Mahoraba 3

Shiratori's stuff arrives (Kojima Akira, the manga-ka, once again makes an appearance as the mascot on the delivery truck) and he begins to get his room in order. Nanako-chan starts going through stuff and Shiratori warns her to stop, mistakenly calling her 大家さん as usual instead of Nanako. Nanako finds a picture book in his stuff and asks him to read it to her. Shiratori tries to get away from doing it, but once Nanako starts crying he has no choice. Nanako finds the book very interesting and climbs into his lap to get a better look at it, surprising him and making him a bit embarrassed ;) He reads the rest of the book at lightning speed so he can get to his work.

Nanako once again stares at him as he takes out his drawing materials. She wants to draw as well, so he gives her a crayon and some paper. So she draws a snake on the paper, then on the floor, then on the wall. Shiratori scolds her, almost making her cry again, but he forces himself to smile :)

Then the 4-koma segment starts. Parts of the manga are 4-koma so I guess they wanted to keep that same idea in the anime. Anyways, Nanako once again plays around while Shiratori tries to work, but he still can't get anything done so he takes a bathroom break. Nanako realizes that he's left while playing with a cat doll so she goes off looking for him and jumps all over him when she finds him ;) She doesn't like being by herself and asks Shiratori whether he likes her or not. And after he says yes, her face gets a shine on it -- she's tsuya-tsuya, and says that she likes Shiratori. He reads a bit too much into it ;)

She calms down and sits still, watching Shiratori draw, then eventually goes off to sleep.. Momono and the rest arrive, seeing Nanako-chan asleep in Shiratori's lap. Tamami remarks that Shiratori is unexpectly quick to make his move and takes a few pictures to put to good use later ;) When Nanako wakes up she's back to Kozue. Kozue doesn't remember anything that happens when she's Nanako-chan or Saki-chan, so Momono says that she was helping Shiratori with his things and fell asleep.

But now it's party time as Shiratori's welcoming party is all set to go. Momono introduces herself first: college student, 20 years old. Tamami is next: she's a 2nd year high school student, 16 years old, goes to the same school as Kozue. She takes out those pictures she took earlier to show to Shiratori to "remind" him to be nice to her ;) Sayoko goes after her: age unknown, no hobbies, Asami's mom. Tamami rattles off a list of adjectives to describe her: 無口, 無愛想, 無気力, 不器用, 無計画, your classic ダメ人間. Tamami's nice, ain't she? ;) Asami's up next: 12 years old, likes cooking, and is completely the opposite of her mother pretty much. Johnny, that dog puppet, and his "slave", Yukio go next, then it's Kozue's turn. She a bit embarrassed and doesn't really introduce herself.. rather, she tells why she loves living in Narutakisou, and that she loves all the people that live there. Shiratori goes next, and while he's speaking Sayoko takes one of the cardboard boxes from the bottom of the stack holding up the "Welcome" sign and it collapses. And Kozue's down... Uh-oh.... When she gets back up she's changed into Saki-chan, much to Shiratori's chagrin ;)

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Apologies for the long-winded summary there, lol ;) We're following the manga pretty closely here, except for taking out the more ecchi scenes. In the manga Kozue changes into Saki-chan because Shiratori accidentally grabbed her somewhere ;) Also, I liked how the 4-koma from the manga was integrated into the show. As a whole Mahoraba seems to have made the jump from manga to anime pretty well, I have to say. Horie Yui's doing a nice job as Tamami. I don't believe I've seen her do a kinda not-so-nice character like her before. Arai Satomi's also doing well as Kozue/Saki-chan/Nanako-chan. Maybe she does sound a bit off at times, but for playing that many different roles she's doing a nice job, I think :) Any members of the Kozue Fan Club want to comment? ;)