Whew. Sorry this episode took a little bit longer to get out… (you know, for all five of you who follow this show) but the raw group that usually posts this show didn’t rip this episode this week so I sat here waiting for it to come out, but alas, it was in vain as I finally said the hell with it and scoured the internet for another source. Like, I couldn’t even find it in a torrent. I had to go off a random streaming site. So you know what this means. Not only are they only up to episode 3 in subtitles as apparently NO ONE feels like fansubbing this, even the group that just rips it and throws it online with no work whatsoever said fuck it. That’s just fantastic. Oh well. That being said. I finally found it. (twirls small flag) Let’s get right into the episode.

So the episode starts out with the mom and dad characters going through a photo album talking about how they had a great time on vacations without the kids.

See how much better our life was before you kids?
See how much better our life was before you kids?

They start to get mushy so Kokoro leaves, only to hear a few minutes later her mom screaming and storming out. The father seems confused over why she got mad and doesn’t know what happened and the mother refuses to tell him. Upset, Kokoro goes back to her room and talks to the Cocotamas about it. The mail one volunteers to go spy on the mother who’s sulking in her room and overhears what’s wrong.

Just remember. When you think you're alone...you're not. There are Cocotamas. EVERYWHERE
Just remember. When you think you’re alone…you’re not. There are Cocotamas. EVERYWHERE

She goes back to Kokoro and tells her that it’s because the mother was teasing the husband about gaining a little weight so he teased her back saying she’s gotten a bit fat so she got pissed off and stormed off.

How dare you call me fat! I called you fat first!
How dare you call me fat! I called you fat first!

Kokoro tells her dad that this is the reason she’s pissed. He apologizes and all’s good. And that’s the end of part one.

Okay. I have a few problems with this.

  1. So…it’s okay for the mother to call the father fat, but not for the father to say that back to her? Oh. That’s nice. You know, all fair and all that. Very nice moral you’re teaching the kids here. Equality is for NERDS.
  2. Holy fuck. NOBODY HERE IS FAT. What is it with anime? How come like… every single anorexic character says they’re fat? Does that woman look fat? Does that GUY look fat? Do they even look normal? No! Fuck, for a woman who punched out two kids she looks fucking fantastic. NONE OF THE HUMANS IN THIS SHOW ARE REMOTELY FAT. They gotta stop doing this in anime. They act like if you can grab ANYTHING you’re immediately fat. That’s like…not anorexic. I don’t know. It’s just a pet peeve of mine. I mean, I’m not overweight but jesus, by Japan’s standards i’m fucking Shamu.
  3. This is just a thing that annoys me in general. I hate it when the kids aren’t around and the parents call each other “mom” and “Dad”. I don’t know. That just weirds me out. If I were ever to become a dad (god forbid help me never no) I wouldn’t call my wife “Mom” That’s just….weird and leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Would you want to call your husband “Dad” or your wife “mom?” No. That’s fucking weird. They do that a lot in older shows like “Leave it To Beaver” and that always weirded me out.

Anyway, that’s enough of that tangent, time to get onto part 2.

So the second half starts off with Kokoro making a park for the Cocotamas inside so they can play and not have to worry about the Straytama trio who doesn’t want them at the park.

We made our own park! With blackjack! and hookers!
We made our own park! With blackjack! and hookers!

Speaking of which, while on a walk, the Cocotamas actually see the Straytama trio who are riding a cat. They left the park because the old guy who usually comes with the bread crusts doesn’t show up anymore because he lives with his pigeons now.

Kokoro happens to have a bag of sweets which the cat one sees and says that she wants to compete with the Cocotamas with that as a prize. The contest is to get past a dog and get one of its toys in its dog house.

Yep, absolutely no way I can see this ending badly.
Yep, absolutely no way I can see this ending badly.

It ends as well as you’d expect with the dog chasing them. However, after they get it to calm down, they realize that it’s only upset because the collar around its neck is too tight so the cat one gets it off. The dog is happy and the owner comes out and sees the collar is off. Kokoro explains that he was upset because of that, and the owner is happy to see the dog is back its normal self and the cat Cocotama gets another accidental happy star.

Why must I make everything that I touch happy?!
Why must I make everything that I touch happy?!

Kokoro then offers the three food but the cat turns it down for all three of them saying that they don’t take food from humans. And….that’s pretty much where the episode ends.

Here’s the thing. The first half, was stupid. The moral was “No matter what your wife says, don’t call her fat.” Which…I suppose is an ACCURATE moral…but… I’m not sure how useful it is for the children which age bracket they’re going for here. That is basically the entire takeaway from that episode half. “Don’t call your wife fat.” You know, all this time I’ve been calling every woman I’ve ever seen a fat cow. I WONDERED why I’ve been getting slapped so many times. Thank you Cocotama. you have shown me the light. I will no longer call women fat. Thank you for that. You truly turned my life around.

because if you call women fat, it does this to them.
because if you call women fat, it does this to them.

The second half was better, albeit the cat Cocotama is still being very very stubborn at the end of the episode, refusing to take the food because she refuses to trust humans. I hope they do more with her character because I actually kind of like her and I hope she gets to develop more. The other two I could take or leave, but I like the cat one.

We are NOT taking food from humans. We are resorting to Cannibalism and that's that.
We are NOT taking food from humans. We are resorting to Cannibalism and that’s that.

The overall story was solid. They were in character…so there’s not a whole lot to complain about with the second story. It didn’t really further anything except for maybe soften up the cat one’s heart a bit for next time she shows up. Still though, not bad.

Part A: 3.5/10
Part B: 6.5/10

So yeah, I would say just stick to part B because part A was stupid. But…it’s not the WORST thing i’ve seen… it’s just…stupid.

Here’s hoping next week that raw group will get their shit together. See you then.

-Hideki