Shinryaku! Ika Musume – 11

Guys and dolls!

Now writing from a different time zone! I am back in my hometown for the winter. Yes, it’s winter, not summer!

Hi everyone, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? Last week was actually my exam week, so I didn’t get a chance to watch/write anything for several days. This means I’ve fallen behind on like, everything, so now is the time to play catch up. On the bright side, though, I just checked my grades, and I have 4 A’s with 2 grades still pending. That’s right, guys, I’m actually a genius disguised as a manga/animephile.

Anyway, this is super late, as episode 12 has already aired in Japan, but… too bad! I’m just going to pretend that while I was out, time stopped in the rest of the world. So in reality, episode 11 hasn’t even aired yet, and I’m writing a review from the future. Yes. Here we go.

We begin with Eiko looking through boxes in her room while Ika just kind of… hangs out there. Like, she literally lives in their house now. And eats their food, reads their manga, plays their games… while thinking nothing much of it. The Aizawas don’t seem to mind, either. I mean, what the hell, she’s totally a freeloader. I guess her conquest of the Aizawa household is almost complete.

Right, so Eiko was looking through boxes. She pulls out the creepiest doll you will ever see in a comedy, named Depp. At least I think it’s Depp. Apparently, there were two in the set, Johnny and Depp. So clever! But I’m pretty sure Johnny was the girl, which makes the boy Depp.

Ika completely agrees that it’s the creepiest thing ever. Kind of reminds me of Scarface. You know, the one from Batman. Or maybe the doll from the Child’s Play movies. Basically, it’s the kind of thing that gives children nightmares, but apparently Eiko liked it as a kid. Maybe this is why something as puny and unintimidating as Ika doesn’t scare her at all.

The thing creeps Ika out while she sleeps – oh yeah, she sleeps in Eiko’s room now, by the way – because it keeps watching her. After turning it around, she is able to get a good night’s sleep, until…

Gesogesogeso~

It greets her in the morning, watching her again. The next day passes lazily – apparently Ika can spend the entire day messing around in Eiko’s room. All seems well, until the next morning…

It greets her again! No, it literally greets her! It says, “Ohayo!” The doll is freaking possessed.

Can you spot what’s wrong with this picture? Keep reading to find out the answer.

Sanae magically appears in Eiko’s room, and they reminisce about the doll. It seems like they’re close to solving the mystery of the possessed doll: it turns to face its partner in the morning, and they greet each other. So Depp must be facing Johnny when it changes directions in the morning. They set out to find the missing girl.

You still love me… don’t you…?

They discover much more than they asked for.

Just play cool…

In the next part, Cindy is silently, unsuspiciously eyeing Ika Musume… wait, no, she’s eyeing Chizuru! What gives? Well, apparently, Chizuru is also an alien. Apparently.

You think the suit is stupid, but that’s actually how I view all mecha.

The Guys in White (I’m changing their name to the “three fools” now) come up with a few idiotically complicated ways to get a sample of Chizuru’s hair. First up is an invisibility suit.

Flash again! This time with a trippy background!

Which fails. Next up is a remote controlled mosquito. It is also invisible.

There’s tons of these in Japan! It’s a foolproof disguise!

Which fails. Last up is a creepy fan/stalker disguise.

The all-seeing eye…

Which f- actually, no, it kind of succeeds. Until they get caught. Enough of these fools.

Next, Ika goes hiking. Unfortunately, being a squid and all, walking is not her forte. Walking uphill is even harder. Chizuru isn’t letting her take the easy way out by using her tentacles, and we all know from previous episodes that Chizuru’s word is final. Poor Ika trudges forward.

However, the wildlife seems to be very interested in this foreign food, much like how white people are interested in things like (fake) Chinese food and (fake) Indian food. They are very eager to try it out, to Ika’s disdain. Also, even with her tentacles, she loses to a cobra. But she doesn’t die or get poisoned. How does that work? I haven’t the faintest clue. Are king cobras even found in Japan? Someone help me out here, my genius skills are failing me.

At the top of the mountain, they screw around and do stuff you typically do at a peak: yelling and eating. Afterwards, they run into mai waifu, Sanae. She has, apparently, taken the cheater’s way to the top – the cable car.

Ika Musume is displeased.

MORE PICS

Solution to the question from earlier: Sanae is not smothering Ika.

It’s okay, we’re all sad that the series is ending.

Johnny Depp’s guest appearance.

END THOUGHTS

As I expect all of you to know by now (and shame on you if you didn’t!), I really like horror and mystery, so the story with the creepy dolls was interesting to me. Sure, the story didn’t have that much depth, but I’m not incredibly picky when it comes to those genres because they’re so rare. I also love them so much. So much. Shinryaku! Ika Musume with muted colors, symbolizing the darkness enveloping them as they descend deeper and deeper into the mystery of the possessed dolls. Shinryaku! Ika Musume with skies showing sharply contrasting clouds, revealing the shadow being cast over them as they investigate that which is better left unsolved. Love <3

To balance this out, we had to get the three fools in this episode. Seriously, what the hell is with them? They threw off my groove. I knew it was coming after seeing last episode’s preview, but my spirit plummets more and more for every second of screen time that those baka rangers get. In this episode, it’s slightly balanced out by Chizuru’s overall badassness, but nothing can completely cancel out the crappiness of the three fools.

This episode didn’t really stand out to me as especially great, but that doesn’t mean it was bad or anything. I enjoy this series in general, so even average episodes like this one are fun to watch. Most of the fun comes not from the stories themselves but in watching Ika’s great reactions to everything around her. Sometimes she’s thinking exactly what we’re thinking (that possessed doll!), other times, not quite (the banana float, anyone?). I hope anyone who has not been watching this will pick it up. Since each episode has three stories, you get a huge variety of funny sketches. I think particularly worthwhile is episode 5 story, part 3: “Won’t you keep it?” Awesome background music.

And one last thing I have to share with you all. It’s very important, please watch it.

PREVIEW

Next one is the last. You know how I was mumbling about some character named Tanabe Kozue last time? No? Well, I was, jerks. Anyway, I have wonderful news.

She will be making an appearance in the next episode. Also, I read the story, “Isn’t it a pinch?” in the manga, and I thought it was a sweet story. It looks like a good way to end the season.

See you soon for the exciting conclusion.