, and 4 assists while Baron Davis went 6 for 19.

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After Chiaki saw Kana eating her instant ramen, no jury would have convicted Chiaki if she had bashed Kana’s head in.

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And, finally, from last time

Awaken: I’m starting to get deeply disturbed by Mako cakes. She…I…I mean he is really starting to confuse me and my sexual orientation. Especially with those swimsuits….

Jim Rome this morning had a fantastic rant about a similar topic that I’ve been dying to write about, so I’ll do it now… he spent the first part of his show talking about Ichiro’s swing and the Houston Rockets, so one would expect that his callers and e-mailers would be talking about those topics, right? Nope. A few people kept begging him for his take on the Spitzer sex scandal… but most were after him for the Mary Ann from Giligan’s Island got caught with pot story.

Someone made a comment about Mary Ann’s sexuality, and it pretty soon turned into a discussion about Peppermint Patty’s sexuality. Rome then basically said something like, “Look, Clones, I’m 30 minutes into my nationally syndicated sports talk show, and you have completely derailed it into talking about the sexuality of cartoon characters and puppets. Let me say this one last time– and roll tape on this– cartoon characters and puppets can’t be gay or have any sexuality. Why? BECAUSE THEY’RE CARTOON CHARACTERS!”

See, I think I’m more than qualified to host my own sports talk show. Not only do I watch a lot of NBA and football, I’ve been trained over the years of writing this blog to handle derailments and character sexuality questions. OTL. Now excuse me while I measure myself for a noose, Pink Supervisor-style.

(And if someone would have called in or e-mailed about Mako-cakes, I would have just died of laughter. You would have seen a huge crash on I-880 because I would have lost control of my car from laughing so hard. But it didn’t happen, and I’m still alive and able to make this post.)

Tetsuei:
Dearest Jim Jason,

Damn, Kana’s got a huge ass.

Signed,
J-Lo

You forgot the “More cross-dressing middle schoolers” line, but Tetsuei is at least one reader I know who also tunes into Jim Rome.

huh?: is it possible that hosaka was broken before he ever met a minami?

No, he was broken once he fell in love with Haruka. If always seems to undress more when thinking of her, and most of his plans and plots involve wanting to speak with Haruka. He should just bed and marry Maki, so at least Haruka would show up as a bridesmaid. He’d at least get a picture taken with her.

(I’m still confused as hell about this image. I’m now hoping Minami-ke wins the March Madness tournament just so you guys can start pressuring Sixten into making a Hosaka x Mako-cakes banner with a really, really shocked Darry in the background. At which case, I’ll just retire from anime blogging. I’m not hanging that one up.)

Haesslich: And there goes Kana, imagining Mako-chan as a girl. I’ll bet that, when the time comes and Mako-chan goes under the knife, she’ll be first in line as a potential suitor. No wonder Fujioka can’t get anywhere with her – she’s playing for the other team.

If this were true, she shouldn’t be rejecting Hayami as such. I’d say that Kana’s sexual deviance ceiling might be a stripper, but she’s such a glutton that I think her realistic ceiling is a 300 pound guest on Jerry Springer who flashes a horribly scary boob that needs to be blurred out. Haruka’s sexual deviance ceiling, of course, would be a $80,000 hooker who caters to politicians.

TheBigN: Well, that bikini shot should verify your belief that there’s no trickery down there for Mako-cakes. Or it could still be wishful thinking.

Amazingly, this doesn’t get YTAMR. It’s almost a supply problem. Too much for Minami-ke, not enough for Gundam 00. That is until Tieria fulfills his manifest destiny and starts turning into Tieria-ko.

Internet Jesus: Also, how dare you not put up a picture of Kana molesting that body pillow. Oh, how I wish I was that body pillow…

Another YTAMR runner-up. While Jim Rome gets e-mails about Peppermint Patty, I get e-mails like “What’s your take on the fact that Kallen keeps her Gurren-MKII starter key in the cleavage of her bunny suit?” and “She makes delicious tea… Maria should be your wife! And you should share her with us!”

(Code Geass should just go H and be done with it, much like They Are My Noble Masters. Kallen’s sexual deviance ceiling, though, I think is a high class stripper who has one of those Apple store checkout thingamagigs to charge for lap dances. Maria’s sexual deviance ceiling is whatever I cosplay outfits I can obtain for her. Kuze is my hero in that scenario.)

Another Jason: The fact that Hosaka jumped on Haruka’s obento box without an hint or notice points to him being gar. The fact that Hayami dealt him 2 slaps and a running kick means she is still the most Gar character in the all of creation.

I think female characters have the exact opposite criteria for gar. I could really write a whole 2,000 word post on this subject, but the crux of the matter is that “gar” originated from “gay” as “I’d go gay for Hosaka.” Now, there’s no way a male could go gay for a female, so another female must be the template. In that case, instead of being so manly that even a man couldn’t resist, it would have to be so womanly that even a woman couldn’t resist. In that case, you could argue about going gar for Haruka.

