First Impressions / Minami-ke

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Summary

Part 1: Hot yams and cold feet
Uchida and Yoshino show up at the Minami-ke bearing gifts of hot yams – while talking, the conversation drifts to how to pick up guys. STRATEGY ONE: the “weak girl” appeal. And what better way to show weakness than the inability to open a soda can? I guess it makes sense – soda cans are easy to open for any guy, as a guy who plays lots of sports will have strong fingers, and a guy who sits at home playing computer games will have strong fingers as well from all that keyboard action. Girls, on the other hand, are supposed to have delicate fingers, and guys love doing shit for girls, so it all works out.

It’s at this point I realize this show was written by guys, for guys, cuz if girls in Japan really do sit around living room tables talking about this shit, then I’m moving to Japan right n
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Ok, I’m back, it’s all lies. Anyways, they all try their hand at soda can non-opening – Uchida fails horribly, Yoshino gives it her nonchalant try at it, but Atsuko comes out on top with a wonderfully natural performance. Kana and Maki accuse her of being… I dunno, too awesome… while shaking up the can in their jealous anger. Chiaki walks in and realizes her soda has been swiped, and immediately relinquishes the one Kana was holding…

 
Part 2: Dream on
Some more guy talk – Maki is about to get into some juicy bits but is quickly repurposed by Haruka, so Atsuko takes over… kinda. She’s obviously very experienced in such things, but right as she’s about to spill all the secrets, Touma bails her out. Kana and Touma get into a tussle, resulting in a huge shove that sends Touma right into Atsuko’s bosom, where s/he immediately falls asleep. Ah, the pleasures of life. Atsuko wonders whether this scene is considered cute or borderline sexual abuse.

The next morning, Makoto headbutts Touma, and promptly gets punched. Poor guy.

 
Part 3: An innocent shove
More guy talk! This time Kana is asking Keiko how to bag a guy, and Keido points out that Mr. Right might just be around the corner – not so coincidentally, Fujioka is at the other side of the classroom. Some time later, Riko (finally found out her name) asks Keiko what it means if a guy suddenly hugs a girl from behind. I’d like to ask Keiko why they all go to her for advice – maybe she reads the most shoujo manga and is well-versed in such situations?

Keiko realizes (!) that the hug may have come as a result of another Kana shove – this time Fujioka x Riko… Riko isn’t too happy about it -_-

 
Part 4: Kimochiwarui
At volleyball practice, Hosaka (!) approaches Atsuko and asks her about some administrative stuff… Atsuko is thinking that Hosaka is actually pretty cool when he shuts up. After he leaves, Maki dashes over to make sure Hosaka didn’t do anything to her (like what?).

Natsuki shows up for a little scene involving picking up loose volleyballs, then leaves. I don’t really get it, but Natsuki is funny so I don’t really mind.

Maki pries a bit further and asks… “Eh… Atsuko, do you, um… like Hosaka?” *gasp*. Hayami walks over and joins the convo, and brings up Haruka (volleyball stud). Hosaka hears it and immediately starts dreaming about happy times with Haruka at volleyball practice…

 
Preview

Next on Minami-ke Okaeri – roses are red, violets are blue, the oscars are over, but orange you glad it was hosted by jackman hugh

 
Thoughts

While Minami-ke falls well within the constructs of a slice-of-life comedy, more and more it seems to cross over into talk show territory. Most of the show revolves around the girls sitting around the living room table talking about random stuff, and there’s very little to do in regards to animation. It’s almost exactly like manga in this sense, with the addition of a voice cast and that quirky soundtrack.

Normally this would just get boring as hell (episode 1 of Toaru Majutsu no Index springs to mind), but the dialogue in Minami-ke is quite well written, and the characters have all carved out so much of their own personality and niche in the previous episodes and seasons that it all makes an odd kind of sense. Every character fulfills their role splendidly, with Kana seemingly the not-so-subtle catalyst to everything that happens.

This week’s discussion about -guys-, oooh… what guy doesn’t like to get an inside glance at what girls say about them when no guys are around? Even better, when they think up of cute shit to do to make guys wanna take care of them. Well, it’s probably better that it comes naturally (go go Atsu-ko!), but we can all appreciate the effort.

Not much Chiaki or Haruka in this ep – but that’s alright, it just makes me appreciate them more.

21 Comments

  3. Alright Hosaka-senpai is back! Might just have to make time to watch this show again.

    Does anyone know if you have to watch the second season of Minami-ke to understand what is going on this season?

    Andre
    Reply

  6. Finally Hosaka’s in this episode! The guy is hilarious! It’s unfortunate that he isn’t shown in every episode, and that his character and his relationship with others haven’t been developed.

    X
    Reply

  18. This is a show that can remain funny even if they are mostly talking, and you don’t understand the language. There are enough visual aid to figure out what they are talking about most of the time, and they don’t stay with just talking heads very much..they shift angles, characters, or even faces, all the time so it doesn’t get boring. Also music selection from time to time. Notice that when they are doing things with Chiaki or Chiaki’s friends that could be considered…questionable or suggestive, the music switches to a kind of “blacksploitation”-like theme. Not always, but enough to make it funny.

    ithekro
    Reply

  20. That wasn’t Keiko’s hand, but Kana’s. You can tell it from the difference in their skin colours. Keiko’s skin is more pale than Kana’s, and the hand’s skin has the same colour as Kana’s skin.

    Jun-01
    Reply

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