「嗚呼、妹よ」 (Aa, Imōto yo!)
“Oh, My Sister!”

This week’s sister theme really allowed for some balance between comedy and character development.

The series once again visits Souta’s despair at not having a cute little sister anymore. At his wit’s end, he desperately asks Popura to be his sister for the day which alienates Inami. Though this isn’t much of a problem for her since she turns a blind eye to it and quickly forgets about his weirdness when Hiroomi gets Souta to call a younger Inami cute (which she records). Inami is pretty obsessed over Souta but it’s nice to see her try so hard. It was funny seeing the staff try to help Souta out. Kyouko’s attempt at shrinking the number of shifts he works was pretty pathetic though.

Looking past all the comedy, what really interested me were all the little hints at Aoi’s life prior to Wagnaria. It would seem like Hiroomi knows more about Aoi than he lets on when he busts out the “kiribana” wordplay to see how she would react. When Hiroomi accurately predicts where Kirio would end up, he asks him about his mother which didn’t leave a very reassuring answer that their mom cares. And judging from Aoi’s reaction to the girl with her mother at the mall, it doesn’t seem that pleasant. It could be that she is just ignored/neglected since her mom is “busy” with work (judging from Aoi’s attempts at getting attention at Wagnaria) or worse. Still it’s odd that she tries to find a “brother” amidst all this because if Kirio really is related, he seems to love her enough to look for her. All she seems to be looking for is someone to pay attention to her.

The way the staff was protecting the people they love from Kirio and Hiroomi’s attempt at sabotaging Kirio’s attempts at seeing Aoi really put the “family” in family restaurant. Not only are the customers families but the staff itself functions as a family as well. Hiroomi’s soft spot for Aoi is interesting since he’s usually sadistic. The sister theme tied the episode together really well and served as a great lead for the latter part of the episode.

* Full-length image: 10

 

Preview

29 Comments

    1. o wow, whats with the ESP from Soma, cause that was some crazy reaction time coming out of him @ various places(at work and in the mall)…
      …and then there’s the plan of his to separate the siblings, it may not be logical, but it’s entertaining overall.

      info600
  1. This was a great episode :3 it was nice to see more of Souma and Yamada as well as get a little more information on the latter’s background. I laughed a lot, as always.
    Yet for some reason, I found myself smiling like an idiot at the part when Satou kicked Kirio away from Yachiyo. I’m just a sucker for their hopeless romance I guess.

    Kiria
  2. What I don’t understand is why Souma is so opposed to allowing Aoi and Kirio to meet. I think he did say something like “Because she’s the most fun to tease” but his actions seem to prove otherwise, with how nice he was to her at the mall…

    Zen
    1. I was also wondering about this. It’s kind of hard to think about what motivates Souma because not much is really known about him. Even with that aside, isn’t Aoi annoying towards Souma? It’s be easier for him to just let them meet…

      Yuumei
    2. I thought it might have something to do with using Kirio to push the Takanashi Inami relations further along, he seems to love the misunderstandings caused by all of it. (me too) The two of them were sort of stuck in a rut as for developing anything but a working relationship but since Kirio is here things are changing…or as Souma would say becoming more “interesting”. If he finds Aoi that might kill his fun. I also consider that Aoi pisses off Satou. He probably thinks that’s funny too.

      Breedo
    3. Here’s an idea, but just an idea. I think it might be so he can keep the “working” family together. Or at least this is what I thought when Aoi mentioned how fun it was to be at the restaurant right after Souma was questioning whether he should just let them meet or not. I thought of Aoi’s comment as giving Souma more confidence in his decision to keep Aoi hidden.

      Pride
  3. something about Aioi.. just doesn’t feel right
    i don’t feel any need to hide her past, let alone consider it for this kind of show.
    but oh well, this week’s episode was great anyway 🙂

    Helvetica Standard
  4. I’m a fanatic of tragedy and depressing stories, they attract me like light attracts those annoying a$s moths that land in your hair and you think it might be a spider or something and your like “WHAT THE F*CK!” out of pure shock. I think something pretty tragic had to have happened for Aoi and her bro to have had such reactions in regards to mentions of a mother or seeing mothers interact with their kid.

