While it only plays a small part of the episode, this is notable for this being the start of Onsen-Mark’s crush on Sakura. This is, in part, due to her being the only character who shows him a modicum of respect, as well as her beauty.
However the episode is actually about Benten, Oyuki & Rei showing up in Tomobiki for a surprise class reunion for Lum. And as with these things Lum thinks they are being mean when they try and avoid her during the day. Only to be happy when the surprise is revealed.
Other guest stars reappearing include the space taxi driver from the first episode, The Prince of The Underground & Prim and of course, Ran. In fact by the time we get to the party we get nearly every single character from the series (so far) show up. And then they have a dance!
It’s a fairly simple episode, but it has a far higher average animation quality that we’ve tended to see in the series. In fact it’s not really a party for a class reunion, it’s celebration of the fact the show had been on TV for a year at the point this episode originally aired in Japan.
It’s not an episode you could just show to a new viewer, but for what it’s setting out to do it executes it excellently.
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Screenplay: Kazunori Ito
Storyboard: Motosuke Takahashi
Director: Kozima Tamiko
Animation Director: Asami Endo
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ALSO:
This is the first appearance I’ve noted of SHINY HAIR MENDOU.
SHINY HAIR MENDOU annoyed me first time through watching the following batch of episodes, because some episodes have him drawn this way, some don’t. Curiously in this episode it varies between the consistent jet black colouring we’ve had so far, and this new take on his look. I’m very curious as who was responsible for this change in design.
