After Ohana had her world turned upside down in the last episode, things turn out for the better for her mother. As for Ohana’s love interest, well…
Before I get to the drama, there were some enjoyable moments in the episode, especially with Tooru and Minko. First, Ohana’s plan to kidnap Satsuki was simply outrageous as nobody really kidnaps his or her mom. After going through all that trouble of planning in, such a kidnap was completely unnecessary as her mom is willing to go! Also, while Ohana was away to get Ko, Minko feels so happy when she goes out to eat with Tooru. Sadly, her stomach was so stuffed that she was close to throwing up. What surprised me is that she was very mellow this time around and completely oblivious to hints of Tooru’s ever growing interest for Ohana, especially during the night before. Then again, it was good fun as he won a lot of sushi plushies from the crane game as souvenirs without any real trouble. Underneath the fun they are having, Ohana confronts another girl who wants to take Ko away from her.
If you only thought Ohana’s love troubles could get any worse, it certainly did. While I don’t believe Ohana is the antagonist in this love story as the love rival implies. I just felt that her attitude towards Ohana wanting her to just give it up simply shows herself as a selfish girl who doesn’t care what Ko feels about Ohana. As she doesn’t realized, love is something that is very complicated to explain and that they knew each other for a relatively long time. Then again, I felt that Ohana was not proactive enough, mainly because of this distance issue. If this was an issue that preventing their love from progressing, she could have made some time to go spend time with him and be more assertive. Sadly, this conflict got shoved into a corner and left unresolved yet again for the deepening plot involving Satsuki and her mother.
As obviously stated from the last episode, it was clear that Satsuki and Sui (her mother) did not get along since their work philosophies are different. While they are a different generation, their philosophies of putting themselves and work first were the same, which throw themselves in a situation of an outburst. While it’s not quite as elaborate as the one in Episode 11 with Ohana lashing out on Satsuki, she did the same thing to her mother when she was young. Even though the voice of her younger self is a bit uncanny, it does show a point that they don’t spend enough time with their children. From this realization, I’m glad that she had changed her mind and grant her daughter’s wish, as she finally understands her feelings though a past incident of hers.
With all the drama of getting Ohana’s mother to visit the Kissuisou Inn comes to a close, the plot deepens as Satsuki finally confronts her mother she haven’t seen for years. Hopefully with her visit to the inn we will learn more about Satsuki’s relationship with her mother with some added chaos. So, buckle up, it’s a wild ride!
Man, when Tohru started grabbing sushi from a machine with a claw, I didn’t realize it was a toy at first, and starting thinking, “you can’t possiby eat that! It is bound to make you sick.”
I found Minko’s reaction really funny… Then again, I was thinking about that too since the sushi’s looks so realistic and big that it could mistaken for food.
Besides from that fact, Toohru seems to be a pro at crane games, or know how to cheat. Most people would aim for the sushi and fail epicly. Typical rigging I guess.