Meiji Tokyo Renka Episode 5 & 6

; v ; / Sorry for the sudden absence last week! I was sick so I couldn’t write up any of my Wednesday entries!

Episode 5

Oh my god, WHAT IS AIR?! This episode had me in tears. I couldn’t breathe from laughing so hard. This was exactly what Meiji Tokyo Renka needed after the last few sluggish episodes. Although the first bit was done quite hastily, the endless comedy that followed made it worth it. In some ways, the rapid-fire pace elevated the humour, making it an entertaining episode from start to finish. It was so funny, I didn’t want it to end. In fact, a part of me wished I had waited until Episode 5 aired just so I could have watched it back to back. (Needless to say, I wouldn’t have been able to do that anyways since I always write the entry of the episode first before moving onto the next one.)

And really, you have to hand it to Mei. Her determination to become a ‘woman’ of this era is quite admirable. It’s not an easy task for a modern girl to adjust to the proper etiquette, but she is working overtime with the help of Otoyakko’s (Otojiro) strict training. Goodness, he is not cutting her any slack. She is quite litterally being whipped into shape. I love how she took the critiques by stride and used it as fuel to feed the fire burning up inside. Since Ougai intends to introduce her as his fiancé, Mei doesn’t want to be perceived as someone strange by his side, so she’s trying to improve herself.

There are times when I feel iffy about the approach, but this time I am not too bothered by it. I understand how Mei feels self-conscious of how out of place she feels when she’s beside Ougai, so I see no harm in in these lessons. Rather than perceiving these lessons as “changing who she is”, I see it more as refining her character so she has more cards up her sleeves. It can also serve as a means to help boosting her confidence, such as the one Otoyakko told her about looking in the mirror and tell herself that she’s beautiful as if chanting a spell. It’s lessons like these she can take back to the present day, and will continue to help her grow out of her shell.

I’m loving Otojiro’s character. He is so funny, he was the highlight of the episode for me. Every time he was losing patience, he would slip out of Otoyakko’s character, amazingly Mei never caught onto it. It seems Kyouka knows what’s up, but hasn’t said anything of the sorts.

Speaking of Kyouka, poor guy… He was dragged into the etiquette lessons after having accidentally set the room on fire while trying to “clean” his snack. As result of the chaos that unfolded and the damage that was done, Kyouka now has to dress up as a geisha as well to help fill in for the party that will be hosted later that evening, where Ougai and Syunso will also be attending to meet with Iwasaki Tousuke to discuss about electricity.

Goodness, I love Kyouka! Tsundere characters can be a hit and miss for me, but he is so adorable! The way he was concerned about Mei after the fire, and it was so cute how they kept on apologizing and checking up on one another. It was too cute!

I’m looking forward to see what kind of chaos is going to follow in the next episode, especially with the combination of electricity and spirits. Kyouka’s rabbit appeared so that is certainly a sign of what too follow!

Episode 6

Pffth, this episode was all sorts of crazy, but surprisingly no ghosts mishaps. I thought for sure we would see some but nope, the only one we saw was Kyouka’s rabbit friend (who actually got drunk). What caught me off guard was actually Mei’s electricity song, but and it was quite cute and even hilarious! I was more surprised by how long it actually ended up being. But when you have a modern day girl like Mei hearing people think electricity is connected to the devil, it’s no wonder she who has experience of its true potential determined to open their minds to how much electricity improves the way of life.

It was really cute to see Syunso looking out for Mei, not wanting to her to get into any mishaps with the drunk customers. But Mei being a good girl was looking out for Kyouka, who she understands is a germaphobe. She really worked hard to try and help him out until he finally gave up on the job. (Can’t blame him when he was constantly being harassed by the drunks!)

There really isn’t much to say about this week episode as it was pretty much an endless laughing gag from start to finish, with little substance to really talk about. But that’s what happens when you cover a comedy, and now that I think of it, this is probably the first in years I have actually started covering one that isn’t plot-heavy.

In fact, I suppose that’s what surprises me the most about this series. I don’t really care about the ‘potential romance’, nor have I even boarded an ships yet (though it’s looking like most of guys are determined to win her heart). Instead, I find myself more intrigued by the characters on their own, and am enjoying this because of the comedy. Yes it can be outrageously ridiculous at times, but it’s important to remember not to take things seriously. It’s fun to see a heroine like Mei making the most of her time by doing whatever she wants.

However if there’s one thing I am feeling iffy about, it’s the whole development between Ougai and Mei. For starters, I don’t feel their chemistry at all, nor do I feel like they are actually in love with each other. For Mei, I can recognize her feelings as more of a crush, but I mean, I find it super cheesy and silly how she so readily accepts being Ougai’s fiance, how she wishes to stay by his side and is no longer in a hurry to return home. And that itself is what I consider to be the biggest joke of the series so far. As for Ougai, I feel more like it’s a combination of infatuation and curiosity. If they are really going to push these two together, I would like to hope at the very least they can start working on making it a bit more convincing. Then again, I have never been a fan of “cheesy” love stories, so it is only natural that they aren’t clicking with me.

That being said, I am curious to see what will make her realize she needs to go back to present day, since the first episode opened up with her bidding farewell to both Syunso and Ougai, with her back in her school uniform.

Although there were no ghosts incidents, it looks like we might actually be seeing some with Kyouka in the spotlight for next week’s episode. I’m looking forward to it because I adore his character and I look forward to learning more about him.