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.
The anime series proves it can do horror when a creepy doll is found, science fiction when Cindy turns her sights onto a new target, and nature documentary when a mountain hike goes terribly wrong. Laughter keeps on coming no matter what the genre is when Ika Musame invades it!
Proving the quality of the early episodes was no fluke, Squid Girl stays strong in its penultimate installment of the first season. In fact, it is one of the most solid episodes of the entire series.
Why Is This Doll So Fishy?
There are few things creepier than a doll designed to be cute, but that looks disturbing instead. Clowns may be one of those things, but even an evil clown would have trouble competing with the doll that stars in this tale. Depp is an old toy of Eiko’s that she finds in a storage box in the Aizawa residence. Right away, the thing is unnerving to Squid Girl and most likely anyone watching the show. The animation also takes an unsettling air of a horror movie, which is something the Japanese excel at.
As darkness falls, the atmosphere grows more sinister in Eiko and Ika’s bedroom. Unable to sleep due to the doll looking at her, Ika Musame turns it around so she can get some sleep. It works, but when she awakens the doll has turned back to stare at her with those unfeeling blue eyes.
A mystery has begun, one that digs into Eiko’s forgotten past. Who is Johnny? And what does Johnny have to do with Depp? Only with the help of Sannae will the answer be found and it is not one they want…
Why So Susfishous?
Cindy Campbell is back to investigate a suspected alien, as we find out thanks to hearing her thoughts. After witnessing too many inhuman feats by Chizuru, it has dawned on her and the Three Idiots from MIT that data is needed. Data provided by DNA extracted from her blood!
Harris is the first to try to retrieve a sample, but his invisibility suit causes more problems than it assists him. With the restaurant in an uproar thanks to him, another plan must be enacted. A drone of brilliant design is then employed by Clark with disastrous consequences.
Things quickly spiral out of the control of the mad scientists and a frightened Nagisa can only watch helplessly. The true meaning of fear will be learned.
Want to Gill Up the Mountain?
Nature is a wonderful thing filled with beauty, fresh air, and exercise. Sadly for Squid Girl, she does not appreciate any of those. So when the Aizawa clan go for a mountain hike, Ika is not happy to find out how difficult going up a mountain is. Unable to escape the terrible tag team of Chizuru and Eiko, the miserable fish out of water grits her teeth and endures locomotion using only her legs.
There is another thing about nature that is very appealing and that is observing wildlife in their natural habitat. Here Ika learns about squirrels, monkeys, and other animals on the mountain. It is an up close kind of education; the kind kids enjoy the most. After all, survival skills television shows have been very popular lately.
Greater challenges await the young squid along the way to the summit. Once there she may find the most frightening creature of the them all…
Thoughts
Silly is becoming an inadequate word to describe this series. It takes silly to an exponential degree, then multiplies it by comic madness to achieve its sweet, but warped goals. For a slice of life show, it is amazing how it spoofed three different genres so effortlessly.
The Three Idiots are particularly amusing in the second segment and a brief cameo in the third. Actually, the supporting cast carries a lot of episode eleven. It is not something you notice right away, but repeated viewings made it stand out to me. That is a good testimony of how well developed they have become by late in the season. No setups are needed, the writers just wind them up and let them go.
Speaking of writing, the stories bounce around from different time periods in the manga, but it all works seamlessly in the adaptation. A lot of credit needs to go to the production crew for I think this is a rare case of an anime being better than the manga it was based on. I do not think there are any Ika Musame purists out there to complain, so I should be safe in making that statement.
The first story has a rare reference to the missing Aizawa parents who have never been seen. Their absence is something of a mystery.
All in all, this was a great episode and now I am saddened that the season is coming to an end. Only one full episode and two mini Squid Girl videos left to review.
BEWARE! HERE BE SPOILERS!!!
The reveal of Johnny is deftly handled and I loved how the one hand poked out of the packing like a zombie hand from a grave. I admire how they built up the suspense and still managed to be silly at the same time. It was great fun.
The second segment’s best part was Chizuru. I would take her up against any shounen fighting character and bet on her winning. Oh and that innocent face she made at the end, it was even more scary than her opening her eyes.
When the cobra showed up to torment Ika further, I was laughing a little. When she lost to it, I was laughing out loud. The duel with the echo is pure early invasion and still amusing. Sannae’s Marilyn Monroe like summer dress and entrance was kind of strange if not alarming. When it turned out to be an innocent scene, I was relieved.
