neko’s thinkbox

NEKO MIMI! NEKO MIMI! Awwwww… KAWAII!! Oh hi, sorry for the backlogging, my… (shame) current Pangya addiction somehow distracted me from watching any anime and doing any random blogging work at all. I still need to catch up on Pumpkin Scissors… maybe in a few days. At least Pangya doesn’t work at dorm, my luck.

So… I’m back with another Getsumen episode, and today I’m going to talk about beach volleyball. Bounce bounce, jiggle jiggle. Not interested yet? (neko yells NO!)

Okay. So this is a story all about how my life got fli… nonono, that doesn’t belong here. I will tell you now who Ootsuki Miina really is ahaha~ desu. (damn you Suzuru for this >_<)

One more thing before you can read on: Try to find the mistake (except the two arrows) in the picture above. Pure randomness.

Click here to proceed to the thinkbox.

Episode Summary - #4: Mutsumune’s Big Break!「六棟大ブレーク」

This episode kicks off with Escartine replacing a missing announcer for a Luna TV news flash. Miina, who slept in on her chair while studying for school, wakes up as Escartine reports about Ootsuki Miina’s fight against the aliens. As if it was a coincidence, Nanashi (“No Name”, apparently the baby rabbit’s name), emerges in a very unorthodox way out of the desk drawer and warns Miina of yet another imminent alien strike. The enemy, as always concealed in their UFO’s, are on the watch.

The next day, Suiren announces the start of the Umetate! Luna Festa, a seemingly huge promotion fair organized by the TV station, where the main attraction will be a beach volleyball game with the female Luna TV staff later in the afternoon.
During the signature hour, Escartine gets lots of praises from her new supporters she gained with her recent TV appearance, which boosts her confidence to new heights… Sky is the limit. As usual, Miina arrives late, so she has to wear the Spoluna mascot, Pyoko-tan’s dress. Not to her disadvantage at all however, because she gets popular in an instant and is even able to turn Escartine’s fans’ gazes towards her with her cute appearance. And once again, Escartine is fuming.

A little while later, Miina is changing into a bikini for the upcoming beach volleyball event, but Suiren notices that Miina’s face is sunburnt and hands her some sunblock cream. They both will be playing for the Spoluna Team. At the same time, Escartine (who will be playing for the Nemuluna TV Shopping Team) is waiting for her partner. (nemuluna = nemuruna, which roughly translates to “sleepless”, in case you’re interested)

On the moon, at the bunny-shaped HQ, Nanashi gets a message, presumably from a member of the Rabbit Force, and replies in Engrish on it. As always, it doesn’t seem like good news, and in that very moment, Escartine’s partner, a huge dark Pyoko-tan, pops up.

The first match opposes the Spoluna Team to an unknown team with a neko mimi girl (To me, neko mimi is automatic WIN. Period.). Although a straying and clumsy Miina isn’t much of a help, Suiren doesn’t leave their opponents the slightest chance and easily advance to the next round by fair means.
Why am I saying “by fair means”? Because you all know Escartine, don’t you? She’s the queen of Foul Play! She would never hesitate to use the dirtiest tricks to achieve her goal; and this time, she even throws some pins onto the opponent side of the field… On top of that, the huge Pyoko-tan’s shot mysteriously takes off one of the opponent’s girl’s top, revealing her fake breasts thingies (I don’t know a precise name for those, not interested >_>), arousing the public quite a lot.

Obviously, both Miina’s and Escartine’s team make it into the finals. While claiming to have a fair match, Escartine’s only goal is to humiliate Miina in front of her fans. At first, Miina is taken aback by Pyoko-tan’s crushing service, but Suiren comforts her and tells her to ease up a bit; although it’s their work, they’re supposed to have loads of fun, especially to please the spectators. Miina is fired up.

Yes, you guessed right. The Spoluna Team wins (obviously). Beaten in a fair and square match, pushed by Miina’s friendliness and the public’s acclamation, Escartine admits defeat and congratulates Miina by shaking hands. In the background, Escartine’s teammate suddenly transforms into a gigantic version of Pyoko-tan, and, how could it be any different, steps on poor Escartine, completely crushing her.

So what do you do in a dangerous situation? Of course, drink a carrot juice! (I’m tired of specifying vegetable juice etc). And that’s exactly what Miina does to transform into Tsukishiro Miina. Nanashi informs her that the alien is a trophy collector which already won quite a few trophies in the past. This time it couldn’t win the first place, hence the outrage.

