*Minami-Kun No Koibito – Chiyomi’s Big Adventure*

This episode made me laugh, feel sad and gasp. It was definitely an episode more on secondary characters, but don’t fear, our two leads had some adorable and charming moments together :3

It has now been two weeks since Chiyomi became very tiny and she is rather used to her small stature now.

Shunichi comes into his bedroom and Chiyomi is happily twirling around on his desk, hoping Shunichi will give her his handkerchief (which she is holding), so she can make a new dress. Meanwhile, Shunichi changes the plant/ plant pot outside his window. Which he happily tells Chiyomi she can use now.

Chiyomi is squirming around, shy of using the plant toilet he has changed, with him in the room. While eating cake (bought at Chiyomi’s parents cafe), he notes it is the best and says he has no choice to share it with her (he’s all smiley :3 this kid is so cute!). Thankfully for Chiyomi, Shunichi is called away by grandma to change a lightbulb, so she can go to the toilet in peace.

After Chiyomi has had a bath and is wrapped up in a towel, Shunichi draws around her onto the fabric of his handkerchief. While he begins to cut it, Chiyomi happily tells him to hurry up. However, when he has finished it, it doesn’t go over her head (aww bless him, he was trying so hard!). 

Once Chiyomi is back in her doll dress, Shunichi says she should have got Riku to make it for her, as he “would be thrilled” to make anything for her (someones jealous still~). He tells her that it’s gross that Riku made a figurine of her and wears it in his pocket (which is what you do with the real person… haha :p). He gets up and starts playing with his kendama when Chiyomi tells him not to badmouth Riku (is he sulking?!).

Changing the topic slightly, Shunichi tells her he will take her clothes shopping tomorrow, however, Chiyomi has a different idea. Shunichi isn’t a fan, as going back to her house to get the doll’s clothes in her room would mean he would have to come up with another excuse, which he is out of (isn’t he supposed to be smart?… that concept is nowhere to be found! haha). Chiyomi easily solves that problem and she had decides she can go alone.

This does not go down well with Shunichi, who doesn’t think she will be able to do it without him (I think he’s pouting, because he’s upset she thinks she doesn’t need him!). However, Chiyomi has already set her mind on the task, which she will do when Shunichi is at school. She, rather cheekily and much to his annoyance, asks him to buy her some clothes anyway, just in case she fails.

At school, before class, Shunichi is listening to Ami and Riku, who are talking about how Chiyomi has messaged Ami. Chiyomi sent her a little video showing some dance moves she has thought of for their group. Riku is happy, but sulks that Chiyomi didn’t email him, even though his email is so easy to remember.

Before the class starts, Sensei has something to tell the class. Recently there have been many burglaries occurring, especially to a lot of old people in the area. Shunichi tries to send a message telling this to Chiyomi, but we are unsure if it is sent as he is caught by his teacher.

The next scene is grandma going to answer the door (if something happens to grandma… don’t do this to me cute show!). Thankfully, it is only Sakaizawa, who scolds her for not checking who it was by the intercom system before opening the door. Grandma says she will be fine and shows him the wooden stick by the door which she jokingly nearly hits him with!

Grandma asks him why he is here, and says that even though she was his homeroom teacher he doesn’t have to invite her to every gathering (as he wants to get married and I think she is tired of seeing him get rejected… ^^”). He says he really wants to get married, but shakes himself out of his down thoughts, and tells her that he came to warn her about the burglaries as he knows she spends a lot of time alone during the day.

She then tells him that she needs to go shopping and asks if he will take
her on his bike. Sakaizawa is not pleased and reminds her that he is a police officer (I recently found out, from a YouTube channel – I think it was Texan in Tokyo…, that “double-riding” is technically illegal in Japan!). 

Chiyomi overhears and is surprised. She then leaves out of the dining room/back door (and leaves it kind of open… we know where this is going!).

