Shinryaku!? Ika Musume - Episode 12

New Character = Season Three?

Episode Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ (4/5)

Another season of Ika Musume has now come to an end. There were a few ups and downs along the way, but I still enjoyed this season as well. I personally wouldn't mind a season three. But then again, seeing as how this season wasn't as good as the first, I have some doubts. As for this episode, it had a nice ending, but nothing spectacular.

訓練しなイカ!？ (Won't You Train!?)
As the episodes passed by, I had at times forgotten the real reason for Ika Musume being on land: to invade it. In this part, Ika Musume manages to cook up one of her best plans to date (pretending that the invasion was just "training" to help the Beach House Lemon prepare for a real invasion, if one were to come) by removing Chizuru (i.e. the biggest threat) from the vicinity so that the chance of a successful invasion is no longer zero. But like the countless results of the past, something ends up foiling her plan. I found it amusing how when the thought of the tables being turned dawned on Ika Musume, she instantly thought of being chased by zombies. Yes, flesh-eating zombies are definitely scary but given the fact that she can outrun and outswim them, I don't really see the problem. I think it'd be scarier if her pursuers were the shark versions of her (i.e. Same Musume).

祭りじゃなイカ!？ (Isn't That a Festival!?)
Drama in my Ika Musume? Now that's a surprise. It was honestly painful to watch Ika Musume and Eiko arguing. Despite all their quarrelling, it's not hard to see that the two actually get along real well. The fight they got into reminded me of the typical ones I experienced as a child - the extended periods of ignoring each other, the attempts to inconvenience each other and being all friendly to others in order to quell one's rage. But in the end, when Ika Musume and Eiko temporarily finally made up, I found Chizuru's line of "maybe we've already been invaded [by Ika Musume]" summarized the whole series (both seasons, included) real well. Ika Musume may not have successfully "invaded", if one were to go by textbook definitions, but she has certainly made herself the center of everyone's (i.e. the characters') lives. That message, in itself, was extremely meaningful to the series, in my opinion.