As the huge Pyoko-tan is causing a mess on the volleyball field, Miina defies it with her Carrot Revolvers. She doesn’t even get the opportunity to end her sentence though, since Pyoko-tan already prods her violently against the wall. Miina only gets a scratch on the left cheek, but she isn’t able to stand up and is entirely at the mercy of the alien. Perfect timing for Ootsuki Miina’s entrance, who just smacks the hell out of Pyoko-tan, then goes over to Miina and licks the blood off her wound (awwwww <3)

The alien stands up but isn’t able to do anything at all, since Ootsuki Miina beats it to a pulp and eventually finishes it with her special move. However, the battle isn’t over yet. The UFO suddenly appears and retrieves the defeated alien (who shrunk back to its original form). As Ootsuki Miina is preparing to strike the UFO, she repeats the same words Suiren told Miina during the volleyball final, to enjoy doing their work. Miina realizes now that Ootsuki Miina actually IS her senpai, Suiren-san.

Eventually, after a smashing combo of both Miina’s attacks, the UFO hits a bridge, causing it to collapse. Although Ootsuki Miina chases after it, the half-wrecked UFO still manages to escape. But the most important thing is that our heroines have saved the world once again!

After work, the whole staff spends the rest of the evening at the local restaurant relaxing from a hard day’s work, as usual. And, Escartine really can’t end such eventful days without wearing bandages… She’ll get accustomed to it, I bet.
Nevertheless, she still has made quite a few fans. Because now, the aliens in the escaped UFO all wear Escartine T-shirts! Isn’t that a nice comfort?

Next Episode: Red Card for Miina? (ミーナに赤札?)

Thinkbox mode: on

So. From “Mutsumune’s big break” to “Mutsumune’s big breasts”. I, who always lashed out on fanservice, somehow can’t say anything to those lewd close-ups in Getsumen. What better than a beach volleyball match with our female protagonists in bikinis? You over there, stop moaning! Okay the sensitive parts are less highlighted, less outlined (you know what I mean) than in purely fanservice-oriented anime. But still… I wonder. If I had known that there’s quite some bouncing and jiggling before I first watched Getsumen, I probably would have thought twice before following it. Yes, this is a huge contradiction. (And definitely not the only one.)

Yet, I will still keep watching Getsumen, not only because I’m making an exception on the point stated above, but yeah, the story has its unique charm… Randomness.
Between sports, aliens, and bunny girls, there’s more than just a fine line. However, this anime crushes this incompatibility and there we go, the bunny girl Miina(s) kick some alien ass during sport events, Escartine gets beaten up badly every time, and we all have lots of lulz. And although Getsumen hasn’t had cliffhangers that make you go crazy for a whole week (yet), you still want to watch the next episode. (Sort of like me, since I’m totally gone when playing pangya x_x Getsumen is the first thing I watch before all the rest.)

One thing though, it might become fairly boring if the same action patterns repeat themselves throughout the next episodes: a sport event, an alien emerges, it wreaks havoc, Miina transforms, beats it to a pulp, staff goes drinking, end of day and episode. The way the story is told is quite fun, but it really needs some variety. The battles themselves don’t last very long, one two moves and off they go. And this time I totally skipped Miina’s transformation part, I really can’t stand to watch the same thing except the opening and the ending in each episode… At least Miina tried another trick, the Carrot Revolvers. No success though, but at least something different. I guess Ootsuki Miina’s knuckles were also new (already forgot if they already appeared). Anyway it’s time for a new Miina to enter the stage.

Talking about Miina… Last week I got a hint from my good friend ShiNN that Ootsuki Miina might actually be Suiren… Damn your rumors, they were damn right! XD I didn’t think as far since I’m still very superficial while watching and thinking about anime, but eventually I’d have found it out even before watching episode 4. Well, with that in mind now, I immediately could identify her as Suiren. Now, I repeat it once again, I demand another Miina by next week the latest! And as I said last week I am suspecting either Nakoru (Kanchi’s sister) or Minako (Miina’s friend with the rounded glasses), whose name also starts with Mina. But following this logic, then what about that other suspicious girl, Minamo…? Geez. Next week we might know more.

Neko’s last random thoughts:
Hey. I bet Escartine also wears fake breasts. Definitely.
I still can’t get along with the opening, I always skip it. Very honestly, it’s such a boring tune, and I especially dislike Halcali’s attempt at “rapping” or whatever that sluggish singing is supposed to be. BLEH! Needs moar action.
Arin actually is 20 years old… Like me, yay ^^ (…totally unrelated to Getsumen, lol)
Time to stop. Mata raishuu!
~neko