「まんま亜美~ヤ!」 (Manma Ami~ya!)
“Mamma AMI~ya!”

I was suspicious of the cow last episode but still wasn’t sure what to make of it either way. Well lo and behold, it comes back in full force with hordes of chupacabras in tow to finally give us some occult stuff again. What I appreciated the most this episode though was the follow-up to the fight between Maya and Ami, and how these green, blood-sucking, goblin-looking creatures encompassed their eventual reconciliation. To that end, the humor was abundant as usual, with Fumiaki providing a fair share of it due to his forced participation in Ami’s rescue.

One moment he’s eating his nightly curry and melting in his seat from Mikaze’s touch, and the very next moment he’s plucked from the entrance door and thrown into the back of a truck and driven off to fight chupacabras. Amazingly, he actually proved his worth by covering Maya’s back, which I would’ve expected to win him some brownie points but Maya didn’t think so with the hair-splitting way she returned the favor. Leading up to that, I’d even say there was a bit of fan-service when Ami was snatched up at the shine where she was trying to make up with Maya and had the huge chupacabra sink its teeth into her. Between the time it took to round up Shige, Smile, and JK’s help and to track down where Ami was actually taken, I’m surprised she wasn’t sucked completely dry by then. In fact, she didn’t look too worse for wear even when she was surrounded by tons of baby chupacabras. Something didn’t add up there, just like how her white shirt was magically missing after Maya pulled her up. In less time, Kozue looked much more anemic than Ami too, which may or may not be due to her knack for getting possessed and whatnot.

Logistics aside, this episode felt a lot like the first one, where things happened quickly without too much explanation. As such, the plot was fairly simplistic and only really held together by the drama between Maya and Ami built up the week before. I wouldn’t consider it a complete wash however, seeing as Maya got all flustered over being knowledgeable about the occult world, JK got his moment to shine again with his dowsing rods, and Shige got to kick some serious ass with his improved nail gun a la Hirano Kohta in HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD. No real headway was made in terms of Nostradamus’ Key, but the series has emphasized time and time again that Chihiro and her black suit associate are likely connected to it in some way. They’ve been doing a pretty snazzy job with the cover-up of all the real occult stuff that’s been happening, so they’re looking like the prime suspects at the moment. Mikaze’s been somewhat quiet as well, so I haven’t taken her actions off my radar yet either. Next time it looks like we have a new kid joining the mix, whom JK doesn’t seem all that pleased with. Another possessed spirit perhaps?

 

Preview

16 Comments

  1. Isn’t it weird no one really seemed disturbed Kozue was MIA until they found her toward the end of the episode? Not that I honestly care about her character, she is slowly getting into my nerves with her shouting and boring antics.

    Shinjiro
  2. One post after another? Guess your back and better now. ^^

    Anyway, the episode was still pretty good. Loved the part where they just dragged Bunmei outside the store and into the pickup truck. I thought there would be more after the whole sinking monster teeth into humans but I guess I’m not too knowledgeable about these chupacabras, I guess blood was the only thing that mattered. Creepy as it may be but I was expecting kidnapping a mother candidate for procreating purposes, but I’m probably thinking of a different monster movie.

    I also noticed Ami’s shirt disappeared when Maya pulled her out of the monster nest but I guess it was probably nothing more but a slip up.

    Jaden
    1. It’s the only way I’m going to catch up. I was aiming for a post per hour at my usual length.

      I didn’t get to my Wednesday shows, but four shows and one manga in the next two days should be easily manageable if I did seven in one day.

  3. Glad to see you back in action Divine.

    I got a good laugh at the line Maya gave right before entering the temple – “You know in the movies people who say that always die soon after” Followed by the priceless looks of terror on all the guy’s faces.

    synkronized
  4. I’m gonna join the crowd and say welcome back, Divine.

    I was rather thrown off by Ami’s wardrobe change since she was wearing her uniform when she was abducted. Glad I wasn’t the only one that noticed. Also, as soon as I saw the creatures, I knew what they were, just wasn’t sure if they were gonna go that route. LOL

    For all I knew, they were gonna call them some sort of youkai.

    Anyway, glad you’re back and posting.

    TehJawknee
  5. Since Divine already did I won’t go into lack of progress, but the show managed to break its own rules. Those creatures are supposed to be able to drink a cow dry of its blood (and since we don’t ever see multiple bite marks on them we can assume that one is enough). However they apparently aren’t even capable of draining enough blood to stop a human from moving?

    Grant
  6. When they showed the drained cow last episode I had a hint about the lovely chupacabras; but I waited… lo and behold IT WAS him lol!!!! I had problem with this series at the beginning but that split second when Maya said “Puerto Rico” gave me such a bliss (orga…s) that I can buy the series just to hear her again and again. The only thing off is that the goat sucker goes for that: goats and smaller animals. As far as I can remember there’s not a reported case of an attack of an animal as big as a cow. Oddly enough I read the the last attack was in TX, US and something was actually killed…
    Taking the lazy way out don’t want to re watch : has Kozue being photograph by the cell phone? To much weird stuff always happen to her and she just bounce back like nothing. She must hold the key is my guess evil girl.

    Island Esper
  7. interesting regarding Kozue as paranormal magnet… though shes by no means evil herself, nor even paranormal – think catalyst that while does not participate makes reaction possible

    ewok40k
  8. I get the feeling that Kozue will become the key. She isn’t the key yet but will become it due to the fact that she has survived all those things on her body she is evolving little by little becoming the best research subject for aliens.

    banzemanga
  9. I’m pretty sure that the key is Mikaze… Think about it, Fumiaki’s mission is to destroy the key and yet the one thing hes falling in love with is Mikaze. She serves zero worth to the story outside of being somehow related to the key.

    Tooeasy

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