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Summary:
The art club is trying to figure out the mystery behind Daitetsu and Nagi’s fight, and Tsugumi wonders if something happened yesterday when Daitetsu spent the night at Jin’s house. Imaginations start roaming, so after Takako manages to embarrass Tsugumi via embarrassing Akiba (with the massive amounts of questionable manga that he brought to school in his bag), Tsugumi decides to confront Jin about the new rumor that he and Daitetsu are gay – the same rumor that she inadvertently spreads throughout the school by screaming it out in the hallway a little too loudly.
Jin suddenly finds himself being treated quite oddly by the other boys in his class, so when he brings it up in an awkwardly silent art room, Akiba fills him in by showing him Nagi’s website, (on his Sony laptop) updated with the rumors that he might be gay. Elsewhere, Daitetsu’s luck is fairing about the same. In addition to his ongoing fierce standoff with Nagi, he’s also getting strange treatment from the other boy students, and even receives a pink invitation note from a sparkly young drive-by that clues him in to the depths of his current predicament.
Tsugumi feels guilty for starting the rumor, so her classmate recommends visiting a service that might be able to help. She’s not the least bit ecstatic to find out the “service” her friend was referring to is none other than Zange-chan. Irritable, Tsugumi pretends to have nothing to confess, but Zange is smarter than she looks (or maybe this is her power?) and knows there’s something about Jin that’s bothering her. However, she’s quite amused to hear about the rumor Tsugumi started, but offers great advice to straighten things out: All Jin has to do is get a girlfriend, and the rumor will be proven false. After Tsugumi hesitates to take the lead, Zange decides she’ll help out personally and try to date Jin instead. Alarmed, Tsugumi can’t find a single reason (physically, anyway) why Jin wouldn’t say yes.
As Tsugumi walks home in the rain, she worries in reasonable self-doubt and anxiety, but ultimately decides she’s got to do something to help Jin, and goes to his house. She arrives to find the TV on, but no one is around. She decides to go to the restroom to dry her wet uniform, and walks in on Jin naked after a shower. She reacts romantically (in bizarro universe), and Jin manages to come out of the situation relatively in tact after the assault. They have a few minutes to talk alone before Nagi bursts in, and revels in Jin’s embarrassment. While she quizzes Tsugumi on Jin’s proportions, Zange’s sudden appearance surprises everyone. Since Zange is also intrigued in Jin’s personal information, Tsugumi pulls out the dreaded photo album. Mr. Elephant makes a few cameos, and Tsugumi tells several humiliating childhood stories before Jin explodes and steals the album, forbidding its use ever again.
It seems Junior High was a troublesome time for Jin, but before any succulent details can be spilled, Jin confesses he has something to say to Tsugumi regarding something that happened around that time. Before he can start, Zange interrupts with her suggestion that Jin chooses either her or Tsugumi to date in order to resolve his problems with the rumor about being gay. Jin blushingly turns her down, thinking that neither of them have anything to do with it, which causes Zange to realize Tsugumi hasn’t confessed her crime yet.
Since Jin also has something private he wants to apologize for, he and Tsugumi go talk in his bedroom (while Nagi and Zange eavesdrop from outside). Jin apologizes for “that” incident when they were younger, but Tsugumi doesn’t remember until he gets more specific. It turns out to be such a trivial thing, but it never stopped bothering him so when he remembered this afternoon he decided to apologize for it. Tsugumi is heart-warmed by the fact that he hasn’t changed at all since childhood, but after a sweet moment it becomes her turn to confess, and Jin’s reaction is less than tender when he finds out it was her fault the gay-rumor started.
Zange presses the issue of choosing a girlfriend again, so after cornering Jin to answer, he almost spits out Tsugumi’s name but is cut off by Nagi’s idea that he doesn’t have to choose between either of them to battle the rumor. The next day, Zange, Tsugumi, and Jin share a bento picnic together in the middle of the school grounds with everyone watching as they feed him by hand. While they fight over him, Nagi snickers in the background, and Daitetsu appears to be in shock at his friend’s new troublesome situation. At the end of the day, it seems Nagi’s plan worked a little, but the rumor hasn’t dissipated completely yet…
Eyecatch and “Preview:”
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First Thoughts:
Jin and Daitetsu suffer humiliation because of Tsugumi’s accidental volume mishap in the hallway, and Zange-chan offers her sound advice in resolving the situation. I love it when she steps in because her actions inevitably come off as a really well planned attempt to help, but always with the extreme side effects of being able to take sexual advantage of Jin somehow. No matter what the results of a Zange-plan, it’s a win-win situation.
