First Impressions / Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi

「おおかみさんうさぎとかめの醜い争いに巻き込まれる」 (Ookami-san Usagi to Kame no Minikui Arasoi ni Makikomareru)
“The Wolf Caught Up in the Tortoise and the Hare’s Scandalous Dispute”

She’s not Taiga, but Kugimiya Rie makes her debut in this series as another loli named Usami Mimi. Modeled after the hare in The Tortoise and the Hare, Mimi was quickly at odds with Otohime since she’s supposed to be the turtle in Urashima Tarou. For the most part, Ryouko and Ryoushi were completely sidelined this episode, as the two aforementioned stories intertwined to give us a new fairy tale altogether. The crossover worked pretty well too, and I have a new-found love for Otohime’s character after hearing that strangely alluring voice Toyosaki Aki plays her with. This episode wasn’t short of surprises either, with Liszt showing us ability to go undercover by cross-dressing as a mysterious beautiful girl, who must be the ultimate trap since she’s voiced by another seiyuu. It wasn’t good enough to slip past the watchful eye of Alice and her beat-down with a slipper since she’s his cousin and all, but there sure as hell wasn’t any way I would’ve known better because all I heard was Satou Satomi talking.

As for the fairy tales themselves, it turns out that Otohime was gullible, slow-thinking, and chubby kid who was saved by Urashima Tarou from the classmates bullying and taking advantage of her for clean-up duties. Mimi just so happened to be one of those classmates back in elementary school and teased her by calling her “Kameko” (Turtle Girl) just like everyone else. The part involving the Urashima Tarou legend basically entails how Otohime’s devoted herself to Tarou as her savior, which led to her changing her diet and exercising moderately to become the absolutely gorgeous girl she is now. The part involving The Hare and the Tortoise on the other hand is Mimi’s insistence on still calling her Kameko despite her drastic makeover and challenging her to the Miss Otogi Academy Contest if she wants her to stop. In short, it’s her arrogance against the tortoise and thinking she can win with ease that mirrors that fairy tale. Tarou is somewhat caught in the middle despite being on Otohime’s side all the way, leading us to Otogi Bank’s quirky involvement.

Their unorthodox way of handling requests never ceases to amaze me (…and not in a good way), as Otohime’s one asking for help winning the beauty contest results in a lot of slanderous propaganda to lower Mimi’s favorability among the male students. Upon seeing Mimi cry about it, the last thing I was expecting was her to turn 180 degrees and counter with her own slanderous rumors. It wasn’t pretty to say the least, with things getting right down to business from a schoolgirl prostitute angle. What’s more, we even had Ringo joining in for a cosplay photo shoot to snag some votes from her loli niche. I found the implicit insult to injury rather amusing though, as Ringo was dressed up as Louise Vallière from Zero no Tsukaima — a character that Kugimiya Rie voices. Incidentally, all the seiyuu that play the Zero no Tsukaima characters they cosplayed are present in this series, with Tsurugaya Otsuu’s Kawasumi Ayako dressing up as Siesta (another maid) rather than her own character, Princess Henrietta. (Alice’s Horie Yui plays Siesta.) On top of all the insults they spouted that our narrator needed to censor, that scene proved to be a fun seiyuu-related type of cameo for me.

The actual Miss Otogi Academy Contest was primarily fan-service since it only involved some swimsuit appeal time on stage. During the event, we were introduced to a member of the school’s broadcast club for the first time, Shitakiri Suzume (Yahagi Sayuri). She’s supposedly modeled after the sparrow in Shitakiri Suzume, which is ironic since the fairy tale involves the bird getting its tongue cut out and here she is chirping away. In any case, I couldn’t help but feel bad for Otohime for trying to win this shallow contest just so that others would see her as a worthy girlfriend for Tarou. It wasn’t about her own ego in any way, just her refusal to let Mimi trounce on her love for Tarou after he reached out and befriended her when no one else would. Seeing the way she was treated when she was a kid was already too cruel, so I was hoping Mimi would get the stomping she deserved.

Much to my surprise, Liszt had something better in store by using up a lot of the loans Otogi Bank had saved up thus far. While the actual scrap on stage went back to the loli rivalry with Ringo busting out the B.B. Hood-like aura, the club president planned the perfect fairy tale ending by ensuring the end results were zero votes for Mimi and one vote for Otohime from the only person that matters, Tarou. Otohime may not have gotten first place, but she did beat Mimi and was reassured by Tarou that no one else’s opinion matters when he thinks she’s cute. I have to agree too, since she looked so adorable hugging him when the tears started flowing. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for Ryoushi who gave Ryouko her only vote, because the latter is a full-out tsundere that beats him up instead of hugging him.

