Special A – 08

「旅・犬」 (Tabi / Inu)
“Trip / Dog”

With the S.A class off to Hawaii, Kei is still visually upset (black aura and all) by what Hikari told him after the contest. When they arrive, they have some free time before dinner, so Hikari, Akira, Tadashi, and the Yamamoto twins go off shopping, while Kei stays in his room, claiming that he’s not feeling well. Ryuu on the other hand has to attend to his villa, where Chitose is on the phone telling the other person that he’ll find out what kind of people the S.A members are. The next day, everyone arrives at Ryuu’s villa, but find him bowing in forgiveness, much to their confusion. As it turns out, Chitose is the son of a big client of Ryuu’s company and wants to play “family” with everyone. After declaring Ryuu as the older brother, Jun and Megumi as the grandparents, Tadashi as the uncle who does odd jobs, Kei as the father, and Akira as the mother, Hikari is given the role of the family dog, Pesu. Ryuu then asks Kei if they should tell Akira about Chitose’s family, but he tells him it’s better if they don’t.

After Ryuu explains how he has to take care of Chitose for a bit, the others agree to play along. During their meal, Hikari is served food in a doggy bowl on the floor, so Kei offers to let her eat on “father’s lap” instead. When Hikari refuses, Kei decides to eat on the floor alongside her, but Akira quickly butts in between them. Ryuu notices that Chitose feels left out, so he offers to let him sit on his lap, making Jun and Megumi extremely jealous. After the meal, everyone’s exhausted for catering to the selfish Chitose, but Hikari is out for a walk, where she notices the youngster admiring a family. Seeing this, Hikari tells Chitose that they can have fun like that tomorrow as well, but he simply shrugs her and the rest of the S.A members off as thickheaded. Hikari then realizes he’s been feigning innocence this entire time, to which Chitose says she can expose him if she wants, because he’s confident in fooling everyone.

The next day, everyone is getting ready to head to the beach and finds Hikari dressed up in a dog suit as per Chitose’s request. Surprisingly, Hikaru is in a good mood since she wants to get along with Chitose, but Kei says that it doesn’t seem like he wants to get along with anyone. Strongly believing otherwise, Hikari spoils Chitose for the day, accommodating his every need and request. This makes Chitose wonder what Hikari is after since she hasn’t told the others about his act, so she tells him that she just wants to get along with him. While going through a lot of nonsensical requests, Hikari slips and falls when attempting to retrieve a flower from an offshore island; however, Kei manages to save her, having followed her out of concern.

Back at Ryuu’s villa, Chitose is surprised that Hikari actually did as he asked, so he stomps off in frustration. Elsewhere, he overhears Ryuu telling Jun and Megumi that he can spend the next day with them since Chitose is leaving today. Being the selfish kid that he is though, Chitose says that Ryuu will be coming to his villa with him, which really upsets Megumi since she hasn’t been able to spend any time with Ryuu yet. Just as Megumi is about to release a deafening scream, Hikari comes by and quickly covers Chitose’s ears. With Megumi in tears and everyone else tone deaf, Ryuu is about to lecture Chitose, but Hikari tells him that everything’s okay. Hearing this, Chitose admits defeat, much to the confusion of everyone else. Afterwards, the S.A class (minus Hikari) talk things over and Akira surprises Kei and Ryuu since she had an idea of who Chitose is all along.

Later on at the beach, Chitose meets up with his older brother, Yahiro, and tells him that all the S.A members are good people, especially Hikari. Hikari then comes by to return the “transformation set” (i.e. dog suit) from earlier and is surprised to find out that the two of them are brothers. When Hikari says there’s something she wants to ask Yahiro, he invites her to his villa to talk, which she accepts.

Next Episode:
「別荘・手紙」 (Bessou / Tegami)
“Villa / Letter”

Impressions:
While I wasn’t aware of that she was casted in Special A, my “seiyuu-trained” ears don’t ever seem to fail me when it comes to Koshimizu Ami, who plays Yahiro’s younger brother Chitose. While Ami is probably best known for her current and past role as Kallen Stadtfeld in CODE GEASS, her first well-known role was undoubtedly Tsukamoto Tenma from School Rumble, a.k.a. Sukuran. In addition to having her cast in a show alongside Fukuyama Jun (Kei), thus completing the infamous CODE GEASS / Spice and Wolf pairing, Ami’s also in a series with Shimizu Kaori (Sui) again, who played Takano Akira in Sukuran. From a “seiyuu-ota” perspective, I find it interesting how the Sukuran girls are now playing the bratty little brothers of Kei and Yahiro. Also, while I don’t have them listed as some of my favorite seiyuus on here (due to the five entry limitation), they’re definitely up there on my never-ending list of seiyuus that I like.

Seiyuu trends aside, I guess it’s apparent why Megumi never talks now, given how she can emit a sonic explosion with her vocal chords. Given how she and Jun always seem to fight with Ryuu, I didn’t expected her to get so upset about not being able to spend time with him, but I’m quite amazed (…and a bit happy) that Takagaki Ayahi finally had some lines in Special A, even though they were just a scream and some crying. (It wasn’t just a some regular scream though, but an epic explosive one!). Chitose on the other hand turned out to be a punk kid much like Sui was, but it looks like Hikari has a knack for dealing with their kind. Seeing how she strongly believes they’re good kids, but just have some reasons for their disrespectful behaviour, Hikari is probably more well-suited for the mother role than the family dog, Pesu, although I think the latter case was pretty amusing to watch.

Despite how episodic comedies usually are, I really like how everything strings together in Special A, which is something that became more apparent after this episode. In other words, the next episode picks up shortly after where the last left off, even though it’s not necessarily a continuation of a cliffhanger. The story remains chronologically connected really well, as we continue to see the characters develop after each ordeal they go through. This is one of the reasons why I enjoyed Ouran High School Host Club and School Rumble so much, so hopefully Special A continues on the way it is. When I discussed anime adaptations with Omni the other day (as per the editorial topic), we agreed that comedies often benefit from slight changes, otherwise the jokes may come off a bit dull for those familiar with the manga; however, not having read the manga, I get the feeling that S.A is one of the cases where the same jokes may still be refreshing, simply because they’re animated.

As for Kei, it was funny to see him continue to dwell on the fact that Hikari is so thickheaded and doesn’t notices his feelings, even though he continues to give her so many signs that he does. (Kei, I think you’re just going to have to spill it out for her straight.) In the next episode, it looks like everyone is off to Yahiro’s villa in search of Hikari after she was invited over. With Hikari behind bars, I’m looking forward to seeing what happens, as Yahiro is probably one of the key characters in getting Kei and Hikari together. Even if things don’t conclude definitely between Kei x Hikari after two seasons (much like things never did with Harima and Tenma in Sukuran), I really enjoy watching how far their relationship gets.

Cast:
– Hanazono Hikari (華園 光) / Gotou Yuuko (後藤 邑子)
– Takishima Kei (滝島 彗) / Fukuyama Jun (福山 潤)
– Toudou Akira (東堂 明) / Nabatame Hitomi (生天目 仁美)
– Karino Tadashi (狩野 宙) / Shimono Hiro (下野 紘)
– Yamamoto Megumi (山本 芽) / Takagaki Ayahi (高垣 彩陽)
– Yamamoto Jun (山本 純) / Yonaga Tsubasa (代永 翼)
– Tsuji Ryuu (辻 竜) / Horie Kazuma (堀江 一眞)
– Saiga Yahiro (雑賀 八尋) / Taniyama Kishou (谷山 紀章)
– Saiga Chitose (雑賀 千歳) / Koshimizu Ami (小清水 亜美)