You’d think this lot would have learnt about “Be careful what you wish for…” by now, but nope…
What They Say:
It is said that a stony cat standing in a hill can make our dream come true. Asking for their wishes, the protagonists come to a hill and ask for their wishes to the cat. Then, for some reason or other, a high school boy loses the face he wears in public and his nickname becomes a pervert prince. A cute girl is deprived of her true feelings… The cat makes mischief to their relationship better and worse. What will become of them?
The Review:
“If only I could go to the past and find out for myself…” – and too late Tsukiko remembers that making wishes while the Cat God is about is a bad idea, as she and Yokodera find themselves back ten years, witnessing first-hand the events that seem to have been wiped from their memories. Which somehow don’t play out quite as they expected them to…
The missing memories of the gang seem to revolve around Tsukiko’s mother, Tsukasa – and sure enough, after a cute little detour to meet young-version Azusa, and Tsukiko’s joyous reunion with young-version Yokodera, Tsukasa appears on the scene. And turns out to be nothing like Tsukiko and Yokodera expected her to be, based on the photo they’d found of her. It’s at this point that the show delves into the Tsutsukakushi family history, with tales of separation and questions over whether Tsukasa even wanted the kids around her in the first place – a small matter that comes to a head when younger Tsukiko and Tsukushi pay her a visit from Italy. In fact, the only kid Tsukasa seems to want around her is younger-Yokodera, who’s taken quite a liking to her.
It’s all enough of a mess that you could understand the girls wanting to forget about it – which is where the Cat God probably comes into play, although it’s noticeable by its absence from this episode. Add in Tsukasa’s ominous cough, no doubt a portent of doom, and this week’s Henneko is most definitely on the serious side – there are a few light-hearted moments, most noticeably Tsukiko outing herself as just as much of a ‘Hentai-san’ as Yokodera is, but those scenes are just there to give you a breather from the more important events going on around them.
This is where I would normally complain about comedy shows that stray into the Valley of Unwanted Seriousness. Given the usual tone of the series, there’s a risk here that the episode would stray so far off-course into the Valley that I’d just flip a table or two and give up in disgust, but the story actually plays out surprisingly well here – I still don’t like that the comic side of the show is now firmly in the back seat, but as comedies-that-go-all-serious go, it’s a long way from being the most annoying example of them. And that can be considered a compliment.
In Summary:
I’ll still grumble a little about the de-emphasizing of Henneko’s comedy side, but overall this is still a good episode, that does a good job of exploring the gang’s ‘missing’ past and giving some pointers as to what’s been going on. Looking forward to next week now, and the rest of the revelations…
Content Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment: 27” Apple iMac, 2.9GHz Core i5, 32GB RAM, Mac OS X 10.8.3
