Summary:
The gang takes Nagi to a karaoke room for the first time, and it turns out that Jin and Daitetsu are karaoke virgins as well. Tsugumi has to go first and turns in a decent performance of pop love song. Daitetsu follows up with a deep ballad and turns out to be a karaoke tensai to Jin’s dismay. Meguru then turns in a decent performance of a 15-year old insert song from a obscure anime OVA, and it’s Jin’s turn. Unfortunately, Jin is kinda bad, but Daitetsu gives Jin some words of encouragement. Tsugumi also mentions to Nagi that the old Jin would have never agreed to sing in front of everyone.
After a quick interlude of Nagi singing an ad jingle (The Song of Hello Soybeans) in a deep voice, Meguru starts taunting Takako for talking so much smack. Unexpectedly, Takako busts out an incredible song and dance routine of a cutesy anime OP, and everyone is speechless. Zange has a quick powwow with Hakua and they decide to wrap things up with a cute (but musically mediocre) song. As everyone gets up to leave, Jin realizes that Shino never sang. Takako replies that Shino opens up her eyes when she sings, and when Shino shows off her pretty peepers everyone is blinded by the light.
Reaction:
So little happened in this episode, and yet it was completely awesome at the same time (at least in terms of fanwanking). I thought Tsugumi’s song was really catchy and I loved watching her reactions during the skirmishes with Zange. Although I like Nagi best, I am totally rooting for Tsugumi to end up with Jin. I felt terrible when Tsugumi got her hopes up over a duet with Jin only to have too-pure-pure boy leap at the chance for a duet with big strong Daitetsu T__T. The voice actors really showed great range this episode, and the voice work for this show is a real bright spot.
Of course Takako stole the show yet again. Her performance was unexpected, and even Meguru was blown away. It was like an otaku changing of the guard. Takako’s lusty reaction to Tsugumi’s sweaty performance was also great. It seems like the staff is completely aware of some of the easier jokes to make about the series, and we even got a joke about Shino’s eyes and Jin’s wandering into room 301 instead of 304. I’m not sure how this story is going to get wrapped up in 3 or so more episodes, but I love the characters so much that I don’t really care that much anymore.
This post was written by...
Kabitzin – who has written 1970 posts on Sea Slugs! Anime Blog.
One of the founders of Sea Slugs, I handle most of the blog admin tasks while wearing my I AM BOSS shirt. I like my action series well choreographed, and my romance series extra trashy. I also have a soft spot for puns.
{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m pretty sure we’re going to get the “life goes on” ending, considering that the manga is far from finished. Also, an anime original would be completely out of place with the direction that the show’s been headed so far.
I wonder if Shino has special senses like Daredevil or something to be able to walk around with her eyes closed all the time.
Takako was awesome, shugashugarin indeed.
Seconded – although good Lord she’s got dubious taste… o_O
Then again, there’s also Nagi and her choice of songs. Vaguely resembles those Horrible Awesome puns of hers.
Ugh…what a boring episode. No wonder because it was Lucky Star homage front to back. Even the character designs went wack half-way through despite that little amount of animation.
Ho ho, the oft-talked about Karaoke chapter. It’s interesting to note that the songs they sang were pretty much written for the anime, and Takako’s song was different from what she sang in the manga (a scan of the page in question is at Atarashii Prelude, if I remember correctly), which was a shounen-ish song.
They even added the jingle for the other supermarket as the ED, haha.
I’d say that this pretty much cements Takako’s transition into full-blown otaku-fujoshi, I might add. The girl does her research, by Haruhi.
I just realized that Jin’s and Daitetsu’s outfits were like palette swaps of each other. I also couldn’t shake that BL vibe when they started chatting in the bathroom (at least the OP was playing then).
Obviously, you have never karaoke-d in your life!… I haven’t either, well, never in one of those booths that is, but in the shower, of course! Care to join me? =3
I agree with the half-ass character designs around the midpoint/towards the end. It sort of gave me that Beck vibe, which is not a bad thing at all… I guess. Two cheeseburgers are better than one I always say! HARR HARR HARR!!!
Cheese-fest this episode was! JE T’AIME!!! I couldn’t stop laughing when Tsugumi scooched over to let Jin sit, but instead he sits next to Daitestu (even though it was pretty cramped)! XD Also pretty funny was when Zange was all like “ugh!” when Mista Dai sat next to her. Like, what is up with that bitch? Shes acting like he has some serious BO or something! Poor guy
The Takako-Fap-Meter is off da chain, B! I’ve played that scene around 20 times… in a row/column! Although I prefer writing over Nice Boating, so I guess we’ll go with column *ba dum psh*…
Admit it! You never really cared in the first place! Lies! All lies you tsun-tsu-gumi!
Pretty much, and you know what? I don’t mind that one bit.
And if Chris doesn’t like Lucky Star, I can see why he’d like this one. Needless to say, I don’t agree with his opinion here though.
