「お稲荷さま。女子高生になる」 (Oinari-sama. Joshikousei ni Naru)
“Oinari-sama. Becomes a Female High School Student”

Episode at a Glance:
Dressed as a student, Kuugen attends the culture festival at Noboru’s school and finds everything there extremely entertaining. After Kou and Tooru go through a haunted house, they meet up with Kuugen again, who managed to get a bunch of free food from the guys at the stands. Gyokuyou, a silver fox (銀狐) deity then shows up looking for Kuugen, and explains that some nearby demon has been amassing a large amount of money for some reason. Willing to split half the profits if she helps out, Gyokuyou asks Kuugen if she’s interested in finding out what that reason is, but she tells him that she prefers her current job instead.

Meanwhile, Noboru is enjoying some tea and scones at Misaki’s class’ cafe, but notices that she’s troubled by something (i.e. what Noboru’s relationship with Kuugen and Kou is). Trying to get on her good side again, he invites her to a band performance by some members of his class. There, they’re not very impressed by Teraoka’s group performance, but when the school idol, Miyabe Momiji, takes the stage, Noboru is captivated by her performance. Misaki, who’s quite concerned about this turn of events, tries to drag Noboru away, but realizes that Momiji is looking Noboru’s way as well.

Elsewhere, Enyu, a horned deity, discusses with her master how now is the time.

 

Next Episode:
「お稲荷さま。電話をかける」 (Oinari-sama. Denwa wo Kakeru)
“Oinari-sama. Makes a Phone Call”

Impressions:
Hmm, is it just me or are the super deformed shots in the preview and during the opening and ending sponsor messages ridiculously cute? 「これってさ、めちゃくちゃかわいいじゃないの?」 The ones in the OP/ED sponsor messages weren’t seen anywhere else in the episode, so I went a bit out of my way to include them for their cuteness factor. ^_^

Regarding the episode itself, watching Kuugen enjoy the culture festival at Noboru’s school was pretty amusing, since she’s like a kid experiencing everything for the first time. She definitely had no shame when she asked Noboru for a piggy-back ride just to get a better look at the balloon animals, much to the frustration and concern of many onlookers. The funniest scene for me was definitely when Kuugen was laughing her ass off at Gyokuyou after Tooru called him “Tama-chan” though. (Short Japanese lesson: The kanji for “Gyoku” is 玉 and can also be read as “Tama”.) I was actually watching this episode on my Cowon D2 on the train today in an attempt to catch up on some blogging, and was on the verge of looking like a retard in front of a lot of timid Japanese people by laughing out loud when I watched that part. Thank goodness that didn’t happen though. -_-;

As for Kou, it was a bit unexpected to see her use the Sakasaen to repel a student in the haunted house, but it appears she doesn’t have too much difficulty using it after all. The silver ring actually disappears into her wrist when it’s not in use, so she basically has it on her all the time.

The biggest unexpected highlight of this episode though had to be Momiji’s performance of the song “Process” at the end of the episode. I’ve listened to quite a few character CDs by Itou Shizuka and am quite fond of her singing voice, which this song simply reaffirmed. (I can just see the Wagaya no Oinari-sama character CDs now. o_O) Given how Momiji made some good eye contact with Noboru, it seems like Misaki may finally have some “official” competition (which she realizes).

The cliffhanger was evidently the introduction of a new deity, one mysterious horned female named Enju, played by the talented (and has worked on hentai anime), Asakawa Yuu. Her master, Inamochi, is undoubtedly the person/demon that Gyokuyou was talking about, as Enju already ran into Tooru at the culture festival. It seems like we might have some true antogonists at this point, but I’m hesitent in jumping to that conclusion too quickly, as Mubyou had me wondering the same thing as well.

Next time, Kuugen tries to make a phone call.

