When Ika gave off an air of superiority because she’s not afraid of things she can’t see, I was all for Eiko’s plan of giving her a good scare.

Gorou takes off his shirt and busts out the Jeet Kune Do to deal with ghosts. In reality, he was about to crap his pants. All in an attempt to save some face in front of Chizuru. Nice fake out Eiko!

「怖くなイカ?/天敵じゃなイカ?/新入りじゃなイカ?」
(Kowakunai ka? / Tenteki Janai ka? / Shiniri Janai ka?)
“Aren’t You Afraid? / Isn’t That My Natural Enemy? / Aren’t You The Newcomer?”

In case I haven’t made it clear enough from the Fall 2010 Preview and my posts on the first two episodes, I love this series. It’s not often you can find a cute, lighthearted comedy with a naive squid girl who absolutely steals the show. From ghosts, to killer whales, to the new part-timer at Lemon, this most recent episode delivered a bundle of laughs that left me eagerly anticipating more. If for some reason you haven’t checked this absolutely adorable and extremely quirky series, do yourself a favor and get right on it. You’ll be glad that you did. Speaking of which, it’s not often I come across a series that I can safely recommend to friends who aren’t really into anime either, but Ika Musume fits the bill perfectly by keeping the comedy clean and not heavily reliant on the overused Japanese jokes that only regular fans of anime would get (e.g. nosebleeds). The premise here is simple and takes place at a beach hut, which almost anyone can relate to. Most of all, Ika has a clueless and naive personality that should win over the heart of just about anyone. She’s often the victim of her own stupidity, and I can’t imagine anyone who wouldn’t laugh at someone bringing misfortune upon themselves when they’re trying to take over the world. The best part of it is that Ika remains as determined as ever to no avail. See the captions for the quick rundown on this one and why it had me amused throughout.

 

Sanae was hoping to have a scared Ika clinging to her, but receives quite the opposite when our squid girls busts out the bioluminescence to act as a living night light.

This episode was all about huge disparities between people’s imagination and reality, and this first one had me laughing helplessly already.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Gorou’s scared the most. He’s crying multiple rivers!

Ika’s surrounded by real ghosts at the graveyard, but doesn’t flinch. They did help her find her way back to the ocean after all. Um… yeah…

Ika’s feeling good about how ghosts don’t exist, while the others have the picture of her glowing in the dark and believe that they do.

Ika serves customers without moving a step while contemplating her invasion plans. The customers don’t even think twice about her tentacles.

Imagination versus reality #2. Inflatable killer whales aren’t just toys to Ika. They’re vicious mammals of the sea out to eat her!

Ika Musume vision. Yummy, squid girl for lunch.

How can anyone say no to Chizuru’s dazzling smile and earnest request?

Gorou sure as hell can’t, as his reluctance towards teaching Takeru how to swim disappeared in a heartbeat.

BEHOLD! The true power of Ika Musume unleashed!
Question is, can she really swim without her tentacles?

Okay, there’s sad and then there’s this.

Yeap, that was pretty unsightly all right. As was passing out to an inflatable killer whale.

The cool surfer girl Saitou Nagisa (Kataoka Azusa) figures a part-time job at Lemon is perfect for her…

… until she finds out there’s a freakish squid thing working there as well.

Eiko puts Ika in her place (i.e. face in the sand) for trying to scare Nagisa.
The smack down was a priceless laugh-out-loud moment.

Chizuru’s been milking Ika for all the ink that she’s worth and keeping it in reserve. I guess this means less throwing up on demand.

Despite how harmless she comes off while working, Ika still manages to strike fear in the heart of Nagisa.

She tries to put pressure on Nagisa in hopes of getting the fearful reaction she’s been expecting from mankind.

Unfortunately for her, Eiko brings up the embarrassing story with inflatable killer whales.
“Take your time planning that invasion~”

Chizuru’s eyes are open! It’s a visual cue that a light bulb went off in her head.

A stick with a piece of shrimp on it easily nabs Ika and puts her in her place. Ika loses her threatening image…

… or does she!?
Nagisa still considers Ika a threat despite her stupidity and Ika is incredibly grateful for it.

Ika’s dumb though and hugs Nagisa in the spur of the moment, only to get a nice whacking in return.

She’s still happy about it, despite the distance she flew. Finally, someone who fears the invader from the sea! That’s impossible!

Preview

Now we just need Sanae to have her way with Ika to belittle her newly-found confidence.

35 Comments

  1. AHAHAHA! man, i lol’d so hard in this episode.gorou’s crying-face whilst scared was so funny.XD as well as when ika suddenly lit up to be a light in d dark,only to be mistaken as a ghost.ROFLMAO.seriously, i was laughing nonstop here.nagisa looks like tatsuki(bleach)XP poor sanae tho.

    Man, i must say, funniest ep so far. L0L.i got to lack some air bec. of the hilarity.XDD

    keiOnDaisuki
  2. Now this is funny. Ika is like invader zim. She may be the most inept of her spieces sent to land just to get rid of her. Man this is why minisode slice anime beats 30 minute slice anime. They cram alot of short stories in each episode. “Inky” Ika’s the bomb.

    Richfeet
  3. I can’t bear how adorably naive and cute Ika is in each episode. I’m torn between LOLing and pointing my finger at her OR/and just ending up like Sanae and hugging the hell out of her. Just the OP puts you in a smiling mood ^^
    LMAO @ Gorou, the muscular wuss.

    Shinjiro
  4. And thus, we all know for the better- if any sea being should take over man, it would be the indomitable killer whale!

    Free Willy… your name is too misleading from your true intentions… Killikum… your name is too true for words…

    We have been warned! Japanese sailors have always had the right mindset! FAKKU WHALES!

    (Oops… sorry, Orcas are dolphins… my bad)

    FAKKU DOLPHINS!

    Zero
  5. This was so hilarious especially the reality vs imaginary like you called it, and when Ika started threatening Nagisa like how a mafia person would do it, putting her tentacle around her and tapping her cheek and all.

    Rockmanshii
  6. The whole delusion with the Killer Whales out to eat her reminds me of Seto no Hanayome when the Fish-people were FREAKING OUT after seeing a kitten….

    Complete with the dual reality vision I might add ^^;

    Chaos2Frozen
  7. What you said about the nature of the show is completely true Divine, it does feel refreshingly lighthearted. Though I’m now at the level where I can understand all the jokes directed at otakus (Lucky Star, Seitokai no Ichizon, Ore no Imouto style), one can only have so much of that. There isn’t anything bad I could say about Ika Misume right now; the animation, characters and humor are all up to par.

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