「沈黙の教室」 (Chinmoku no Kyoushitsu)
“The Silent Classroom”

It never ceases to amaze me how interesting and different school is in Japan. Besides sixth grade being considered part of elementary school, I totally envy just how much fun those school health days, Valentine’s Day chocolate, and parent introduction days must be. Something that kids in Japan consider normal just looks so interesting to those outside the culture.

Take for example school health day. Besides providing yet another opportunity to really make fun of Mitsuba and watch her flip out about being nearly 100 pounds, I think Chiba and the rest of the male students were more on point with their thinking. When would you ever have a better opportunity to have a class-wide female ranking day? But the innocence of all the males in class 6-3 is probably what had me laughing the most — I guess all it takes to impress sixth grade boys these days is for girls to just shut their mouths. But with girls like Mitsuba and Sugisaki clamoring away all the time I can kind of see where they’re coming from. Actually, besides Shinya, Chiba, Ryuuta, and Satoshi I think this is the first time I’ve seen other guys talk!

I was ready to watch another great scene full of Soujirou and the antics over his appearance as soon as I heard that another Parent Day was coming. Instead, what I wasn’t expecting was to find Sugisaki’s mom so damn funny. Something about her crawling into class on all fours and expecting to find a class full of strange animals only to find that everyone is so “normal” was pretty funny. But for no one to notice her presence until she abruptly stands up from underneath Mitsuba is an understatement to how oblivious everyone in class 6-3 must be (when did Soujirou get there?!).

On the topic of Valentine’s Day, I still think it’s so awesome how serious it’s taken in Japan. Girls give chocolates to their friends (and loved ones) and the recipients give something back on White Day. I always viewed this system as something that had that “from the heart” feeling behind any gift that’s given — that is until I discovered Mitsuba’s way of thinking about it. Who would of thought it’d be Mitsuba that would forever shatter that veil of innocence Valentine’s Day had for me?

* Forehead girl finally appears! I can’t recall her ever appearing before other then in the openings.

 

Preview

15 Comments

  1. I liked how this episode focused on the rest of the students more than on the triplets. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE MITSUBA, FUTABA, AND HITOHA <33 but it was nice to see the others talk for once. I think forehead girls name, might be Noda or something but I'm not sure. All in all, it was a nice episode; not too many misunderstandings and such. :3

    Neep
    1. Hooray for the forehead girl! I dunno whether Noda is part of her other name, but according to the manga her name is Abukawa.

      Strangely enough, I noticed her quite a few times. Also, according to the Japanese wiki she’s the most frequently shown female classmate out of the other extras. http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%81%BF%E3%81%A4%E3%81%A9%E3%82%82%E3%81%88

      Here’s a collection of her appearances!
      http://blog-imgs-45-origin.fc2.com/s/u/b/subcultureblog/1_20110201073641.jpg

  2. I feel so unmotivated… not even Mitsudomoe is keeping my interest weekly now >_<. Takaii! Halp ;_; Though. It was a great episode, there's no middle school where I grew up in, It was Grade 1~6 = elementary, then High school right away… Though, no one took V-day seriously when I was in elementary lol. Good read~

    Kyzel
  3. Mitsudomoe never fails to amaze me absolutely freakin hilarious every week, lol… The valentine gags was awesome especially for futaba chocolate, lesbian gag between occult girl & sugisaki so funny XD

    Tama
  4. we got the same type “specialized days” here in the states…big whoop, BUT when these kids do it..heh, its freaking Nutty! MItsuba’s STOMACH was FTW! this ep! i swear i saw that choco reaction Nanoseconds before it happened hahahahahah!…plus found the kid that asked about shin-perv’s opinion on her interesting. you know he digs her

    BROOKLYN otaku
  5. In my school district, 6th grade is still considered elementary school. Middle school/junior high was grades 7-9 but then the middle schools got way over crowded so now middle school is just grades 7-8. There are many schools in the usa that have elementary school as K-6.

    joanna

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