Kiniro Mosaic - 9

I'm not sure if you'll be shocked by this sudden epiphany I came upon... but I realized Alice is a full on, hardcore Weeaboo. Another realisation I came upon was... there are only 4 episodes left! NOOOOOOO! Well, Kiniro Mosaic is one of the anime, which should in my opinion just go and get another S2 as soon as possible (though I hope they don't do a Haruhi Suzumiya, or Recorder and Ransell). Already, this is probably one of my favourite Slice of Life's in all history, second only to the ever enthusiastic Minami-ke, which has four successful seasons up to date.

In reference to a Japanese Dictionary

Come this episode is an Ayaya-centric one, with the focus being on the lonely, single child called Ayaya. When her parents are away, and she's home alone, she decides to ask her friends if they can stay around to keep her company... only they totally ignore her. This joke was lost on me, and I thought the Kiniro cast could've done better than that, but I guess this develops Ayaya a lot, considering for me she was the character I could sympathize with least.

So, a house party erupts, and all house parties need food. You won't believe me when I say I visually tasted that potato and carrot stew. Seeing how much Soy Sauce Yoko poured in, and the colour alone was enough to tell me how salty it was. Alice and Karen just ended up messing around, and somehow managed to splat an egg on their heads... which could realistically be cooked from the amount of moe steaming from them. Fortunately, this marked a reversal of the solemn start, to a favourable tide of humour. That's an aspect Kiniro Mosaic works so well on, with the comedy being Kiniro (Gold) as well.

Karasuma is an innocent, unassuming teacher, other than the fact she harbours a creepy obsession almost level with Shino's towards young, blonde, English girls... I cannot explain why, but when Alice is next to Karasuma, it feels like some work of directing has gone wonderfully perfect! Maybe the height contrast illustrates the cuteness in both characters. Well, whatever works, works.

Woah! Aya suddenly has an identity crisis, which is something I can relate to. People feel insecure about their social standings, and believe to elevate themselves, they must change their personality to become more likeable. However, you won't find a best friend by just being a fake, as she comes to understand. Incidentally, the reason why Yoko and Aya are best friends is simply because their personalities match, even if they have the occasional squabble. Sure, having many friends compounds the situation to some degree, as you'll be unsure whether you are the best friend, but as Anne Bronte wrote, 'The more the merrier.'

Once all is said and done, with the issues at hand resolved, everything goes back to how it usually is. An overall satisfying episode, which dealt a lot with problems surrounding friendship, as opposed to just being a rose-tinted Slice of Life show. This adds a dramatic twist into the plot, and gives the audience something engaging. I paid attention to Karen throughout the episode, and she seemed to have this habit of turning Chinese at times...

Post Episode Sequence

This post episode sequence was undoubtedly the longest one, and involved a hide and seek game where the clever Karen is found instantly, the not so clever Aya gets found purposely, the hidden Ninja Shino abandons her cover upon mention of something cute... and where's Alice? She falls asleep, wakes up, hides with Karasuma... only Karasuma ends up blowing her cover. The girls had fun, and Alice drew something nice for Shino.