Thursday 29 July 2010

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi - Episode 5

Another week means another story for Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi, although this time around the goings-on tie in to the happenings of episode two, with an eye very much on the show's wider story which appears to be unfolding.

Before that however, we're introduced to Momoko, a member of the school disciplinary committee and a bit of a man-eater... and woman-eater for that matter, given her overbearing interest in Ryouko. Anyway, if you can get your mind away from the inevitable doujinshi that this episode will inspire, Momo has a favour to ask of the Otogi Bank (that is what they exist for, after all), as it transpires that she wants to have a word with the president of rival Onigashima school's student council regarding the recent increase in delinquent behaviour coming from that establishment's students.


Of course, this is the same Onigashima school that caused such a ruckus in the show's second episode, so the likelihood of making a friendly appointment is pretty remote - Instead, with the help of Ryouko and Morino amongst others, it's up to Momoko to fight her way through to meet the new student council president. Despite being well-prepared (and ridiculously dressed all-round, quite frankly), this proves to be more difficult than even the Bank's members imagined, not least for Ryouko as we are again treated to some very brief insights into her past and how it influences her current personality and behaviour - A state of affairs which also seems to link directly into the student council president himself.

While that might sound interesting enough, to be honest there wasn't really much going for this episode - Boxing gloves and breasts that make meowing and bouncing sounds respectively really don't cut it, and the storyline as a whole lacked any kind of inspiration or real interest beyond providing the ability for some pretty half-hearted action scenes that were all eclipsed by those in the aforementioned second episode.

On the positive side, this instalment did have two plus points in its favour - Once again, the show's narrator adds a little spice and humour to an otherwise dry script full of predictable dialogue, while Ryouko herself continues to turn into a genuinely interesting character. The more than I watch this series, the more I find myself wishing that a lot of the other plot elements would "just go away" so that the focus can remain on revealing more about Ryouko and building her budding little relationship with Morino. I'm certainly not watching it for the otaku titillation and bouncing breasts, that's for sure.

1 comment:

f0calizer said...

I agree, the action in this episode was pretty lukewarm compared to the smackdown in ep4. The two highlights of the episode for me were: 1) learning a bit more about the syndicate behind the high school that treats students as precious commodities (!) -- this must be linked in some way to the creepy Director/Lamp-san fellow, & I hope it gets developed somehow; 2) Ryouko's face brightened and warmed by the sunset near the end. Those few seconds alone were worth the silly booby humor...