Nagasarete Airantou – 06

On the night of the full moon, an earthquake rumbles throughout the island. About as suspenseful as a Ranma episode, except instead of a panda we have a talking bear. But the girls are just as willing to give it all up to the guy, make no mistake about that…

On this one particular morning, Ikuto is out in the yard swinging a wooden sword, something I used to like doing as a ten year old for pure entertainment purposes. Not for Ikuto – his purpose is of a much more severe nature – besides showing that he’s trying to power himself up on an island of chicks that are stronger than him, it’s also one of those great Nagasarete subtleties, in this case showing Ikuto’s newfound willingness to brandish his wood and swing it around wildly to see what he can nail. Suzu’s wondering what the hell he’s doing and why he has these sexist tendencies such as “guy protects girl,” but that’s when we remember this show is entirely catered to male fantasies and should not be misconstrued as a social commentary on the psychology of Japanese males.

So Ikuto is feeling pretty lame as he’s only able to carry one fruit (looks like a pink cherry, a wished-up dragonball, or Tonkatsu’s overweight faceless cousin), while Suzu is skipping along with three huge ones on her back. Luckily for the guy, the earthquake strikes the island again, which sends Suzu into a panicked frenzy while diving into Ikuto’s arms. Oh Suzu, you’re so great.

To make matters worse (or better?) it seems like the earthquake has drained the island of its endless supply of hot spring water. As a temporary solution to their bathing woes, the girls set up a makeshift bath not unlike the legendary open air hot-pot bath that gave us the Siesta eyeful of a lifetime. Except this time we’re treated to the bare shoulders of the glasses girl that looks like the robo-frankenstein chick in Magical Pokaan. Whoopeeee

The girls call a meeting to discuss solutions – being the humbly ignorant chauvinist pig that he always is at the beginning of each episode, he asks the girls why the hell bathing is so important… isn’t it easier to just wing it and take a quick swim in the ocean? Of course, this is something that even Suzu cannot leave unpunished, as this sparks a soon-contained riot against the only male on the island.

Naturally, Ikuto feels obligated to save all the helpless little bathophiles by seeking out the source of the problem. After some vertical troubles getting to the well (saved by Yukino…), Ikuto finally makes it, only to be joined by Suzu and Rin moments later. Oh well, it’s the thought that counts. Ikuto and Suzu don their spelunking gear and descend down the well as Ikuto catches a glimpse of the best view in a 200 mile radius and pays for it dearly in nose blood.

At the bottom of the dried well, Ikuto and Suzu pull out their shovels and start digging. It gets pretty hot, and being the youthful fountain of testosterone that he is, Ikuto strips off his shirt. Of course, Suzu does the same, but she’s got that mummy-gauze thing covering all the good stuff, which is immensely disappointing to me but nevertheless bleed-inducing for Ikuto. Another earthquake soon strikes, and the bottom of the well drops out from underneath them, as they fall deeper into the dark abyss…

In most cases this would be a bad thing, but let’s consider the circumstances. Ikuto is about to be stuck in an underground cave with no shirt, together with Suzu, who has nothing on but her pleated skirt, some mummy cosplay top, and the proverbial high socks which seem to make anime legs looks so much more alluring. When Kyon was stuck with The Almighty One in that seaside cave, they were cold and soaking wet – IkuSuzu are on the search for some hot springs. There are worse things to do with your time…I dunno, like retardedly swinging a wooden stick in defense of traditional gender roles.

To add insult to injury, Suzu hurt her ankle in the fall, further throwing her status into a whole other realm of moe – uberathletic ninja girl to half naked uberathletic ninja girl complete with the Rei/Shana bandage look to half naked uberathletic ninja girl with bandage look and injured foot, forcing the issue of the piggyback ride and the subsequent “boobs-on-back” sensation that is surely to come.

And sure enough – it never comes. Huh? He soon puts her down and wades into a pool with a big rock in the middle. Seems like the rock is plugging up the source of all the hot water, much like the rock I’ve plugged my bubbling anger at an onsen episode with no Nanoha transformation-level fanservice with in order to properly write this summary. Anyways, Ikuto whacks the rock a couple times to no avail, but some huge brontosaurus looking thing in the water underneath the rock gets pissed off at all the knocking and blows the rock away.

So now they’re getting engulfed by a huge underground tidal wave of scalding hot water – of course, Suzu gets washed away (seemingly intentionally) while Ikuto exercises his now huge nuts ego to save her. He sees the brontosaurus looking thing and gets blasted to the surface in a jet of water. Suzu does some more girly things as Ikuto plays it off like some stud. The episode ends as all order is restored, and the women put back in their rightful place under the protective arm of the man.

Good thing only guys watch this show…right?

Thoughts:
More of the same. I’m still interested. The return to another Suzu episode was a bit unexpected, however – I thought the producers would have went ahead and introduced more of the girls, but I guess they’re trying to space it out while keeping it Suzu-centric the whole way. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Speaking of wrong, though, it feels really weird to have a show of this nature not be overloading on the cheap fanservice, rather choosing to go with those subtle things like the penis mushrooms (well, that wasn’t TOO subtle) or Rin running away from writhing oversized earthworms while holding a huge log. Given the late night air time, and the many many MANY opportunities to easily do so, I would have thought the pantsu-shots and sideboob flashes would be everywhere, but that really isn’t the case. Everything else is there… the cute girls, the idiot guy, even the indoor onsen bath, but it’s as if the producers decided to hold back on the cheap service and go for more of those… “smarter” (?) service bits. I appreciate the effort and for the most part, I think they’re doing a good job, but wow, not having the frequent ecchi stuff kinda makes me miss it. Yeah, I’m a closet anime perv, but then again, so are you!!

-jaalin