Kami-sama no Memo-chou - Episode 5

The result of putting a stuffed bear in a washing machine

Episode Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ (3/5)

This episode wasn't necessarily "boring", but it was definitely not as interesting as I would have liked it to be. Sure, we get the introduction of two new characters, one who looks like a delinquent and the other who seems very feminine. But, the lack of a case/mystery was disappointing. Many things could've been done to improve the overall episode. After finishing it, I couldn't help but think that this adaption is going to end up being horrible. On the other hand, the episode preview gave me some hope. Things look to get interesting as The Fourth interacts with the Renji.

When it comes time for Alice's stuffed animals to be watched, Narumi learns the hard way that her whining goes to an extreme level. First, he is subjected to verbal insults when she whines about how cruel he is. Next, she shows him one of the animals and asks him to find a spot of dirt on it. Finally, when he still questions the sanitary condition of the toy, she stuffs it in his face, forcing him to sniff it. Luckily, The Fourth and Hiro come into the room, saving him from the torture once The Fourth asks for his help. The job? Advertising for an all-girls band that is going to holding a concert in a nearby town sometime soon since the blockheads at the Hirasaka Group are unable to work a computer properly. So, now, Narumi has two jobs: being Alice's slave assistant and this new one. Before Hiro leaves, he advises Alice not to let Narumi smell her things since they are practically a part of her body, implying that Narumi, in an essence, would be smelling her bare body when he sniffs her animals and bedsheets. At the mention of this, Alice turns bright red and throws a can of DoKupe at Narumi after being unable to find the right words to insult him with. To make matters worse, when he goes back down to the ramen shop, Min-san reminds him that all he's useful for is doing Alice's chores. This must have been downright depressing to hear for Narumi. But he has no time to wallow in his sorrows as The Fourth, who turns out to not have left just yet, tells him that there is an included risk to his new job since the all-girls band that he is helping to advertise had just cut ties with their former promoters, the Yanagihara Group, who had connections to the yakuza. For a reason beyond me, he heads back to Alice's room after this and is, luckily, just in time to save her from drowning in the washing machine. Yes, the washing machine. Along with Narumi, it was also my first time hearing of someone nearly drowning in a washing machine. As she clings to him, clothes soaked, she exaggerates the incident, making it seem like it's an extremely big crisis, which is understandable since she is a NEET, after all. But the biggest problem was not that she failed at doing the laundry. Instead, it was that one of her stuffed bears, this one named Lilliloo, got destroyed in the washing machine, showing that Alice obviously doesn't know how to use one properly.

After bringing the bear to The Fourth's place to get it fixed, Narumi and Ayaka get to work on the advertising job by taking pictures and asking questions among other things in the town the band was doing the concert in. When that is done, Narumi heads back to the Hirasaka Group's headquarters and starts compiling what he found into a promotional poster. While he works, The Fourth is informed about an unknown teen who was reported to have persistently questioned about the Hirasaka Group. With this in mind, he tells Narumi to be on guard and run if there is the need to. After hearing this, it's obvious that something's going to happen to Narumi when he continues gathering information for his job. But out of all things that can happen, he ends up meeting Yugi Moto someone named Hirasaka (*hint* *hint*) Renji at a bar that a band was holding its concert in. But it's not the guy's hairstyle that caught Narumi's attention; it was the Hirasaka Group's butterfly emblem on the guy's shirt that did. But Renji isn't alone. It appears that three thugs have been following him because he had broke the nose of one of them before. While holding two drinks in his hands, Renji swiftly takes down two of them with a surprisingly strong kick. Before he had a chance to finish off the last guy, Narumi interferes by purposely spilling juice on Renji's shirt before dragging him out of there. The two manage to lose their pursuers and, in return for the soiled shirt, Narumi is forced to pay for the three new shirts that Renji decided to buy. Next, the two sit down for some drinks, with Renji offering to pay this time. During their conversation, the two end up becoming friends right before Renji spots the three thugs again. Obviously pissed, he leaves without taking the bag that contained the shirt with the butterfly pattern on it. It is only after Narumi closely examines the shirt that he realizes that there is something special the pattern.

Sometime later, Narumi manages to annoy Alice enough that she threw a temper tantrum and "fired" him from being her assistant. So after losing his "job" he goes down and is given a temporary one by Min-san: picking up the apron that she ordered. But when he gets to the store, he is shocked to see The Fourth there. The two are so surprised at the coincidence that they are left speechless. However, The Fourth recovers quickly from the shop, takes Narumi out to the back of the store and threatens him to keep this shop a secret or risk being killed. Back in the store, we are introduced to the feminine-looking Yoshiki-san someone who The Fourth seems to have a lot of respect for. On the other hand, Yoshiki-san appears to see The Fourth as a kouhai, even going as far as using a childish name like "Hina" to address the tough-looking, foul-mouthed leader of the Hirasaka Group. These two events alone surprised the hell out of Narumi. But there's more. Even when The Fourth is teased by Yoshiki-san, the amount of anger he shows is minimal, unlike his confrontations with Narumi. Just then, The Fourth suddenly receives a phone call and, after Yoshiki-san hands Narumi Min-san's apron, he informs Narumi of a problem at one of their venues. When the two arrive, it turns out that a group of guys, who claimed to be part of the Hirasaka Group, stole the spare clothes from the storeroom and are now running loose, under false identity. After Hitoshi confirms that no one picked the lock to the storeroom, he proceeds to exit and is greeted by the Hirasaka Group tough guys who are now shirtless because they believe that they are responsible for the shirts being stolen. This amusing scene is then followed by The Fourth informing Narumi that leadership of the group will be passed onto him if something happens, a responsibility that Narumi think's he's not ready to take.

The last few minutes of the episode can be summarized quickly in the following:

• Narumi tells Alice that he does chores for her because he cares about her, causing her to be embarrassed
• Narumi shows the design to one of the band members of the all-girls band he is promoting and she talks for the longest time
• Narumi goes to the zoo to take pictures of a capybara and buy a stuffed version of it because Alice requested it
• Narumi coincidentally meets Renji at the zoo

And with this, Renji and Narumi look to do their own little sake ritual. I sense some animosity between The Fourth and Renji but hopefully things will be solved. It seems like there's going to be some action in the next episode, which is good considering the slow pace of this one. Looking forward to it.