Anne Happy – 02
This week on Daiya no Ace Bandage…
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How unfortunate are you? It’s interview and measurement day for Honoka, Hibari, Botan, and the others. But maybe they’re not that easy to quantify. |
The Unmeasurable
Timothy doesn’t need to point things out, even if Botan doesn’t quite realize it…
They’ve got quite the collection of normal girls with that one quirk in this show. But for a lot of them, that one quirk is a lot more disabling than it probably should be. We saw last time (well, after I went back and forth checking a lot) that Hanako was #40 in a class of 40, with Hibari at 28 and Botan at 35. It would seem to me that Hibari is ranked a little bit low in that at 28, since she doesn’t really have stuff go that wrong with her (by contrast, the other two girls we haven’t really met yet are #2 (Hibiki, the girl who gets lost) and #17 (Ren, the girl who falls asleep and attracts animal help like Mary Poppins)). But maybe the fact that she attracts the friendship of people like Botan and Hanako helps to drag her rating down? Either way, these three are quite the fast friends as they go through their school measurements.
I can’t tell if Hanako was winding them up or not here, and that’s what makes it better
But things don’t always go so easily for these three. I kind of like the grouping of them, which allows for a nice comparative display: Hibari does things correctly, Botan falls victim to her frailty, and Hanako… manages to somehow break everything. She even has a misembroidered school tie, with the stem of the special 4-leaf clover pointed to the side (or down, the show’s continuity on this point is rather fuzzy), rather than pointed up. But they all have to go through the rigamarole anyway, and when they take too long to get to the gym for their measurements, they encounter another cast member: Timothy the spy bunny robot. Under the guise of escorting them because they’re late, Timothy is observing and measuring their misfortune as they are being measured for their basic dimensions.
Robot Bunny in a two-piece suit says “Missed me!”
Maybe Misfortune Doesn’t Matter?
The first time we’ve seen her be serious
The show went to some lengths this episode to show Hanako’s basic goodness, after making a big deal out of vending machines this episode. In her interview, she stated how one of her favorite things was using vending machines, but when tasked by Hibari to go get them juice, she becomes serious for the first time, making sure they want her to go do it, and then happily goes off to fulfill their request. Or at least try, because she comes back with not just the wrong juice, but what may be the wrongest juice ever: Takoyaki Soda, Curry Milk, and some crazy energy drink.
“Who puts the wrong drinks in a vending machine?”
Stuff that Hibari, looking later, finds isn’t even sold in these machines. But as she’s finishing her purchase, some workmen come along to replace the drinks in the machine, since someone put the wrong drinks in. Hanako hadn’t just closed her eyes and prayed that she’d push the right button. She prayed that in pushing the right button she’d actually get what it says. She tried her hardest, did exactly what she was supposed to, and still got hosed. But even with the suspicion that Hanako screwed up, Hibari and Botan hadn’t given her a hard time about it, just picked what they thought they could drink out of the group. And when Hibari finds out she hadn’t screwed up, she doesn’t make a big deal out of it, just buys her the drink that Hanako had really wanted.
Club Time is Run Time
Hibari’s busy, come back later
And that kind of reciprocal favoring seems to be a big subtheme of the show, because at the end of the juice bit, Hanako and Botan find Hibari lingering at a construction worker sign. And they are really excellent about Hibari’s crush on the sign guy, even facing the reality of it. They repeatedly call him “the person you like” and offer to let her take as much time looking at him as she wants. And there’s no mocking, no guile, no sneers or eyerolls, no laughing or even snickering at Hibari about it. They sincerely support her in what the school calls her “tragic love”. And to my mind, they don’t need to give any reasons for Hanako and Botan to support Hibari other than “we are your friends and we support you.” No addendums, no amendments. Just the support of friends.
Maybe Ren will siphon off the animals attacking Hanako some more
It really is a wonderful message, I think. Hibari isn’t in danger of hurting herself with her crush, so there’s no reason for Hanako and Botan to try to change her, or argue with her, or even ‘set her straight’. They just accept her, and in doing so they set an example that I think Hibari is starting to realize that she wants to try to live up to. We’ll see if that kind of group dynamic changes in the future as the story adds Hibiki and Ren, already friends and support for each other, into the group of main characters, and see if they are so easily accepting of the circumstances of the first three. It’s my unsupported-by-anything feeling that perhaps Hibiki won’t really be so ‘go along to get along’ but we’ll see.
About Highway
Proving that you don't have to be young to love anime, I enjoy all genres and styles of shows. If it's not hurting anyone else, you should never be ashamed of what you like!
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Now with 10% more Japanese mayo flavor. You can taste the octopus in ever gulp!
I’m glad to see the show is “chugging” along. I’m looking forward to Hibiki and Ren same as you.
It seems that Timothy is purpose built to screw with -maximum efficiency – our three leads… suggesting that the writers are behind it or, the teacher…but which one?
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Hmm, I didn’t really get the feeling that either Timothy or Miss Kodaira are interested in screwing with the girls. I do think that Miss Kodaira is sincere enough in the idea that she wants to help all the girls be happier, but maybe not in the nicest way possible. And Timothy seemed to be a pretty neutral character. It wasn’t even like he goaded them into situations that their unlucky natures would manifest something odd. Botan and Hanako were the ones who wanted to go look at clubs, and I don’t think you can blame Timothy at all for the debacle at the pet appreciation society.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I can agree that Miss is dishing out the tough love. But, for the sake of argument, I’m going forward with the idea that Timothy is a complete sadist robot with nothing but foul play in mind; he’s crafty and he’s gathering data. Now yeah, this new tack kiboshes the two of them being in cahoots with each other, but I’m going with my alternate character reading….
POWUH: 400-499 with 462 comments
Such wonderful friendship! This series gives me the warm fuzzies.
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 261 comments
I was wondering if this girl shows up and Hanako/Anne (GRRACH) trying to touch her ear and cuddle her…
Hmmm…It reminds me of something this…
And Curry milk and Takoyaki Soda…Oh my gosh, I’am gonna get brain freeze for this…
So Look like it going to be a showdown between The Unfortunates and The Bread Feeders.
POWUH: iLurker with 8 comments
I loved this second episode even more than the first. The lack of judgement and earnest desire to support one another is so endearing and desirable. I look forward to seeing your posts on this show!
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Always glad to have you comment! I too liked this episode more than the first, because I think it really got into more of the characters and did it well. One thing I come back to is Hanako’s hearing test, when she scared the others, and whether it was her being funny, or whether that’s really what she heard. It doesn’t seem like it would be something that would be a result of her unhappiness, so I’m leaning towards her winding them up on purpose, which I think would be just this wonderful sense of humor, especially as sincerely as she did it. The other reason I think it was a joke was the way she was chasing Hibari around with the headphones.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…maybe I should cover Sansha Sanyou every week?
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
I was confused at the hearing test, if the volume was all the way up, why didn’t they hear anything?
I kept expecting that maybe the headphone jack wasn’t properly plugged in, and then all of a sudden there would be this huge blast of noise.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
Ohmygawd, poor Botan. She went straight to the clubs that are her kryptonite.
I do see that Hibari-chan is firmly in the 2D > 3D camp. Although is that really misfortune (just another form of otaku?) or wait, maybe this is sending a message that all 2D loving otaku are unfortunate? Hmm hmm