In this episode, Rin shows off her gorgeous rack and her abnormally feminine personality. Naturally, Ikuto sticks his nose into everything and loses more blood.

The episode kicks off with Ikuto walking on Rin, inexplicably naked at the base of a waterfall. Several things are not right about this – first, what’s she doing taking a bath outside, where I’m sure she has a nice house with its own onsen? Second, shouldn’t waterfalls have…cold water? Why the hell is there fog? Third, why is she embarrassed to be walked in on by Ikuto, when the rest of the girls on the island don’t know any better? Fourth, why the hell is there fog?

After his obligatory nosebleed, Ikuto gets non-pervertedly emotional over Rin’s stereotypical “kyaa~” response. Why is Rin the only one who has this reaction? Why is the supposed “dominant male” character the one who acts the most feminine? Enter Mikoto, Rin’s horny younger sister who’s got lesbian incest written not-so-inconspicuously all over her. Having Mikoto, and all the other unknowingly penii-starved girls of the island lust over her brings out her self-consciousness and drags it out to super-sensitive levels; it’s this sort of unique character twist that makes Rin a rather special character.

But no, that’s probably only about 5% of her appeal. The other 95% fall somewhere between an F and G cup.

As per Rin’s invite, Ikuto and Suzu head over to the Rin family grounds to help build a house. Of course, it’s not like the strongest family on the island really needs help cutting down trees for wood, but rather needs help building their family tree with Ikuto’s wood. At this point I’d like to point out that Rin’s mom (Risa) is a flaming hottie. Makes me wonder what Ayane and Machi’s mom is like. Tough choices, Ikuto… it’s a good thing the only girl on the island who would object to polygamy is Suzu. More on this later.

So things start out pretty well, and Ikuto and Rin are getting along quite nicely. This doesn’t sit too well with Mikoto, and she storms over to Suzu to try to get her blood boiling a bit too. She goes on a tirade about how Suzu should claim what’s hers and pollutes her mind with stuff like “love.” But Ikuto loves everybody! No you stupid biotch, not that kind of love. THAT kind of love. Right about now I make up my mind that Suzu’s appeal is wearing off, soon to be replaced by a kunoichi reincarnation of Tamama and his “ano onnaaaaa” jealously shot.

After several incidents of blushed clumsiness with Rin, she runs off to cool herself down at the river, leaving Ikuto to fend for himself against Mikoto’s comically unsubtle sneak attacks. She challenges him to a battle of who can build the fastest – leading to a hilarious montage of higurashi emo facial distortions (thanks Jason) and seed-mode architectural abilities. In no more than 90 seconds of elapsed video time, the foundation, frame, plastering, roofing, and even the paper doors go up.

Picnic time! Rin’s mom keeps bantering Ikuto to get married as Suzu looks on with those earnestly discontent eyes of hers. Oh Suzu.

Thoughts:
I gotta say, this was a pretty good episode, just cuz it was so crazy. Mikoto is one of those completely one-dimensional support characters, but that one dimesion is so insanely awesome that it totally vaults her to the top of my list. Suzu, meanwhile, well… I had fun watching her antics in the first few episodes, but she’s way too predictable by now and it’s starting to get boring. Can anything salvage her now?

Better question – where’s Kobe gonna be playing next season? Go Warriors!

-jaalin

37 Comments

  1. Yeah, they changed the story here and the quality of this chapter went down a little too.
    Also, they skipped the part where Suzu get jealous with a killing intention.

    P.S. T_T : Why anime ever preserve the original story.

    banzemanga
  2. In the second last sentence…O_O is it supposed to be Rin’s mom? Last time i checked Iktou’s mom wasn’t on Airantou…

    mod edit: thanks for the catch, it’s been changed to Rin’s mom

    Kenn
  3. “At this point I’d like to point out that Rin’s mom (Risa) is a flaming hottie. Makes me wonder what Ayane and Machi’s mom is like.”

    Read the manga. You meet everyone’s families. Ayane and Machi’s mom Chizuru is entertaining. Yukino’s mom Kagami is awesome. And I can’t remember a damn thing about Chikage’s mom, as she hasn’t been showcased like the others yet (as far as the translations go.)

