Short Synopsis: This episode follows Chiko and Ken, as they try to get the doomed zeppelin down safely.
Highlights: An excellent aftermath to an amazing arc.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10
The previous episode was an absolute chaos, so it was only natural that the aftermath would be more straight-forward, and yet this was a very solid and entertaining episode, which really served to get the cast closer together, especially Ken and Chiko managed to settle their differences as they tried to get out of that bomb-filled zeppelin. An interesting twist was that all of the guests turned out to be alive, and the wine was just rigged with some strange stuff that quickly made them unconscious. The blood that they seemed to cough… just turned out to be wine.
One thing that my limited Japanese didn’t fully understand is what went on between Chiko’s aunt and Tome. The end result was Tome, blackmailing the aunt, but I’m not exactly sure how she did it. Did she feed her the same poison that was fed to Chiko, so that if she were to go to the doctor, her plans to poison Chiko would be revealed?
Overall, I’m really impressed by this arc, but the question remains: what is going to happen in the final eight episodes. Hashihime mentions something about the final parts of the series diverging from the manga, and turning into “detective girls”, and the ED seems to confirm this.
The detective-girls do have potential, and it’ll be interesting to see what kinds of mysteries the creators can come up with, but I’ve got one major issue with it: Haruka. The OP and ED continue to portray her as a major character, while her actual role in this series has been incredibly small. The only time that she did stand in the spotlights turned into a disaster, when she knocked a big strong man unconscious with a bunch of toys. If this series really is going to turn into a detective girls-thingy, then I fear that Haruka’s brattiness has the potential to ruin everything. She’s about the only member of the cast that feels stupid, and I really hope that the creators will manage to develop her sufficiently.
Thanks for the piece. As for the boudoir scene, Tome says she will tell the police. Auntie says it was Tome who actually fed the poison to Chiko, but that going to the police shouldn’t be necessary. She offers to fire her with enough severance to buy a small shop. Tome says no, that she demands that auntie arrange a separate house for Chiko and let her go and look after Chiko. Either that, or she will tell the police. Meanwhile, she will keep putting small amounts of poison in auntie’s food, just to keep her honest. At least that’s how I and a Chinese subber heard it.
Wow, now that’s a bold move by Tome.
Kinda disappointed about the whole wine thing (takes the edge away from the doll-lady’s villainy), though in retrospect why rig the blimp with explosives if you’ve already poisoned all the guests. Seemed like overkill.
Pretty gutsy of Tome to stand up to Chiko’s aunt. I like her character, very kind and brave when it counts even if she lacks Chiko’s detective and fighting abilities.
Have to agree about Haruka. She doesn’t bring much to the table aside from being Chiko’s first true school friend (and first kiss, if you want to think about it that way, lol). Haruka has a lot of spirit going for her, but that seems to be about it.
Why didn’t Chiko and Ken go the highest elevation when they were about to hit water? Why did the maid tell the mistress what she knew? Such fools…
This should have been the next FMA.
Too bad only 22-24 episodes
I just got volume one in the mail today for the R2J edition.What an incredible work of art,and the packins are just incredible ! Excellent video quality.
Wow, this episode was really thrilling! I really wish it was longer. =(
To add to what hasn’t been mentioned, Tome did not add poison in the mistress’ tea. Tome fooled her into thinking that it was her own bottle of poison… but when Tome left the bedroom, you could see Tome clutching onto another bottle of similar white pills.
It was written “stomach pills” (pain killers).