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Episode Summary:
One day while Tsugumi is flipping through a shopping magazine on her bed, she gets a phone call from Jin. He asks her if she’d like to help him out by going shopping today, and if so please wait in front of the mall in a couple hours. Realizing she’s been inadvertently tricked, she curses Jin as only Nagi arrives ready to shop her heart out. Nagi wants to buy a year’s supply of clothes, makeup, and accessories with the incredible ￥10,000 she received from Jin. Quickly noticing that she can’t even afford a cheap looking purse for that amount, much less an entire wardrobe, she also curses Jin for leading her on.
Finding empathy for Nagi because of their shared anger at Jin, Tsugumi helps get her priorities straight by shopping for a bra first. Nagi finds a very feminine white bra that she likes a lot, only to discover that when she tries it on there’s several inches of spare room inside. Finally finding an area where she trumps Nagi, Tsugumi can’t stop herself from lying about her own superior bra size to rub salt in the wound. While looking at the smaller bra sizes, Nagi feels a sudden wave of depression. Suddenly the girls are distracted by a store clerk assisting a well-endowed 13-year old girl* who puts them both to shame. (You were warned.) Humiliated, Nagi spends nearly the entire ￥10,000 on a bra four times her size.
Afterwards, the girls eat lunch at the mall with what little change Nagi has left remaining after her single purchase, laughing about her plan to get revenge on Jin, and finally becoming pretty friendly. Nagi doesn’t want to borrow any more money from Jin, so an ad on the wall sparks her interest in finding a part time job.
At home, Jin can’t resist stealing glances at Nagi’s old bra laying in the laundry basket while he’s brushing his teeth. He almost gets caught but Nagi’s sudden change in appearance catches him slightly more than off-guard.
Later on at school, the art club president Kimura brings a poster of a maid café ad for their town, and she really wants to go because it’s the only acceptable place where she can freely stare at all the cute girls in cosplay (as long as she’s with other otaku). So obviously she asks the conveniently named Akiba to come along because she knows he likes manga, and he begins to talk at great length and high speeds about how real otaku are never like the stereotypes who grab the air suggestively while saying “moe” and things of that nature. She hit a sore point. Kimura schedules the date for Sunday and demands that the rest of the art club go, too. Jin is thinking that he’s glad Nagi’s not here since she’d definitely become addicted to this strange cultural phenomenon.
Meeting in front of the café on Sunday, Akiba calls Kimura a fujoshi in revenge for her constant teasing. Unaware of the less positive double meaning, she misinterprets him at first, but then realizes he’s hiding something from her after all. Once inside, they notice no one’s wearing maid outfits. Instead, they’re all in cosplay from “Pure Heart 2006.” Because of this slight setback, Kimura was incredibly hesitant to enjoy herself at first, but quickly brightened up after she laid her eyes on all the cute girls.
As their cute princess waitress comes to take their order, only Jin has the good sense to look up and realize it’s Nagi. Nagi, also only just realizing she’s standing in front of Jin in a cosplay outfit, makes a quick exit stage left and hides in the waitress’s work station area. Shortly afterwards, Tsugumi also spots Jin and runs for cover in the same hiding spot, and both girls have a moment of keen understanding pass between them. Nagi’s worried that Jin might kick her out if he found out that she got a job without asking him first, and Tsugumi is just embarrassed to be seen by anyone she knows at this kind of place.
Ushered out by the manager who wants them to get back to work, everyone finally notices their two school friends are working in the café, too. They’re both hugely popular, attracting attention from never-before-seen in real-life “looking gooo–” otaku with cameras. Everyone thinks that Nagi is working so hard to act like her clumsy moe cosplay role, but the likely truth is that it’s not an act. While explaining that she’s just filling in for a friend while serving Jin’s table in her own cute outfit, Tsugumi can’t help but notice Jin’s eyes are glued to Nagi across the room. Banging her head against the wall in defeat, she yells at him for being so dense.
Meanwhile, surfing the internet at home alone, Zange-chan is shocked to see how much popularity Nagi is gaining because of her part time job at that maid café. In an energetic and competitive spirit, she realizes she can pull a win out of this situation by joining the same company, since her maid-cosplay would obviously be way cuter.
Back at the restaurant, Nagi is receiving a lot of attention from different boys wanting to take her picture, and Jin’s face is slowly warming up to unstable levels. For some reason all the attention she’s receiving is starting to get to him. Kimura calls her over so Jin can have a better look instead of staring from across the room, but her close proximity starts to cause him to become irrational, and he begins to panic. Trying to apologize sweetly so she won’t kick kicked out of the house, Nagi gets too close for comfort, and Jin explodes in a bright red fit of perfect logic that could be heard all the way across town. He didn’t want her to come close because her outfit was way too flirtatious and sexy, it was making him uncomfortable. With this blunt (and loud) explanation, followed by a blanket of silence covering the entire restaurant, Nagi finally gets it and turns a shade of crimson herself.