The girls gathered around the kotatsu with evil sparkles in their eyes to discuss Jin’s childhood and penis in detail, making him writhe in pain and humiliation at home after a full day of pain and humiliation at school. He and Daitetsu really had a rough time this week, but I can’t blame Nagi for everything. Her reactions were great this week, but it was Tsugumi who caused most of the trouble.
As far as character personalities are concerned, I have to confess that aside from just not having much interest in the childhood friend scenario, I am becoming incredibly biased against Tsugumi. (Sorry, Tsugumi fans.) I’ll try to explain why… I hate weak-minded characters (or, people in general): She never says what she thinks or feels; she has no self-esteem; she doesn’t have the guts to confess her true feelings to Jin; she’s in a constant state of fretting; she looks like a stray puppy (admittedly this one is unrelated); she’s sexually repressed (don’t injure your crush fatally after accidentally being flashed); and basically, to wrap it all up, she’s just a weak moe character that I have a lot of trouble sympathizing with whatsoever, albeit a well-developed one.
Compare this to my thoughts on Nagi (her usual personality): She says what she thinks with no filter; she is childlike and selfish; she has a huge ego; she’s bold and does what she wants, when she wants to; she’s naïve and gullible; she’s got an attitude and never hides what she thinks (from her inner circle anyway); she’s devious in a rather innocent way, pretending to be a princess but really acting like a spoiled brat… As for her goddess personality, that is truly stunning, but unfortunately I can’t go into much detail because not much has been revealed so far. Let’s just say she’s a much better person than her childlike-half.
What about Zange?: Clearly the most devious of the three girls, she *may* have good intentions; she offers double edged help, but it usually comes off as somewhat genuine, if not to her benefit; she’s bold to make sexual advances, and abuses her sexuality to win in a power game; she’s not afraid to cheat to get what she wants; she is straightforward; she likes to shock and toy with people for fun; she’s as selfish as Nagi but hides it better… I’m interested to know what she really looks like since it’s easy to forget she’s not in her real body, but I’m almost positive the anime won’t reveal that info before it’s finished.
Compared to the strong personalities of the goddess sisters, Tsugumi is a constant beacon of self-doubt and anxiety, and it drives me crazy. Nagi and Zange might be much less ethical and well-mannered, but that makes them so much more interesting and fun to watch. I guess part of what makes them special (besides not being human?) is that they make everyone else around them seem even more normal – particularly Jin and Tsugumi. After so much bias towards Nagi (concerning Jin’s feelings), maybe this episode was meant to reaffirm that Tsugumi does in fact still have a string of hope floating around somewhere for a happy ending. I personally feel Jin sees Tsugumi as more of a sister, because he’s never expressed even the slightest romantic feelings towards her – At least until today when he almost chose her over Zange before Nagi’s interruption. And that was more of a desperate situation with no happy alternatives, not a confession of feelings.
Anyway, we get to go to karaoke soon! I’m really looking forward to seeing how A1 adapts the manga for this scene. So far they’ve done a ridiculously fantastic job at adapting the manga above and beyond what would be plain yet acceptable, so I’m sure next week’s episode will be hysterical.
Summary incoming soon….
1st! I’ve always wanted to do that. Good episode. It was quite hilarious when the rumors spread.
Zange’s plump body *drool*
Tsugumi is one of those characters who are painful to watch. She needs a shift kick in the ass for everything & I mean everything. Her damn stress levels must be off the charts. I can’t help but ask myself do people like that really exists. I hope not. People like that could endanger the whole of humanity.
Jin is a whole tier above her when it comes to confidence. I don’t know how much influence Nagi is having in that matter but she’s definitely not hurting him in that area. I can’t say anything about Zange. She is what she is.
childhood pain in the ass..can she get more annoying than she already is bah.
In Jin’s shoes I would probably have considered suicide after such a day. XD
Poor guy.