    Relic
  5. I love this series, but this is the first episode that irritate me a bit. The joke of Big Bro Yamada nor finding Little Sis Yamada was done too much. It wasn’t very funny from the start and then it went on for minutes. Hopefully next time the two will meet without much trouble.

    bearzerger
    1. Actually, the same with me. The entire time Souma kept Kirio away from Aoi had me completely questioning why. It’s like teasing viewers with a possible revelation behind Aoi, but never actually revealing it. It turned out more irritating than entertaining. Well, I must admit though, Souma is the only character in the series whom I dislike, so definite bias there.

    1. Maybe there was some kind of past conflict the “Yamada” siblings had? Because Aoi seemed to be traumatized when Soma was like, “So, Kiri…” I’m not sure though. Haha ;;

      And I really thought Soma was freaking hilarious in this episode. XD

      rochichan
    2. You guys weren’t really paying much attention. While he was doing it for fun at first, the reason he wouldn’t let them meet is because Aoi doesn’t seem to WANT to go back to her family. And judging by the siblings relationship, there might be some deep issues. For Souma, it would have been much easier to just let them meet, especially since he wasn’t sure he was doing the right thing. But when Aoi started talking about how much fun she’s having at Wagnaria, he decided to keep her hidden. So I don’t know why some people are saying he’s a jerk, since this time he was actually being nice. It would have beem much more fun for him to let them meet and see what will happen, but he chose the harder option.

      DmonHiro
  6. Aoi is my favorite character on the show so I am loving these episodes and can’t wait to see how they wrap it all up. And while Souma makes me laugh I felt more like him trying to keep the two separate was a bit out of character. Maybe the episode just had too much Souma in a main light instead of being more of a “manipulative background” character.

    bijyu
  7. Perhaps behind Souma’s mischievous attempt to prevent Aoi and Kirio from meeting at all costs is his growing attachment to Aoi – the only person (bar Inami the Violent) on which his usual blackmailing could not work. Souma probably doesn’t realize it himself that he didn’t want Aoi to leave so soon.

    So yeah, I now most definitely ship Souma x Aoi more after this episode.

    Kinny Riddle
  8. The way I understood it is that Hiroomi figured it’s better for Aoi if Kirio doesn’t bring her home. He sensed the possibility that she was abandoned by her mother (either because of being unloved or simply neglected), and sort of confirmed it with both Aoi and Kirio. At one point, Hiroomi did contemplate just letting them meet and hoping for the best, but he stuck with the idea that Aoi’s happier with her new “family” at Wagnaria.

    There’s little doubt in my mind that Aoi and Kirio are actually related. “Yamada” is just a fake surname for them both. Why they’re using it may be to hide their parents’ identity. i.e. They might be famous/political people.

    P.S. The first half of this episode was absolutely hilarious.

    1. Lol I just wrote a comment above with a similar prediction, then I scroll down to find you already have it commented. Maybe I should read all the comments before I comment :P.

      Anyways I didn’t think of the bad mother though. Which I should’ve considering the importance placed on her between Aoi looking at the mom, and the brother talking about her.

      Pride
    2. I agree with the possibility that their family is famous in some way or form, or at least have a need to hide their identity quite often. Both Aoi and Kirio instantly thought of Yamada when they felt a need to do so, as if they’ve both been taught to use that surname when necessary.

      Tre
  9. Really good episode. This is a heart-ful comedy – there’s depth to the characters.

    I think Souma knows more about Yamada than he has let on, and now I’m wonder if
    both Yamadas’ names really aren’t Yamada (would it be a surprise that the “Smith”
    joke (i.e., a really common Japanese name so I’m told) is really a troll on the
    audience)?

    I get the feeling, too, that Souma likes her and that’s it more mutual than they
    both admit. The mall trip was kinda a ‘Dutch’ date. Yamada didn’t beg him to buy
    the bear, but he offered to pay the difference (probably most of it, I’d guess).
    She acts differently around him.

    Pretty cool episode. Also, Popura playing his “little” sister was funny and well done.
    I thought it’d be corny, but it was actually pretty good – sweet and humorous .

    mac65
  10. Great episode. Yamada is always a bag of laughs and Popura agreeing to be Takanashi’s sister for a day and the results was also great. Popura’s also grown to be sensitive to Takanashi’s head stroking. Souma’s also a great in providing the laughs.

    Zaku Fan

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