Afterwards, Jin is suffering in embarrassed agony while Tsugumi is left cleaning up the table after her friends leave. She stops and stares at Jin’s cup on the table for awhile, thoroughly depressed. Meanwhile Jin is walking home along a river bank equally depressed, and Nagi catches up to him. She asks if he’s mad about her getting a part time job because of the money thing, but he doesn’t really care about that. She tells him she’ll quit if he wants her to, but he grumpily says he doesn’t think she needs to go that far. Stopping to collect his thoughts and/or courage, he says that the only thing that bothered him was all those boys taking her picture. Since it troubled him so much, she promises to quit anyway, and they walk home peacefully together.
The next day, Zange-chan arrives at the maid café for work only to find that Nagi has already quit. Now that she can’t face off with her older sister, Zange tries to walk out, too. But the manager has had enough of cute girls quitting and refuses to let her leave…
ED Eyecatch
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Thoughts:
Unfortunately I can’t work backwards to fill in the missing episodes, but if you’re interested in catching up on at least episodes 1 and 2, check out Divine’s snapshots here and here. An unreasonably quick summary of episodes 3-5 is that Nagi’s little sister Zange-chan is borrowing the body of a student at Jin’s school, and is competitively vying for more adoring fans than Nagi-sama (who has also entered the school and has become a successful school-wide idol), because the more “fans” that believe in them, the more spiritual power they gain. Why, Nagi is now so powerful that she’s able to shine a light out of her magical-girl wand bright enough to rival one of those forever-last shake & go style flashlights.
Every time I see this show I’m simply in awe of how beautifully it’s animated, and the whole composition is really well produced overall. But then I wonder why I haven’t been pining for the next episode, and I realize it’s just because the plot is so silly and playful, that it’s more of a brilliant yet relaxed comedy than something more serious. Still, I really look forward to the rest of the season, and I’ll be watching happily every Saturday night when it airs.
I was expecting a filler episode crammed with fan-service, and while that’s somewhat true, they really developed the relationship between Nagi, Tsugumi, and Jin. Jin’s lurking crush on Nagi has only been hinted at and casually referenced, but today it came out in full force. Out of everyone, Tsugumi probably noticed the most, because what he said about Nagi contrasted so sharply to when she was standing in front of Jin herself. She’s pretty cute (kinda like a stray puppy), but she can’t help it if Nagi steals the spotlight in all her god-level glory. The childhood friend probably doesn’t stand a chance.
￥10,000 is slightly less than around $100, so I’m surprised that Jin even gave Nagi that much money. I wouldn’t complain! But it’s certainly true that you can’t buy much of a wardrobe with that amount. Still, I wonder what will happen to that useless bra that she wasted all the money on. I hate to talk about preferences here, but it’s true that cute slim girls like Nagi look better with a proportional size instead. This anime is going out of its way to prove that in a direct battle between the two sisters, cup size really might not sway the results.
Again we’re not left with a preview for next week’s episode, but there’s a new eyecatch at the end of the ED each week, so enjoy your maid fan-service! This week’s eyecatch is by Naruko Hanaharu [鳴子ハナハル]. Googling his name might produce NSFW pictures, so curious readers (aka those of you who aren’t already happily going to hell) beware.
-Trillian
*Thanks to Trifle for the catch.
hey Trillian… i see that you have problems with the next episode preview… you want the preview for the next episode?
here’s the site for screenshots, updated every saturday/sunday after each of every episodes… have fun bro…
http://www.nagisama-fc.com/anime/oa/index.html
Exelente capítulo. Por cierto, sy el primero y hablo español, jajaja.
glad to see your following this series trillian, i thought the episode was pretty humurous expecially when they were shopping for different bra’s. the different cup size diffrentiation made me laugh hard too, keep up the good work Trillian.
on a note, its a tad bit annoying there are no previews but because of how amazing the ending song is (IMO) and how relaxing it is i dont mind 😉
OMG Trillian your doing Kannagi, thanks a lot man XD
If by “filler” you mean non-manga material, then this isn’t filler: this episode follows the manga almost exactly. (Specifically, chapters 10+ and 11.)
“But then I wonder why I haven’t been pining for the next episode, and I realize it’s just because the plot is so silly and playful, that it’s more of a brilliant yet relaxed comedy than something more serious”
I’ve been getting the same feeling, and it’s kinda a relief actually. I don’t sit on the edge of my seat all week waiting for it, but at the same time, I’m excited to watch it, because I know I can count on more hilarity from the whole cast. Glad to see you’re going to be blogging this, I absolutely love this show :>
Good work, Trillian! Just watched it, and I concur with many of your thoughts. I look forward to seeing your summaries for future weeks. ^_^
Hell yaa kannagi being blog, this is awesome… this is one of the best this season. and its a good thing she quit.
funny episode i guess there are lot of female characters that like jin especially Tsugumi nagi but is she playin hard to get and zange she just evil and sweet at the same time thanks trillian i think i,m going to watch this series to the end.
When I saw that in the episode I thought “I hope the otaku think battered is moe”
Once again, I find myself rooting for the secondary character more than the lead heroine.
Ah well, fun episode at least.
10000yen is actually a lot of money! she should have done her shopping in Uniqlo or Jusco.
“Suddenly the girls are distracted by a store clerk assisting a well-endowed 11-year old girl who puts them both to shame.”
