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Lil' Slugger's legacy spreads throughout the city becoming
a legend. To those who want to die, he is a saviour; to housewives,
stories of his exploits are the hot topic of the gossip circles.
However, to the distressed staff struggling to get the animated
TV show Maromi The Dog back on schedule, Lil' Slugger
is the menace who has been striking them down, one at a time...
In
Happy Family Planning, three people who have been conversing
in an Internet chatroom plan to meet up and commit suicide.
They don't know each other's real names, only their chatroom
names. So when Fuyubachi, an old man and Zebra, a young man
are awaiting the arrival of Kamome, they are a little unnerved
to find that the third person in this suicide pact is a cute
11-year-old girl. After a big adventure going from Tokyo to
the countryside, they encounter Lil' Slugger at a hot spring.
This
episode is one of the best in the series so far. The three
characters we are introduced to seem to have the worse luck
in the world. Every time they attempt to kill themselves,
something or someone intervenes to stop them. Or do they?
This is one of those episodes that you need to watch more
than once in order to pick up the subtle references as to
what is really going on. There clues early on as to what is
happening... Why is it that Zebra sees the suicide victim
who dives in front of the train, after he is supposedly already
mangled under the wheels?
Also,
was that an audio homage I heard to the Peanut's Snoopy
show? I'm sure that in the scene where the three main characters
are travelling through the countryside by train, that someone
gave a nod to the work of Vince Guaraldi. A
very deep and intelligently constructed episode, as well as
one of the more humorous.
ETC:
After hearing of the incident in Happy Family Planning,
several women share rumours related to Lil' Slugger, most
of which are farfetched. However, one of the women, a newcomer
to the area, is having a hard time impressing the other women
with her stories...
This
tale is rather silly - especially when compared to the previous
episode. It's really nothing more than a collection of urban
myths, with Lil' Slugger at the centre of each tale. There
is a twist though, but this is a little predictable.
In
Mellow Maromi, Maromi is getting her very own anime.
Unfortunately the staff start to fall behind as the deadline
approaches. The delays are made worse as each member of the
production team ends up the victim of various accidents that
put them in the hospital or the morgue...
This
episode is by far the weirdest to date - and certainly the
hardest to follow. Why is Lil' Slugger behind each attack?
And what is his problem with Maromi? Yes, in case you hadn't
been paying attention over the previous episodes, Mellow
Maromi shoves the fact down your throat: That Maromi is
tied in to every victim (for example in Happy Family Planning
it was the fact that the three suicide pact members had all
agreed to wear Maromi backpacks so that they would recognise
one another. So, what does Maromi have to do with everything
that is going on? All will be revealed (hopefully) in the
next three episodes on the fourth, and final, volume.
Extras
are pretty thin on the ground. All we get are Japanese cover
art; character art, trailers and DVD credits.
Another
interesting collection of episodes, but, as there are only
three more episodes left I hope that everything will be resolved
in a way that won't have us scratching our heads and asking
"Eh?"
Darren
Rea
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