[ Episode 10: Secret Hot Springs Death Match ]

[ Episode 11: What Ibuki-san Received ]

[ Episode 12: Tomorrow's Yoichi! ]

Wow, I didn’t notice until the last episode, but ever since episode 10, the opening changed slightly. Well, okay, it’s nothing something to write home about, but I guess this should have been expected; the Saginomiya siblings are now shown unmasked. Yeah, like I said, not really important, but a nice touch for those that have been following. Anything to see Sakon’s beautiful mug.

As if the beach episode wasn’t enough eyecandy, an episode at an inn with hot springs just adds more fun and mayhem for the dojo girls and samurai. Ayame’s behavior was definitely expected, but I’m with her; totally unfair use of their martial arts skills. Anyway, I found myself a bit turned-on by Ayame when Yoichi was in the pit. Well, okay, it wasn’t really her, but Sakon played it cooly. It was funny how Yoichi found out it wasn’t really Ayame because her chest was too big. By now, Yoichi should be an expert at this field. After all, the first things he did when he came into the city were groping Ayame’s breast and looking for Ibuki by comparing breast sizes of people in the mall. I wasn’t expecting things to turn out worse when Ibuki was taken by Ukyou, who was actually wearing casual clothes. Suddenly he’s not in his usual attire. WTF. Apparently, they’re supposed to be getting married? What is this? Ibuki doesn’t know it either, but like knockout gas, she’s out cold and suddenly her mind got replaced with a four-year old’s. Uh-oh.

It was pretty cool seeing Hinagata again. Those two surfer dudes? Not so much. That swordsman guy? Yeah, a little. At least they weren’t forgotten, but wow, that guy really did suck balls. It occurs to me that this is the first time I’ve heard Ayame refer to Ibuki as “Aneki.” I realize she’s said it plenty of times before, but it was more noticeable now. Interesting how she gets so many ways of addressing her.

I’m reminded of why Kagome is the weakest link in this show. Not that she’s the youngest, but she doesn’t really have much prominence, being overshadowed by the eldest two sisters, unsurprisingly. The one problem I have is that for some reason, they’re paying Hanazawa Kana to squeal, gasp, or call the name of one of her sisters in each episode, moreso than given actual dialogue. I can understand the initial shock after Ibuki has Kagome out of her life, though who can blame her? Her mind went back to when she was a kid. Ayame overreacted a bit too much too. I guess everyone’s just so frustrated with Ibuki’s sudden warped change.

That being said, this episode is basically building up for the last, with the turmoils continuing. I guess Washizu was the only one in his own world once Ibuki started clinging on to him. Where’d he buy such clothes anyway… Okay, negotiations with the Saginomiya and the Ikaruga family seem a little sketchy. Live like a rich family and the antidote will be done in no time? Well, la-dee-freaking-dah. They take it anyway, but change their minds…

Ah, family. Sakon gets her brother back. The Ikaruga sisters get Ibuki back. All is right with the world! Well things couldn’t go back to normal without putting up a fight, and a fight they put up! I laughed at those servant guys that repeat “Please head back.” Weaklings, but a horde of weaklings. And maid machineguns, whoa. Not only that, Torigaya shrunk even more now! To make matters worse (better?), he transformed into a girl at the end. Whether it’s Washizu’s vision or true reality, that just boggles the mind a lot. I enjoyed hearing the OP theme played in the background. What better way to end the battle than with some divine wind! So Yoichi decided to stay for more training and sends a letter to his dad about it. I laughed when the dad used the letter to blow his nose and then trashed it. Good man. So, essentially, no really special ending at all.

So overall, Asu no Yoichi! was a predictable, yet fun series that I enjoyed watching over the past three months. Fanservicey in many ways, but also delivered comic relief moments for all the lovable characters, especially Ayame. There’s a lot of material from the original source (manga) so a second season is very well likely to be in the works, though I’m not really holding my breath yet. I would recommend this to anyone that likes a good comedy anime and some interest in a harem anime.