At the foot of her steps she is overwhelmed and wonders if Shunichi was right. However, she finally gets to her room, where she collapses to the floor and compares her journey to that of climbing a mountain! However, her spirits lift when she notices the box under her bed, which she riffles through and packs into the dress/bag that Riku made.

On her way out, in the cafe, her parents are arguing, regardless of having a customer (but he seems to be a close family friend, but he would rather be treated as a customer right now! haha). Chiyomi’s mother blames her husband for Chiyomi leaving because he hit her, but her husband says she would have left either way because of the workshop. Chiyomi does not agree with her father. The argument moves on to how Chiyomi’s mother thinks that her husband has a look that says he thinks he never should have married her.

The customer is not having a great time and it doesn’t get any better. His wife appears and she grabs him by the ear and leads him out of the cafe, scolding him for leaving when she isn’t looking. Chiyomi uses this ruckus to make her escape and goes back to Shunichi’s house.

She notes that grandma is not back yet, but thinks she is when she hears movement near the front door. However, she is relieved to hear the doorbell go, meaning it isn’t grandma. But someone comes round the back to where she has left the dining room/back door open a little.

A woman comes in and starts looking around. Chiyomi recalls the burglar conversation between grandma and Sakaizawa and knows that she needs to contact Shunichi somehow.

Meanwhile, Shunichi has been accosted by Nomura, who once again wants to study. While they are walking down the street, she takes a hold of his arm and Shunichi notes that she is tall (smooth… ^^”). She tells him someone of her height would look good next to him. Then Nomura’s “golfer boyfriend” spots them.

Back at the house, the burglar is rummaging through drawers and Chiyomi is trying with all her might to climb the stairs quickly.

We find out the boyfriend is now an ex-boyfriend who cannot come to terms with it. He insists to Nomura that they aren’t over and grabs her shoulders. Shunichi comes in to play hero, but restraining Masaya’s (ex-boyfriend) arm behind his back.

The burglar gets a phonecall and she is adamant to the person on the other hand that she will get what she came for, as they won’t (oooh is this the woman Shunichi’s father left with?!). She hangs up and keeps looking.

Shunichi tells Masaya that he can’t get in contact with Nomura because she is avoiding him. This seems to not have crossed Masaya’s mind as he is a little shocked. Nomura says she has a new boyfriend, who she will marry in the future: Shunichi. At first, he is shocked, but because of the situations Shunichi plays along. This angers Masaya, but after Shunichi shows he is better at fighting and threatens to report him as a stalker, Masaya angrily runs off.

Having walked further on, Nomura brings up what she said before, that she is willing to think about marriage if it’s with him (she doesn’t take things slow does she?). Nomura asks him what he thinks of her and Shunichi looks confused and terrified at the same time.

Thankfully, for him, he gets a message sent by Chiyomi on his tablet that there is a burglar at his house. Chiyomi has nowhere to hide after she sends the message when the burglar comes into Shunichi’s room, so she pretends to be a figurine on his table. The woman notices her and goes to investigate, but an incoming call stops that.

The person who phoned her earlier is at the house and she goes to let him in. The man from the end of the last episode comes in (is it the dad? He looks a little different…) and asks what she is doing, saying that she isn’t in a normal state at the moment and he will handle things. The woman tells him it’s his fault (is she pregnant? hormones maybe?) and says that he is a swindler. She proceeds to hit him, but is interrupted by the house phone ringing. It is Shunichi, who realises that his grandma isn’t home (which means it is only Chiyomi’s safety on his mind now!).

The man steps in front of the little shrine and bows to pay his respects (I think this has to be Shunichi’s father right?), when he notices the Kendo certificate, he decides that they need to leave. However, the woman – Kanae – does not agree. We also get a close up of the paper, Minami-okaasan hid in there during the previous episode (divorce papers maybe?).

Kanae thinks what they are looking for could be upstairs, but before they get all the way up, Chiyomi’s plan comes into action as turns on Shunichi’s stereo. This sends the pair running as they think someone must be in the house after all.

