みなみけ Episode 04

SPOILER Summary: Chiaki comes home to find a young man that she knows sitting depressed in front of their door. Kana comes home and sees a man’s shoes in the entry way, and entering, she sees the man and demands to know why Chiaki let him in. Chiaki explains that he just broke up with his girlfriend, which leads Kana to spout off all kinds of things like how she was too good for him. Haruka comes home to greet “Ojisan” and when she hears of the reason for his visit, she flees to the kitchen to prepare dinner. Kana decides to follow suit, only to get thrown out by Haruka for constantly trying to add weird ingredients to the dishes. As they eat, Ojisan gets a phone call from his girlfriend and all seems well again. Kana tells Chiaki to never let him in again, but the following day, he has returned as it apparently didn’t work out with his girlfriend.

Riko-chan is dreamy over Fujioka-kun but has noticed that he and Kana seem to be on friendly terms. She decides to inquire of Keiko about these things, grabbing her skirt to keep her from leaving. Riko tries to listen in on their conversation and is shocked to hear that Fujioka has gone over to Kana’s house. Another Keiko-skirt-grabbing later, she learns that Kana prepared curry for him. Things get worse when she learns that Kana’s sisters are on friendly terms with Fujioka as Keiko suddenly realizes that Riko isn’t using an honorific to address her. Riko tries to grab Keiko’s skirt again but Keiko manages to avoid it. Riko has a plan though and it involves Keiko introducing her to Kana. Kana has a nonchalant attitude about it, so when she walks by, Riko grabs one of her pig tails. Kana reacts by grabbing Riko’s hair. However, as Keiko tries to sneak away, both end up grabbing her skirt.

Its a rainy day and Kana and Chiaki are home reading. As Kana reads her manga, she comments on how good pudding is and wouldn’t Chiaki like some. Chiaki isn’t falling for it and says she’s fine because she has her soda. However, when she goes to the fridge to get a fresh can, she discovers they are out. As such, it is time for a battle between sisters with the loser forced to go out and make a supply run. Kana has a new game she borrowed from Keiko and it features the sensei and young female student from the drama series. The first item on the game appears to be a fight one between sensei and girl, but when Chiaki (playing Sensei) beats Kana, they get a “Bad End” title. They go through each and every (parody) game on the disc and each time end up with a “Bad End” logo. Haruka comes home, the rain having stopped, and has pudding and sodas. However, she finds Chiaki and Kana deeply engrossed in their game.

At PE, Haruka shows how gifted she is at volleyball. Hosaka and Hayami, watching from a distance, want her in the volleyball club, though Haruka has told her classmates she can’t because of the kids (Kana and Chiaki). At lunch, Haruka, Maki, and Atsuko are eating and talking about Hosaka-senpai, whom Maki finds disgusting. As if on cue, he arrives and calls Maki over. Realizing he hadn’t overheard their conversation, she pretends to go along with his plan to bring Haruka in as the manager for the guy’s volleyball club. It is his fantasy for her to wipe the sweat off him in a loving way. However, Maki tells him she can’t join a club because of the kids, leading him to fantasize about her as a mother and wife. This makes him sweat profusely, leading Haruka to wipe the sweat from the dazed Hosaka-senpai.

Haruka rushes off to get home as Maki and Atsuko head to volleyball club practice. They notice Hosaka-senpai smiling at them and even flinging a little sweat and determine he wants to speak to them. Outside the gym, he wants to know how many children Haruka has. Maki gets Atsuko to go along and they say two. This makes sense to Hosaka’s strange logic, considering Haruka’s charm. Maki and Atsuko try to get away, but he wants to know more about them, so they tell him that Haruka says they are cute, something he understands. He realizes that he’d need to be their father if he wants to be with Haruka. He fantasizes about family life with her and the girls, to include Haruka wiping the sweat from him. Maki and Atsuko tell “Senpai” that they need to get back to practice, but he tells them not to call him that. When asked what they should call him, he says “Papa.” Meanwhile Haruka comes home to Kana, who demands food, and Chiaki, who welcomes “Haruka-neesama” home.

Thoughts: This show doesn’t make me laugh as hard as Azumanga Daioh did, but it has a similar charm and it is funny. Its hard to comment on the series because while its good, it is just a slice-of-life series and one just goes for the ride.

I’m guessing “Ojisan” is their real uncle considering the girls reactions to him. It would have been nice to have had more information there.

I will say one more thing. The game parody sequence clearly shows “Sensei” spelled out in English. That’s going to cause non-FUNimation companies severe irritation seeing as they like to expunge terms like that.