This week is a 3-in-1, with both the first and last shorts centering around Hakumei’s discovery of a roving beautician, Jada. (Whom I would swear is voiced by the same seiyuu who did Haruko in FLCL, but Wikipedia isn’t backing me up so hell if I know~!)

Hakumei asks if Jada can give her a haircut, and she agrees. Both women initially rub each other the wrong way a little, but once Hakumei compliments Jada’s own short cut, and Jada compliments Hakumei’s wavy auburn hair, they relax around each other.

Hakumei ends up with a short haircut, and while it makes her look a little masculine, there’s no denying that it’s cute. And it’s definitely better than the mohawk Jada wanted to give her! Afterwards Hakumei asks if she can visit again even if she doesn’t want a haircut, and Jada is so pleased that she shares a secret with Hakumei: her egg house-salon is held in place with a screw, allowing Jada to move the building around around as needed. Side note: anyone notice that Jada’s house technically has an open roof? Oh man what happens if there’s a storm and the umbrella covering the top of her house is blown away??! x_X

On another day, Hakumei and Mikochi bring Konju by to get a haircut from Jada. However they’re out of luck: Jada is having a day off and has been drinking her homemade limoncello, so she’s not quite sober enough to be touching styling scissors. Upon sampling it the girls discover that Jada’s alcoholic drink is a little too bitter and sour, but Mikochi is easily able to tell Jada how to fix the problem.

Konju is still insisting that Jada cut her hair, and she’s pretty pissed to learn that Jada has no motivation to give anyone a haircut. When Mikochi and Jada start discussing how to make a fresh batch of limoncello, Konju insists on helping out… although she’s not super helpful and makes some mistakes. (Just like when Konju stopped by to visit Mikochi after the singing competition and tried to help her cook.)

When Konju realizes she won’t get a new haircut until the new batch of limoncello is ready (about two weeks), she bursts into tears. Jada instead offers to style Konju’s hair as a thank you for helping to make the limoncello. Jada tells Konju to return for a haircut on another day when she hasn’t been drinking alcohol… however on the day Konju picks, Jada is seen again drinking alcohol in her hammock. Darn! Konju just has the worst luck.

The middle short centers around Hakumei and Mikochi taking Iwashi downtown to spend a day together eating and shopping. It’s cute because Iwashi clearly doesn’t want to go with them, initially, but he doesn’t want to risk hurting the girls’ feelings by rejecting their invitation. Especially when they’re clearly looking forward to spending time together with him. So he sucks up the loss of one of his days off and goes with the girls.

The first thing the three of them do is eat some food in the Toni region of downtown. It’s named for a park that no longer exists; instead it’s been paved over and buildings exist where it used to be. This part of downtown has many visitors of different sizes, meaning Iwashi no longer looms over absolutely everyone.

The food is delicious, and all three eat their fill while enjoying a drink or two. Hakumei and Iwashi even get some shop talk going. Afterwards the three go clothes shopping, as Iwashi only has one piece of clothing and Mikochi wants to buy or make him more. The shop they check out has expensive vintage and brand name clothing, and it’s not long before Mikochi falls in love with one particular style (“Night Snail” by Needle Princess). While Mikochi and Hakumei are looking for the other pieces of the outfit, the shopkeeper talks Iwashi into trying some clothes.

By the time the girls return with their arms full of clothes, Iwashi has tried on a Night Snail jacket. It’s also super expensive, but Iwashi and the girls try haggling the shopkeeper down on the prices of their selected items. I don’t feel like they were super successful but the girls leave with big smiles, so maybe they were able to snag a small discount for themselves after all.

The three of them head towards the pine cricket fountain, where Iwashi spends some time trying to bounce coins off the cricket’s antennae. His throws are very weak though, so the girls get lots of time to relax while Iwashi continues to try his luck. Why is Iwashi doing this? To hit one of the cricket’s antennae is supposedly lucky for business. A stranger nearby reveals that the last person to hit the antennae in the back was actually Narai (although they didn’t know his name, just his profession), who did it in such a cool fashion that Iwashi feels he must try too.

Near the end of the day Mikochi and Hakumei want to find another place to eat, and they end up getting some food from a market. Once they’ve bought everything they want for dinner, they take the local bus to the windmills. Everyone gets a little buzzed while eating their delicious meal together. Iwashi and Hakumei are particularly cute because they like to talk about work while they’re drinking together.

A few days later, while finishing up work, Iwashi tells Hakumei that he found a new drinking spot. Time will tell if we’ll see them drinking together in a later episode. ;D

I really like the new characters who get introduced every couple of episodes, although I definitely prefer Jada over Sen, and not just because of who Jada’s seiyuu might be. I think Konju’s the only character who really irritates me, and that’s just because I have no patience for immature whiny people.