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I’d eat her bento, if you know what I mean.

See, look at the girly bento. Like you wouldn’t go gar for that.

Daniel Hawking: …Is it utterly sad that I would probably get that credit card?

No, it makes you normal. Extremely normal.

Goldenstate WHA?: I think your blog needs more ESPN refrences. Seeing as I sit at home reading it, with sportscenter going in the backround. You need a second writer so you can do a PTI, type post.

I hate PTI. Besides, Jim Rome’s show is entertaining because it’s all him and his listeners. I feel Derailed is the same way.

Xian: Kana, it’s an epic ass… Waiting for that naked. But then again, Hosaka is really gar. There’s the dilemma… Now I’m broken too.

Join the club. At some point, it’ll just be easier to see who isn’t broken. If they still exist.

EvilDevil: this episode did it for me. I will never be the same and i cannot stop thinking of makoto as a ’she’ instead of ‘he’… I was afraid of going to ‘that place’ of no return but I think after seeing that dream sequence is too late… I am starting to think there is a conspiracy to ‘break’ the world…

Yep… these are my readers.

29 Responses to “minami-ke ~okawari~, dangos over flowers”

  1. So Jason, how does your Haruka folder compare to Chiaki’s?

  2. Mmm, depressed Chiaki FTW. It’s sort of sad that her only real passion involves Haruka, instant food, and the internet, though.

  3. hmm i think i was broken a few years ago by shiritori ryushi/ryuko. as was poor tsubasa…

  4. that start-up pic of Touma and Mako-cakes makes me think back to Bible Black in the best and worst of ways. And with that line of thinking, I can and will believe that Mako-cakes is a she. If Kimari-sensei and Imari can have dongs, why can’t Mako-cakes? And I think I just made a new level of brokenness right there…who’s with me?!?

  5. >>>> Amati: It’s sort of sad that her only real passion involves Haruka, instant food, and the internet, though.

    I doubt Chiaki’s the only one.

  6. The fact that Chiaki is an internet fiend who happens to be a DFC and like… way underage probably makes her the target wife for half of the fans of this site.

    YES, Kallen-bunnysuit reference! I need to get that as a poster for my room. And wallpaper for my desktop. Maybe some pillowcases for my bed… The return of Code Geass could NOT come soon enough. When I have to put up with 4 Gundam pilots of questionable-but-not-really sexuality, having just two is a step up. Especially when those two have actual strategies, as opposed to Sumaragi’s “charge in so I can look worried and stand around” tactic (Realizes fully that that was also Euphemia’s tactic).

  7. >>>I’d eat her bento, if you know what I mean.

    please, lets just drop the metaphors and simplify it.

    I’d put my “penis” in her “vagina” if you know what i mean. and i think you do. because if not, god help us all.

  8. >>>I’d eat her bento, if you know what I mean. *end quote*

    I think he’s saying he’d go face to @$$, completely different… ~_~

  9. My first words upon seeing that Danbooru image were’Oh my [expletive deleted] [religious reference]’. The next was ‘where is hayami-senpai? she’s the loli-eshotacon’.

    As for Kana, she may simply not want to be forced into something. Certainly Maki and Haruka don’t get molested by her, and ShizuruHayami-senpai went straight for Kana… twice. Between that, wanting to kiss Chiaki repeatedly, hanging around Chiaki’s female friends, and not seeing Fujioka as dateable.. I think she tripped Hayami-senpai’s gaydar.

  10. What the…
    Kana proved she can be a loving, caring sister? There’s something not right about this…
    I think Haesslich’s onto something here, she definitely wants… something.

    (also, is it bad that I crack up everytime Chiaki hits Kana with Fujioka-kuma? It’s just Kana’s stupidity->bear hit->me having to pause the ep for 15seconds)

  11. Rome is ok in my book, he takes time to talk about MMA, at least if there is a big fight.

  12. It’s gotten to the point where every time they bring out the male Mako-cakes I think “What? Who’s that? …..Oooooooh, right.” He needs to show up at school in a dress in the last ep.

  13. I loved how Fuyuki is reminded of his drunken father beating him up while watching Chiaki’s gang get drunk.

    Yes, I’m betting that Fuyuki will bring the Emo to Okawari with his abusive past and the Minami sisters dredging it back up.

    We probably won’t get a Nice Boat ending, but a Nice Teddy Bear ending at the very least.

  14. Oh, and as an addendum…Kana doing something right by Chiaki for once?

    This…is unpossible.

  15. Not shown here, but happy, wide eyed, smiling Chiaki? Does that qualify as too cute? It may not be blushing Yuki or Kyonko cute (damnit it is spreading), but it is different for Chiaki.

