Another Ran episode. I seem to recall not being too keen on this one.
Ran & Lum meet at a restaurant so that Ran can guilt trip her with tales of how Lum used to repeatedly get her into trouble as a little kid. Today’s flashbacks involve how Lum blamed Ran whenever she wet the bed, cruelty to space dinosaurs and breaking her mothers favourite doll.
*Continuity error alert! Lum’s mum is shown speaking Japanese rather than the gibberish she is normally depicted speaking!*
Lum finally admits it’s her fault Ran has turned out so twisted. But then walks out leaving Ran to pay the whole of the bill.
After the break, Ran enrolls at Tomobiki High in an yet another attempt to drain Ataru’s youth. First she sends him a strange sweet that makes him choke, so he heads to the infirmary. Soon Ran arrives there too, reporting that she’s feeling faint. However Sakura keeps guard on Ataru, which in turn prevents Ran from kissing him.
There’s a whole lot of back and forth as Ran tries to kiss Ataru and vice versa, until they finally kiss. However because Ataru accidentally drinks Cherry’s youth restoring potion beforehand there is no effect.
Blimey that was a chore to write up, and only slightly less of one to watch. Ran episodes aren’t my favourite. And the next one is a Ran episode too…
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Screenplay: Kazunori Ito
Storyboard: Kazuo Yamazaki
Director: Kazuo Yamazaki
Animation Director: Kazuo Yamazaki
Yes, Kazuo Yamazaki was all over this. There are a some really nice sequences animation-wise, for example, the flashback with the dinosaur. The difference in approach isn’t as noticable as in episode 31, but there are touches here and there that feel different to the series as a whole so far.