@Zange: “plump”? where?
Kannagi keeps going strong. Nice.
LOL at the little naked baby Jin!
http://worldofanimemusic.blogspot.com
hahahahah poor jin
LOL epizode ^^
Anyone following the “Nagi may not be a virgin” crisis around this series? It’s popularity has plummeted in the past three weeks due to this insanity.
@ Sammy: So, are otakus that interested in the virgiin race. If I remember correctly, I had an encounter with Nagi about 1,836 years ago…but she was in a different body. If you want to talk about her present body then yeah she’s a virgin…but if you’re talking about her mind then its hell no 😉
About the virgin thing: Did they draw her having sex in a flashback with the guy? Has an anime idol EVER had sex with a boyfriend (hentai and reasonable scenarios excluded)? Weren’t you pining for her to be YOUR girlfriend 1 minute ago so YOU could have sex with her?
I don’t understand that mentality at all… It wouldn’t have blown up so badly if that one crazy otaku didn’t post those ripped up manga pages.
That being said, I don’t give a damn about anything related to the extremist crazies who watch, or don’t watch, this great show. This is the only time you’ll see me talk about this because I don’t think it’s important, and it annoys me that it’s become an issue at all. Just give me more great work from a good production studio based on a creative manga, and talk about that (as opposed to talking about the crazies).
Have in mind that Tsugumi is just a normal human against two goddesses that easily have 2000+ years each, even if Nagi have most of her old memories still locked. For being the “girl next door”-type of character, Tsugumi don’t sell herself and that bashful nature of her is charming. Zange is all “I’ll use my body to tempt Jin, even if Hakua don’t like it”, while Nagi has an ego of epic proportions, and sometimes is so annoying that one needs to ask what are the qualifications for being a deity.
And Jin… even if some of you say that he’s confident, when it comes to Nagi (or later, when he inexorably had to choose between the girls), he’s the normal-seeing-whipped-dog of this kind of series, running away from every damn crucial decition that he needs to make.
Call me old-fashioned, but in this particular case Tsugumi is more than welcomed.
@ Megas
Yes. Those types of people exist all around you. They might be much better at hiding in than Tsugumi and beside, this is a show where you can close to the character and see what they are thinking. In real life it’s not always that easy so you think they like Nagi and all open and stuff but inside they might just be like Tsugumi but they are just great at hiding it. Not only that, Nagi and Zange are very old and probably when they were younger, they might have issues just like Tsugumi did but over time, has overcome it. Tsugumi however is still a young human and still have a lot of time.
LOL @ ‘Kurohitsuji’
I like Tsugumi for most of the same reasons you dislike her, but I would also add that she is an elder sister type of childhood friend, so she really does have a certain strength in relation to Jin. I see the uncertainty as normal, just a background to her real big-sisterness. After all, when she had a doubt about Jin’s sexuality, she actually went straight to him. When she wanted to see him, she made food and went. When she wanted to know if he liked her food, she asked, in a reserved way. When she was asked if he was still cute, she said he was. She’s not any kind of generic moe character I know of. To tell the truth, I think she is one of many great characters in this show: Nagi, Tsugumi, Daitetsu, the buchou, Zange — all quite unique and interesting, in their ways.
Wow, that was a rather biased take on the whole situation. You know I normally feel the same way about indecisive characters that can’t express their feelings properly, they annoy the hell out of me… but even so, tsugumi strikes me differently, as someone who is merely a practical and down to earth choice amidst a cast of overly larger then life characters (gods). Nagi and Zange are cool n all but I really think it’s the human characters that shine in this series; takako, akiba, daitetsu, and tsugumi
I think Tsugumi’s a better for Jin. It seems more logical. And she’s not only human like he is, she knows him better than anyone else.
hmm I like tsugumi also for some reason o_o, normally I’d totally agree with you as I like the more “open” characters, but her anxiety and worry doesn’t feel unnatural and actually for once seems a little cute and it doesn’t piss me off as much as it does with some other characters, in other shows
also I rarely ever see the childhood friend “win” in a harem kinda show so I’ve been starting to sympathize with em…
LOL. As I read your description of Tsugumi v. Zange v. Nagi, I recall thinking the exact same thing about Sheryl and Ranka (go Sheryl!).
