Posts in Animal Lane Category
September 6, 2006
Shimako-san is going to PariYoko -- apparently it takes a month on an airplane to get there -- so Yamanami-san is rather depressed since he won't be able to see her anymore. But the Aniyoko trio has a suggestion -- propose to her and she won't leave. A bit sudden there (^^;;) Yamanami-san does have his store, and there's sure to be something that he sells that would catch her fancy... but be it roses, jewelry, or whatever else, she's already got something better. When Shimako-san comes to say goodbye, Yamanami-san gives her a sparkling carrot that only sprouts when thinking of a person you have feelings for. Yamanami-san wishes her the best in Pariyoko.. and when Shimako-san appears on TV she does some advertising for Yamanami-san's sparkling carrots. The phone lines are full with people(?) wanting to order them. Unfortunately for Ami-chan, he's running the operation out of her room (^^;;)
In the latter half, Kenta and Iyo show up stuck together. Iyo seems to enjoy it, but Kenta would rather not be in that situation. Ami-chan acts the boke part this time, thinking that maybe they were practicing for a 3-legged race, or perhaps for a folk dance. Anyways, it seems that Iyo and Kenta aren't really "stuck" together, it's more like a magnetic attraction. Ami-chan pulls out her homework on electromagnetism (the word is 電磁石 denjishaku)... What kind of kindergartener studies that? (^^;;) It seems she doesn't know exactly how it works, though, since she's stumped by Issa's questions during a very educational program-like segment. But you're not supposed to hit the puppet, even if you don't know the answer (^^;;) Ami-chan thinks that perhaps if Iyo discharges all her energy that she and Kenta will get unstuck, but it seems she's got a limitless supply of Iyoppe beams, unfortunately for Kenta.
Yamanami-san finally shows up, ready to make a diagnosis. It's Type B Hong Kong Anifluenza or whatever -- it causes others to get stuck, and the only way to get unstuck is to express the emotion opposite what you were feeling when you got stuck. Kenta was mad at Iyo when they got stuck, so to get unstuck... I love Iyo!.. no (^^;;) Kuu-chan arrives at Ami-chan's house to play, so Kenta's got to make a decision quickly. He doesn't want to be seen like that, so he says it -- and nothing happens. In fact, Issa and Ami-chan get stuck, along with Kuu-chan and various other things in the room. Some kinda Katamari Damacy game here? (^^;;) Pretty fun episode :)
It's quite common for middle and high schools and such to have their "Seven Wonders", but a kindergarten? There's talk of a zashikiwarashi (type of spirit that makes its home in houses) around the school. Kuu-chan seems like ghost stories like that, which isn't too surprising given how she is. Of course, it turns out to only be Match looking for chalk... he apparently needs it for an instrument that's popular in Aniyoko -- a chalkboard. Owwww.. (^^;;)
The latter half brought Match back again, though this time as a fugitive... for doing what? Kenta suggests that he threw a banana peel on the ground, causing somebody to slip and drop the cake they had bought for their precious daughter on the ground, so that's why. I dunno about that (^^;;) The Aniyoko police eventually show up -- those shachihoko statues -- and a chase ensues, with Iyo and Kenta making time by sacrificing themselves after confessing things they had done wrong to Ami-chan... though it turns out in the end that it was a case of mistaken identity. The moral of the story seems to be to be honest when you've done something wrong, but since this is Aniyoko that wasn't quite the case (^^;;) Checking the schedule, it looks like Aniyoko's going to be ending in a few weeks, so it'll be missed. Not quite anything that can replace a show where the true age of a supposed 5 year old is always in doubt ;)
Opening #2: "Rabu chu yuu!!" by Ribon Girl - Like the Futago Hime Gyu ED, kids sing the new Aniyoko OP -- trying to appeal to their (supposed) target audience or something? (how about making the actual show appropriate for the target audience first?) -- with similar results. If it were Ami-chan and Kuu-chan singing it would've been perfect ;) Still some nonsense lyrics thrown in there, but it lacks the denpa feel of the previous OP (aryarya koryarya and such). That aside, the animation is excellent, with Ami-chan and Kuu-chan more than a few times cuter than they usually are, mahou shoujo Ami-chan (I've seen that rod somewhere before...) and Kuu-chan, especially. Does this mean we might see a mahou shoujo episode? ;)
Ending #2: "Sweetie" by Fumiko Orikasa - Once again excellent animation with an extremely kawaii Ami-chan. Song is okay, I suppose.
