Wednesday 26 November 2008

Telepathy Shoujo Ran - Episode 19

Well, here we are again, as it's time for another episode of Table Levitation Shoujo Ran... Oops, sorry, Telepathy Shoujo Ran.

If you've been worried about the amount of time Ran and company seem to spend getting holidays away from school, then worry no more, as this particular episode actually takes place within the confines of school. Rather predictably however, it's time for the school festival, and even more predictable is the choice the students have to make as to what their class will be doing at the festival - A cafe or a haunted house. But which is better? Hmm... a cafe.... or a haunted house? There's only one way to find out...


Combine the two! Yes, of course, the class decide to do a cafe that is also a haunted house. I have to wonder just how many haunted houses and cafes there are at the average school festival in Japan though. Anyway, this whole school festival thing is little more than a distraction for the emotional crux of the story, which is Midori yet again struggling with her emotions regarding her parents, particularly when she sees Ran's parents so proud of their children. By the end of it all, both Midori and Ran's powers are revealed (well, sort of, but seeing as the chair levitation I mentioned earlier has nothing whatsoever to do with telepathy, I guess Ran's parents don't know quite what they're letting themselves in for), and Midori reconciles with her previously generically unpleasant parents. Probably.

Given this episode and the preview for episode twenty, I'm starting to wonder if the writers for this series haven't run out of Scooby Doo-esque mysteries for the gang to solve (although I could argue they ran out of those four or five episodes in) and are thus resorting to the obvious use of filler episodes. I suppose to be fair resolving Midori's emotional turmoil is a key point of the show, but considering this only seemed to take about two minutes amidst all the other inconsequential stuff, I'm still armed and ready with my big "FILLER" stamp to give this episode the Hanners seal of mild disapproval.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why do you watch then... I love Telepathy Shoujo Ran, each episode is just plain fun!

Anonymous said...

Azumanga Daioh had the same dilemma, leading to Osaka's breakthrough thought:

"Instead of doing a cafe that's like a haunted house, we'll do a haunted house that's like a cafe!"