I have finally returned to do a write-up of the episode which marks the halfway point of Cuties. This episode features Izumi, Miki, and Risa, the Three Amiga. This is another episode I am excited about due to Izumi being a personal favorite of mine, so without further ado, onto the write up! (After the jump as always.)
The episode opens with Izumi introducing herself as class representative Red. She then introduces Blue (Miki) and Black (Risa) as the "other two". (I find it interesting they use the English words for the colors.) Miki and Risa take offense at being referred to as the "other two" and Izumi points out that she is just saying what it says on the cue card. They still are angry and Izumi points out that they are always together so it makes some sense to be a group. The segment ends with Izumi saying that they are "Izumi and the other two" and the intro plays. (The other two just can't take it though.)
After the intro, Hayate is shown talking with Black (Risa). She tells Hayate that there is a secret involving Izumi and Blue (Miki). Hayate doesn't seem to interested until Risa steals his milk and he gets angry at her. Hayate scolds her for taking his milk and asks what the secret is. She tells him that she, Izumi, and Miki are lumped together into a group, sometimes called the "idiot trio". (Hayate of course knows this.) She then tells him that she has the feeling people are lumping the three girls into one idiotic person. Hayate is unimpressed by the secret and tells Risa that he will try to consider each of them their own idiot. (It shouldn't be that hard. Izumi is always delivering panty shots to random people; Miki and Risa don't.) Risa says that Hayate has the wrong idea and tells him that she is smarter than the others. (Thus ends Risa's time in the spotlight, probably.) Miki and Izumi show up to argue who is the dumbest with Risa and Hayate suggests that they figure who it is in some way. Hayate suggests they compare tests, but they don't like that so Miki suggests that they have a contest to make the most interesting video. (I noticed here that Miki doesn't have whites on her eyes. Miki is truly special.) They will post their videos online and whoevers video has the lowest view count is the loser and must do something with Hayate. Everybody goes their own way except Izumi and Hayate wonders what is going to happen to him. Izumi tells Hayate that she will win in thanks for all he has done for her. She then shows Hayate the plan for her video, a plant growth log. She will take pictures of a plant as it grows and then put them into a video. Hayate wonders if she will have a video ready soon as the plant is small and Izumi talks about how she wishes the plant would shoot up before accidentally breaking the plant's leaves off. Miki comes out of nowhere and calls Izumi an idiot that doesn't know what is good video. Miki says that videos of animals are popular and Izumi says that Miki doesn't have any pets. Miki says she is about to have some pets born, some chickens. She bought some eggs and has been incubating them for three weeks. Hayate asks if she bought the eggs and Miki says she did. Hayate then points out that eggs in the supermarket are unfertilized so no chicks are coming out of her eggs. Miki is crushed and now knowing that she only has rotten eggs she throws the eggs at Hayate and Izumi. Risa comes out of nowhere and calls Miki and Izumi idiots. She then reveals that her plan for a video is to show off a Rube Goldberg machine she made instead of studying. (Hayate says she should have just studied.) She accidentally triggers the machine and is distraught that she got a failing grade for nothing. (Looks like Hayate was right.) All are sad that they were unable to create a video, but Hayate says they learned something: that they are all equally idiotic. They then get angry. Hayate returns home smelling of rotten eggs and Nagi notices. (This segment was inspired by chapter 356.) We cut to the three Amiga in the classroom being forced to study, when Risa makes a realization, that she is not given much attention. She then tells of the tale of her birthday. (Looks like Risa isn't done with the spotlight.) Hayate passed her in the hall and wished her good birthday. She confronted him as she expected a present. Hayate said that he should get an apology from her. They then argued until Hayate gave in and gave her a pressed four-leaf clover to use as a bookmark. Hayate then left. Risa is worked up after the story and Miki says that she sees the problem, the reason Hayate treats Izumi different. Risa asks what it is and Miki says it is a difference in popularity. Risa then calls Hinagiku for advice on how to be popular, but Hina scolds her for not studying. Risa then calls Nagi for advice on popularity. Nagi comes through and tells her that cute girls tend to be popular. Risa asks what makes one cuter and Nagi says the blushing is the cutest thing. (Nagi is giving advice from manga though, so who knows.) Risa agrees with Nagi's conclusion as Hina and Izumi blush much; Miki comments that Izumi leads a very shameful life. (As in Izumi feels much shame. I don't know about that.) Hayate comes in and asks them if they are studying. Risa asks Hayate what an embarrassing thing is and he says calling the teacher "mom". They ignore him and ask Izumi for something embarrassing and she says wearing her pajamas to school. This causes Miki to realize that Izumi's life is quite shameful. (Izumi doesn't like that designation though.) Miki also realizes the greatest shame in Izumi's life is how often her panties are seen. (Miki tells the truth.) Risa realizes this is true and Miki refers to Izumi as a "bitch". (Izumi and myself wonder where this came from.) Risa then decides to test the theory that blushing girls are cute by getting Hayate to lift Izumi's skirt so she blushes. Hayate and Izumi wonder why Risa doesn't lift her own skirt and Risa says that she couldn't see how cute blushing is if she herself does it so she will test the theory on the "panty showing pro", Izumi. (Miki thinks this makes sense. Why? Because she is an idiot probably. Poor Izumi is designated a pro. You almost have to feel sorry for her here.) Izumi says that Hayate doesn't need to be involved, she will lift her own skirt. Risa and Miki are blown away by Izumi's blushing and Hayate tries to save face by looking away. Miki and Risa thank Izumi for her lesson on blushing, Izumi is unsure if she should be happy, and Yukiji comes back to whip the girls into academic shape. Hayate returns home with a blush on his face and Nagi wonders what happens. Hayate informs her that weird stuff has happened and the connecting theater plays. (This segment was inspired by chapter 373.)
