Kobayashi has to prioritize between work and home life when Kanna wants her to attend her school sports festival.
Episode 9 - "Sports Festival! (There's No Twist or Anything)"
Heh.
The big sentimental issue this week was parent participation in school events. Kanna heard the description of a sports festival, in which the different classes compete against each other in track and field events and other Japanese-specific pastimes, and the two things that interested her the most was getting head pats and praise from her parents and sharing lunch with them.
For Kobayashi, this presented a problem because of her work schedule and she had to reconcile how her family didn't really care for these kind of things, but it's different when your own child wants your support. Yes, they settled in this episode that Kobayashi is the mother and Touru is just the big sister. That lends a kind of incestuous layer onto Touru's obsession, er, love for Kobayashi, but I don't think Kanna cares how one receives affection at this stage in her childhood development.
Besides the moment when Kanna heard from Kobayashi that she would indeed be going to her sports festival, the subtler emotional moment was when Kobayashi reconciled her wanting to go see her child trying to accomplish something with how she ought to go support and cheer her on. It's still a parental duty to go to piano recitals and school games, but it doesn't mean you can't want to do these things. Duty can be something to enjoy and a child can pick up on that feeling and acknowledge it as an outward sign of love.
Plus, Kanna really wanted those head pats!
Sports Festival is Fun!
Well, it's only fun if Kobayashi gets to go.
It's really interesting how Kanna has gotten closer to Kobayashi through the whole grade school experience. As Riko described was a sports festival was all about, Kanna picked up on what parents do at these things. She didn't even consider it a big deal that Touru could cheer her on too.
So the drama of the first half of the episode was getting Kobayashi to actually go.
Kanna's disappointment, sulking and sadly accepting how busy Kobayashi was "defeating Hades" was one of the most realistic portrayals of a child hearing bad news I've seen since Amaama to Inazuma. We didn't get a full-on public tantrum, but we did get an angry Kanna.
If only more children could secretly spy on their parents so they could believe they're actually working hard for the household, I think there would be a lot more better parent-child relationships in this world. Well, not everyone can be an invisible dragon.
If ever there was a face that illustrated the concept of "meh," Kanna had that face.
Touru explained that Kanna's dragon parents were really hands-off, believing that an isolated dragon is an independently strong dragon. Even so, Kanna pulled many pranks to try to get their attention. I can only imagine the devastation involved in a dragon prank... Her acceptance of Kobayashi's absence shows a maturing reserve for this young dragon.
Kobayashi is observant, though. She picked up on Kanna's disappointment as she apologized for being selfish about her coming to the festival. Just like with the little trinket for her first day of school, Kobayashi decided to do something for Kanna's sake. Finishing her Defeat of Hades project was way more expensive than 500 yen, though. Kanna's hug was the compensation for all that work.
Let's Do Our Best at the Sports Festival!
Touru didn't have much to do this episode besides sit next to Kobayashi, but I did fine one funny scene. She was about to sniff or lick Kobayashi's laundry again, but Kanna interrupted her.
The big surprised of the festival was finding out that Shouta goes to the same school as a fifth grader. Kanna is in third grade.
There was some dramatic tension in the final relay race with Riko dropping the baton. Kanna was right, though: if Riko hadn't recovered the gap enough, she couldn't have won the race. Couldn't have won without making it obvious that she is a superhuman, that is.
I thought I saw Kanna lick Riko before, but I can't remember where.
Riko takes after her mother. She hasn't learned how to hide her shiny forehead yet. Mom will teach her eventually.
They're finally feeding her normal stuff...
Oh, she at an apple last episode, but she ate the whole thing in one bite. Not normal.
Kanna got everything she wanted so far: head pats and lunch together at the sports festival.
Lucoa - World Class Shouta Cheerleader.
Since there really wasn't much of a plot, it made sense to fill out the time with recurring jokes. First up was Lucoa cheering for Shouta.
She made all the wives jealous and the husbands stare. Understandable, of course.
She also made all the fifth graders stare, causing Shota to win a whole bunch of events.
The kids think Lucoa is his big sister...
The scavenger hunt joke was the best. The male crowd cheering the judge for agreeing that Lucoa was "World Class" got a big laugh out of me.
If you didn't notice, Shouta's parents are right there with Lucoa, cheering Shouta on, just a lot more quietly.
Why was Lucoa hiding in the bushes behind Kanna?
Riko's Lovey Dovey Freakout.
Riko couldn't handle the three-legged race with her freaking out, but it was the deciding factor in the tug o' war.
I can't help but think how Kanna's relationship with Riko is the mirror opposite of Touru's with Kobayashi. Touru is the one freaking out over Kobayashi all the time.
Being Elma is Suffering.
Elma was just introduced last week, so it would totally be wrong not to include a new cute dragon in the next episode. I guess we don't care about Fafnir that much. I guess it also proves this show is not designed for fujoshi that much either.
Elma, fitting her responsible personality, has already figured out living on her own and shopping. Her struggle is the choices that the human world offers in daily specials, ice cream flavors and even toothpaste.
Yes, Elma. These humans are frightening!
Next time, it's the Christmas episode. Somebody must have been a good boy, because they got him the present of whatever Lucoa is wearing underneath that apron. Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas!
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