We seem to have a routine of one below-average Chio-chan’s episode, follow up by one above-average as of late. This week is amongst Chio-chan’s better ones as it fleshes out two side characters with great effect. As you might remember, Momo wasn’t that memorable when she first appeared. Her uptight attitude is a nice foil for our Chio and Manana, but taken as an individual, her character is damn plain. Adding her having a weak spot for sweet, however, is awesome. Seeing her just go loose and dandy while eating sweets make this segment sooo worth it. Appropriately Chio and Manana step back out of spotlight for Momo’s wild and adorable reactions (“I’m in Hokkaidoooo”). It also helps that her obsession towards Gotou-sensei allows her to do something out of character: going to the sweet shop to get the taste of why students eating candy. This segment also benefits from its escalation to hyper-Momo doing an acceptance speech for mixing candy ingredient into soda. It’s a good gag through and through
The second segment also benefits from giving the side cast some more texture than first appeared. I should’ve seen this coming that Chiharu is Andou’s imouto (I mean… with hair colors and stuffs) and extra point for her contrasting appearance (she wears rich-girl school uniform) with her personality (disappointed that her brother comes clean… or in her own words: “uncool”). That set up quickly escalates to Chio admits that it was her who changed Andou (in a hilarious but believable way). Kudos for Andou and Chio’s combined silliness that things can’t go like planned. And Mamana late arrival gives the whole situation an interesting mix. The only issue I take with this segment is… why boob groping, Chio-chan? Sigh
Speaking of how Chio-chan trying new things, the epilogue comes out as a nice surprise for its change of pace. Completely void of any dialogue, with watercolor simple designs, it still manages to tell a quirky, lovely tale of Andou and the cat. Chio-chan accomplishes what it does best this week: fleshing out side-characters and building up this simple premise to a right degree. Here’s hoping next week Chio-chan will break its own routine.
