Midori no Hibi ep.6

May 9, 2004 | 1 Comments

I just found out that for the time being, Midori no Hibi will only be a 13-episodes series. If this turns out to be true, then I can understand why there have been major attempts to cover as many manga chapters as possible ever since the first episode. This episode does not exempt from the attempt either, although thankfully, they have done some minor editing to make the episode flows better. If I remember correctly, I think this episode combines the beginning of days 8, while modifying the story in days 19 and 27 to make the story shorter. But unfortunately, the episode also features Shiori in many scenes. The problem is, she's one of the less interesting supporting characters in the series and quite an annoying brat to boot. Thus, she ends up making the episode a bit grating at times. I'm also surprised that they still haven't given Kouta an episode considering that he is more important to the plot of the series and that he's a funnier character as well.

The episode begins by showing Midori and Seiji about to take a morning walk together. However, their plan is foiled when Shiori arrives with her father and mother and insists that she'd be allowed to spend time with Seiji while her father and mother enjoy their time together. However, when she doesn't get what she wants Shiori ends up being rude to her mother. As a result, Seiji has no choice but to agree to take care Shiori for a while. Once they get into a park, Shiori tells Seiji that the woman he saw beforehand is actually her stepmother and that her real mom had actually passed away. Shiori admits that her stepmother is actually very sweet and tries hard to be her mother. But this kind of attempt actually annoys Shiori because she feels that there is no one who can replace her real mother. Being the kind person that he is, Seiji feels sorry for the brat and decides to accompany her to a video game arcade. While the two walk together, however, they are spotted by Ayase, who immediately assumes that the two are dating.

Ayase's imagination then runs into some scary place again. This time she imagines a bishounen-looking Seiji trying to romance an adult-looking Shiori. Now, that is a rather disturbing image that I'll like to purge quickly. Unfortunately, the scene is quite amusing to see and therefore I can't help but staring at it like a train wreck. Thankfully for me, Ayase quickly snaps out of it and assures herself that Seiji cannot possibly want to go on a date with a little kid. But she got stressed out again when she sees Seiji and Shiori stops by a photo booth that produces those colourful stickers. Seiji and Shiori then enter the video game arcade and settle down to compete in a 'Street Fighter' type video game. Actually, the game really looks similar to the original Street Fighter, down to the fighters themselves. Hmm, I can just hear Capcom ringing Pierrot Studio right now. Anyway, Seiji decides to use a Ryu-like character while Shiori settles on a Chun-Li type of character.

The first round is a big shame to Seiji who's beaten by the little girl all too easily. Seiji becomes even more panicky when he finds out that Midori is exhausted from trying to punch all of the buttons at once. The two then decide for a strategy where Seiji spells out the button to press so Midori can do it easier. The teamwork between the two makes them marginally better than before. But Shiori decides to up the ante and almost beat them again. Then, all of a sudden, the Ryo-wannabe character that Seiji uses goes Akuma-like and starts pummelling Chun Li-wannabe like there is no tomorrow. Upon seeing this, Shiori thinks that Seiji is cool for being able to beat her. But she becomes disappointed when she finds out that the person who has beaten her in the game is actually Rin. Rin also doesn't waste the chance to mock Seiji and tells him that she knows he has bad lucks with girls but he has to draw the line somewhere, referring to Shiori's age. Of course Seiji is pissed off with Rin's comment and tries to explain the situation.

After hearing the full explanation, however, Rin becomes even more determined to make life difficult for Seiji. Rin begins by telling Shiori that she knows about the girl's crush on Seiji, as well as the fact that Shiori is a bit unhappy now because Rin has disturbed her private time with Seiji. Rin, however, assures Shiori that she knows about the sort of girls that Seiji likes and therefore offers herself to become Shiori's 'Coach' so that Shiori can wins Seiji's heart. Despite her initial reservation, Shiori eventually agrees to Rin's plan, much to Seiji's confusion. Not long after this, her father and her stepmother pick up Shiori so the three can go home together. Once again Shiori displays rudeness towards her stepmother despite the fact that her step mom tries to be kind to her. Fast forward to the next day, Seiji is sleeping in the class again while Midori is busy taking notes for him. Meanwhile, Ayase tries to find a way to give a movie ticket that she bought for herself and Seiji so she decides to wake Seiji up.

