A Channel - Episode 4

"The eyes are the window of the soul"

Episode Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ (3/5)

A Nagi-centered episode. The main focus was about weight-loss, which is a problem many teenage girls face these days. Even though I don't agree with working diets (Actually, when does a diet ever work?), the end of the episode taught the important lesson of "knowing that you are good just the way you are and don't need to change". I was also reminded of K-ON in this episode because Tooru (Asuza in K-ON) is always thinking about her seniors and what they are doing while interacting with her fellow classmates Yutaka and Miho (Jun and Ui in K-ON). If my guess is correct, there will be barely any differences between K-ON and A Channel once it finishes airing.

Now to the story. It is another bright and sunny morning. Tooru and Run and making their way slowly to school. As usual, Run is still sleepy and needs Tooru to guide her to school. Along the way, they see a weather vane. As the bird on the weather vane spins, Tooru's sleepy state makes her think real birds are spinning. Concerned, she asks Tooru if there is something wrong with the birds. I think Tooru was just as worried about Run's mental state.

At school, right when Yuuko walks in to the classroom, she sees Tooru and Run shouting desirable physical features at each other. After being told that they were naming her good physical features, another question comes to her mind: "How did they even get to this topic?" Even though she was being praised for her external qualities, she wished that they would have also said something good about her internal qualities. Eventually, Run wins the battle with the killer line of "she has a body to die for". At that moment, Tooru realized that she had made Run praise Yuuko instead of her and falls down to her knees, looking depressed. In an attempt to cheer her up, Yuuko tells her that she also has good qualities. As expected, Tooru wasn't satisfied with that and wanted to know specific good qualities. Caught of guard by this question, Yuuko makes the mistake about talking about chest size. Out of all things she could've said, she told Tooru that there are some people who are moe for flat-chested people. That comment enraged Tooru and caused her to start feeling Yuuko's breasts. It's surprising how Run didn't find the situation abnormal at all. Instead, she comments on how Yuuko looks like a model. Right after the "model" was said, Nagi suddenly remembered that she had made a goal to lose two or three kilograms by the start of the summer. To feel better about forgetting, she tells herself that she still has one month left before summer starts (apparently she believes that summer starts in August).

Instead of having class, the second years were in charge of cleaning the pool for the day. For some strange reason, they all have to wear swimsuits while cleaning the pool. I have a feeling the staff room is full of perverted people who enjoy watching young girls expose themselves while being productive. After putting on her swimsuit, Nagi realizes that it's tighter than usual. However, her fears are eliminated after both Yuuko and Run say that their swimsuits feel tighter too and that they must have shrunk. For the first years, their responsibility was pulling weeds out of the grass on the school grounds. After a short while of pulling her weeds out in peace, Tooru is approached by Yutaka's friend from the last episode who introduces herself as Miho. She admits to Tooru that, just like Yutaka, she is a her "fan". Fortunately for Tooru, Miho doesn't seem to have the "I won't let you out of my sight" attitude that Yutaka has. After her introduction, she tells Tooru that she has been wondering about something. That something was, out of all possible things, the feeling of Tooru's hair. After finding out that Tooru's hair is really soft by running her hands through it, Yutaka comes rushing into the fray, demanding to know why Miho can touch Tooru but she can't. While Yutaka is messing up Tooru's hair with her hands and head,   Miho tells Tooru that she and Yutaka were friends back in middle school. After three minutes passed, Miho orders Yutaka to get away from Tooru. However, Yutaka doesn't listen and instead tells Tooru that Miho's nickname back in middle school was "Remote Control". At the mention of that lame nickname, Miho gets serious and, with the stomp of her foot, scares Yutaka into getting away from Tooru and apologizing.

Back at the pool. the Run, Yuuko and Nagi are being tortured by the heat of the sun. After a while of sitting there, Run decides to get this over with and rushes to help her classmates clean. While running across the pool, she discovers that the water they are cleaning with makes the surface of the pool slippery. With this discovery, both Run and Nagi proceed to slide across the length of pool, enjoying themselves. Being the most mature person of the trio, Yuuko tries to stop them by telling them it's dangerous. However, she is soon influenced by the two and joins in on the fun. After the first years were done with their task, Tooru sees the three girls enjoying themselves cleaning the pool. She calls the pool a "paradise" and desperately wishes she was there. However, she doesn't realize that the three had to stay after school to clean because they didn't do their job during class ("not paradise").

After finishing the cleaning, the first thing Nagi does when she gets home is lie on her bed. After a short while of rest, she remembers her weight goal and quickly rushes to the scale. It's funny how there was a drum roll when she stepped on the scale. After seeing that she had gained a kilogram, she tells herself that since she is wearing clothes, she should subtract one kilogram from what it says on the scale. I wonder who wears clothes that weigh one kilogram... When she heads back to her room, she starts reading a magazine about dieting. Because she fears what the others would say if they found out she was dieting, she decides to keep quiet about it. The next day at school, the first person she sees is Tooru. Being the sharp person that she is, Tooru instantly figures out that Nagi is on a diet. Fortunately, Tooru tells her that she doesn't plan to tell the others. After chatting for a bit, Nagi asks Tooru how she can manage to be that thin even after eating lots of sweets. Tooru attributes her success in keeping fit to running around. The two then come to a conclusion that running makes you have a flat chest. That's the weirdest thing I've heard in a while. Tooru then suggests that Nagi ask Yuuko how to become fit.

In class, Nagi accidentally reveals that she is on a diet. However, even after asking Yuuko how she is so fit, she doesn't get an answer. The four girls then go to the library so Nagi can search for diets online. One ad had someone who claimed that she lost 60kg after using the company's product. The best line of the episode had to be when Run said that "if she lost that much, her weight would go negative and she would be able to fly". It's surprising how stupid one can actually be. After school, Yuuko finally convinces Nagi not to diet. She does this by using the typical "you are the best just the way you are" and "starting a tough diet suddenly is bad". After giving up on dieting for now, the three girls convince Nagi to go eat ice cream. Now that's a full 180 degree turn from dieting.

A short scene after that shows Tooru showing up with really loose knee socks. Whenever she pulled them up to her knees where they are supposed to be, they end up falling right back down. Feeling disappointed, Tooru decides to mock Nagi by saying that she wished she was chubbier. Personally, I don't like people who say they "try to gain weight but can't" because I'm one of those people who "try to lose weight but can't". Anyways, this episode was decent with a few nice laughs. The obligatory fanservice beach episode is next. Really looking forward to it.