Episode 03: “Black and Blue”
Summary: Miya-Miya and Dan are running laps together. Miya catches up to him and gives him a hug but Dan utters a small cry of pain upon contact. It turns out that Dan got a pretty nasty bruise on his arm from the bullies last episode. Miya asks if he got it from the bullies. Dan tries to brush this off and says he’s fine and goes off to resume running laps. Seeing Dan hurt, this triggers Miya’s wrath as we see her eyes give a scary glare.
In the kendo club dojo, Ishida-sensei is giving the team some reminders about the upcoming match. He tells them that from tomorrow on, they will be practicing extra hard and we’ll be doing so also during lunch breaks, so to save time they are going to have lunch in the dojo, that includes him, so they should pack extra lunch. Miya asks if they will all be participating in the match, informing Ishida that she doesn’t think she can stay until the end of lunch. Ishida responds that Miya is part of the reason they’ll be practicing during lunch since she needs to train well and they’re short on time before the match, apologizing for its suddenness. Miya is disappointed to hear this but Dan tells her that they can do it, making Miya feel better. Kirino also tells her not to worry since they’d all be helping her train. Ishida then informs them that they’d be going out to buy some new equipment today. Ishida takes them to Sakaguchi’s kendo equipment store. Kirino and the rest of the team take a look around as Sakaguchi and Ishida talk for a bit. Sakaguchi was wondering when Ishida might let him instruct his kendo club members again. Ishida whispers to Yuuji that Sakaguchi is a seasoned kendo instructor and that one time he brought him to school as a guest instructor for a day and it got pretty crazy since Sakaguchi got all dramatic and wild and he kept going until all the members dropped and then left with a with a look of satisfaction on his face. After that, all the members blames Ishida for bringing Sakaguchi to practice. Sakaguchi then resumes on asking Ishida when will be a good time to be a guest instructor again, adding that he has a lot of free time and that a training from him will be of benefit for the new members anyway. Ishida tries to dodge this and is running out of excuses, but Tamaki saves him by greeting Sakaguchi by name. Apparently, Sakaguchi is training at Kawazoe dojo so he’s very much familiar with Tamaki.
Ishida takes Miya-Miya and Dan to the shinai section and asks them to pick out one for each of them. Dan comments that all the shinai look the same to him. Ishida says that they’re all the same lengthwise but weigh differently so you have to get the feel of it to match your own preference. Miya notices the wooden swords on the side and takes one to try out. As she remembers the bullies, she briefly turns into her scary face mode and gives out a black aura. The rest of the team seem to notice the strange dark aura and are surprised by it but Miya goes back to her usual self, so they think it was just their imagination. As the rest of team continue to check out the different equipment, Ishida thanks Tamaki for taking Sakaguchi’s attention earlier and says he’s really glad that Tamaki decided to join the club even though it must be hard for her since she’s also helping out at their own dojo. Tamaki says she did it for justice, which stumps Ishida. Tamaki further explains that she thought joining was the right thing to do that’s why she has to continue helping the club.
Back home, Ishida is talking over the phone with his senpai, Ishibashi Kenzaburo. Ishibashi says since they’ve established that Ishida would get free sushi for a year if he wins, then Ishibashi will take the most valuable thing in Ishida’s room, which he initially thinks to be his SNES (which looks like a game console, something similar to a Playstation), but his senpai corrects him and says it’s the trophy. Ishibashi says that trophy was his to begin with so if he wins, it must be returned to him. Ishida goes through his things and finds the boxed trophy. Apparently, Ishida won that trophy in a kendo tournament match against Ishibashi when they were in high school. Flashback: Ishida wins the match then goes on telling Ishibashi not to be mad at him for winning since he just got lucky. Ishibashi says it’s the outcome of the match that decides the winner and that Ishida won it fair and square. Ishibashi was about to graduate then asks Ishida for a match before he leaves school. Ishida comments that Ishibashi wants a match because he’s probably still annoyed that Ishida got lucky and won the trophy instead. Ishibashi tries to deny this, but ever since Ishida mentioned it, senpai has been “jokingly” implying that he wants the trophy for himself – end of flashback -. The present Ishida notes that when he told Ishibashi that he just won because he got lucky, it wasn’t entirely true since he really won it with his own kendo skills. He adds that he really doesn’t care about the trophy anyway so he’s sure Ishibashi will take better care of it. Suddenly, he sees a cockroach on the floor then reflexively takes several whacks at it using the trophy he was holding. Naturally, the trophy breaks, shocking Ishida. He is now more determined to win the upcoming match with Ishibashi since he has ruined the trophy.
Meanwhile, Kirino is doing the training menu for the club noting that she really feels more like the team captain now since the club has been more active. She then gets a shocking text message from Sayako, saying “I’m gonna die.” We then finally meet Sayako, the other female member of the kendo club who’s angrily slicing up some paper and being all dramatic, thinking to herself that she has no talent and she should just quit writing fiction. She then barges out of the house and takes a ride around on her bicycle. Kirino ends up ignoring the text message, noting that Sayako is just too random sometimes.
