みなみけ ただいま

Minami-ke Tadaima Episode 05 Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

The Minami girls are packing up their winter clothing when Haruka finds one of her old summer dresses that fits Kana nicely. Chiaki is looking at her swimsuit when Kana produces Haruka’s old school swimsuit, implying that Chiaki would be able to swim well in this. Chiaki is thrilled by this, but unfortunately, the swimsuit is too large for her. So, when she goes to attack Kana, it falls off her.

Kana invites Keiko to have hiyashi chuka (chilled noodles) at a new Chinese restaurant. They see Akira in the hall, but Chiaki won’t invite him since hiyashi chuka is a summer food and Akira is still wearing his winter uniform. A jealous Fujioki confronts Akira in the hall and learns of Kana’s invitation and her requirements. So, at Akira’s suggestion, Fujioka tries to be more summery by removing his uniform top and going with the shirt underneath. Akira says it would have to be more, so he unbuttons his shirt part-way and untucks it. Riko finds this look cool, but Kana thinks Fujioka is becoming a delinquent. Repeated attempts to garner an invitation fail, each time causing Fujioka to become more desperate when he consults Akira. Kana sees this and assumes the worst. Keiko understand what he’s trying to do and offers to get Kana to give him an invite. Fujioka is very grateful and when Kana sees this, she’s amazed at how Keiko turned this delinquent around.

Haruka is out with Atsuko and Maki buying swimsuits, so Chiaki is in charge of meals. She makes a “special menu” breakfast bacon toast pizza with extra cheese and potato chips. Kana takes it and scarfs it down before deciding to take an immediate nap. At lunch time, Chiaki makes a “special menu” lunch of beef curry with a buttered potato. Kana takes this and scarfs it down before returning to her nap. Chiaki then pours a soft drink for them, so Kana gets up and drinks it. She goes to take a bath, only to discover she’s gained a lot of weight. When she confronts Chiaki about this, Chiaki says that those meals Kana ate were Chiaki’s in order to gain weight and be more buoyant at the pool. She’d made Kana regular meals. Kana points out that Chiaki also needs muscle to swim, so when Haruka comes home, Chiaki and Kana are in track suits, ready for exercise instead of food.

At school, Uchida is trying to make a summer vacation plan, which currently only includes sleep, leading Chiaki to mention Kana’s method for planning her summer days – tossing a dart on a chart and doing that item. Meanwhile, Fujioka consults Akira on what to do in order to keep in touch with a classmate. Akira suggests asking the person in question to a family restaurant, where plans can be made to do other things over the summer. Fujioka goes to see Kana, who’s trying to plan what to do that afternoon. It is a pie chart with one of the items being a family restaurant. Kana gives Fujioka a small paperwad to drop on the chart, which he does. His wish comes true as it ends up on the family restaurant to the disappointment of Kana, but at the family restaurant, he sees all the other fun things he could have done.

Uchida drops by the Minami residence with extra fireworks as Fujioka calls Akira at home for more advice. He’s been invited by Kana to enjoy the fireworks and he wants to hold Kana’s hand that night. Akira says this is a good goal (not knowing it is Kana). Touma heads to the Minami residence that evening for fireworks, joined by Uchida and Yoshino, whom are in yukatas along with Chiaki, Kana, and Haruka. Haruka lights a candle for Kana, but leaves when she needs to check the stove. The candle goes out, so Fujioka rushes to a convenience store to get a lighter. Fujioka returns with the lighter while wondering how he can hold Kana’s hand. His wish comes true when Kana insists paying for the lighter and takes his hand to give him ¥100, making him very happy indeed. Unfortunately, he forgot to make further plans to be with Kana.

Thoughts/Review:

Heh!heh! Well, we get an Akira and a Fujioka episode all tied up in one. ^_^

I’ve only had hiyashi chuka once in my life. Can’t say I’m a fan of chilled noodles, even in the summertime. That’s because even though it is hot in the summer, I still like a hot meal. Just the way I grew up, I suppose.

Anyway, as to the episode, I was reminded of how little Riko has been used so far. She’s only had cameos to date, and her appearance in this episode is more like a glorified cameo as her only lines were mostly to remark on how she’s seeing a rare side of Fujioka.

Fujioka has always managed to show up at the Minami residence with or without an invitation from Kana. I guess that made his worrying about how he’d see Kana a bit amusing to me. That being said, I rather enjoyed his little victories because at that age, guys will take what they can get from the girl they like. ^_~

Akira’s coaching of Fujioka was also amusing, especially since it looked like Fujioka was about to become a Hosaka clone at his school. *lol* That was probably the funniest part of the episode (with Chiaki failing at jump rope being second).

Leave it to Minami-ke to make a person hungry. That bacon toast pizza with extra cheese and potato chips actually sounded tasty and easy to make. As usual, it isn’t something that folks make (kinda like the Cheese Lemon Custard Chiffon Pie), but I did find a Chinese (I think) image showing what is called “bacon toast pizza,” only it has tons of other toppings as well (in small quantities).

Based on the preview for the next episode, it appears some table setting was done here when Haruka went shopping for a swimsuit with her friends. She’s worn a bikini before (or even twice before), so I’m a little surprised that she was surprised that her friends were getting bikinis while she was considering a one piece.

In the end, a fun episode where Fujioka takes his small victories in his romantic feelings for Kana, but doesn’t actually get anywhere. ^_^