Sunday 27 January 2013

Minami-ke Tadaima - Episode 4

They say that variety is the spice of life, but in Minami-ke's case surely the most potent of added ingredients must be Hosaka?

It's that culinary theme which runs throughout much of this week's episode, which means that there's no shortage of the bonkers, shirt button challenged Hosaka - another attempt to give Haruka his home-made boxed lunch is sidetracked into thoughts about sweating and volleyball as the episode starts in an absolutely hilarious fashion, and after a deep and almost combative discussion with Natsuki about feeding his family and some discussions about how Haruka and friends like their eggs (or are they really talking about eggs at all?) the instalment ends with Hosaka moving his attention not to the food itself but the vessel in which it is placed, again with some decidedly funny consequences.


Sandwiched into all this is Hitomi's own interest in Natsuki (which also makes itself known via food for the most part), and the problems that come from trying to dry clothes in the rainy season, a problem exacerbated when Chiaki and her friends managed to get soaked in a downpour by goofing around.  Still, it isn't such a big deal running out of clothes when you happen to have a bunch of nun outfits laying around the house, right?

The use of Hosaka within an episode of Minami-ke doesn't always guarantee hilarity, but it does grant a dose of the absurd and surreal that always gives the series an extra dimension and this is certainly the case here.  After those quietly enjoyable early episodes the first half of this week's instalment hit all of the right notes in terms of getting laughs out of me, and there's no doubting that Hosaka and his obsessions of food, Haruka and going shirtless (not necessarily in that order) were the runaway highlights of the episode.  The series wouldn't work if Hosaka featured every week - like the best of spices, he needs to be used carefully and in limited qualities - but it makes the moments where Minami-ke nails down a rich vein of humour all the more delicious to savour.

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