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「初恋の人」 (Hatsukoi no Hito)
“First Love”
And so we pick up where we left off last week, with a surprise visit from Momo’s childhood friend (and first love), Jiji (Ishikawa Kaito). Except that the “visit” turns out to be a “move-in”. Despite his cool ikemen looks, Jiji’s personality is anything but that- a loud, obnoxious teenager who pisses Momo off, teaches Okarun the meaning of jealousy, and charms everybody else. He certainly knows how to compliment like nobody’s business.
The real reason for Jiji’s extended stay is- you guessed it, the paranormal. In true horror film style, Jijj’s new home in the mountains is haunted, but only he can see the terrifying apparition that is so powerful, it drives a few famous exorcists to suicide and puts Jiji’s parents in the hospital. A famous exorcist herself, Jiji turns to Grandma, but seeing as it’s out of bounds for her power, Momo gets the job instead, in exchange for an unlimited supply of new uniforms. This new spirit certainly sent chills up my spine- I don’t know how Jiji managed to survive as long as he did, living with that thing. The spirit sounds alarming, but I’m sure Grandma wouldn’t send Momo into a situation she couldn’t handle.
Okarun’s got nothing to worry about in terms of Jiji stealing Momo. The whole scene where Momo was gesturing to Okarun because it was his turn to say “see ya tomorrow” was adorable. I’m with Okarun’s confusion on that one though, those were mystifying hand signals. Then, his reaction when Momo offered to feed him during lunch time training- awwwww… There’s a couple if ever we saw one. I couldn’t help but be annoyed at Jiji for ruining the moment- but, thanks to that, we get the belly busting sequence that followed.
Just when Okarun is about to throw in the towel, he nearly collides with a running science room mannequin. What is a science mannequin doing, running on the school grounds, in broad daylight? Golden balls of course. In this show, it seems like everything leads back to Okarun’s nuts of gold. When Momo tries to stop the mannequin, Jiji once again interferes (unsuccessfully) and gets dragged along on the mannequin’s adventure when Momo uses her spirit hands to grab the thing. Not to be left behind, Okarun transforms. Okarun didn’t specify which “he” he wanted to get away from Momo. LOL And the small detail of how carefully he folded up his socks and shoes.
The ensuing chase scene was done to perfection- from Jiji’s Captain Obvious remarks of “Oh no, we got captured by another monster” to the comedic timing of the near miss from the bus, to the mannequin breaking to pieces and re-gattaing himself. The classical music in the background was the cherry on top. That mannequin is one determine dude. He makes a striking contrast to Okarun’s defeated attitude when it comes to Momo. I found it hilarious that she pinpointed him by punching his heart and following the screams.
In true Dandadan fashion, just when you think things are at the peak of absurd, they get even more bizarre. They find the mannequin sprawled out on the trash dump. He then proceeds to start calling out “Hana!” and digging through the heap. Hana, it turns out, is his mannequin lady love who was trashed. The melodrama of the scene “Our manufacturer’s dates are too far apart” LOL “Hurry back, otherwise you’ll be turned into oversized trash too” coupled with the fact that the love story in question is between two science room dummys had me rolling on the floor. The setting sun in the background added perfect effect.
How will this end? From the look on Okarun’s face, he pities them and will probably offer them either a ball or just a helping hand.
Preview
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