みなみけ～おかわり～ Ep. 09

SPOILER Summary: The Minami sisters have sukiyaki for dinner as there was a great sale on meat at the market. After eating, Kana decides she’s psychic in that she had dreamed about eating sukiyaki the night before and had dreamed of the previous night’s meal as well. Chiaki doesn’t believe it so Kana is going to prove it by announcing her dream to Chiaki the next day. Her dream does involve food, including Chiaki eating what appear to be carrot sticks, but it gets weird and she makes no sense of it. As such, Chiaki just thinks Kana is lying.

At school, Black-san-sensei asks Haruka to consider participating in the Overseas Exchange Program (which ends up depressing her) while Kana tries to remember the details of her dream. At the elementary school, Makoto mentions to Uchida that he thinks Chiaki has changed. Indeed, he gets invited as himself to a homework session with Uchida and Yoshino. Shuuichi-kun also wants to attend and is also invited. At the Minami residence, Makoto taunts Kana since he’s there as himself. However, a punch from her sends Makoto flying, where he lands on the ground looking up Chiaki’s skirt. Chiaki tells him to leave, and after he does, Uchida follows, with a bag containing girl’s clothing from Kana. Makoto changes and returns as Mako-chan. Kana wins.

Makoto becomes concerned that Yoshino is about to discover he’s actually Mako-chan based on her talking with him, so when Touma stops by, Makoto tries to get her to sit between himself and Yoshino. However, Touma wants to benefit from Chiaki and Yoshino’s abilities in order to get the homework done, so Makoto is out of luck. Yoshino makes Makoto feel uncomfortable, as if he’s about to be revealed, so he flees. As the others do their homework, the discussion of Chiaki changing comes up. Shuuichi mentions not wanting to be “Plain Yogurt,” a reference to the nickname Chiaki gave him in the superior first series, but she’s already forgotten all that.

After the others leave, Chiaki is reading and Kana decides that Chiaki needs to make her dream come true by forcing Chiaki to eat carrot sticks. Haruka coming home saves her and Chiaki goes to take a bath. Chiaki asks Haruka if she’s changed. Haruka asks if this comes from Chiaki’s friends, which it did. As such, Haruka confirms it, assuring Chiaki that friends influence people. At dinner, Haruka has bought crabs and as they are eating crab legs, Kana realizes that her dream came true, only the orange things Chiaki ate weren’t carrot sticks but crab legs. She decides not to say anything but enjoy the feast.

The next morning, Chiaki has two hair “bobs” (for lack of a better term), showing her change, which is noticed by Kana and her friends. Yoshino causes Makoto to panic as she wonders aloud what Mako-chan is up to.

Its another day at high school and Hosaka is told by a Black-san-sensei to fix his tie. Hayami has one of his bento’s and is celebrating that fact. However, he wants it back, so she slaps him. Hayami challenges Hosaka about his making bentos for Haruka when Maki walks up and demands to know what he should do. She tells him to eat his bento so he tries to get it again, leading to another slap. She again verbally challenges him and ends up kicking him because her bento is ruined. The lesson he gathers from this is that he is delicious no matter what and is totally for Haruka.

Thoughts: I didn’t even recognize Shuuichi. Egad. The episode was mildly amusing with Makoto again trying to shake his Mako-chan alter-ego. Beyond that, it was a bunch of pointless (and I do mean pointless) series of events that lead no where and aren’t funny. For the first time, we get a chapter story with Hosaka, the bentos, and Hayami but it wasn’t funny. Kana’s dreams and the whole “I’m psychic and can see what we are going to have to eat at dinner tomorrow” didn’t lead anywhere and wasn’t funny. The Black-san characters are as annoying as ever, and not funny. What was this whole deal with pressuring Haruka to do the overseas exchange program? So she’d be a bit depressed (not funny) and then forget about it (not funny)? Then again, maybe the writers needed another tedious story thread (like Fuyuki-kun’s) that adds an element of depression to the series so that other stuff will just seem funny by comparison. Not funny.