Manabi Straight! – 05
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Summary:
When Manabi comes down with the mumps and has to miss a week of school, Mikan and Mei are left to take care of the student council responsibilities. However, the two girls aren’t very close, and although Mikan wants to talk with Mei, she doesn’t get to as the day passes her by. When Mikan calls Mucchii over the phone to whine, Mucchii suggests getting Momo to help, but that doesn’t help at all because Momo just stands around the room while she’s there. Mikan eventually gets bumped into by a guy checking his phone messages and that inspires her to write a letter to Mei since she can’t verbalize her desire to become friends. It just so happens, however, that Mikan runs into Mei at the store as she’s about to buy the materials to write a letter. Mikan ends up claiming that she’s writing a letter to Manabi, and when she goes home that night, she never gets past writing Mei’s name on the top of the paper.
The next morning, Mikan’s mother shows her a letter with no postmark that, to Mikan’s surprise, is from Mei. In it, Mei writes that Mucchii advised her to write a letter. She knows that she’s not good with talking to people, but it doesn’t mean that she doesn’t want friends. Mei sees Mikan as a kind and cheerful person, and she hopes that they can work their hardest together in the student government. Mikan rushes to school after reading all this and goes straight to see Mei. With the two girls having broken the ice between them, their next challenge comes in the form of the theme for the festival. From what Shimojima tells them, Mei deduces that the teachers who dislike Manabi’s way of doing things need to approve the theme first. After Shimojima leaves, Mikan tells Mei that the two of them can work hard to think of a theme together.
Although initially unsuccessful, the two spend the next several days working hard on the theme. On the night of the deadline, the two girls sneak into school and use the home economics room to cook dinner for themselves. After eating, Mikan gets Mei to lie down on the grassy roof with her, and when she does so, Mei finds herself looking at a clear night sky with a full moon. The two girls then hold hands as they close their eyes under the starry night. The next morning, Manabi returns to school and heads straight for the student council room where Mei and Mikan are asleep together on the couch. On the table is a set of official documents detailing the festival plans, and Manabi loves what she reads. As Mikan explains, she and Mei became friends through all of this, so they decided on a festival theme based on that: From Friends to Close Friends.
Given her past successes, I would have thought Manabi would be the one who came up with the festival theme, but given that she came down with the mumps (a scary sight), Mei and Mikan had to do it. I could really identify with how the two were on the same team, but didn’t really know each other except through Manabi. Seeing them become friends was almost heart-warming, and I really liked how it developed into the festival theme.
On a side note, Hirano Aya speaking English wasn’t great, but it wasn’t that bad either. I think she was talking about a spear…?
February 4, 2007 at 6:28 pmGStrike-
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FTP!! OMFG this anime has so many kawaii lolis :)
February 4, 2007 at 6:39 pmDeadlyrain
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They aren’t lolis. They are in highschool. :( Unfortunately.
February 4, 2007 at 6:45 pmLikkun
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I never know what to expect with this series. But I really enjoyed this episode for some reason.
February 4, 2007 at 6:57 pmOmni
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Likkun, I’ve said it before but it’s worth saying again: a big part of why I enjoy each episode is the music. For this episode, it was the two minute long song they played while Mikan and Mei were working together.
February 4, 2007 at 7:14 pmE_I
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What’s with the 14th pic? Mikan KICK!
Mumps? Isn’t this the future. Didn’t they eradicate that disease a century ago?
Great seeing Mei making friends with Mika. So kawaii!
February 4, 2007 at 7:21 pmNeo Horizon
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@Deadlyrain
Forgive me if I’m wrong about this, but doesn’t “loli” refer to the fact that these girls *look* young? Evangeline from Negima is hundreds of years old and she can be considered a loli, can’t she? (I’m not 100% certain about what I’m saying, so don’t flame me if this is wrong. ^^;;)
Anyway, I’m happy to hear that the music is good in this episode. I haven’t seen episodes 3 or 4 yet, but I really loved how the music was presented in the first two episodes, like the shopping part of episode 2. :D
February 4, 2007 at 7:28 pmname(required)
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@Neo Horizon
“loli” does refer to young girls in her teens; however, the word is often used with sexual fantasies that have to do with these teenager girls.
Anyways, these series are nice but what happened to boys in the future? They don’t go to school? I guess it is an all girls schools but i kinda feel left out because there is no male in the roll. It kinda feels like a Yuri plot were the girls fall in love with their classmate girls.
February 4, 2007 at 8:24 pmLikkun
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Yeah, I agree with you 100% Omin. The music and presentation they use all together bumps up the overall appeal to the show greatly. It’s pretty rare for series like this to take full advantage of music.
February 4, 2007 at 10:38 pmNemo_N
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Momo in a Hazmat Suit… and with holes for her pigtails! LOL
February 4, 2007 at 10:58 pmHudson
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Betty Boop’s Granddaughter?
http://randomc.net/image/Manabi%20Straight!/Manabi%20Straight!%20-%2005%20-%20Large%2002.jpg
February 4, 2007 at 11:08 pmhashihime
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Hilarious again. And touching. Hirano Aya’s English was almost incomprehensible, but her little dramatic grunts and sighs here and there were pure gold. Mei and Mikan learning how to communicate was wonderful. I loved the reflections of the starry sky in Mei’s eyes. Really excellent animation — or at least drawing — as far as I’m concerned. Like KyoAni, there is humor in the details. Mikan’s ineffectual blows to the teacher, ending in her falling over, were great comedy. And when I saw the hazmat suits, I laughed out loud. Also, Fujita Saki did some great voice work.
February 4, 2007 at 11:18 pmSailor Enlil
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E_I:
Apparently Mikan was merely trying to get the teacher’s attention, but he just wouldn’t budge for some reason (read from the animesuki forums where
Show Spoiler ▼
)
Perhaps this is a new variant of the disease, and given how severe it is compared to the original that’s probably the reason for the HazMat suits :)
February 5, 2007 at 1:09 amJS
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The mumps! I’ve had it a few years before!
http://randomc.net/image/Manabi%20Straight!/Manabi%20Straight!%20-%2005%20-%20Large%2012.jpg
This part reminded me of the Fairly Odd Parents joke: Uuuuh, internet?
Very good episode.
February 5, 2007 at 3:41 amWaterfall
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Hi all,
Technically they are jyuu yon sei. If you are puzzled at why they look like that… remember that the EVA kids were that age as well. (ie. they look how they want them to look)
From
Waterfall
February 6, 2007 at 1:15 amtensai_otaku
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MANABI is the daughter of MY DREAMSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!
KAWAIIIIIIII SUGIROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! :lol
February 6, 2007 at 7:55 pmRasmiel
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For a native Japanese, Aya-chan’s English is GREAT. It sounds 184x better than mine when I first came to Canada. Goodness, I almost even understood what she was talking about! And that says hell of a lot! Seriously!
February 21, 2007 at 4:08 amallie_*
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Mei is the embodiment of my awesome.
Mikan is the embodiment of =3.
Here endeth the thesis.