Squid Girl Episode 5, Season 1

UPDATE September 4, 2018

More DMCA take downs have hit the blog despite screen captures long being considered fair use. Due to my not being able to afford a lawyer, I have no choice but to remove them or have the blog suspended. Only the words will be left.

TVTokyo is proving to be foolishly draconian in targeting posts meant to get people interested in seeing the Squid Girl anime and perhaps even purchasing it on DVD or Blu-ray. Being anti-piracy myself this is infuriating that they are targeting posts I wrote hoping to encourage people to try out a delightful show.

Another identity crisis due to mistaken identity, the perils of inkvading high school, and a surprising final segment start off the second disc of set one. The usual laughs and insane situations are there, but don’t be surprised if you come away with a tear in your eye rather than a smile after watching this episode.

Are You from Planet Calamari?

Proving that the previous episode’s mild fan service was no fluke, the first third starts off when an impossibly proportioned blond in a bikini enters the Lemon Beach House. We can tell she is a great beauty because all sorts of sparkles emanate from her hair as it waves in slow motion in the sea breeze. Well, that and the male customers completely lose their cool at the sight of her.

Immediately sizing her up as a foreigner, Eiko panics. Once again showing her sadistic streak, Chizuru forces the teen to wait on the newcomer. It soon turns out that Eiko’s command of the English language leaves much to be desired.

Luckily for her, the blond is fluent in Japanese and is here for a very specific reason. It seems there are rumors of an alien having been sighted at this location. Now who could that be?

And so Cindy Campbell, M.I.T. graduate and alien hunter extraordinaire joins the cast of loonies. Squid Girl is understandably rather upset with being called an alien and even more so with Cindy’s nearly Sanae like desire to haul her off to a laboratory. Not only does the American look good in swimwear, she is a true mad scientist – and mad scientists don’t take no for answer.

Is our tentacled protagonist really a Squiddian invader from outer space?  Can Squid Girl find her way back to normalcy? And just what is normalcy for her anyway?

Want to Join a New School of Fish?

One of my favorite things about Squid Girl is how everyday events become  epic adventures for our blue tressed heroine. If you were wondering if her adoptive family had lives outside the beach, wonder no more. Summer vacation is over and Eiko proudly dresses in her school uniform. After some confusion over cosplay, Squid Girl demands to come along. Rebuffed, she sneaks into school anyway to do some reconnaissance like a proper inkvader.

Exploring all the empty rooms she can get into, it becomes clear to Ika that this is a military training facility. Why they even have a place to take care of the wounded. It is a perfect base to stage her takeover of the surface world from! Or at least that is how she sees things.

Violence, hostage taking, and PA announcements lead to a potentially deadly situation. Can this be peaceably resolved or will the inkvasion finally begin in earnest?

Who’d Like a Pet Squid?

The final segment is a big change of pace and is original to the anime. I do not want to give too much away, but the nearly dialogue free story shows a deft touch while tugging at the audience’s heartstrings. It all begins with Eiko finding a mini Squid Girl in a jar on the beach one rainy day.

What follows will be familiar to anyone who has raised a pet, especially if they have wooed a feral kitten.

This story shows what heights the animators are capable of rising to as what should be a simple overdose of cute becomes something deeply touching instead. It was so popular that two shorts were done starring Mini Squid Girl for the Blu-ray release in Japan along with figurines.

Thoughts

Squid Girl is a light hearted series that occasionally will surprise with sharp insights or genuinely sweet moments. It is the latter that you will remember from this episode. It is something of a sucker punch and all the more effective for it.

I have to praise the English language voice cast again. They have done a bang up job and I also have to give the dub writers a hand for how they rewrote the scene between Eiko and Cindy. It was cleverly handled.

This and Episode Six are the only episodes on disc 2 and for some reason the same extras from the first disc were repeated. I have hopes that the second set coming out later this month will have the Mini Ika Musame shorts on them as they are very cute.