Just the A part for this week... Ami-chan and the gang go out to look at a blooming sakura tree on a hill nearby. No Aniyoko-style flower viewing or anything, just a nice picnic... nice tsukkomi by Kenta telling Ami-chan she needs to pretend to be a kid innocently playing with stuffed animals in case someone comes by ;) Of course, since Iyo's there something odd is going to happen... she pulls out a program which includes much teasing of Kenta. Iyo says she has pollen allergies so she can't do anything. Kenta pulls of her mask and she sneezes, knocking all the flower off of the tree. There seems to be one left -- Iyo says that you can do flower viewing even with that one flower that's doing it's best to grow (last week's Tetsunoshin had a similar theme...).
Of course there's a catch -- it's actually a painting of a flower by Yamanami... so now what is Ami-chan going to do since there's no flowers on the tree? Iyo's got a plan -- she plants some seeds which sprout into a sakura tree... that turns out to be a monster. Mahou shoujo Yamanami then makes his entrance. Kimoi to say the least (^^;;) His spell is something else, though...
アニ横アニ横、女児向け女児向け
Aniyoko Aniyoko, jojimuke jojimuke
Aniyoko Aniyoko, is for little girls, is for little girls
I had to pause a bit here since I was laughing so much. I'm sorry, Aniyoko is most definitely not for little girls, and saying that makes it even more obvious that that's the case ;) Ahem... anyways, Yamanami summons another giant tree and the two trees go at it with the one Yamanami summoned winning. Then it chases after Ami-chan and the rest, though it ends up being friendly in the end. Ami-chan and her family were planning to go look at the sakura tree, but now what are they going to do? Well, it turns out that Iyo has a beam that can grow flowers... should've said that first, you know (^^;;)
After helping.... well, not really helping Ami-chan practice for the play (Saiyuki) she's doing at ther kindergarten last week, Iyo, Issa, and Kenta want to go and see it this time. Kenta wants to see Kuu-chan, of course...
ケンタ：「くーちゃんの観音様．．．なんてすばらしいんだ～！」
Kenta: Kuu-chan no Kannon-sama... nante subarashii n'da~!
Kenta: Kuu-chan's Kannon-sama... how wonderful!
ケンタ：「くーちゃんの観音様を、この目で拝むんだ！」
Kenta: Kuu-chan no Kannon-sama wo, kono me de ogamu n'da!
Kenta: I'm going to see Kuu-chan's Kannon-sama with my own eyes!
I suppose most of y'all are familiar with the Buddhist bodhisattva Kannon, yes? However, Kannon-sama also has another meaning when used as slang which is... not appropriate to say the least (if you must know check after the jump). I'll just assume that the people writing the script this time didn't know that... hopefully (^^;;) Ahem...
Anyways, thanks to Yamanami-san's pekoponjin suits human kid kigurumis, Iyo, Issa, and Kenta are able to go to Ami-chan's kindergarten. In the hall there's a bulletin board with some of the kids' drawings on it -- Ami-chan's looks like a normal 5-year old kids' drawing, but Kuu-chan's.... is a drawing of the battery she gave Kenta (^^;;) They find Ami-chan dressed up and ready for her play. She's not exactly thrilled to have them there, of course...
Just doing the first part this time... Ami-chan's taking care of Kuu-chan's absolutely normal regular everyday rabbit since she's off on a trip with her family. The rabbit's name?.... Usagi (rabbit).. Nice naming sense there, Kuu-chan (^^;;) Once Kenta hears that it's Kuu-chan's pet, he of course treats it like a VIP. And he wouldn't mind being in its place, being held and petted and loved by Kuu-chan... Hey, Kenta, kids are watching, don't drool like that... Kenta tries to feed Usagi a carrot, but it doesn't seem to want to eat. Iyo, jealous of the attention the normal rabbit is getting, puts on a rabbit suit and asks Ami-chan to hold her and pet her and such. Iyo charges towards Ami-chan, but Ami-chan moves out of the way. Good thing since Iyo's ears pierce the wall (^^;;) Iyo's spirit leaves her, and she then tries to get Usagi to follow her over to the other side as well. Thankfully, Ami-chan gets her to come back.
It seems Usagi hasn't been eating ever since Kuu-chan left her there. Right on cue, Yamanami-san shows up with a gadget that will let them hear what Usagi has to say. Well, except that rabbits don't really make any sounds... well, he's got another gadget, one that will let them listen to what's going on in Usagi's head. Usagi's singing a song -- a song Kuu-chan always whistles. She wants to know where Kuu-chan is... she's feeling lonely. Iyo offers to be her friend.. and to teach her various fun things. Like how to tease Kenta (^^;;) Kenta, not liking that very much, gets ready to put the smack down, but once he sees Iyo doing her best Kuu-chan impression he backs down. Iyo then corrupts Usagi even more by having a steak dinner together with her (^^;;)
Kuu-chan finally comes back, and she's dressed up as a cowgirl. Kuu-chan kawaii yo Kuu-chan! Seems she went to a Western-themed theme park with her family. She brought back some beef jerky for Ami-chan... Kuu-chan tries to feed Usagi a carrot, but Usagi jumps for the beef jerky...