Having watched it with Ayako’s subs which translate that quite differently, I went back and double checked this. After listening to it about 5 times, I have to agree with them. I think she’s saying “Chuu-ichi desu” (I’m a first year junior high student) – which would make her 13ish I believe – rather than “Juu ichi desu” (I’m 11).
Oohhh, You’re right, Trifle. I listened carefully and agree with you. Thanks for the good catch. I also found it hard to believe an 11-year old was as tall as the store employee, but didn’t think too hard about it since there are many short women in Japan ; ) (Though to be fair, there are many tall ones too.) 13 is still pretty young…
Alright! Glad you decided to pick up Kannagi, it’s one of the few animes I’m watching besides Toradora, Gundam, Xam’d, and Index XD
I’m glad Trillian is doing Kannagi… .. This is too good of an anime to be left on the sidelines.. .
Love this show, best comedy I’ve seen in a while.
lol, that manager really cracked me up with the super buff-up
glad ur doin this show. this is one of those fun shows you watch a season to balance all the other series out.
Trillian, this isn’t filler: it’s actually a mostly-faithful adaptation of Chapter 11 (incidentally the last scanlated chapter available).
I’m with you milkberry. 10000 yen ($100) isn’t just chump change. Who in the hell is gonna blow 5000+ yen on a hand bag when you’re 15??? I’m glad my kid didn’t go around blowing $100 buying 3 shirts & a bra.
Ah yeah, Nagi with a D-cup bra nearly made me laugh to tears – something which I thought was impossible.
“Googling his name might produce NSFW pictures, so curious readers (aka those of you who aren’t already happily going to hell) beware.”
@Trillian
Don’t say we’re going to Hell Trillian. It’s not cool and it makes us feel watching anime is a bad and sinful thing which isn’t(Unless its the disturbing type!)
You could have said ‘Those of you who are still innocent” at least. : (
But thanks for posting Kannagi anyway.
Enjoying this so far
Hope it doesn’t end like the Kanon-Makoto arc
I am happy that you decided to blog Kannagi 🙂 Thank you and please keep it with this show 🙂
I’m surprised nobody mentioned Show Spoiler ▼
on this episode. 🙂
@Republican: No, I just implied the readers who already know about the artist might be going to hell : ) Besides, I’m not serious. If anyone was actually going to hell for something like that, I’ll see you there.
@Cat & Myssa: I didn’t mean to imply this was filler by a strict definition (wow this is gonna be a tough hole to dig myself out of), but kinda “fluffy” plot that is more or less intended for fan-service only, and doesn’t really push the story forward by a lot. I still loved it. If it were real filler I would have been annoyed. It’s a little early for that.
@Justin: I’m almost positive they do! Ever seen Zetsubou Sensei? Abiru is one of my favorites : )
there was a pun i think i missed. she was giggling about a roomy brah. anybody saw that?
Great fun show!
Love the otaku episode!
http://worldofanimemusic.blogspot.com
D kappu Nagi sugoi~ 0,0
I see – Naruko Hanaharu – I am familiar with her work….and if I am going to hell for that, well, guess I will go with a smile on my face.
and this is a great show, look forward to it every week (Hyakko is a good one as well)
That was an awesome episode, this is one of the episodes that just really relaxes me and I have fun in a light-hearted way…
but i had thought that Nagi made it clear to Tsugumi one episode that she had someone she liked? I’m pretty sure she was implying it was someone besides Jin
This was actually my favorite episode thus far, the playfulness and overall light-heartedness of the whole affair was quite soothing to me – plus all the lovely Nagi/Tsugumi fanservice did wonders for me.
I have to feel sorry for Tsugumi tho, she seems to be such a sweet, kind girl but unlikely to win out in the end given that Nagi is the main female lead…
good work doing Kannagi.
The plot E. Summary is really well done
I expect to read your post every week
That was really great episode !
Jho: That’s a lingering question that will be answered eventually. I don’t know who Nagi likes either (yet) and I don’t think it will be relevant to the storyline until quite awhile later, but I’m definitely interested. For now, I think Jin likes Nagi a little more than the other way around, but the feelings are there. Probably ; )
Preettty fishy that a “God” has feelings similar to a teenager. I think she’s a ghost in disguise as a tree who’s disguised as a human!
Have to say I felt terrible for Tsugumi. I’m a sucker for the underdog character. There are so many potential stories with this series it’s hard to even guess what the next episode holds. If it follows the manga, the next won’t be as interesting but it does continue to build on the relationship between Jin & Nagi
One of my top 3 series of the season…. and yes, the animation is amazing. The director is either brilliant with his budget or may never work again when they see the bill.
Poor little Tsugumi…. she’s gotta crank it up to ’11’.
Kannagi and Torako are the two of the best comedies this season so far. If they keep up with the great storytelling and humor of good taste, they may as well be among the the best comedies ever.
Umm. I think Tsugumi shows poor prognosis in love because the “curse-of-red-hair-girl” stuff. Ever since I watch anime, I never see any red-haired girl success in love before, and I don’t think it’ll gonna change in this series.
You can see Suzumiya Haruhi at 2:24 when Tsugumi was looking at cell phones