Episode 08 – “A 100% Girl”

Well, I guess I was wrong about the whole Azusa transforming thing. What we get instead is an entirely new character, which I didn’t expect at all. Still, it’s not a completely unwanted (and maybe not even permanent) addition to the colorful cast, but I thought the series would just focus on the main four characters until the end. Instead, we get an interesting character in “Emanuelos Pollarola,” otherwise known as Emi.

She’s more or less everything that Tsukiko isn’t, especially under her current condition and much to her chagrin. It IS a bit unfair how Emi gets attention from Youto despite him wanting distance from Tsukiko. As a result, Tsukiko gets super jealous (as jealous as her emotions or lack thereof will allow). And then there’s Azusa who’s creeping around the bushes. I thought we would have seen the results of her wish, but I guess that’ll have to wait until next week. I’m surprised she didn’t transform or anything, like I predicted last week.

There’s also another brief encounter with the Track Team’s Vice President, Mai Maimaki, who’s still after Youto’s blood. Other than that, the main focus of the episode is on Youto’s inadvertent wish that transforms the school into his dream palace. One where he’s the prince and the school female dress code is swimsuits. I personally don’t see the appeal of the one-piece school swimsuit, but then again I don’t see the appeal of a lot of Japanese fetishes. Though, the real mystery is where did Emi obtain a mini-cat statue and how does she know about its powers?

Though, if we’re talking about mysteries, then I guess we should call into question Emi’s entire existence. She claims to be Ponta’s sister, but upon further investigation, Youto suspects she’s actually Ponta’s old pet rabbit of the same name. Perhaps the rabbit itself made a wish to the cat statue to become human?

While Henneko doesn’t have the same gripping quality that it had early on, it’s still a fun watch to look forward to every week…even though the ecchi seems to increase with each episode. Maybe next week we’ll find out what’s up with Azusa!