Iyo is to be feared with such corrupting influence. Kuu-chan's gonna have quite a time with Usagi now (^^;;) Kenta, being quite Kuu-chan moe, was hilarious as usual. And though Kuu-chan only showed up for a bit at the end she was really cute as a cowgirl. Looks like she'll be back on next week, so I'll probably blog it :)
It's Valentine's Day, and Ami-chan has invited Kuu-chan over to make chocolate together. Kenta is just a wee bit excited that Kuu-chan is coming over (can't blame him one bit). Kuu-chan arrives and everybody puts their aprons on, ready to cook. Kuu-chan has band-aids over her hands for some reason... Of course, Iyo, Issa, and Kenta want to help Ami-chan and Kuu-chan make chocolate in their own special ways. Instead of putting the chocolate in a bowl and melting it in some hot water, Iyo uses her beam... (^^;;) Meanwhile, poor Kenta is trying his best to score points with Kuu-chan by being helpful, but he can't do a thing thanks to Iyo. Iyo helpfully retrieves the bowl Kenta was trying so hard to get from the top of a shelf. However, there wasn't any need to Kenta to try so hard -- Kuu-chan brought along a Valentine's present for him. In a heart-shaped container Kenta finds... batteries. No, these aren't from the store, they're homemade... HOMEMADE batteries made by a (supposedly) 5-year old. Kuu-chan hurt herself while she was making them so that's why she had band-aids on her hands. Still, Kenta's very satisfied with his present since Kuu-chan put so much effort into it. Good for you, Kenta :)
The second half was some crazy thing about laundry pins being a big invention since they don't have them down in AniYoko, then Ami-chan, Iyo, Issa, and Kenta made some bubbles that don't break. 5-year olds these days seem to be quite smart when it comes to science (^^;;)
Anyways, I definitely didn't see that one (Kuu-chan's Valentine's present to Kenta) coming. Damn, I'm impressed with Kuu-chan. That's quite something for a 5 year old... heck, even an adult (^^;;) Anyways, Kuu-chan was really cute this time as usual. Kuu-chan kawaii yo Kuu-chan! Looks like she'll be back next time, so I'll probably end up blogging it ;)
Been more than a while since I've written anything about Animal Yokochou, but with a new character being introduced this time I felt like doing a bit ;)
The new character is Kuu-chan, a friend of Ami-chan. Since the door to AniYoko isn't working, Ami-chan tells Issa, Iyo, and Kenta to behave themselves -- pretend to be stuffed animals... of course, that doesn't exactly work out so Ami-chan somehow passes the three of them off as being her cousins. Among Kuu-chan's abilities... knitting (I don't think she's 5 if she can knit well...). She really likes knitting covers for everything (^^;;) Kuu-chan seems to like Kenta the most, and it seems that Kenta's fallen in love at first sight as well. I can certainly understand why. Kuu-chan's really cute :) Yamanami-san eventually comes up out of the fixed door to AniYoko, surprising Kuu-chan... but somehow Ami-chan is able to explain it away.
And in the B part Kuu-chan comes back to visit. This time, however, Ami-chan can't stop Iyo from telling Kuu-chan about everything. Kuu-chan really did think they were Ami-chan's cousins, though (^^;;) However, Iyo being Iyo, she tells Kuu-chan that Kenta's just a stuffed animal. Kuu-chan did say that a real bear would be scary... Kenta plays along with it to please his beloved Kuu-chan. But that doesn't mean he won't fight to get some of the cake Kuu-chan brought along with her. As Kuu-chan comes back in, she sees Kenta and Iyo fighting over cake... Ami-chan covers by saying she was doing a photoshot. Kuu-chan wants to join in...
くーちゃんかわいいよくーちゃん！
Kuu-chan kawaii yo Kuu-chan!
Too cute :) Issa shows off his bed-twirling skills again.... scary (^^;;) It makes a mess, so Iyo once again picks on Kenta, saying that not only is he a stuffed animal that can talk and walk and such, he's also quite the cleaning machine. Kenta's completely worn out after all of it... Ami-chan says that his batteries are out, so Kuu-chan goes off to get some more for him. When she comes back he's back up.. she's got a present for him. Not a scarf, but a scarf cover (^^;;) Kenta accepts her gift... seems like he'll keep on pretending to not be a real bear for now :)
Quite a funny episode this time. Poor Kenta... always the one that gets picked on. Kenta ganbare! One of these days Kuu-chan will accept you for who you really are as a bear ;) Anyways, Kuu-chan was really cute (how many times have I said that now?) this time (especially when Ami-chan was photographing her), and her bit of boke -- being quite gullable and such, and actually acting something like a 5 year old... well, except for the knitting nothing but covers for things part -- as compared to the more serious Ami-chan is nice as well. Hopefully we'll see more of her in upcoming episodes. Next time it looks like we'll see a new character from AniYoko... should be fun.