    ShonenPunk
  4. Ah, Mikoto actually isn’t Rin’s younger sister; they’re not related. Mikoto just works with their family as something like an “underclassman”–Rin would be sort of like a sempai. I actually haven’t been keeping up with the subs, only watching the raws, but I’ve read the manga and Japanese-fluent people have told me as well.

    Shinova
  5. Actually, Chikage’s mom’s pretty cool. Later on in the story (still unscanslated), she makes quite a few appearances.

    Ask for this particular episode, I’m a little disappointed. I agree, the anime is making Suzu appear boring and predictable. In the manga, especially at this particular arc, it’s starts to show that Suzu’s real feelings for Ikuto is deeper than she realizes.

    Show Spoiler ▼

    Remy
  6. Show Spoiler ▼

    Rinkun
  7. A question for the manga readers: should we expect any plot? Cos although I like the premise and enjoyed the first few episodes, I’m on the verge of dropping it because I’m starting to doubt that the story is going to go anywhere.

    ps: I agree completely with Jaalin about Suzu. Rin seems the only one on the island without massive personality problems.

    panda monium
  8. Plotwise….nope. At least, not to where I’m at, which is Vol 8 of the series. I’m trying to find more at the local bookstore, but they never seem to have them. For the most part, a lot of the manga seems to just be introducing new girls and bulking Ikuto up to be a better male character (IMHO). There are short story arcs here and there, but in terms of an actual overall plot, I don’t see one.

    Remy
  9. Perhaps the waterfall is from the hot springs – a few episodes back, there were a few new outpourings when Suzu and Ikuto escaped the cave. Perhaps one of these flows down to this particular falls…

    I have to say that, although I enjoy the show, the nosebleed thing is getting waaay too old.

    Nerroth
  10. Rinkun:

    Show Spoiler ▼

    Remy, plotwise:

    Show Spoiler ▼

    Shinova
  11. Isn’t fog usually caused when there’s a temperature difference that lets water condense in mid-air? Yes, hot water does this, but, IIRC, cold water does it too, assuming the air around it is warm enough.

    (Although yes, more likely, it’s probably another one of them outdoorsy springs… in my opinion.)

    Show Spoiler ▼

    cbhl
  12. and the answers to the other questions:

    She’s taking a shower in the pool by the waterfall because its cold water and onsens, if im not mistaken, are hot. They live on a tropical island so its only natural to want a cold shower.

    She’s probably embarrassed because she’s always being molested by her sister

    wonton
  13. @wonton
    Actually she is she has the inborn personality of being embarrassed after being seen naked. (Not only that, she is clumsy by personality too – she did not seduce Ikuto with planing; it just came out of her) In the manga, she explains that it is the reason why she bathes alone. Also, in the anime, she said that she dislikes being stared by others and being touched as well. (Probably because she has the biggest breasts among the girls)

    banzemanga
  14. @wonton
    Actually she is she has the inborn personality of being embarrassed after being seen naked. (Not only that, she is clumsy by personality too – she did not seduce Ikuto with planing; it just came out of her) In the manga, she explains that she bathes alone because she gers embarrassed being stared by others and being touched as well. (Probably because she has the biggest breasts among the girls)

    banzemanga
  15. @wonton
    Actually she is she has the inborn personality of being embarrassed after being seen naked. (Not only that, she is clumsy by personality too – she did not seduce Ikuto with planing; it just came out of her) In the manga, she explains that she bathes alone because she gets embarrassed being stared by others and being touched as well. (Probably because she has the biggest breasts among the girls)

    banzemanga
  16. @Shinova
    Show Spoiler ▼

    ShonenPunk
  17. “…shouldn’t waterfalls have…cold water? Why the hell is there fog?”

    It depends on souce of the waterfalls’ water. If the source is a hot spring, then the waterfall will have
    hot water. The following link shows a hot springs waterfall with photos (and fog):

    http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Rio-Dulce/blog-107861.html

    I believe this has been described earlier, but read the condensation section of the following link, with
    respect to “why fog”:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_vapor

    mochi
  18. banzemanga at 10:53 pm on May 30th, 2007

    …they skipped the part where Suzu get jealous with a killing intention.

    I sooooooooooooooooooooo want to see that in the anime in the next few eps. Come on Suzu, show that ikuto who’s boss! xD

    Delon

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