Squid Girl Season 2 - Episode 5

After a one week break, it's time for Squid Girl once again.  You know the drill by now - three sub-stories squeezed into a single episode for our enjoyment and entertainment.

The start point for episode five sees Takeru rejoicing over his recent purchase of a remote control car - a toy which equally impresses Squid Girl herself as she takes it for a spin.  However, the confines of the house just aren't enough to satisfy her, and against Takeru's wishes she eventually sneaks it outside to spend some proper time with it.  The rest probably writes itself from here - Squid Girl wrecks the car and has to confess to the error of her ways, while an attempt from the MIT's "Three Stooges" to fix the car produces some... interesting... results.

For part two of this episode, Squid Girl learns about the customs of Tanabata, and needless to say she wastes no time in trying to figure out wishes to serve her own ends.  The trouble is, when there are so many things you want how do you choose one?  After an entire day of struggling with her choice, it's the wishes proffered by others which eventually make her decision a whole lot easier.  Finally, the end of summer homework for Takeru gives him the chance to hang out with his friends at last... except they're all busy.  Cue Squid Girl to try and teach him how to have fun on his own, from finding everything on television hilariously stupid (she is watching Japanese TV to be fair, so she's probably not too far off the mark) to watching ants going about their business.  "But why don't Squid Girl and Takeru just play together instead?" I hear you cry.  Well, that's exactly the point.

As ever, Squid Girl succeeds simply be keeping its formula simple and being a whole lot of fun - there are occasional laugh out loud moments, and the rest of each episode just amuses or entertains enough to make for a worthwhile watch.  This particular instalment does also showcase some of the emotional investment in its characters however - Squid Girl's upset at having broken Takeru's toy which he's spent so long saving for is truly a bit heart-rending before shifting back to comedy for its final pay-off as a reminder that we do actually care about its major characters even though they spend most of their time goofing around.  Let's face it though, we wouldn't have it any other way, right?