「見えない敵と戦ってみる」 (Mienai Teki to Tatakatte Miru)
“Try Fighting an Invisible Enemy”

Yuri, yuri, and more yuri! It looks like we’re completely back to the more light-hearted and downright silly atmosphere the earlier parts of the series prided themselves on and I can’t say I’m complaining. Tsurugi’s sly expressions were especially entertaining as well as the uh… exaggerated dynamics between Sasami (or Tama for the most part really) and Kagami. My only gripe is that despite the build-up of the past few episodes, the mysteries surrounding Kamiomi appear to have taken a backseat once more.

Edogawa is an odd one. There’s something quite profound in how not only her body apparently alternates between male and female, but also how her personality shifts continuously through various archetypes. In her speech alone she managed to switch from ojousama to class rep to tsundere and all manner of others in-between, accompanied constantly by a myriad of anime references. I would hesitate to call her two-faced, it’s more as though she’s constantly changing from one form to another, even in her alternating desires to befriend and kill Sasami. I have to wonder if this is what Tamamo-no-Mae referred to when she talked about ‘saving’ her. There’s a bit of an interesting parallel between Sasami’s inability to make friends and Edogawa feeling as though she has to remain apart from others to avoid her secret being discovered. Both have seemed quite lonely despite being surrounded by others.

Telepathy as a chatroom is quite cool and certainly fits with the running themes I discussed in episode 8. I never fail to love how magic is tied in with technology and the internet in Sasami-san@Ganbaranai. It seems rather inconvenient compared to conventional telepathy though – that you have to physically read the text in front of you making you rather conspicuous. I kind of wonder whether Edogawa realised right from the start that it wasn’t Sasami she was talking to – her reaction seemed to imply so, as did Tsurugi’s easy realisation of what was going on. But for now, the big question is exactly why Edogawa will be killing Sasami in the near future. I imagine we’ll find out next week!

tl;dr: @MoombaDS – Copious yuri, vacations, and messing with telepathy! #Sasamisan

Random thoughts:

  • It should come as no surprise that Sasami finds using chopsticks too bothersome when she’s not even used to feeding herself.
  • With how she and Kagami have been acting together, it’s not too hard to see why she hasn’t made any other friends – theirs seems a relationship you’d not want to disturb!
  • There’s something rather ironic about the idea of Tama babysitting Sasami.
  • I’m surprised that Sasami didn’t have a bad feeling even before initiating her plan. I know I did!

Full-length images: 32.

**As of 4/18, coverage of Sasami-san@Ganbaranai has been dropped. We’ve been trying to find a writer with spare time to finish this series, but it doesn’t look like it’ll happen soon (it may happen some time in the future however). We apologize for the late notice.

 

Preview

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25 Comments

  1. Now that had to be the most “epic Shaft-iness” episode so far.

    First we get the bombshell of Jou being an occasional futanari. (Funny how no one suspects anything when she’s wearing a blue yutaka normally reserved for guys instead of the pink one at the onsen hotel)

    And then we have the full on yuri between Sasami and Kagami. Sure later parts involved Tama disguised as Sasami, with Tsurugi in complete trolling mode by having Tama call Kagami “Onee-sama”.

    Shinbo throws in a few of his trademarks via the “ZETSUBOU SHITA!”

    The ED actually has Sasami singing seriously for a change, though it turns out it’s because she thought no one was listening, but then Tama reveals her singing had been broadcast for all to hear. LOL

    And finally, the preview spoofs the previous few episodes TV airing being delayed due to coverage of the World Baseball Classic, of which Japan romped through their respective Pools.

    Anonymous
  2. lol… Everyone has already said what I wanted too…. this ep was so awesome… I laughed at the fox’s human name xD….Kitsubae…Yoko xD……….. great ep… again… my my lord whats with anime and nudity this week,Vividred… this… even love live was on beach episode this week….

    Akarin
  3. I have not watched this. I have no idea what the show is or what it’s about.

    But I have seen an enthusiastic proclamation of “Yuri, yuri, and more yuri!”

    And that- that, my friends- is the only reason a man needs to begin watching.

    Stranger
  4. I think Jou is the second child of Izanagi and Izanami in the Kojiki, Awashima no Kami, who was neither male nor female(though I forgot if it was already mentioned in the anime) and about the ending… dang it was so worth it that SHAFT held it in after 9 episodes. Sasami(Kana Asumi) voice fits perfectly, now time to wait for the release of the full version of the song.

    baseone
    1. First heard of Chiwa Saito when she was voicing Anita King. She’s still awesome voicing the spunky kind of characters. Her more matured roles (Bakenomogatari and Horizon) are equally great though.

      Izzard
  5. Is it me or has RC completely forgotten about this show?

    Even if Moomba has left, surely there’s some follow ups or anything? At the very least say it’s officially dropped from coverage so you don’t leave people waiting in vain for nothing.

    Anonymous
    1. We’ve been trying to see if any of the writers can spare some extra time to finish, but for now it doesn’t look like there’s any chance of that happening soon. We still hope to finish coverage of this at some point, but it may not happen in the near future. Apologies.

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