How do you rate Plot 01 of
This episode was pure insanity and I kind of loved it. There’s no thematic thread, no real character development, not even any romantic progression. Two parts of the episode were nothing more than taking a joke or idea to the most extreme that these characters can.
In the first half, the teacher caught the students as much as possible during the lunch break Time to leave campus to eat elsewhere. I don’t know if this is an actual problem in Japan, but it doesn’t matter because it’s just a fun excuse to pit all the students and staff against each other. Before this, we’ve only really seen Ataru’s homeroom teacher, the principal, and the principal’s big cat with him, so it’s great to see more staff working with more of the student body. I know we tend to stick to the usual main characters, but this episode showed that getting background characters involved can lead to some pretty hilarious antics. Also, this is probably the only episode where I think everyone reasonably respects Ataru and follows his lead. I guess it just goes to show that he can be very capable when he’s not acting like a total scumbag.
The second half of this episode is exactly ten Casually fucks everyone, even if he doesn’t mean to. Last week I thought number ten was going to be this kid, and he was going to be another obstacle in Artaru’s life, making things more difficult, and also an excuse to temper some of Lum’s aggression. While that may still be true in the end, Tens also have the ability to screw up with other people. It was hilarious to see Shinobu use something like fate as an excuse to get along with Sakura’s fiancé. In fact, Sakura’s fiancé is probably one of the funniest parts of this half-episode, even though he only has four lines. He just showed up, he just followed what everyone was doing, even though he obviously had no idea what everyone was talking about. I think the joke is that he’s right there, and even though it’s subtle, it’s really funny. I’m curious about the episode’s end credits scene about Ten ordering something else from that online site. I’m not sure if this was supposed to lead to something else, or if this was just a one-off gimmick about how Ten didn’t really learn anything from the situation he inadvertently caused. Either way, it’s a stand-alone comedy series in the purest sense of the word, and it’s enjoyable when the show unabashedly leans in that direction.
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