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.
More characters join Squid Girl’s expanding cast as the aquatic invader attempts to make sense of the surface world. A lifeguard gets her attention, she gains an admirer, and fireworks ensue -- but not necessarily in that order.
Aren’t We Squids of a Feather?
Starting off with a spoof of Baywatch makes sense for a comedy set on a beach and it is made all the better after it is revealed to all be in the head of the local life guard. So enters a new character, Goro.
When the pretty girl he is chatting up notices someone in distress, he springs into action. Wait… Is that Squid Girl out there flailing madly? Apparently she forgot to stretch her tentacles before entering the water and suffered a cramped one.
Yes, I know what you are thinking and it is addressed in a most amusing way. But back to Life Savers… err, Squid Girl.
One quick rescue later, Goro is horrified to find out that he has rescued a monster from the sea. Fortunately, Eiko and Takeru are present to explain things. Well, as much as you can explain someone like Ika Musame. We also find out that Goro has quite a crush on Chizuru.
Oddly enough, the life guard and invader hit it off when they both reveal themselves to be protectors of the sea. But their ideas of how they protect the sea are just a bit different and a falling out is unavoidable. Squid Girl decides there isn’t room enough for two protectors….
Hijinks ensue and a serious moral lesson is learned in the end; something not unusual with this show.
Consquidilations?
The second segment is about something everyone can relate to: birthdays. Puzzled by the spectacle of a family having a birthday party at the Lemon Beach House, Squid Girl wants to know just what the squid is going on. Once she finds out what a birthday is and that it involves cake, gifts, and attention, she pitches a fit.
Yes, it is time to declare it is her “hatchday” and demand a celebration. Chizuru thinks it is a great idea, much to her younger sister’s dismay. So preparations begin with locking Squid Girl in a back room to keep things a surprise. Ever snoopy, her imagination gets the best of her as she overhears the conversations.
Hey, calamari is tasty, so I can understand her paranoia.
What follows is a nice illustration of one of the show’s best strengths, that of portraying those first time experiences from childhood. Amidst all the goofy comedy and slapstick antics are sweet reminders of how things we now take for granted were once magical. Do you remember what it was like the first time you tried to blow out candles on a birthday cake? How about the first time you played with fireworks?
It is all there, the good and the bad, but exaggerated which makes for great fun.
A feeling of family is also beginning to develop nicely. That is good, for dangers await the squidling.
Want to Swim Out and Play?
Sometimes danger comes disguised in the most innocent of packages. That is a hard lesson to learn growing up and a lot of adults never do. Take the two screen caps above, for example. One is of a cute little puppy and the other is of a sweet looking teenage girl. Which is the dangerous one?
Eiko’s friend, Sanae, brings her new pup to the restaurant to show him off. He is a big hit and an envious Squid Girl cannot believe that the dog is considered cuter than she. Ika is such a child in so many ways, good and bad.
Her demand for equal treatment leads to hilarious proof that you should be careful of what you wish for. It is an utterly silly scene that would not be out of place in an old Looney Tunes cartoon.
Hmm. I wonder what a meeting between Daffy Duck and Squid Girl would be like?
An invitation to visit Sanae’s place is made and this is where we find out why the series is rated for 13 and older.
Yep, we have just encountered a tired anime trope, that of the lesbian teen with a raging crush on a main character. Sanae’s attentions toward Ika are uncomfortable for the young squid and disturbing to Eiko, who doesn’t verbally pull her punches. Oh if that were only the problem with Sanae. When Eiko takes the puppy for a walk, Squid Girl ponders turning the air conditioned house into her invasion headquarters.
But who is the hunter and who is the prey?
Sheer lunacy, trauma, and shameless inkjet printing follow with a nice visual moment to wrap up the episode.
Thoughts
As I wrote earlier in the review, the reminders of magical moments of childhood is one of the things that makes Squid Girl such an appealing show to me. Genuine warmth can also be found between the comic bits, which make it more than just a gag show. That is why the middle segment was the one I liked the best out of this episode.
Ika Musame is an interesting character, with it becoming a little clearer that she is a good girl at heart, if obsessed with global domination. The relationship with Eiko is settling into something more like siblings. Specifically, siblings close in age who always fight with each other.
Sanae is very annoying. But beyond that, she is very creepy and while it is treated light heartedly stalkers are not that amusing to me. That is not to say this segment was unamusing, merely of questionable taste. That could be said about the character of Sanae, period.
The quality of the video continues to impress me greatly. For a lowly DVD to scale up as well as this one does on my 1680 x 1050 monitor is very unusual. It matches the quality of 720p videos I have purchased from iTunes, which is mind blowing. Keeping each disc to three episodes and keeping the quality high is probably the reason for this.