  16. Hmmmm, I dunno Jason, I think there could be another interpretation of GAR where a girl is so manly that other women would hit it just because she is so manly(and where guys would go gay for that character if that character was a guy). An interpretation I’m willing to grant to female characters.

    Unfortuneatly, this opens the door to bishis so girly, you’d hit that regardless which brings up “I don’t care, just shoot me” moments, and that makes Mako-cakes GAR under this interpretation too, and I’m just not willing to agree to that.

    Hooray for double standards!

  17. Kikimaru: That’s because that’s the only time someone named Fujioka ever makes contact with Kana’s lips, or face. The REAL Fujioka only gets kicks to the head, or angry glares from her.

    Itheroko: It’s cute because it shows she’s still a kid (sorta like the Yamada incident last season)… and because she gets to do something other than glare, frown, or go ohime-sama mode. Sorta like how the pool ep showed her with that ‘Fujioka…’ followed by the blushing. Well, until Kana broke the mood…

  18. … and I think I’m officially COMPLETELY broken now. I almost posted the following:

    “The idea of a frozen Hosaka one day defrosting to make out with my grandchildren, or the grandchildren of my sisters-in-law is horribly disturbing. Of course, the fact that I’m saying that suggests I’m in the middle of a Hosaka-class delusion myself. But it’s true – the idea of him defrosting to make moves on one of mine and Haruka’s, or Kana’s, or Chiaki’s kids is disturbing.”

  19. Fujioka’s Takeru-style questioning of Fuyuki… why would you throw that in and not have 5 seconds of awkward silence?
    Two sets of drunk people, no funny scenes of drunk people being drunk. The only action going down here was between the cats. Considering the last drunk episode… season three needs to go back to the original studio
    Fuyuki and the drunks – he should have said “I mustn’t run away” ESPECIALLY if there are father issues at play
    Yet another Hosaka appearance, and he was even finally having a daydream… but we don’t see it? WHY DON’T WE SEE IT? WHY MUST YOU DENY US OUR HOSAKA-DREAMS? YOU KEEP PUTTING HIM IN THE SHOW, HE’S OBVIOUSLY THINKING AWESOME THOUGHTS, BUT YOU AREN’T SHOWING US? WHY? WHY????

  20. What Hoska was thinking was too much for mortal minds.

  21. I changed my mind. It’s a toss-up. Mako-chan or emo facial distortion Kana? Or, hell, should I just get cards from 230489 different companies and go with all of Kana’s distortions?

    Minami-ke: breaking the world by instilling credit card debt!

    …Which means that it’s against the Church, because it breaks one of the “new” seven deadly sins, inflicting poverty.

    …When does the next episode come out?

  22. @ Haesslich: You just did. Congratulations! Here’s your complimentary Mako-chan broom, dustpan, and water bucket.

  23. > I’d eat her bento, if you know what I mean.

    I’d molest that bento too–er, I mean Mako-ca–Chia—Haru…

    Oh, God, I’m broken.

  24. Part of me wishes that Fuyuki had a pair and decided to investigate Mako-cakes only to find…well suffice to say Fuyuki would have been broken for life. The fact that the bastard had the nerve to question the success of Kana’s creation is heresy. It also shows that the bastard is resisting brokeness…

    Either Kana breaks him or Mako-cakes is going to have to go yandere to silence the cowardly punk. Now that Mako-cakes is a aware of the Fuyuki threat to her existence we are going to have so much fun. Yessss…..

  25. Am I so wrong to want to see Fuyuki…. encounter Haruka’s hidden, axe-murderess side? :D Imagine the trauma it’d cause Chiaki…

  26. (Second try…I wrote it better the first time.)

    I think I understand now. Maki is really post time-slip, post op, time traveling Mako-cakes. She’s come back to keep Haruka away from Hosaka until the proper time when their love and ramen will shatter the world, creating the perfect future. If their timing is off Fuyuki will not be broken and never run off with Chiaki, the Touma – Mako Alliance will fall apart forcing Makoto to become Mako-chan forever. With the love making between Hosaka and Haruka, Fuyuki will be broken for Chiaki to remold to her liking, and the Minami antics will continue forcing the T-M Alliance to hold for each other, thus Mako-cakes will not have to become Mako-chan, thus Maki is trying to prevent herself from existing, thus forcing Kana-class paradox, which Kana will solve in her own special way (likely involving more breakage for the readers).

    It all makes sense now……

  27. Ithkero: Damn… I thought I was the only one to get that idea after seeing that Danbooru link. Well, until you started that Fuyuki thing…

  28. I for one would let Hosaka date my great-great-great-great-grandchildren without a thought. Also, 7 episodes back we were asked who’d break Fuyuki right? Who won? I’m not sure anymore…

    More importantly of course, teh sleeping Yoshino is teh adorable.

  29. To answer Fujioka’s question: Hosaka does not feel cold,because Hosaka radiates megawatt GAR. He must remain shirtless for his Haruka.

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