Overall, this episode had a really nice mix of goofy humor and a heartfelt story and I loved it for that very reason. I don’t ever recall Toyosaki Aki playing a character THIS cute either. She’s definitely a seiyuu that should never be typecast for her Hirasawa Yui role in K-ON. I’m even inclined to call Otohime my favorite character in the series now, ousting even an Itou Shizuka played tsundere. I never thought I’d see the day…

 

Preview

46 Comments

  2. In the beginning it was in fact… a trap. I actually did like this episode better than the previous ones. Ringo was definitely a much more entertaining character this time.

    imerik
    Reply

  3. It’s good that they used Zero no Tsukaima, the next season hasn’t come out yet, and it’s been quiet a while.

    Haha, yet another curved version of the stories that we grew up as little kids. The rabbit and the turtle, in a more cute and sexy version. I’m really starting to like this.

    code fanboy
    Reply

  5. Omg, this episode was so…..good :D. I laughed a lot and loved the heartfelt story between Otohime and Tarou. I especially loved the ending, where they reveal Otohime’s and Mimi’s votes, and when Ryoko smashes Ryoushi in the face for giving her the one vote xD

    Click
    Reply

  8. Should have known Kugimiya Rie would get in this SOMEHOW, as a loli-like arrogant rabbit of all things. I hated Usami’s spoiled character right from the get go and I’m really happy that Otohime won despite everyone liking Usami and Otohime being picked on when they were younger.

    https://randomc.net/image/Ookami-san%20to%20Shichinin%20no%20Nakama-tachi/Ookami-san%20to%20Shichinin%20no%20Nakama-tachi%20-%2003%20-%2040.jpg

    Otohime is absolutely gorgeous here. Tarou is lucky to have her as a girlfriend.

    On another note, I loved the killer Little Red Riding Hood equipped with guns too.

    akani
    Reply

  9. This was probably the funniest episode so far. Interesting take on the rabbit vs. turtle fairytale, I knew they were going to do it eventually but I wasn’t expecting them to go about it the way they did. Not that I’m complaining, since I thought the episode overall was very entertaining. I wasn’t expecting the Otogi Bank to launch a political smear campaign, which made me lawl in all kinds of ways. Watching them discuss the “Hooker Usami” campaign and compare rating percentages made me feel like I was watching a parody political cartoon. I also loved how Satomi was acting as the censor when they were cursing this episode, that alone did it for me.

    On a side note, the president officially creeps me out. (*A*)

    Suzuku
    Reply

  11. I couldn’t even tell otohime VA was yui’s seiyuu. Fun episode. Is it just me or is JC staff slacking this season with less shows and some inconsistent character designs.

    exia
    Reply

    1. Lol, loved that part too. And I like the Little Red Riding Hood, the Tortoise and the Hare, the Wolf. Now we just need to know what Ryoushi animal is… unless he’s suppose to be the carpenter lol.

      Sora no Kaze
      Reply

  20. This episode turned out to be more enjoyable than the first two episodes. If they can keep up this kind of level and rhythm in the series, I’ll definitely continue watching it.

    Also, Otohime is very attractive in this episode. Even though it had that Tortoise versus the Hare angle to it, it also has that Ugly Duckling feel to it. Look at how Otohime turned out to be!

    octoberasian
    Reply

    1. I just realize Taiga reappear in this episode, except she’s a “rabbit” not “tiger” 😀 but she’s till a pettanko . . .

      And poor Kugimiya Rie, almost all of her characters all not so “developed” (except Shannon from Umineko)

      MD
      Reply

  23. Note mentioning that the “mysterious beauty” is played by Satomi Sato along with her Ritsu voice!

    Just let you know…

    Oh yeah, I agree with Aki-chan’s voice. She should do some other roles like the Qwaser of Gold girl…

    Benigmatica
    Reply

  26. Took me some time to realize Toyosaki Aki was also the voice behind Chubby Otohime.

    Already Aki showed she can do a variety of voices in Seikon no Qwaser, from air-headed Tomo, evil Tomo (which sounded drastically different), and Tomo’s left breast and right breast (don’t ask, just watch).

    I won’t be surprised if she goes on to voice eccentric old men as well just for the lulz (like the Sumo wrestler imitation she did in K-On).

    PS I must agree with “Kuroko’s” remark that Otohime looked too different from her chubby past self. Are they even the same person? lol

    PPS With Ringo (Saten) and Otohime (Uiharu) in the same scene and “Kuroko” to do the censoring of their language, all that’s missing for a Railgun reunion would be for Satou Rina to appear in a cameo. If JC Staff can do a ZnT joke (another JC Staff production), I’m sure they can arrange that as well. (Not sure about a K-On cast reunion, as it’s a different studio)

    Kinny Riddle
    Reply

    1. Completely agreed on all counts here too. Btw, I really wanted to drop this but my gf told me to watch this episode and behold, I was wrong. This episode had me LOL’ing and feeling for Otohime. Glad it’s Toyosaki’s covering her too. Good job and I’ll keep on following this (and one more to my watching schedule).

      Shinjiro
      Reply

  29. Just curious but at the end of the episodes, are those little clips after the preview a part of what’s being aired or is that the Fansubbing Groups’ doing? D: It’s not bad or anything and I think it’s quite amusing. It’s just that I’ve never seen that before in a show. Makes y’wanna watch it from start to finish even more. 😀

    Oh and I’ve come across a newfound love for Otohime. <3 She was even cute when she was little! x33

    Shirt
    Reply

  30. Wow. We need more Otohime VA work from Toyosaki Aki in other shows. It is awesome.

    Otohime was just adorable this episode. And Tarou showed his good side in this episode by showing that him being a womanizer doesn’t mean that he only goes for the “pretty girls”. His character just went up in my book.

    Annyms
    Reply

  31. I liked what the announcer said about the 2 lolis
    “almost a full loli, white haired rabit on the outside, black inside”
    and
    “our little red riding hood with red hair but has a heart like a poisoned apple”
    both also nearly stole the show at the end

    and ryoko was amusing when she found out she was entered in the contest too

    amado
    Reply

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