At last, we finally find out the identity of the blurred maid in the opening theme. Of course, wrestling and boxing fans will like this episode as the manager figures out a way to avoid financial ruin.
Last time, the manager decided to gamble the money she borrowed from a loan shark at a maid casino. Thankfully, Ranko saved them from becoming slave fishermen. Now, they have another problem. That guy keeps appearing at the maid café to demand their sweets money or rent. You can see why Ranko is in the boxing ring. There is a reason, as it’s part of the guy’s deal the manager made.
At the beginning of the episode, Nagomi offers up some hair ties to Ranko to hold up her hair so it won’t get in the way. She decides to borrow one. Nagomi and Ranko were handing out some flyers when they saw a bunch of guys, with one of them holding a rare anime figure. Ranko offered a flyer to one of the guys working for a figurine company, and he crumpled it up.
Also, Ranko took offense to that until a woman stopped her from punching her. This woman looks awfully familiar to the one from the opening theme. More on that later, but the woman doubts Ranko’s maid qualities for some reason. Apparently, she is escorting those guys.
This brings us to what Ranko is doing in the boxing rink. Apparently, it’s a maid café where the maids duke it out with each other and people bet who will win. Ranko is supposed to lose in the first round so the manager can receive money. After all, the woman who is the sponsor of Ranko’s opponent wants that money for a rare figurine she longed for. The figure the lady wants is Inomata Grace, a very limited print figurine with very few sold. Still, it’s not surprising to see expensive figurines, although collecting them is a costly hobby. I know since I bought quite a few. What she doesn’t know is that the figure she got is fake.
Since Ranko killed all those maids in the first episode, shot the cheating maid, and blew up the casino, I don’t see her losing on purpose. It’s not part of her ethos of being a maid. When the manager gets upset when Ranko OHKO Pure Milky Masami, we know Ranko is overpowered. Basically, she is the One Punch Woman until the final round.
Obviously, the lady became upset as she killed the boss who brought the figurine with her gun. Unfortunately, someone saw it and covered it up as the Manager beg to the woman while naked. Ranko shows no intention of losing as the lady brings in that silver hair girl who is a deficient maid who can’t even smile. Yes, the same woman prevented Ranko from punching that man. Ranko believes that the person is the only judge that can determine who is a maid or not. After all, she believes that anyone has the right to become a maid after putting on the uniform.
Ranko notices the figurine that the guy had when storing the body in the car. She probably knew it was the same guy that crumpled up her leaflet. This will become important later as the manager and Shiipon decide to bet the organs for money since it’s basically risk-free until the last round. At the same time, she left a note revealing the truth about what that lady did.
As for the match between Ranko and the silver-haired lady, she noticed that Ranko was holding herself back as she was on the defense. However, it was not until she insulted Ranko for being a crappy maid and ruining Ranko’s hair tie she got serious. Either way, Ranko ends up beating the silver-haired lady.
Aside from that, we learn a bit about her, although it’s obvious she is Russian since she speaks it. Her family didn’t allow her to have cute things as she was forced to train in the military. That is until she discovered Japanese maid cafes on TV. Therefore she is so serious about maids in general. However, she couldn’t make it work out as she couldn’t smile, and her patrons told her she didn’t look cute. That is why she couldn’t agree with Ranko’s philosophy, as she is unable to see herself as being cute as a maid. That is until she saw Ranko smile before being defeated. Still, it’s interesting how she talks about her flashbacks fluently in Russian.
Either way, the Manager and Shiipon lost the bet as Ranko won. Also, the gang members of the boss the lady killed found out the truth and proceeded to kill the lady. I guess it’s not worth killing the guy over a fake figurine, as Ranko had the real thing.
Thankfully, Ranko sold the real one to pay off the bets so the Manager and Shiipon could keep their organs. Unfortunately, that means going back to square one. At least they have a new maid, which is the Russian lady who Ranko fought Zoya. This time, with a different personality than when Ranko first met her. Also, Jenya apparently voices Zoya, which also voices Clara in the Girls und Panzer movie.
This being a combat sports episode I was in my element. Loved this episode a lot, so much goodness.
Zoya looks like she’ll be a great addition to Oinky-Dink.
Yes, and it’s also nice to see a good match between Ranko and Zoya. Still, it looks like the manager might have a good team, especially having to deal with other maid cafes of course.