The next day, Miya-Miya is walking in the hallway then suddenly hides when she sees the two kendo club bullies, Toyama (the jerk) and Iwasa (the jerk’s friend). After passing her by, she stares at them from behind with her scary face mode which changes completely to her usual cheerful face as she turns to face Dan who called her from behind. Yuuji informs her that their equipment has arrived and invites her to check it out with them. At the club dojo, Ishida asks them to check if they got the equipment they ordered and gives them their respective bills, adding that they should pay it ASAP. Dan wonders if it’s alright to give Ishida their money. Ishida says it’s alright and that he’ll take care of it for them. The rest of the team suddenly loudly wonder in one voice if it’s alright as well, with worried looks on their faces. Ishida wonders by they’re looking at him that way, defensively exclaiming that he won’t be keeping it for himself or use it for gambling. Yuuji, Kirino and Ishida help out Dan in putting on his gear and instruct him on the proper way of wearing it. Tamaki is checking out her new chestplate, which Kirino notices. Kirino wonders why Tamaki bought a new one even if they have their own dojo and such. Tamaki says she wanted to buy a new one since everybody bought one, adding that her chestplate is old anyway; and since this is the first club she ever joined, she wanted to be like everyone else and have the same chestplate everyone has.
Ishida later tells Tamaki that she’s “Red” in this team that he assembled in beating his Ishibashi-senpai’s team, calling his own team “The Warriors of Justice,” adding that Red is the leader. Tamaki is absolutely happy to hear this. Kirino then wonders who she might be in this team, adding that she is also the team captain. Ishida says Kirino is “Yellow” since her character oozes yellow. Dan then wonders what Miya-Miya’s team name would be. Ishida says Miya-Miya is definitely “Pink.” Miya exclaims that it makes her happy, but then Ishida notices Miya’s aura to briefly turn black which puzzles him for a bit. He says that Sayako will be “Blue” and the last member will be “Green,” adding that under his command the five members will definitely attain victory. The team loudly wonders in one voice if Ishida is seriously their leader. Dan comments that it’s not fair that Ishida only gave color-names for the girls and wants a color too. Ishida guesses Dan is Yellow too. Kirino asks why there are 2 yellow warriors, to which Ishida responds that it doesn’t really matter much since the guys will be in the sidelines for this upcoming match. Ishida then asks Kirino how Sayako (Blue) is doing. Kirino says she doesn’t think Sayako will be coming to school anytime soon since she just got a text message from Saya saying “I’m gonna die.” Yuuji blurts out his worry since that message sounds bad. Ishida tells him not to worry since Sayako is just being random as usual and that they will understand what he means by that someday. He then asks the freshmen members to try on their name cloths. It turns out that Dan’s name cloth got a typo and has the character for “Glory” (probably from “Eikou” per Huzzah Doremi subs) instead of his last name “Eiga.” Ishida comments that Dan probably wrote his last name poorly while they were in the shop. The team tries to make him feel better with Miya saying that they’ll buy a new one with Yuuji agreeing, adding that the current name cloth looks cool.
Later that day, Dan notices Miya-Miya is getting ready to ride her bicycle, asking if she’s going home already. Miya notes that she’s off to work and that it was short notice from her boss, asking Dan to pass the message to the team. Miya has her serious scary face mode on as she drives away. She goes over to Sakaguchi’s shop and purchases a wooden sword for herself. Miya stops by on the side of a walking path, waiting for someone to pass by. After a long wait, she overhears a couple of voices and realizes that they’re coming. Apparently, she has been waiting for the Toyama and Iwasa (the jerks) to avenge her beloved Dan. She gets up and faces them with her wooden sword at hand. Suddenly, Sayako appears speeding on her bicycle yelling at them to get out of the way. The bullies manage to avoid her but Sayako ended up crashing on Miya resulting on them both falling over down the slopes. Sayako apologizes to Miya but gets a serious scary glare from her instead. Miya takes Saya’s bike and lifts it, throwing it to the nearby creek. Sayako tries to protest and lays a hand on Miya’s shoulder. Bad idea, as Miya brushes her off and pushes her into creek as well in the process.
~ end of episode
My Impression: Lots of funny moments, especially on the latter part when they’re trying out the new equipment. I loved the part when they were second-guessing Ishida of being capable to handle their money and being their leader. Tamaki’s face with her various reactions are so cute and funny. Her naivete is quite refreshing. It was nice to witness her efforts to be part of the club and seeing her finding her way through having new friends and being part of the group was nice. Miya-Miya is quite scary when she’s in her serious face mode with that piercing glare. I definitely wouldn’t want to be in her way when she’s in a bad mood! Poor Sayako being there to feel her wrath. I think it was a good thing that Sayako bumped into her though, since who knows what would have happened if Miya proceeded with her plan to fight those bullies. She has the potential to be tough and good at kendo, but those bullies are more experienced with kendo (and bullying) than her. It would be interesting to see Miya’s progress in her kendo training… Will she be Pink or Black? Lol. Don’t miss the last bit with the preview, you get to see Miya-Miya’s dual personality as she gives the commentary. I think she’s definitely black in reality. Haha.
Next episode: We will formally meet and get a bit of background on Sayako, the fourth female member, who will be making an appearance at kendo club practice.
She shifts from pink to black constantly. It’s totally her charm point!
Lol. Yep! I especially like it when she shifts in black mode and everyone else is suddenly frozen and scared of her. Priceless looks on their shocked faces. xD