First Impressions / Shinryaku! Ika Musume

Shaved ice with blue squid tentacle topping. Yummy.

「病気じゃなイカ？／新能力じゃなイカ？／ささなイカ？」
(Byouki Janai ka? / Shin Nouryoku Janai ka? / Sasanai ka?)
“Aren’t You Sick? / Isn’t That a New Ability? / Won’t You Open It?”

There’s a saying that idiots don’t get sick, but apparently that doesn’t apply to invaders from the sea. Or at least that’s what Ika shows us this week, after she catches some (supposed) squid disease that turns her shrimp cravings against her. Before long, the bipolar mood swings kick in and she starts showing some serious signs of shrimp withdrawal too, much like one would expect from a crack addict. In the latter case, the sight of delusional Ika reaching for the shrimp in a picture was probably my favorite moment in the entire first skit, simply because it was hilariously pathetic. Surprisingly, Eiko didn’t take advantage of the situation, despite her teasing-like ways of giving Ika “shrimp” without actually letting her eat any. She did invite Sanae over to serve as the perfect remedy after all, which was amazingly effective for both Ika and Sanae alike. It wasn’t too long ago that everyone was quietly disturbed by Sanae in her giant shrimp outfit, so I really wasn’t expecting Ika to latch onto her like she did. I guess Sanae just had to find the right moment to capitalize on her plan to have Ika all over her, and a random squid sickness proved to be the perfect thing for just that.

Incidentally, the masochistic pleasure that Sanae experiences from getting abused by Ika is starting to become a running gag of sorts, which continued on in the next skit with her getting bitch slapped by the fins on Ika’s head. Between that and Ika’s sand castle that literally looked like a pile of crap, I don’t know what was funnier though. The latter was pretty golden when Takeru’s friend Yuuta (Sanpei Yuuko) quickly pointed out that it looks like someone took a number two in the sand, but the former with Sanae happily in pain was right up there in terms of slapstick humor. Whatever the case, leave it up to Ika to start gloating about her new-found ability to move the fins on her head without even understanding herself what the heck they’re for, before everyone came to the unanimous conclusion that she did build a castle that looks like turd. In response, I got to hand it to her for saving some face with the moving tentacle one at Kouta’s father’s expense, shortly after things got a pretty heated on sand castle building front. It’s like she can take stupidity to a new level and actually look cool for a brief moment. Score one for the invader from the sea.

However, just when I thought Ika’s intelligence extends into the realm of computers and math, an umbrella of all things turns out to be something she’s completely clueless about. Granted, it’s a pretty useless invention under the ocean, but come on! She thinks it’s a squid-based weapon for goodness sake! I do love how this series continues to play with excessive melodrama for comedic sake though, like when her “Ika #1” succumbed to the effects of the wind and a truck. In addition, things ended on a fairly sweet note with Eiko sharing her umbrella. Overall, I didn’t find myself laughing too much this episode, but I was pretty entertained as usual. Next time it looks like we have a new girl plus Cyndi’s scientists making a return, which should mean we’re in store for some more squid hazing at Ika’s expense.

 

If I didn’t know any better, I’d say these were a series of squid experiments rather than attempts to cure summer heat fatigue.

A sick Ika Musume is an adorable Ika Musume.

From whiny to delusional. Shrimp withdrawal at its finest.

What kind of bondage role-play is this!? Let’s hope that squid and shrimp S&M doesn’t catch on.

Sanae probably could’ve died happily after that, but she’s always up for round two.

Turd-shaped sand castles and new motor skills in her head. What will Ika bring to the table next?

Sanae got squid slapped and she liked it!

Underwater communication, flying, or bug swatting. The last one gets my vote for bringing the self-inflicted abuse.

It not only looks like a pile of crap, but a giant pile of crap. Size matters.

Ika Masamune means business when it comes to how many samurai she can pack into her into her castle of crap.

Who would’ve ever thought that we’d need to break out the scouters to measure the power ratings for a sand castle competition.

It looks like tentacles, moves like tentacles, and destroys like tentacles. Nothing suspicious here!

Ika may not want to destroy her masterpiece, but it still looks like she’s crying over a mound of sand-covered turd.

To a squid girl, an umbrella may be the greatest invention of mankind.

So this is how Squid Vision sees Lemon. It would explain why Ika wants to make it her base.

Behold! The power of Ika #1!

I thought she was trying to subjugate mankind, not robots. Ah whatever…

It may look like a street performance, but Ika’s doing some weapon upgrades with that empty can.

“AIBOUUU!!!”

She hardly knew her, but Ika’s memories with Ika #1 will never be forgotten!

It’s not enough to warrant a new video, but Ika’s attachment to the umbrella even in its mangled condition deserves some attention.

Preview

Doorbells, makeup, and secret weapons. It should be a good one with the scientists around and messing with Ika.

32 Comments

  3. Now everything becomes clear, you remember last episode when she was night gaming? She was playing SRW, that’s the only way she could have the idea to name her new superweapon Ika ichi-go mark II, and do that dramatic posing before the robot explodes in her delusion.

    Rockmanshii
    Reply

  10. Eiko’s character is now much nicer to Ika. Ika spinning her umberella under the water flow is great, just like most curious kids with an umbrella would do. Also noticed for the first time that the producer was put as “sea house lemon” in the last line of the credits

    Zaku Fan
    Reply

    1. I use to always use the umbrellas that pop out like and extend-able fist to “punch” stuff I would hide it under my sleeves too. Ah… those were the days.. back when I didn’t have to worry about working, paying tons of bills, and going to school.

      Trystinia
      Reply

  18. I seriously wanna see these Ika-props at the next NYCC/NYAF. I will BUY, the Ika #1. Yes. I will buy it. -_-

    Hahah, I LOL’d just from looking at the screenshots. I’m gonna watch this in a little bit. (-at work currently-. Talk about best job I’ve ever had. I can watch anime on the job~!)

    Shirt
    Reply

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