Kenta's been working on putting together a jigsaw puzzle over the last week and he's almost done -- and he's very proud of himself. But, as usual, Iyo comes in to mess things up, wanting to play with him and messing up the puzzle in the process. They don't get along too well after that.. and then Iyo turns Kenta himself into a jigsaw puzzle (^^;;) She puts him back together, but there's still a puzzle piece on his chest... and then a quiz show starts with Iyo as host. Okay.. To get Kenta back to normal Ami-chan, Issa, and Kenta have to go solve all of Iyo's puzzles. As you would expect from Iyo, they're all rather weird -- a crossword puzzle where all the answers are Yamanami, a match puzzle, and an encounter with that nanchakofu in the OP lyrics -- a slime-like thing. Kenta gets them past that by melting (溶ける tokeru) it to solve (解ける tokeru) that one. In the end, bruised and battered, they come back to find Iyo dead since she was so lonely without them (^^;;;)
Ami-chan's parents are out so she's all by herself at home. Well, not really since Issa, Iyo, and Kenta are there to keep her company. Ami-chan's going to make a cake so they want to help her out. Ami-chan would rather do it herself, but... Iyo dies (again) so Ami-chan agrees to let them help and Iyo springs back to life. The kinds of cakes Issa, Iyo, and Kenta want to make don't seem to be too good... even though Iyo does bake cakes back in AniYoko, Ami-chan imagines what kinds of cakes she'd make... and she's probably right (^^;;) So Ami-chan tries to make the cake but Issa, Iyo, and Kenta interfere and make it rather difficult. She has to go out to buy eggs since Iyo made her break the ones she had... Iyo tries to lay an egg herself for some reason (^^;;) In the end they do make a cake that looks pretty yummy, but Issa, Iyo, and Kenta don't like it at all. Ami-chan's parents come home (we don't see them, voice only) and her mom tries a bit of the cake -- it's good, she says. Ami-chan tries it herself and finds it pretty yummy. So exactly what kinds of cakes do they eat in AniYoko, anyways?.. I don't want to know (^^;;)
Opening: 「飛んでもNothing」 (tondemo Nothing) by Ami (with Issa, Iyo, and Kenta): A very silly song that makes absolutely no sense to me. But it's quite catchy :) ♪Aaryarya koryarya aaryarya koryarya/hachamecha rakkii DAY♪
Ending: 「ファンタジスタ★ガール」 (Fantasista Girl) by the Indigo: An Alice in Wonderland theme for the ending. Nice song, and the animation... one thing to say:
あみちゃんﾃﾗｶﾜｲｽ!!!
Ami-chan terakawaisu!!
Ami-chan's too cute in the Alice outfit :)
Yes, I know I'm a bit behind here ;) Had the OP stuck in my all day long today, but anyways...
Ami-chan, 5 years old, has moved into a new house, and there she finds a rather odd stuffed bear. It's not hers since she wouldn't have anything so ugly (ouch...).. she spots another stuffed animal, a rabbit.. then another one, a panda, takes the pail she was holding. Something's definitely up here.. When Ami-chan goes up to her room she spots an odd door in the floor and those three animals come walking in, thinking no one's there, but their secret's out now -- trying to pretend to be the moving people ain't going to fool Ami-chan. They introduce themselves: the panda's Issa, the rabbit's Iyo, and the bear's Kenta. So who exactly are they and where did they come from? To tell the truth.. they're not the moving people... yes, we knew that, Iyo (^^;;) Anyways, they're from AniYoko, the place that that door in Ami-chan's room leads to. That would be short for Animal Yokochou (Animal Lane). Most definitely not short for 兄嫁に横恋慕 aniyome ni yokorenbo, "Illicit love with your older brother's wife" (^^;;) Kenta says it's a place where animals live.. of course.. Iyo says she wants to help Ami-chan out with cleaning things up, but Ami-chan says it's fine... and Iyo dies (^^;;) Seems that when she gets sad she dies... as Iyo's soul is about to ascend, Ami-chan tells her to help out and she gets right back up on her feet. Everybody "helps out" with unpacking all the things in Ami-chan's room.. while doing so an album with photos of Ami-chan's friends at her old kindergarten falls out. She wonders how they're all doing.. They're watching her from above, says Iyo (^^;;) Anyways, she's got some friends now in Iyo, Kenta, and Issa. They head on back through the door to Animal Lane... the next morning Ami-chan wakes up, thinking it all a dream. Unfortunately for her, it wasn't (^^;;)
