Fushigiboshi no Futago Hime Gyu! 23
Staff: 脚本：吉村清子 絵コンテ・演出：藤本義孝 作画監督：南伸一郎 制作協力：スタジオフラッグ
After breaking the statue of Unchiku last time, Fine and Rein have lost enough points to get them expelled. What are they going to do now? Luckily, Chiffon has found a way for them to avoid being expelled. There's a rule on the books that gives them a one day grace period to earn enough points to go back above -100. To earn those points, they'll need to do something that would gain praise for the school... News of Fine and Rein's impending expulsion goes around school and reaches Elizabert. Shasha and Carla would be happy to be without them, but Elizabert would like them to stay around -- she still hasn't learned exactly why Fine and Rein are so popular, after all.
Fine and Rein go out into town and start picking up trash to try and earn some points back, earning praise from passersby. Edward (in the usual butterfly form), can't let this continue, so this time.. he possesses an old lady. I don't get it, but anyways ;) The old lady asks Fine and Rein for directions to some shops since she's buying presents for her grandchild's birthday, then jumps on Fine's back, ready to go. Once they arrive, the old lady uses the chance to bump into Rein and cause the cart with garbage to fall over. March is there, ready to go with a -1 card for littering (^^;;) And the old lady's not done yet, asking Fine and Rein to show her around to more shops...
Fine and Rein take the old lady around to the shops, and at each one something happens to cause them to lose points, all of it done by the old lady possessed by Edward. They finally end up covered in paint after the old lady knocks a ladder down.. March was following them in town, ready to to give them points, and she really wanted to do it, but since they can't keep rules they're down to -120 points now. Thinking Fine and Rein's expulsion guaranteed now, Edward leaves the old lady.. she has no idea what she's been doing. And it's almost evening already...
Fine and Rein wake up the next day, thinking all of it just a bad dream. But it's not, as shown by all of the -1 cards Pumo has... The vice principal has no choice but to expel them. There's no way they could earn something like the trophies in his office to gain back those points. Bright and Shade come in to defend Fine and Rein, saying that something possessed the statue and that it's not their fault. Chiffon says that Fine and Rein saved her, and Noche asks the vice principal not to expel them... Edward can't let their friends interfere with his plan, so he makes the trophies and such in the room fly around. Time for Fine and Rein to do their thing (the usual omitted).
Fango was outside in a tree listening, as well, and questions the vice principal's concern about the school's image rather than the students. The mysterious headmaster then appears (shadow only) on a screen on the desk, and agrees with Fango, then says that Fine and Rein will have the points they lost for breaking the statue added back. They're going to be able to stay!... and they do the arigatou dance (^^;;)
Everybody else (Miruro's there!) was waiting outside for Fine and Rein, too, and they're very happy to hear the news that Fine and Rein won't be leaving. It's all quite fushigi -- not to Chiffon, but to Elizabert... so, they won't be expelled, but Fine and Rein are still in minus points, and there seems to be something that they're forgetting... homework. Ooops (^^;;)
So they avoid expulsion, but it's still going to be rough -- will the day they earn points ever come? Probably not soon since that's just how Fine and Rein are, and that's why we like them ;) However, I would've liked for them to actually do something to earn points, perhaps invovling their friends more, instead of just having the headmaster come in and bail them out at the last minute. Edward's plan this time wasn't quite all that interesting either -- come up with something more evil, really! ;) I suppose it figures that after a month of animation that was just about too good to be true for a Saturday morning show that the quality dropped off this time. There's only a few more episodes until the introduction of that new character I mentioned a bit back, so hopefully things can pick up :)
Next time, Fine's going to be training for a dance contest -- probably a contest that's not quite normal considering how things are at this school -- and there seems to be yet another new character, too. Looks cute :)
On a random note, I was thinking about Toma's name. Would it be right to have his name romanized as "Thomas"? I've noticed that the French pronounce "Thomas" as "Toma", so it may just be French pronounciation. It sounds logical since a lot of the main characters don't have Japanese names, and we did get the Soleil Bell, after all...