[ Episode 9: Fly to the Fiery Summer Festival! ]

Oh god, the beginning 10 seconds is such a damn freaking tease. Damn you, AIC.

Even more Ayame and Washizu! So finally Washizu understands Ayame’s liking towards the samurai (main character power). He also finally shouts out his love for “Ikaruga-san” but Ayame misreads it and thinks he’s referring to her. Washizu really knows how to keep his confessions clean. In writing or orally, he can’t do it right.

It was really obvious that Washizu and Torigaya’s (BTW, he’s still shrinking) plan would backfire, but the way it did was so stupid. Yeah, why did Torigaya go with multiples of three? Regardless, it set up interesting moments for the respective parties. Yoichi and Ibuki meet the Saginomiya siblings, not aware that it’s them, of course, seeing as how they haven’t even truly met (literally) face to face yet. Incidentally, they do take off their masks for the very first time here. Ukyou turns out to be more bishie than I would’ve imagined, if I did picture him as such in the first place. So apparently he’s in love with Ibuki as well. Perhaps that’s why he wants to kill Yoichi? Ukyou’s sister Sakon looks quite hot herself. Maybe I should pay attention to Yahagi Sayuri now. Elsewhere, Tsubasa and Angie (looking very hot herself in a nekomimi getup) are also participating in the festival.

Things didn’t really go the way Washizu wanted it to be, but in the end, it was nice what he did for Ayame; he did while screwing up, but he still did it. And hey, he got Tsubasa happy, though I couldn’t tell from her freakish costume. So the Saginomiyas set up the Ikarugas and Yoichi to a resort of some sort. Looks like this will be their last trump card to finally win.

[ Episode 8: Sorry About the Other Time ]

An episode devoted to two blondies means only verbal confrontation and also a ton of physical violence. Ayame and Washizu sure have common interests. If they can fight over the last bottle of their favorite drink, they can fight about nearly anything, I assume. Evil customers are always the worse you can have in a store, but ones that take photos are the lowest of the low.

It’s rather funny how Ayame tried to get near Yoichi. Leave it to Chihaya to draw up a scenario. The end results were way better, with Ayame accidentally but purposely insulting Yoichi instead. Somehow it’s so ridiculous that Washizu had his confession letter fall out like that, but it’s not like he’s wearing tight clothing anyway, so what was he thinking?

So these assholes come and mock Washizu while holding Ayame captive. Never a dull moment once Ayame and Washizu spout at each other despite of the situation. Here we’re given a brief history on Washizu’s past, where he had a much younger face and a more sinister demeanor as he appeared. I was hoping he’d stand up and beat the crap out of them, but it was only due to Yoichi’s heroic emergence that they were able to defeat the thugs and rescue Ayame. Ibuki comes at the wrong place and at the wrong time. She jumps to conclusions way too fast. Well it looks like Ayame and Washizu are less angry with each other now. Little did I know this was only the first step…

[ Episode 7: Half-Exposed Bikini, One Piece ]

Yes, the inevitable beach episode. A staple for these types of anime. There’s always fun in the sun, playing in the water and sand, and best of all, ladies exposing more skin than usual, what’s not to like? Yeah, okay, you’ve got Yoichi in his loincloth, but that was pretty amusing the first time. Thank goodness Ibuki gave him swimming trunks. Speaking of Yoichi, we found out another one of his weaknesses: he can’t swim. I assume all this life of training involved him withstanding everything on land only. Now I see what a bad father he has. The bit where both Ayame and Angie were willing to help Yoichi was entertaining. I guess when it comes to Yoichi, Ayame can even talk back at Angie. In the end, she lost because of Angie’s ginormous breasts, and she’s only 16?! Don’t be so ashamed Ayame, you don’t need oppai to be loved.

So it occurs to me that this is the first episode where Kagome gets any real spotlight at all. Funny that the whole premise of Kagome’s timidness is because she wants to hide her breasts. Wow, did she bloom early? I guess big breasts DO run in the family. Ayame must have missed it somehow, but I still love her the most.

