Another episode hinging around an alien gadget – this time the Love-Love Catchballs of the title. These are balls that when gazed into reveal your future husband or wife (depending which ball you use). Ten has ordered them (to cause trouble) and we first see them in use when Mr Moroboshi looks in one and sees his wife as a young woman.
Lum, Ten, Ran, Sakura and Shinobu meet up at a cafe to play with the one that reveals your husband. Meanwhile Ataru gets his hands on the wife-revealing one, and follows them, inviting Mendou along.
Ataru however is afraid to look, fearful of seeing Lum inside.
Sakura thinks it’s silly and refuses to look.
Shinobu looks, hoping to see Mendou, but recoils in shock at the sight of her future husband (who we later learn is Sakura’s fiance Tsubame).
Cherry looks (yes, he randomly appears) and sees a cat!
Ran looks and sees someone she wasn’t expecting (Ataru).
Lum looks and sees… Rei!
Ten then taunts Ataru and Mendou into looking into the male one.
Ataru looks and seems quite pleased with what he sees (Sakura).
As does Mendou (also Sakura).
Cherry then kindly explains what everyone saw, points what little sense it makes and asks what you think Sakura will see.
Meanwhile Sakura is expecting Tsubame, which makes Shinobu uncertain what to do. Then Ten hands Tsubame the ball and he sees Shinobu in return. Sakura finally looks and to her horror sees both Ataru and Mendou in hers.
And so it all goes to hell, with fights breaking out left and right. Ten wisely beats a hasty retreat as the girls start to destroy the cafe.
We end with Ten getting a message from the manufacturers telling him they accidentally send him Trouble Catchballs that show who will make the most miserable marriage partner.
This episode is the first with Yuji Moriyama (Project A-Ko, more OAVs that you can shake a stick at) as animation director, and you can definitely see his touch in some scenes, particularly in facial expression. However, by the end the episode is looking a little on the rough side. It’ll be interesting to see how it compares to his work on episode 64 which if memory serves is a bigger budget episode.
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Screenplay: Kazunori Ito
Storyboard: Keiji Hayakawa
Director: Keiji Hayakawa
Animation Director: Yuji Moriyama
Dude, Mendou and Ataru see Sakura, not Shinobu. ;-)
Absolutely right, I think I was writing the names over and over again they jumbled in my head. I’ll get that corrected.