Tsugumi annoys me too. It’s rare enough that we don’t get an obsessively indecisive/weak male lead, I guess it was too much to hope for that they wouldn’t include at least one weak female character.
Well, they needed to have at least one character in the entire anime that had some common sense though other than Jin…not that it appears she has much sense when it comes to him either…
Great.
I guess a character like Tsugumi is needed for balancing the other extreme characters like Nagi and Zange (other female characters don’t count since their roles are more minor and they aren’t into Jin in such a way) Especially because Nagi and Zange are both opened characters, it is probably good to have one that is different.
I am so so with her although I sometime sympathize Tsugumi because I know that it is very unlikely for her to get the guy.
I’m just waiting for a character to actually show romance toward Jin. Tsugumi isn’t honest with her feelings, it’s unclear if Zange likes him, but at this point it just seems like she’s toying with him, and Nagi likes someone else apparentally and doesn’t show any hint of jealousy or romantic love toward him.
Hmph.
I LOL’ed at the “Kuro-Hitsuji” (Black Sheep) doujinshi. Note that there’s a Ranka doujin behind that as well.
I guess I fall into the Tsugumi camp. Nagi doesn’t seem to show a romantic interest but is concerned for Jin. Seems more like an older sister. I know the manga gives a different vibe. It’s unclear if Zange’s inner self is the one really interested in Jin. Zange herself seems like she is enjoying the chase but I can’t tell if she actually does care for Jin. No matter how you look at it, Jin’s in a nice position so it’s all good.
another great ep! lmao funny
What’s going on with Daily Dose ?
I don’t find Tsugumi that bad. The self esteem issue is a little irritating, however, given she is of high school age it isn’t unexpected or unrealistic. Yeah weak characters can be irritating, but other posters have made a good point about the two other female leads having significant experience over her. I don’t think Zange has any real shot in this ‘romance triangle, she is being controlled by a deity and I have a hunch, that if it weren’t for the sister deity controlling her, she would be even more weak minded and unconfident than Tsugumi; I mean, why else would you volunteer control of your body to a deity that you have no real clue as to whether you will benefit from the exchange, except for a promise, no thank you. I think Nagi is ahead, but it is because she is the woman from his dreams from that one instance during his youth, whereas Tsugumi would run a second because she has always been there for him. Most likely Nagi will win because almost all animes of this genre are relatively easy to predict.
The only person who has shown any romantic interest is tsugumi. Zange is only showing interest in him becasue she thinks Nagi likes him, which I do not think she does.
I think that the childhood friend actually has a chance this time. I usually root for the Childhood friend.
I almost died from laughing. It was just too funny ~XDDDD
Akiba’s laptop? It’s a Sony!
I love this show and all, but how is it only 13 episodes? Has anyone heard of an impending sequel?
Tsugumi gets my vote. Though people may argue that she is weak-minded and has pretty low self-esteem, I think that these aspects of her portray her more realistically as compared to Zange or Nagi.
Most people predict that Nagi (or possibly Zange) will be the girl that Jin chooses in the end and the odds of a happy ending for Tsugumi are against her, but I believe that she is the underdog of the series and I’ll keep rooting for her.
@Racketman
Hahaha your right its Avio or Vaio in real life.
Wow this episode did a good follow through with the previous one, this is one hell of a series. At the early eps i though toradora is way ahead of this but man the scenarios on the previous eps are well thought and well executed!
Hence with the pair up, im rooting for Tsugumi as well. As what most of you have said, Nagi is more like a sister and never showed any jealousy throughout the series (The ending of the MAID CAFE ep did give them a good mood though.).
As for the backup roles, especially for Akiba and Daitetsu they are pretty unique in terms of personality and both of them did get their own spots in front of the stage (Akiba with the Sony thing, and Daitetsu with the sleepover ep.).
Im expecting more for this series, hopefully they can continue the humor and excitement throughout the series.
I loved the punchline ending. Kannagi is amazing.
after a couple of screenshots on each episode these show might even have a chance to fight toradora as number 1 romance/comedy series this fall 2008.
i hope omni put up series competition again for every season of the year.
so ppl can judge wat to watch or download online every season.