At this point, I think Saginomiya should give up trying to take down Yoichi. He hired two skilled surfers to take him out, and they were doing real dandy, what with Yoichi unable to swim and all, but once that bokken landed in Yoichi’s hand, it was all over. Not to mention the power of the loincloth.

Overall, a pretty fanservice-y episode. It was lovely to see Tsubasa and Angie again. I had this feeling Tsubasa was gonna change into her more berserk style monotonous beast mode, but I suppose only Angie can turn that switch on. Just how many ecchi things did Yoichi do in this episode? I think the count raised considerably, but who’s counting? Oh yeah, looks like the running gag of Torigaya’s height is still present. I never noticed it until a few episodes back when Washizu mentioned it. This totally was noticeable now, as he was nearly half Washizu’s size. Isn’t it more like he’s aging backwards though?

[ Episode 6: Wa-san is Coming! ]

A whole episode dedicated to a delinquent and cronie Torigaya? You know it.

After several episodes, it’s funny how Wa-san just now was able to give back Ibuki’s handkerchief. Of courses, he returns it in the most casual way possible: inside his love interest’s locker. Oh, but it just so happens he missed the locker by one, with the envelope containing the handkerchief and his letter ending up in the hands of the samurai.

Ignorance plays all around and somehow Washizu joins the dojo. Everything for his beautiful Ikaruga-san, but predictably, he has to train under Yoichi’s guidance first, which totally didn’t go so well.

Here’s where things start to get interesting. It’s inconceivable for these two fools to do a thousand push-ups, but, hell, it’s anime. In this show’s case, Washizu can take out spike ball gloves out of Hammerspace so all logic is defied since day 1, go figure. But it was definitely interesting that they were able to go on. Thankfully for Washizu, he’s earned great praise, even from Ibuki, and it looks like we’ll be seeing more of him training in the dojo. D’aaaw, I want Ayame to feed me too.

On the other side of things, it looks like one of the dojo kids has a fling for Kagome, and Chihaya and Torigaya click very well together…

So while all the kids were inside, Saginomiya sends this badass swordsman out to hunt down Yoichi. Well, finally, someone that looks like a worthy adversary. Too bad he’s so stupid when it come to geography. Couldn’t even find Yoichi’s house. Well that’s that. Let’s see how much money he blows off for these people next time.

[ Episode 5: Let's Go on a Date! ]

Well, I had no idea Yoichi’s date turned out to be an evil woman in disguise, but it was certainly a big twist… I guess.

I enjoyed how Ibuki took advantage of the practice date. Calling it a “practice date” already guaranteed her a day with just Yoichi. For the first time, we finally see Yoichi out of his samurai getup and in some civilian clothing. Now why doesn’t Itoshiki-sensei do the same thing? Actually, those two might get along rather well (not). But seriously, he looked like a normal guy with those clothes on, so it was a nice change from the usual attire he dons practically anywhere at any time. Somehow I just knew he’d throw that bowling ball like that, too. I found his second weakness: bowling. Whether that’s making gutters or dropping balls on his foot, he’s clearly outclassed!

It’s never a dull moment when you got the sisters moping around and ruining the other sister’s fun. With Chihaya, Kagome, and Ayame tailing the two, I was thinking they’d actually butt in somewhere.

So the guy that wants to kill Yoichi fails again. Maybe next time he’ll try some male clients? It appears that all the women are no match Yoichi. Heck, if you want the job done right, do it yourself. In this case, looks like he has a sister, and she’ll be the one to take action. And I’m not an expert on Japanese street laws, but parking a limo in a regular parking lot doesn’t look right…

Wa-san’s brief appearances and fantasies never cease to amaze me. This time he’s picturing Ayame calling him “onii-chan.” You know, if he ever even gets a shot at Ibuki, he’d be playing big brother to THREE sisters. Such an active mind, that young’un.

Overall not a bad episode. I thought it’d be a regular date thing but then there was that thing with Hinagata, so it definitely exceeded my expectations. And hey, Tsubasa and Angie got… 2 seconds of screentime! But seriously, it was another funny and entertaining episode.