Ookami-san and Seven Companions 3 – So, Narrator Takes a Backseat. And it Still Works!
This was a fun little episode that went deeper into the past of a couple of the main characters, namely Otohime and Tarou. It’s told as a tortoise and the hare story, as Otohime and rival Mimi Usami – played fittingly by Rie Kugimiya – fought it out for Tarou’s heart. And though not emphasized as heavily, there was a touch of The Ugly Duckling in there as well.
I really liked this shot. They looked pretty cute, too.
Otohime’s story was pretty sweet, even if completely superficial. Plus, she wasn’t all that fat to begin with! Well, maybe by Japanese standards… But seeing Tarou be so nice to her in the past showed us why she’s so madly in love with him. And also that he isn’t such a bad guy, or at least not too superficial – as long as it’s a girl, it’s fine with him, no matter what the shape or size.
Of course, the heart of the episode was in watching Otohime and Mimi duke it out to win the contest. They laid the tortoise vs. hare metaphor pretty thick, especially with calling Mimi “Usa-chan,” an obvious pun on the Japanese word for rabbit, “usagi.” I was a bit surprised that the story ended up being so long term, starting all the way back from when they were all in elementary school. It was actually a much more direct metaphor than the Cinderella one in the first episode, with the beauty contest taking the place for the race, though it ended with a bit of a twist. As for the similarities to The Ugly Duckling, they didn’t play that up at all, but the metaphor is pretty obvious.
Yeah, not all that subtle about it...
The comedy was strong for the most part. I especially enjoyed the cynicism of the main group deciding that sabotaging Mimi was the best way to win… and then finding out that Mimi had the exact same thought! And the reference to Zero’s Familiar – another J.C. Staff production – took me a few seconds to get, but it was a nice in-joke.
The narrator got her chance to shine in that scene as she bleeped out parts of the argument. I’ve heard animal noises used for that, but I’m not sure I’ve seen the narrator being used that way before. I also loved the constant references to how Ringo and Usami overlapped in their loli-ness, which got on Ringo’s nerves. Anyway, I’m repeating myself, but Satomi Arai continues to be a pleasure to listen to as the narrator.
He kinda reminds me of Teddy from Persona 4. That one starred Rie Kugimiya and Yui Horie as well!
I also liked how Liszt’s cross-dressing was handled. It was just there, and only Ryoushi seemed to make a big deal about it, just from the initial surprise.
It was a little surprising that they collectively got 1 vote, from Tarou, though I expected them not to rank. I liked seeing them be the losers like that. Really, after all that fighting, it was downright pathetic! How arrogant of them to assume that one of them would take the top prize!
One thing I didn’t like so much was Mimi’s character being so flat. No, not like that. She was just a mean narcissist, plain and simple. I guess those people aren’t actually uncommon, especially in high school, but they’re not very interesting to watch. I really felt no sympathy for her at the end.
Again, a nice shot.
So despite the narrator not taking control like in the last episode, this was a pretty fun one. I had written in the previous post that the show didn’t seem as entertaining when focusing on the main characters, but this one was a damned fun episode. Otohime and Tarou were pretty cute together. I’m looking forward to seeing the adaptations they’ll be doing in coming episodes, and how they’ll involve some of the 7 companions.