In the first half the Amiga wonder why they fail their tests unlike Hina. She suggests that it might be a lack of concentration, but they reply that they are busy, unlike her, watching random videos. Hina is convinced that it is a lack of concentration. In the second half Hina is shown watching random videos. The Amiga come to her after the test and find out that nothing has changed and Hina tells them it is a concentration problem.
The episode resumes with Yukiji giving papers to Izumi to handout to the class. She tells Izumi that Izumi can't lose any of the papers as there are only enough for one per student. Izumi tells Yukiji that she shouldn't worry. Izumi then walks out of the building, spots Shiranui, and pets him for a bit before remembering she has work to do. She then walks away, but loses a few papers due to a slack grip. Time passes and Nagi and Chiharu are shown leaving. Chiharu asks Nagi if she forgot something, but Nagi isn't worried as she has Hayate to fetch anything. (She of course does forget something although she doesn't know.) Miki and Risa are shown giving Izumi a hard time about losing papers and leave Izumi alone to clean the classroom. Izumi then begins cleaning and bumps against a desk. The bump causes a camera to fall out. Izumi realizes it is Miki's and makes sure it still works, which it does. Realizing that the camera works and she is alone, Izumi begins to play with the camera. She first does an impersonation of a news reporter, Chris Peppler, and finds that quite funny. Izumi hears a noise while thinking about how she doesn't want anyone to see her, but is relieved when she sees it is Shiranui. She next does an impersonation of her brother Kotetsu and thinks about how he only likes trains and Hayate. (I do have to say the Kotetsu impersonation is pretty funny.) She then gets the idea to record herself acting out a sort of romantic fantasy, most likely with Hayate (an invisible Hayate). Izumi gets really into her fantasy when Shiranui pops up and scares her. Izumi is relieved that only a cat saw her and leaves the classroom with the camera sitting on the desk. The next day Miki claims her camera and tells Izumi she should have brought it to Miki. Risa then asks Izumi if she recorded anything weird and Izumi denies it a bit to enthusiastically. Miki then checks out her camera, Izumi freaks out, and Miki finds that the memory card is missing and Izumi is relieved. (This segment was inspired by chapter 308)
Afterward is the ending theme, featuring Izumi vocally and the three Amiga visually (although with a higher amount of Izumi.) After the ending theme it is shown that Hayate is the one that stole the memory card (which was inspired by the first page of chapter 309).
Once again an excellent episode. The material chosen wasn't too surprising except maybe chapter 373 as that is rather recent, within the last year if I'm correct. This episode was an excellent demonstration of the theme of the Cuties season as it featured characters that really tend to have only individual chapters in the manga. It could be seen as a bit disappointing that the Segawa Household arc wasn't animated, but I am more than okay with that. The only positive reason I could see for animating it here would be that it would be an easy episode story wise as it is a whole arc. There are negatives though that made me happy that it wasn't animated. One is the fact that it doesn't really allow Miki and Risa to get any sort of focus whatsoever, as it is not their arc. Another is the fact that the Segawa Household arc really needs to be put in context in my opinion as it relies upon the Mountain Hike to occur first. Reason two point five that makes me happy that the Segawa Household wasn't animated is the fact that the Mountain Hike and Segawa Household arcs seem to be good starting points for a season adapting Golden Week.
So that ends the write-up of episode six, the halfway point of the season. Look forward to the write-up of episode seven, Ruka Suirenji soon.
Postscript: So I am finally back to actually do write-ups. I am not sure when the next one will be done, but I promise it will be soon. Of course look forward to the Database page over the weekend as normal.
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