Tension and drama, Squid Girl style!
What They Say:
Squid Girl decides that the Lemon should test their defenses against other invaders. But little do they know Squid Girl has other plans for this mock invasion… A fight breaks out between Squid Girl and Eiko and this time things aren’t patching up as quickly. With the tension in the air Chizuru closes the restaurant early so the group can go to the local Festival. Will Squid Girl go back to the sea or will a mysterious visitor be the key.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Squid Girl’s conquest is one that has some really fun moments, especially when she actually gets all commandeering and the like. This episode has her taking over the Lemon restaurant for a bit, or at least trying to, in an effort to make the place her first line of defense against other invaders. Raising the possibility of more invaders like her is a double edged sword since it could be really cute but also start us down the path of even more girls with distinct personalities, taking the focus off the really solid cast that we do have. Unfortunately for her, the attempts to train don’t go well because of the way Chizuru and Eiko are far more powerful than one would normally expect, both physically and through sheer intimidation. So giving Squid Girl a real challenge like this is definitely difficult for her.
One of the things I do like about the show is that you have such different personalities for the sisters. While Chizuru is soft in a sense while being brutally hard, Eiko is outgoing with her harshness and that plays well with Squid Girls own stubborn and unthinking behavior. So when the second story here focuses on the two in the midst of a fight that boils over in a big way, seeing how they handle the fallout is a lot of fun. The two are friends, they have to be at this point, but they’re both stubborn enough to be how they are by ignoring each other and trying to go about their days like normal without interacting. Which is hard, considering they work together as well, which leads to the expected tense yet cute moments where they play against each other. Add in the age difference between the two and it just makes it even more fun.
What this leads to is a bit of an unusual moment where Chizuru actually steps in to deal with the situation by closing the shop early for the day. By getting them out of the work environment, that helps a bit, but they also end up going to the festival that’s going on. So with lots of dress up involved and time spent with other friends, the two get some much needed time apart. Unfortunately for Squid Girl, she ends up separated even further and it’s difficult for her since it’s not all people familiar with her and her disconnect from human ways, so it has some cute and mild tension to it that tries to force everything back into place because of it. As a way to close out the season, it works rather well since it keeps things focused on a relationship that’s natural but doesn’t get a lot of time really devoted to it outside of the usual gags. It’s a bit slower, a little more character driven, but still has some good humor to it.
In Summary:
With the second season of Squid Girl drawing to a close, there’s plenty to like here as it again shows that it can work different kinds of stories well. The series definitely has its areas of focus that work out better for it, but it’s also capable of doing some good character driven pieces that deals with the basic but fun to watch personalities. It’s not like Squid Girl or Eiko are deep characters with amazing situations going on, but we’re easily drawn to them here as they work through their problems in a realistic way that blends in enough drama and cuteness to appeal. The show hits good notes here and continues to excel at what it does, leaving you once again very pleased with all that has come so far. You definitely leave wanting more, but you’d also feel pretty content if this is all there is.
Grade: B
Readers Rating: [ratings]
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