But unfortunately for Ayase, she begins to display her 'maniacal glares' and ends up scaring Midori off. As a result, Midori screams and makes an attempt to pull herself away from Ayase, waking Seiji up in the process. Once Seiji is awake, Ayase feels embarrassed to tell him about the ticket and decides to cancel her plan for now. Seiji and Midori then goes home and are shocked to find Shiori already inside the house, dressing up in a Japanese housewife outfit. Seiji, however lets Shiori to stay around not knowing that Rin is actually inside the house as well planning to get some good laugh out of the situations that are about to happen. Shiori then starts cosplaying as a girl with a glasses and pretends that he needs Seiji to help her with her homework. Seiji is confused because he didn't know that Shiori has a bad eyesight. Shiori is disappointed that the attempt didn't work and is told by Rin to change into her old Sailor outfit.

When Seiji sees her in the outfit, however, he angrily tells Shiori to take the outfit off because Rin will get mad at her otherwise. Not deterred by her latest failure, Shiori asks Rin for more guidance and Rin gleefully tells her to dress up as a cat girl, a Chinese girl, and eventually in a dominatrix outfit. Seiji, who finally had enough of the whole thing tells her that she really annoys him now. Midori, however, tells Seiji that to her this looks like her sister's work. Seiji decides to confront his sister in her room but she claims that she doesn't know what Seiji is talking about. Rin, however, tells him that Shiori does look depressed not too long ago because she feels that she's unattractive. Rin suggests that Seiji may have hurt Shiori's feelings. Seiji pretends that he doesn't care and proceeds to take a bath. He, however, gets the last shock when he finds Shiori inside the bath wearing only a towel. He immediately takes the kid and races back to his sister room and start telling her that her jokes are not funny anymore.

When Shiori sees Seiji and Rin fighting one another, however, she starts crying and asks the two stop the fight. She tells Seiji that she really likes Seiji but no matter what she does, Seiji always see her as a little kid. Therefore, she wonders if it'll never work because she is too small. Rin, seeing the opportunity to get her last laugh, tells Shiori that is not true at all. The fact is, Seiji likes a girl even smaller than she is and proceeds to show Midori to Shiori. Shiori is obviously shocked by the revelation and falls unconscious. Rin then casually exits the house, leaving Seiji to deal with the aftermath of the revelation on his own. Thankfully for Seiji, he manages to convince Shiori that it was just a dream that she had while she was unconscious. Not long after this, Shiori's step mom arrives to pick up her stepdaughter. She tells Shiori that it's about time they go back home especially because she's just made Shiori a hamburger steak for dinner. Shiori, however, coldly tells her stepmother that she's not going back to her house.

Shiori also asks her stepmother to stop pretending that she cares about her. Shiori believes that her stepmother only do this to please Shiori's father. Shiori's stepmother tries to tell Shiori that this is not true but the girl rudely says that she feels sick every time her stepmother pretends to be her mother. Shiori claims that she only has one mother and her step mom isn't her. This turns out to be the last straw for the long-suffering step mom and she ends up slapping Shiori and then asks in tears why Shiori doesn't understand that she really cares about her. Seiji decides to step in and tells Shiori that if her stepmother doesn't care about her, she would not have cry like this. After hearing Seiji words, Shiori realises that she has gone too far and decides to make amends with her stepmother. The next day, Ayase approaches Seiji who sits alone with Midori inside the school park. She asks him if he'd like to use an extra movie ticket that she owns. Seiji seems to want to see the movie and agrees to go with Ayase to the cinema, much to Midori's dismay.

© memento 2003