Moyashimon – 07

Sirens ring and an army of students wearing black tights and armed with a paper fan (ハリセン/harisen) have locked the school gates shut. These same students are surrounding the gates and preventing anyone from entering and leaving the university campus.

Sawaki and Hazuki, who are still in one of their classes, wonder what the sirens could possible be for. The sirens are followed by an announcement indicating that the 7th Annual Spring Festival will now commence, and that the university has entered a state of school lockdown. The announcement reminds the students of the university’s slogan, self-efficiency (自給自足/jikyuujisoku), and ends.

The two are able to find Misato and Kawahama after class, who explain just what exactly takes place during the spring festivals. Noticing that Kei has still not returned, the sophomores begin to explain the “rules” of the festival, which include:

Using the university-issued monetary unit, nou (農) for purchasing food and other miscellaneous items

Yen can be traded in for nou at the exchange booth(s) at the rate of 1 yen = 1 nou

Nou cannot be traded back for yen once the festival is over (lol)

Set rules are made for every festival, and the festival will not end unless a condition is made

The members of the 農士会 (noushikai), or the Agricultural Committee are wearing black spandex; their faces are wrapped around in cloth

The sophomores explain that the rules are gradually revealed by the students, and that the festival normally lasts for around three days. The four undergraduates receive paper balloons and paper fans to adorn (this year’s rule), before stopping by a stall run by Professor Itsuki. Itsuki tells Hazuki that Aoi received strawberries from one of the different seminars, and has her depart for the microbiology lab.

Itsuki now addresses the three male students remaining (“moustache, fatty, and midget”) and reveals the products he has for sale in his booth. These products include a specially prepared box of chocolate, liquor, traditional Chinese medicine, and burnt newt – all supposedly to help with “establishing relations with the opposite sex.” The professor throws in a notebook of the “predicted effects” these products will have on every single female on campus as a bonus, and shows a photo of him with an attractive woman in a hotel as “proof” of how effective these specially formulated items are. Oh dear.

This suspect collection of Itsuki’s aphrodisiacs is being offered for 100,000 nou, though, so the guys have no choice but to leave the professor’s stall. They are still interested in trying to get their hands on these probably-phony items, though. A lighthearted discussion on who should go for which girl in the case that they do come up with the money (e.g., Sawaki and Hazuki) takes place in the shared baths.

By the time Sawaki, Misato, and Kawahama exit the dorms, they find their dormmates’ paper balloon smashed by Agricultural Committee members – they are no longer able to purchase anything from the booths now, and had their precious nou taken away.

The second day of the festival continues as more students fall victim to the Committee. This is a good thing for Sawaki and the two sophomores, however, as they find out that they could also ambush the people wearing black tights – and confiscate their money as well.

This conversation ends as they are quickly surrounded by Committee members (who are still in their horrible outfits), but safely escape to the second floor of the microbiology lab and shut the balcony windows. Two of the tights-wearers have broken a rule (attempting to enter a campus building) and are deemed disqualified. One of them turns out to be Aya, the bartender and agricultural economics student. She hands them their 20,000 nou, and hints that the best time to strike the Committee members is when the sun is out.

Misato and Kawahama observe that the battle royal for cash is prohibited around the merchant stalls. Some students have also started to sell their own belongings out of desperation as their paper balloons have been popped and are unable to purchase food, while others (especially male students) have gradually collected nou from “hunting” Committee members in the hopes of purchasing a product from Professor Itsuki’s booth.

Nighttime falls, and the students over at Misato and Kawahama’s dorm greet them and Sawaki. They share some information they discovered, including the fact the Committee members can only move around in shadows or risk getting disqualified. They believe that popping the balloon of the leader of the Agricultural Committee may lead to a nice reward and end the festival…

Microbe Theater: A. oryzae listens to a pair of bacteria explain the benefits of having staphylococcus epidermidis on your scalp. These benefits include consuming any fat the scalp releases, and keeping the scalp slightly acidic to ward off most species of harmful microorganisms.
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Converting real cash for university-issued monopoly money. Smacking other people’s paper balloons with a paper fan to confiscate their cash. Committee members running loose in spandex, riding on horses and pole-vaulting around for more victims. Oh, and none of the students can leave the university grounds. This is without a doubt some of the more nutty school festivals out there, even in the anime world. Most of the people whose paper balloons aren’t flattened yet – including Sawaki, Misato, and Kawahama – are all in it for Itsuki’s set of love potion-esque
goods. I’m fairly positive their quest to purchase this 100,000 nou commodity will fail in one way or the other, but they’ll probably do it in a hilarious way, so I can’t wait. The festival ends when the university’s front gates are opened up again, and that’ll more or less take place next episode.

Next time: The latter half of the Spring Festival. I wonder if anyone will actually get Professor Itsuki’s bogus and overpriced merchandise? More importantly, just what will it take for this year’s festival to end?