I NEED TO KNOW WHAT SHINO-SENPAI LOOKS LIKE WITH HER
GEASSEYES OPEN! Takako just knocked Zange off my list of top 3 favorite characters.Why do I keep thinking Shizuru whenever I see/hear Shino?
Zyl: Granted, Shino was voiced by the same person who voiced Mai in Mai-HiME so I don’t know.
And I just noticed the new tagline.
Seriously, even the characters seemed fairly bored and not really interested in each other either. It was like a car with eight fifth wheels. I have no idea why they would hang around together assuming nobody is forcing them to but maybe this is salary man training.
From a production point of view, I think this was nothing but a weak and blunt promotion for the CD, much like the Haruhi ads in that crappy star. Well, as everybody and their brother seems to like this episode, I might simply not be the target audience.
Chris: But it’s taken almost scene-by-scene from the manga. I already mentioned elsewhere that the only thing they changed was the inclusion of Lucky Star references and Takako’s song.
There is Faithfulness As Printed and Faithfulness In Intent, and this episode fulfills both quite well.
Well, nowadays they even use directors of advertisements for movies. So it wouldn’t surprise if similar happens in other areas.
So you’d rather that we just skip the karaoke chapter altogether? There’s also a anime con chapter, so should they skip that as well?
The Cerberus Syndrome only hits Kannagi AFTER the con.
The combination “Karaoke x Manga” is quite batshit insane in the first place. You could say, wrong medium? I hope at least they didn’t use 3DCGI in the manga. The self-referential idea about anime/manga cons is getting old. I’d almost like to recommend these authors to go out more often or get some non-otaku hobbies. Other authors travel or read a lot to get inspiration. Maybe I should write stories about a guy who comments on anime in blogs.
Given the history of the director (did Lucky Star and Haruhi), the manga artist’s previous gig before going independent (Type-MOON), and the fact that Akiba (and later Takako) are essentially Otaku-Surrogates, it’s unavoidable for the series not to dip into common tropes associated with the anime hobby/fixation/obssession.
like, oh em gee! BASE IT ON MEEE!!! and, like, write about how I only comment on this blog…
Okay, how about I kidnap Kannagi and have a real adventure with her. Oh shit, that’d be a Michiko e Hatchin rip-off.
Jesus: I’ll only base it on you, if you don’t mind the gruesome ending. Actually, facepalm.jpg is already the movie version.
btw, I’m sort of curious why people get so angry when companies include self-references and fanwanking. Cmon lets be honest, if you own the rights to a successful anime/whatever, why wouldn’t you self-wank? Who cares if the references are blatant and in-yo-face, you don’t have to fall into their hands and buy their merchandise. Just continue doing your thing, but stop hating, you guys know damn well that 10 years from now they’ll still be on top!
*sniff* AS LONG AS I DIE A TRAGIC HERO… then yes, it is fine by me! Here are the rights! *hands over the rights*
Chris: You bastard! These are not the rights! These are the LEFTS!!! *ba dum psh*
… can’t we change it into slowpoke.jpg? Hes ma favorite Pokemanz! :3 And I am honored that you included me in your 600th comment (despite the fact you’re missing three important numbers there…). I’ll make sure not to add you in mine
Same here. Does it really take away from their enjoyment of the show because the show isn’t just for their enjoyment? The companies that make these shows need monies too.
Is it because they “sell out”? What else? :hmm:
@ TheBigN: Good to know a fellow N knows how to boogie down! :3
more like, sell-outa-alot-a-DVDS! HARR HARR-*explodes* (btw, I can’t wait for the Kannagi Figmas! Yea, they haven’t been confirmed, but you know they are coming!… hmm, looks like their plan is working!)
I don’t mind a little fanwanking, but some series do take it a little too far. Lucky Star did have some facepalming moments with how hard Haruhi was pushed down the viewers’ throats.
I liked the karaoke in this episode. It makes sense, especially since karaoke is a very popular activity outside of the US. The karaoke also added a little depth to each of the characters.
Now that I think about it, a discerning viewer should always ask himself/herself “What song would [character in this show] sing at karaoke with his/her friends?”
Also, I can’t get that damn Shirigeya jingle out of my head!
b-b-bu-bu-bu-but I love deepthroating Haruhi… its the best experience I’ve ever had!!! D:
Hmm, I guess I can understand for those who were expecting Haruhi 2 to come soon. I mean, they (KyoAni) were really messing with ma e-penor with all those Haruhi scenes. Please don’t make me wait any longer!!! I NEED HARUHI!!! *continues to play with Haruhi Figmas and the US Limited Edition DVDs and draw crappy Haruhi fanart on his tablet and read the novels for the 4th time and puts on that yellow Haruhi hair thingy that came with the box set and…
*
It kinda only now occurred to me, but isn’t Jin going all tsundere on Daitetsu in this ep? Talk about Not Helping Your Case…
This series grabs its tropes and runs with them, cackling gleefully. And the Lord gazed upon it, ans saw it was all good.
More singing than acting, I didn’t liked it well.