Pastel Memories, Fanservice Review Episode 8, 9, 10

Here lie my hopes and dreams…

First of all, this is a multiple episode review because these episode basically got the bare minimum of fanservice, even for this series. And since we’re here mainly to review  fanservice, there’s no reason for lingering too much on these episodes.

So… let’s begin with episode 8… main charcters are Nao (center) , Ayaka (left) and Minami (right).

The parodied shows all come from the “food-porn” genre, mainly Shokugeki no Souma (Food Wars) and Mr.Ajikko (Born to Cook) with some shoutouts to Yakitate!! Japan and other similar shows. Unfortunately kitchens are the only things getting some action in this episode.

 

We start in the Rabbit’s shed, where Nao (certified tomboy) is unable to learn the simplest basic of cooking, and since that’s a school subject, she asked the other magical girls for help, and since Ayaka and Minami boasts a ginormous chest femininity they are teaching Nao… without luck. Nao seems able to come up with something only when she’s praised so much that her personality switches, she enters in “girly mode” and gets shojo-esque brilliant eyes.

Now, I remember a chapter of Girls Bravo’s manga that started exactly like this and ended with the local tomboy talked into wearing naked apron while cooking. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case here.

 

We’re saved when the world of Foodmaster, a cooking/gourmet manga, is attacked by Dark Elites. As expected our heroines stumble in the food stand of the protagonist and “girly” Nao ends up preparing some delicious food for the local antagonist, who appreciates it more than the one of the cook protagonist.

 

This is when Maya’s comes in (or, really, she destroys the building, so she brings the girls out…) and challenges them to a cooking battle. Her against Nao. I’m not sure why the girls keep answering challenges that are inappropriate from the get-go…

 

Things get worse when Nao’s “girly mode” fades in the middle of the cooking battle, but she nonetheless manages to whip up some curry that undoes the hypnotism Maya had cast on the judge, thus winning the battle.

(How is possible for those boobs to not jump out of her dress is a mistery)

 

It’s later revealed that Nao’s curry was so bad that it had probably warped the sense of taste of the poor judge, breaking Maya and killing the mother-virus in the process.

 

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With Episode 9, we get Kaoruko (left), Irina (center) and Chimari (right)..

..exploring the world of the Visual Novel and generally simdate games (with a peculiar look to Key’s Visual Novel).

 

This episode starts with Kaoruko, titular ojousama of this series (ojousama is the rich-girl-of-good-family stereotype), that gets dumped yet another time from a character of simdate game, with a “You really don’t understand how a girl feels”. Basically kicking her in the guts in more than one way. But Kaoruko don’t give up, storms a near game-seller (one of the few surviving in Akiba, apparently) and buys all the games she can find. Then she holes up in a room and comes out only when she finally understands how to clear galge (galge are -oversemplification- games centered on beautiful girls and how to pick ’em up).

(That’s how a typical ojousama solve problems) (Trust me, Kaoruko, answering like that never works)

 

Soon after that, Dark Elites attacks the world of a galge that was lying around in the main room of the café, so Kaoruko, Irina and Chimari  storm in, to stop them…

… only to discover that this time Maya decided to woo all the girls of the game, basically creating a yuri-harem for herself and breaking the very soul of the game. That’s because, obviously, she’s jealous of younger girls getting all lovey-dovey while she doesn’t get any.

 

But here comes Kaoruko, who pledges to “conquer” Maya and show her the beautifulness of a highschool girl’s proper love. Yes, I too think this is getting sidetracked, but Kaoruko keeps hitting event after event, until finally she gets to confess to Maya under that old legendary tree that every damn school seems to have.

 

And then, they discover they are in that kind of game, where all the other girls unleash a sort of genocidal rage / apocalypse when they are not chosen. I think this is some kind of reference to both “Rewrite” and “Higurashi no Naku Koro ni“. Anyway, the viruses decide to join in the fun (Maya’s opinion is disregarded) and a fight breaks out while Kaoruko tries to accomplish her love confession, destroying a berserker mother-virus and at the same time conquering Maya’s heart (or whatever they were doing, I’m not sure anymore).

 

In the end, all’s well that ends well, and Kaoruko smiles peacefully at the cafe (while she shold be working) gloating in now being able to clear every galge around (note: she still doesn’t understand how girls feel).

 

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And finally to episode 10, where Nao (center), Michi (right) and Ayaka (left) delve into the world of the so called “battle-shonen” (they probably have a real name, but let’s roll with this).

Someone asked why I keep doing these charts: well, given the (lack of) charisma of the protagonists, I think this is the only way to tell them apart.

Back to us, same old story at the Rabbit’s Shed, manga volumes are taken out from boxes and this time the girls get their lazy hands on Kotoshi Toya, a generic battle shonen about delinquents (it may remind you about Kenichi, Hajime no Ippo, Grappler Baki, Yuu Yuu Hakusho, probably Medaka Box too, with some shoutouts to Dragonball, Saint Seiya and even Gurren Lagann).

(A bancho is usually the boss of a gang of delinquents… and maybe a sayan, I’m not sure)

 

But Nao makes the mistake of interrupting the reading, and awakens the dark side of Ayaka (Glasses, black hair, cowtits? Yes, her), which unleashes her fujiyoshi wrath on poor Nao. There’re also some pretty detailed yaoi images I will spare you, let’s just say Nao doesn’t get out of it easily (Ayaka evidently misunderstood “burning passion” for “hot and bothered”).

 

But the Dark Elites save her (and me) from further fujioshi-lore, attacking Kotoshi Toya‘s world. Ayaka, Nao and Michi (that joined the bandwagon because no one gave her screentime since episode 3 she like that manga too) rush in. As soon as they arrive the local story’s protagonist gets kicked from the last floor of the academy and plunges into the ground, after hundreds meters of freefall. Apparently Maya took over the last boss (the head of the student council) and basically conquered the school. Then, Ayaka vows to save that world and its “pure relationships where one’s is aggressive and the other receives” (please, let’s not go there…).

(Does this remind you of something?)

 

The girls (and the plushie rabbit) start climbing the stupidly huge stairway, fighting their way through enemies swayed by the Dark Elites in a really shonen-esque way, making sure Ayaka can reach the last boss (I already heard this somewhere…). On the last floor, Ayaka finally confronts Maya and starts lecturing her on hot passions, aggressively giving, grudgingly receiving  and whatnot, until both Maya and the mother-virus give up.

(Here Not-Shiryuu shows us the correct way of using a scan ability, and he discovers that Nao pads her bra to gain 2 cm of breast girth)

 

Actually, the mother-virus breaks down and goes berserk. But then Michi, Nao and all the previous guys that were taken down, show up (it’s a shonen, don’t sweat the small details!) and with the power of friendship (?) give strenght to Ayaka, that smashes down the mother-virus.

(Why I can’t even get a single panty shot?!? 🙁 )

 

All’s fine, yet again, at the Rabbit’s Shed, until Nao once again blurts something clashing with Ayaka’s “peculiar” view of shonen manga. And good luck to her.

(Please be aware of the horror on their faces)

 

WebMs:

 

Overall Thoughts: Fanservice-wise these episodes are even more lacking than all the others before them. They are fun, if you watch them for the sheer pleasure of parodies, but not even that good from the visuals and definitely a letdown from every other point of view.