 

Cast:
– Tenko Kuugen (天狐 空幻) / Yukana (ゆかな)
– Kou (コウ) / Hayami Saori (早見 沙織)
– Takagami Noboru (高上 昇) / Mizushima Takahiro (水島 大宙)
– Takagami Tooru (高上 透) / Shimura Yuu (嶋村 侑)
– Sakura Misaki (佐倉 美咲) / Kano Yui (鹿野 優以)
– Miyabe Momiji (宮部 紅葉) / Itou Shizuka (伊藤 静)
– Enju (槐) / Asakawa Yuu (浅川 悠)
– Gyokuyou (玉耀) / Hatano Wataru (羽多野 渉)
– Inamochi (イナモチ) / Hirata Hiroaki (平田 広明)
– Teraoka (寺岡) / Nakano Daiki (中野 大樹)
– Male student (男子生徒) / Fujii Keisuke (藤井 啓輔)
– Male student (男子生徒) / Nakayama Masahiro (山中 真尋)
– Haunted house female customer (お化け屋敷の女性客) / Ishikawa Ayano (石川 綾乃)
– Man disguised as ghost (男が化けているオバケ) / Anzai Ryuuta (安齋 龍太)
– Balloon Out person (バルーンアートの人) / Nagai Takanori (永井 孝則)
– Girl (女の子) / Honda Mariko (本多 真梨子)

15 Comments

  1. Yap, I was laughing at the scene when Yukana was saying “Ta~ma~chan~ … Ta~ma~san~”
    Just a bit of side tracking: base on the novel, Miyabe make her first appearance is at this concert. Prehap due to the popularity of the seiyuu, Itou Shizuka, she was being introduced way earlier. Man, I also want her char CD. Another item in waiting list. Sigh…
    Show Spoiler ▼

    tylon
  2. Keke, I don’t think this show is anyone’s top priority. We can only wait and be paient. 🙁

    My problem with this anime is that it is horribly paced and the comic timing is not maximizing the humor potential. I have not read the manga of this show, but watching this anime reminds me of watching the anime translation of Ranma–the manga is hilarious, but the cheaply-made anime butchers every joke. Still, the story is cute and easy and I feel as forgiving when it comes to this show as Tooru is towards everyone who wants to kill him. Hmm, maybe forgiveness is easier when cutie Mubyou is the offender…:p

    I wish,though, that Kuugen didn’t have a guy form…I’d rather she stay cute and girly… <3 Hopefully, disguising herself as a girl student will make this more of a permanent thing…

    I have found this show a pleasant way to unwind on Sunday nights–hopefully, exams will be over for ss staff and I’ll be able to continue watching this soon, hehe…:D

    The Hand of Guren
  3. Just a hunch but I can’t get rid of that strange feeling that school idol Momiji is the wolf deity Tama-chan, or at least somehow related in some weird sort of way.

    Tom
  4. @Guren
    I doubt one of the main genres of the show is comedy…,thus one wouldn’t expect humor.I’m just thankful there IS any at all.Also,if I remember,Allison to Lillia is also a light novel adaption,and this kind of story telling is kinda expected by comparison.

  5. @Tom

    I think it is inevitable that we should feel this way about Momiji. In the opening credits, you can see see the female form of Tama shortly after you see Momiji introduced; unfortunately, because the faces in this anime are all drawn pretty similarly, I could not tell if the dark haired girl and the silver-haired fox girl were meant to be the same individual. ^_^;

    @God~knows~

    Hello.

    Hehe… 😀 …this page is for “Wagaya no Oinari-sama” and not “Allison & Lillia.” :p

    This show is a cute little comedy that seems to have been heavily influenced by Takahashi Rumiko. I have not checked out “Allison” yet, but from reading the blog posts, I can tell that it is a much more involving, dramatically heavier story with possibly much better production value.

    If you ever get a craving for some comedy that is fluffy light and cute and with supernatural elements, then I would recommend this show. Actually, after typing up a big report last night, I watched all ten static-subbed episodes again early this morning and i realize now that my above negative comments are out of line. The show is not poorly executed as I thought it was after my first viewing. 😀

    The Hand of Guren
  6. @God~knows~

    Oops, have I misunderstood your point. If so, then I apologize. I just noticed that “Wagaya” is originally a light novel title. So, I can not quite tell whether your reference to “Allison” is to support your point about “Wagaya” not being a comedy or whether you were talking mistakenly about “Allison” in a “Wagaya” page.

    I do not know if the original light novels of “Wagaya” is a comedy, but it is hard for me not to see the anime adaptaion as not being a work of comedy. It is a show full of gags, jokes, sly trickery, silly misunderstandings, mischievous impropriety, ditzy characters, and plots that reach silly conclusions. :/

    The Hand of Guren
  7. Kuugen which is the same voice actor as C.C. in Code geass has really a cute voice in this episode, I keep remembering the scene when she dragged Noboru, really cute. Gotta love Sakura’s imagination and her advances.

    X

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