Kobato Episode 5

KOBATO! You have returned to me! Don’t ever leave me again even though the holiday season is behind us. If you are going to leave me for a week you better warn me in advance. I don’t think I got my weekly dose of cuteness last week. But I still love you.

Don't be sorry! Just don't do it again!

Now was this episode worth the wait? Let’s find out.




Yes it was! Even though I hated to go a week without Kobato this episode was almost worth the wait and I usually don’t say things like that. XD So yay for patience paying off.

Should you curl up with a good manga or watch another episode?

This episode had a bit of manga plot and original anime content! And while the manga aspect got pushed to the side for the anime friend of the week it still made a good showing. And it discussed one of the HUGE points I was harping on so what more could I ask for?! XD Tenchi is a happy girl.

I am often very polite to the people who are threatening me. Very.

So now everyone knows the major plot that I wanted to happen now. The whole phone call/gangsters calling thing. When they first played the scene with Sayaka getting the phone call I was like ABOUT TIME! And I was pleasantly pleased that the thugs came around in this episode. That does sound kinda creepy but I like how they were moving along the plot and not leaving us hanging with just that phone call.

Had they just stopped at the phone call I might have been RARW. I knew what it meant but to only anime viewers it would have come across as random and full of questions. So thanks for giving us manga readers what we wanted to see and the anime only crowd should have less than 10 questions now instead of 589. XD

Sayaka was a little…boring during the phone call. That and her lipstick was a bit distracting. XD Ioryogi was more of a THIS IS AN IMPORTANT MOMENT factor than Sayaka was. Kobato makes the scene less serious with her “I can’t read a children’s picture book” craziness but the viewer comes away with the fact that Sayaka is in deep debt and people are harassing her on the phone.

ABUSE! PLUSHIE ABUSE!

The real meat of the “plot” occurred when Kobato arrived at work late (I hear you girlfriend!) and she found some hooligans kicking out a tricycle. And stepping on a plushie. Seriously though don’t be stepping on plushies. A bit of my heart broke when I saw that dirty toy. Plushies are meant for living on bookcases…away from dirty germ ridden kids. XD

But back to the subject at hand. Thugs picking on kids so they can get their money for their boss. Bad form. And really not effective. I am not sure WHY the kid had to be the one to think about alerting the cops but whatever. Personally if I was going to shake down someone for money I would leave them threatening notes in their car and let them know they aren’t safe anywhere. XD I am pretty awesome of course. But yeah, these adults needed to think about calling the cops even if they owe the MAN money. Thugs are thugy at the end of the day though.

Fujimoto needs to eat a sandwich.

Fujimoto didn’t get to do that much ass kicking which was disappointing. But he didn’t do THAT much in the manga either. Ioryogi actually taking part of ass kicking was amusing and really added to the scene. Sayaka standing their politely asking them to leave was….annoying but necessary. The shining star of course was Kobato.

Fear me....and my hat.

Okay so her standing there asking them politely to leave was futile but she had real strength. Some stupidity but real strength to get involved in a dangerous situation with people she doesn’t really know about a problem she is not a part of. She was scared but knew she had to protect her new little family. She might have redeemed herself a little in Fujimoto’s eyes. It might have been nice to have Fujimoto protect Kobato a little more so everyone could go WOOT PAIRING but later. More development would be better.

So yeah, that was the manga plot. There is only one HUGE other plotty thing that needs to be mentioned. It will make Kobato seem less happy happy and give the situation a bit more seriousness instead of her being….Kobato like. XD Surely it shall come.

Hi I have anger issues! Heal me.

The friend of the week was “an old dude”. I am sure Mori is in his late 30’s mid 40’s but in anime land that is OLD people. Like one foot in the grave old. Look at all those exaggerated wrinkles ya’ll. XD But yeah for someone who is an adult and has real adult problems that don’t involve umbrellas.

Pictures are hard....

The way Kobato found Mori was a bit of a stretch. Kobato was trying to read to the kids at the nursery and apparently picture books are hard people. I am not sure how Kobato was reading it wrong nor did the episode ever explain how she was missing pages or…whatever. She just was. She had to suck at reading the book so Ioryogi and Fujimoto could make fun of her and so Mori would have an excuse to get mad at Kobato so she could heal his heart. Roll with it people!

Kobato needs to fear strangers a bit more....

Mori comes off as a random jerk at the beginning. His jerkness doesn’t last for long as I think he was thrown by Kobato’s suggestion he come live with her. I can’t blame him of course. For the anger and the thrown offness. Kobato is kinda odd and he is a bit bitter about his past. Not that he should take it out on someone who is reading a book but we need him to be angry!

A dose of reality in a fantasy anime.

So why does he hate a book about fireflies so much? Once upon a time when Mori wasn’t so old and bitter he was a writer. He had a cute girlfriend who wanted him to write a story about fireflies and she would draw the pictures. He did so but he was a busy man who couldn’t take the time to go on dates with his girlfriend. All she wanted to do was go see the fireflies that she loved so much. One day Mori decided he was done being busy and he agreed to go see the fireflies. That day his girlfriend got hit by a car and died. Thus he hates the book.

I’m not going to lie…this made me pretty sad. I think this scenario hits home to a lot of people. We are all so busy running around doing things that we think we need to do when what we really need to do is spend time with our loved ones. Yes Mori had a great career and all adults need to work to put food on the table and have a roof over their heads. But sometimes it’s okay just having enough. You don’t need to be famous or have a job that puts so much pressure on you that you don’t have time to appreciate what all your hard work gets you. Yeah that sentence made sense. But the moral of this episode is don’t take the time you have for granted because it could all be over tomorrow.

So sad I am not going to make any "glowing" jokes.

I feel bad for Mori. It might be easy to say YOU SUCK why didn’t you go look at fireflies with your girlfriend? But we have all been in his situation. We all have done something similar to that before and for most of us we have the chance to spend time with our loved ones later. He just wasn’t lucky enough to be one of us. So there lies his bitterness towards the book and how it all makes sense.

Pretty scene is pretty.

Kobato managed to heal his heart by accident…as usual. And really it was Ioryogi who compared Mori to the lonely firefly. She had no idea she was taking Mori to the exact same place that his girlfriend wanted to take him. She is actually quite lucky that things turned out the way they did. Mori could have gotten completely upset and lost his mind over being in the spot his beloved wanted to take him so badly. But he didn’t and Kobato put her whole heart into healing him.

Although it would have been better if Kobato CRIED when Mori told her about the dead girlfriend. It would have been BETTER for the future…not saying anything more.

But Mori is healed and that is all that matters. And I am not sure if Kobato really DID all the much. She just forced him to a place where he could forgive himself. Which is fine. I don’t think she has to do a lot to heal people. That is true in real life. You can say a kind word to someone and that is all they need to make it through the day. So I find this scenario very plausible and enjoyed the story.

Even if I did think the storybook at first was “A City with No People”.

So that was today’s episode. It was pretty great. Not when Kobato got her hair pulled but the other stuff. XD It is possible to tie in manga storylines with anime originals (coughcoughShugoCharacoughcough). I look forward to next week and it BETTER be next week. I got my eye on you Kobato!