Ichigo Mashimaro 4

  
  
  

After a few weeks of going without Ichigo Mashimaro it's finally back on... though in 4:3 pan and scan. I do not like shots being cut off :P Anyways...

Like the title of the episode, Arubaito, would suggest, this time is all about part-time jobs. Nobue's out of money for smokes again so she goes to "borrow" some from Chika once again. Too bad for her :P So she needs to find a job so she can keep her habit. The girls all talk about the various part-time jobs they might want to do. Chika mentions she might want to hand out tissue.. Miu makes a very hard customer for her, though. And then, Nobue gets an idea... we've now got Dr. Miu, Matsuri and Ana as her nurses, and Chika as the patient. I would be very scared to see Dr. Miu (^^;;) After Miu diagnoses Chika with a cold, Nobue becomes the doctor to see Miu bring in Matsuri, who's about to give birth... ;)

Nobue does finally find a job as a waitress at a restaurant. Though there's no smoking while on the job so she'll have to deal with it. Ana happens to see Nobue working when she's there with her mom for dinner... so Ana tells Chika and Matsuri that Nobue's working there. Of course, if Miu finds out it'll be trouble.. Miu was standing outside as they talked about it (^^;;) So off they go to visit Nobue, and she's not very pleased to see them, especially Miu. As expected, Miu causes trouble. Much trouble... and they come back the next day, and the day after the next day on Miu's insistance. Nobue finally snaps and she and Miu duke it out in a food fight, with an old man who's a regular bearing the brunt of the damage. So Nobue's without a job, and with only enough money to buy one pack of smokes since she was charged for the cleanup and damage during the food fight. Needless to say, Miu is in for it. We see Miu in the bath with 年貢米 written on her forehead as the episode ends.

---

Miu, what a troublemaker she is. But it would be rather boring without her to stir things up, wouldn't it? ;)

Things didn't quite seem to go together as well this time... they didn't quite fully do the doctor thing, and it was a bit out of context (and lacking a couple of jokes) compared to the manga. As I mentioned in the first episode, perhaps it would've been better to structure the episodes differently -- splitting it into a few short vignettes instead of trying to make everything flow together and making up what goes on in between material from the manga. But it did work fine in previous episodes so I suppose it'll be hit and miss. No matter that, it's still fun to watch. And plenty cute :)

Next time it's Ana vs. Miu in a battle for Nobue's affections among other things. But isn't it "Everyone vs. Miu" anyways? ;) It should be a collection of some chapters I rather liked in the manga so I'm looking forward to it.