A little bit late, but that's only because sushi called. Being full of tempura and unagi, I'm ready to talk about the ecchi-ecchi OreTsuba.
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| I genuinely have no idea who she is. |
So, this episode was entirely narrated by Itami (
finally we see him), and I was extremely pleased. He hasn't overthrown Narita as my favourite male character, but the fact that he was in Narita's domain (with most people mistaking him for Narita) added him some points. In its typical nonsensical way, this episode explained a lot, added some more questions, and solidified the pairing of Itami and Kobato.
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| That long-haired chick was extremely cute this episode... |
The internal meeting of Narita and Itami (the former didn't seem to know the latter; that's surprising) that occurred right before Itami showed up in front of Otori at the end of the last episode was spliced in with the requisite super-ecchi scene at the beginning, back after a short disappearance. (Compared to previous ecchi scenes, this one was pretty tame. The rest of the episode didn't even incorporate very much ecchi, except for the Itami/Kobato fondling at the end. What's going on?)
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| Narita's reputation probably took a beating here... |
One of the things we found out this episode was that Haneda/Chitose/Narita/Itami actually all look the same, with the exception of the "accessories" they choose to wear (including wigs, contact lenses, etc). Otori assisted Itami in "personalizing", since we could clearly saw Narita at the beginning of the episode, and the girls that briefly saw Itami during his cake-throwing shenanigans all saw their respective love interests. That was actually quite interesting, since I was curious how they physically changed. That means that Chitose actually dresses up as Narita before checking out. Of course, the fact that Haneda has always seemed decidedly shorter is a little troublesome, but I think that's just in my head.
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| A public Christmas picnic?! |
So, apparently Itami is the King of Gretagard; I'm only suspicious because it was never mentioned in Haneda's episode. As for what Gretagard is, I'm extra-confused after this episode. Itami seemed to make it sounds as though it's a kingdom from the past, having existed where Japan does now, whereas Haneda constantly being called away made it seem as though it was a parallel world. (He could have been time-traversing; we don't know the power of those sparkles.) Either way, quite a lot of people seem to know about Gretagard (although Otori/Phoenix made it seem like he was just humouring Itami, at times), including Kobato (who clearly knows of the body-sharing going on).
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| The way to win a girl's heart and jump right into the sack! |
I'm a little disturbed on the idea that the body is exactly the same, though only slightly. It seems as though Haneda is somehow
more related to Kobato than Chitose and Narita, although all three of them call themselves "siblings". In that case, Itami (who now shares the same body) fondling her at the end of the episode, although pretty nice to see, was slightly incestuous...utilizing some broad meanings of the word. I'm so confused as to where I stand. Damn OreTsuba, showing me nice pairings that can be questionable...!
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| It's Kobato's real brother! |
We also found out that the kid watching the TV in the surreal magenta world has been Kobato's brother all along. I might be severely biased, but I feel like we found out more things in this episode than during Haneda's ego-bloating stint. At any rate, the body that the male leads are using belongs to Kobato's real brother (Kobato herself being Princess Dove from Gretagard), which makes Itami's fondling of her all the more disturbing. (But, in the end, what's a body, anyway...) We've yet to truly see Kobato's brother, but we now know that 5 people inhabit the body (the brother potentially being #1...).
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| Was he drunk off orange juice, or are snowmen alive in the hot, hot Gretagard...? |
Interestingly enough, this entire episode pointed to a seriously disturbed kid if we choose to assume that all the fantastical talk has been a lie. Kobato's brother, unable to deal with something, retreated into the recesses of his mind, creating personality after personality to live life (Haneda to go to school, Chitose to have a part-time job, and Narita to party at night), after his first personality (Itami) was a little too forcible and incapable of actually living day-to-day. His different personalities, having manifested fully, are also free to love different girls and are aware of each other, protecting not only Kobato but also their host body. The TV, quite obviously, always follows one of the personalities around, allowing for the idea that Kobato's brother is watching from the inside (and the ecchi scenes are a fantasy/dream). Psychologically, it's pretty interesting. Considering this was an eroge, I'm pretty sure this isn't the case, though. There's not enough princesses and moaning in my version.
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| 30-sai...?! |
So, all in all, it was an amusing episode. I'm not taking any of this seriously, because it's not that kind of anime. I like the pacing and I like the way that complex matters (other worlds? body sharing?) are presented in extremely simple terms; then again, the Japanese tend to do that. I'm also enjoying the lack of Haneda; I hope his next appearance is nothing like the previous one, where he was the shy but secretly awesome kid. (I'd prefer he be openly cool, like Narita, instead of "needing to hold back to protect the unassuming, who also happen to bully him; oh, how misguided these children are"). We'll see~
~Aaro
