MM! – 10

Here comes the M~

*Maniacal laughter* ….Oh yeah, it’s MM! I’ll be covering this little padded cell of a show from now on. PRAY FOR ME. Ahem~

Nah, while the first impression of this show wasn’t exactly singing its praises, is it really that bad? Well…yes, but not always! So, a quick recap from episode 2 to 9: While trying to cure Tarou’s masochism the gang have encountered a green haired loli bent on turning the world into perverts, a nearly fatal trip to the beach, and Mio tried to hypnotize the M out of Tarou, which resulted in some awkward yaoi and Yuno in a bunny outfit. Also a festival that ended in kidnapping. Fun stuff, right?

So, episode 10 starts off rather bizarrely with Yuno, little mild mannered Yuno, verbally abusing Tarou on the way to school! And he’s just as confused as the audience. As he’s confiding in Tatsukichi at lunch Yuno reappears with a bento for him, or to be specific a brick (a friggin’ brick!) which she claims to be a loaf of bread. Tarou, of course, tries to eat it at which point Tatsukichi steps in to try and stop him. Geeze, the only thing that could make this scene more awkward is if Yuno started feeding Tarou with a baby bottle, haha.

OH GOD DAMMIT I WAS KIDDING

Where’s the eyesoap when you need it…Anyway, after Yuno runs away, embarassed at her poor attempt at parenting no doubt, Mamiya shows up and steals Tarou away to the girls’ bathroom to interrogate him. While he’s still in there, looking more than a little undignified, the president of Mio’s fanclub appears claiming, quite rightly to at this point, that he’s not worthy to associate with Mio. Tatsukichi, dressed as his alter ego Tatsumi Antoinette XVI, has to come and save the day again, or more acurately Tarou’s ass, as he’s been abused so much today he’s practically stuck in constant super M mode.

1) Tarou, if you managed to end up like that, you deserve to stay like that.

2) “Is that a plunger in your pants, or are you just happy to see me?”

Tarou goes to to the club room to ask Mio about Yuno’s change in behavoir, where he’s then subjected to the WATER WHEEL OF DEATH! Yuno arrives and upon seeing the spectacle before her declares that she won’t be in school for a while. She goes off with Mamiya for some intensive sadism training in the mountains. Tarou seems worried and texts her checking if she’s okay, which was actually quite sweet a sweet moment.

When Yuno returns she challenges Mio to an all out battle for the title of “Most Extreme Sadistic Girl!” the winner of which can do whatever they like to Tarou for a day. Hey, I’d take that…;)

BATTLE OF EPIC PREPORTIONS~

Round 1: They have to inspire Tarou’s masochism through sadistic cosplay without touching him. Yuno starts things off with a police woman outfit, and does surprisingly well, with Mamiya even shedding a few proud tears. But Mio wins the first round with her sadistic nun cosplay (did I really just say those words?)

Round 2: The two have to excite Tarou in silence this time! Mio opts for shadow boxing, letting Tarou imagine what it would feel like if any of those punches were to hit him. While Yuno takes a more inventive approach by texting, and thus round 2 goes to her! Although to be fair, Mio takes the defeat gracefully and actually compliments Yuno on her sadistic technique.

Round 3: Impliments ahoy! Now Yuno and Mio are permitted to use props to get Tarou excited (I could suggest a few, *flicks through yaoi doujin*) Mio takes to abusing a stuffed toy panda which Tarou imagines is himself. Yuno’s sadism this time round is based on puns, which despite making no sense, seem to do the trick. The fight concludes with both Mio and Yuno calling Tarou a pervert until he literally faints from the pleasure.

Anyway, after that we get a kind of random dream seqeunce. It shows chibi Tarou in a field playing catch with his Father. Then Mio falls from the sky to drop kick him in the face. Uhh…deep?

Tarou wakes up in the infirmary where Yuno has been watching over him. I would say d’aww! but she’s half the reason he’s there so screw it. She explains that because she saw him and Mio at the festival she thought Tarou liked that kind of girl and so tried to change herself. What follows is the usual “I like the old you” cheese. Although, there was a nice moment at the end of the episode where Yuno actually touches Tarou, she just takes hold of his sleeve, but still. Unfortunatley her boy phobia kicks in before she can stutter out any real confession.

Extra Screenshots:

This was just plain disturbing; Holy Mio. *shudders*

My face when I heard they were making a Supernatural anime.

The colour pallete doesn’t even believe you, honey.

Say it with me: D’aww!

End Thoughts: This episode felt the most solid in terms of what I think the show is trying to do. That being said tho, MM! is very much like marmite, you either love it or you hate it. As part of my Jun Fukuyama obsession I was obliged to watch the first episode and while I went into it cringing I came out laughing. Aside from having a lot of genuinley funny moments, I think there is an essential core of emotion there. They could have portrayed how Yuno developed her affliction to men as something funny but it was played straight and for dorama. I do love Tarou and Yuno’s interactions, and there was a few of them in this episode, especially at the end. The two of them are just so damn cute together, sorry Mio. I love ya, but if you went out with Tarou he’d never get cured!

The animation is what you’d expect for Xebec, nothing particuarly memorable about it, but it gets the job done, I guess. It kinda annoys me how all the girls have a perminate blush, though, what that’s about? Cuteness factor? I dunno.

MM! is brain candy, plain and simple. If you’re looking for something with well rounded characters, an epic plot and relateable human emotions – look elsewhere. However, if you want something daft and fun to counterbalance some of the more serious shows of the season MM! is well worth its fair share of uncomfortable moments. It’s a guilty pleasure, to say the least.

Preview: Next week looks like it’s going to be a serious episode. I sense Daddy issues ahead, what with that flashback to Tarou’s childhood. *gets behind angst barrier* Until next time, stay funky~