S.A - Special A ep.03

April 21, 2008 | 11 Comments

I'm surprised that this one turns out to be a bit better than the first and second episode. I almost lose interest around episode 2 because the wrestling story was not only boring, it wasn't even funny. I also finally understand why the fans of the manga are complaining about Kei's character design in the anime. In the manga, he looks completely different from this one. It looks like in an attempt to make the design easier to redraw for animators, they ruined Kei's character design. Thankfully he's not the most interesting part about the series. That actually goes to Akira, Tadashi, Ryuu, and the twins. I think Kei is funny when he is given a foil like that stupid student council President. However, on his own or with Hikari, he just comes across like an arrogant brat who wants to get laid by his childhood friend.

In the aftermath of the wrestling match, Hikari lost to Kei so as she promised to him, she'll do whatever he wants her to do. Since Kei asks Hikari to make a packed lunch for him, Hikari wakes up early so she can use the kitchen. When her mother sees this, however, she tries to kick Hikari out. It seems everytime Hikari uses the kitchen, kitchen appliances tend to get broken because she applies so much pressure to everything. And then after she finished cooking, her father would have to fix the everything. Since she can't use her own kitchen, Hikari asks Akira if she can use the school's kitchen. Upon arriving there, Hikari is surprised because the kitchen looks really good. Akira tells Hikari that she forced Tadashi to make a kitchen for her. Akira also tells Hikari that she's depressed because an Angel like Hikari is forced to make packed lunch for Kei. Hikari, however, doesn't mind since she did lost the bet.

Meanwhile, Kei is in good mood because Hikari is making a packed lunch for him. Kei's mood stays good even when the President of the student council arrives and asks them about Hikari's whereabouts. Kei simply tells him that she already transferred to another school. Back at the kitchen, Akira gets the terror of her life just from watching Hikari washing the rice. In the mean time, the student council's President is still looking for Hikari and eventually finds her in the kitchen preparing packed lunch. His imagination immediately goes overdrive, imagining that she's going to give said packed lunch to him. At the same time, Kei is on his way to S.A section when he overhears a student unhappy because her lunch today is just packed lunch. When Kei arrives at S.A, the rest of the group are having their lunch. He, however, refuses to join in because he's waiting for Hikari's packed lunch.

Much to everyone's surprise, Hikari has completed the packed lunch. It's Onigiri with pickles. The problem is, the Onigiri looks round, shiny, and there's barely any trace of rice in it. Before Hikari can give the Onigiri to Kei, however, she trips over and drops the Onigiri. Instead of being flattened, the Onigiri ends up cracking the floor. Despite this, Kei still intends on eating it. Hikari realizes that the Onigiri is not good at all so she ends up eating it herself and promises to make a better one for Kei. Later on, Kei apologizes for requesting something that is troublesome. Hikari, however, intends on fulfilling her promise so Kei has no choice but to wish the best (while calling her number 2 as usual). A flashback reveals that when he was a kid, Kei went on a field trip with his classmates. During lunchtime, other kids get to eat their mother's packed lunch. Kei, on the other hand gets a 5 star meal served his chef/waiter.

Meanwhile, Hikari comes to the conclusion that because she's too strong, she needs a strong rice as well: Inabikari. A few hours later, Kei is starting to become hungry while Hikari still hasn't been able to make an Onigiri. Eventually, Tadashi decides to give her a visit so he can tell her that as long as she makes Kei something, Kei will be happy. Kei's parents are busy so he never had a packed lunch before. Eventually, Hikari manages to make a normal-looking Onigiri for Kei. However, just as she's about to present it to him, the student council's President grabs it and eats it himself. He, however, throws it up immediately because it tastes horrible. Kei is pissed off to see this, scaring the President away. After he left, Kei insists on eating the leftover one, telling Hikari that the President is stupid because her Onigiri tastes good. The episode then ends with Hikari threatening to make Onigiri for the rest of the group.

Impression:

This is a pretty typical setup: a girl who can't cook tries to cook something good for someone else. Having said that, it's actually pretty funny in comparison to the first and second episode. I think what I hate about the first and second episode is how it's too focused on both Hikari and Kei even though the rest of the characters are a lot funnier. In this one, however, the other characters get to play bigger role. I particularly enjoyed the scene where Hikari's mother stopped her daughter from making lunch because she sucks at it. Only parents can be this honest and get away with it. I always like Akira and her interaction with Tadashi and this one is not different. Akira looking terrorised while Hikari is 'cooking' in her kitchen was comedy gold. I always wonder why Akira is such a good friend with Hikari and I hope we'll get to see the background one day. Giving Kei a foil in the form of the student council's President was a rather good idea. I personally find Kei to be a bit boring but when he's with the student council's President, he tends to show his maniac side. Of course it helps that the President also has interest in Hikari. After all, Kei always think that Hikari is so focused on him so for him to think that he has a competitor is quite amusing.

Question: Your loved ones (choose either: girlfriend, boyfriend, friend, mother, father, sister, brother) has cooked some food for you. Unfortunately the person in question has no skill in cooking so you know that the food would taste horrible. Would you still eat it or would you not? And how would you go about doing it?

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