Outside and down the road, Kanae asks if he really sent the ‘divorce papers’ to his wife (so it is Shunichi’s father – Noboru) and he says he did and when he phoned her, she had said she had signed them. However, Kanae doesn’t believe her, but Noboru shouts that ‘Emiko’ (Shunichi’s mother) is not that kind of woman. This angers Kanae and she storms off, while Noboru follows her, apologising (I mean she has a point in that how long has he been separated from his wife? Surely it would make sense to have gotten a divorce by now? Especially as he left her for another woman!).

Grandma sees this and she is saddened as walks into her home. She notices the open drawers on the shrine and starts putting them right. Shunichi runs into the house and is relieved to see his grandma is home. He tells her about how he was worried for her because of the burglaries in the neighbourhood, but grandma tells him that they are alright (she knows who was there… that’s so sad).

Shunichi runs upstairs and calls out Chiyomi’s name, who comes out of hiding, very happy that Shunichi is home. He looks relived and happy to see that she is okay and immediately goes over to her and holds out his hand for her step onto.

Chiyomi then relates the events of the burglary, and Shunichi wonders why grandma told him they hadn’t be burgled. Chiyomi agrees that it is strange. Meanwhile grandma is downstairs looking very sad.

Asuka goes into Chiyomi’s room to borrow a book, and as she sits on the bed her legs meets the box of dolls clothes. She picks it up and wonders what it is doing there, and remembers when Shunichi was there.

Ami, as she is walking down a street, calls the Dance Workshop Office and is shocked to hear that Chiyomi is not enrolled onto the workshop.

Emiko tells grandma and Shunichi that a burglar has been caught and she is relieved. Shunichi asks if the burglars were a man and woman, which catches grandma off guard, however, Emiko says it was a man in his early 20’s.

Later that evening, Emiko gets the divorce papers out from the shrine cabinet and grandma watches her with a sad expression from the kitchen. She thinks back to when she saw Noboru faltering to press the doorbell to her home. Grandma wants to know why he is here and is not happy that he came to see her. She starts to shout angrily at him and then stops, he tells him she has no son (*gasps* so he is her son, and Emiko is her daughter-in-law). She shouts at him to go away and then starts hitting him, which what looks like a long green onion (but I may be wrong… ^^”) and he can nothing but say he is sorry and run.

In Shunichi’s bedroom, Chiyomi is happily trying on the outfits that she got from home. After Shunichi seems to lose interest, Chiyomi goes out onto the windowsill and starts to dance (she looks like a cute little ballerina!). In voiceover she explains that she wants things to back to normal, however, a part of her wants time to stop so she can stay like this (the way Shunichi looks at her is so cute :3 He is adorable!). 

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Additional Comments:

This episode was so cute! And I say that about each one I know, but Shunichi is just getting cuter and cuter! And the fact that Chiyomi is so tiny makes everything she does cuter. It’s scientific fact okay haha :p

This episode was more about introducing Noboru, Shinichi’s father and giving us some hints as to his character, the rest of the families feelings towards him (I don’t think that either he, nor Emiko wants a divorce… but I would have divorced him long ago!!). And there was great sense of how much grandma cares for Emiko as her own daughter. Noboru just gives off the impression that he is bossed around a lot and doesn’t really know what he is doing or wants to do!

And I started in this episode, but from now on I will probably use the names of the parents, rather than typing out so-and-so’s-mother etc. I think that will be easier and feel nicer to read. I hope that’s okay ^^

Now onto our mains. It’s obvious how Chiyomi feels about Shunichi, but I really love that his feelings are starting to become very obvious and he is getting jealous and pouty!

I will give Nomura credit, she thinks fast on her feet, but she does come off rather desperate and is inconsiderate to Shunichi and his feelings. And frankly Shunichi doesn’t really help this, but I would be super flustered too is someone behaved the way she does to him!

The end of the episode brought a few more characters into the mix regarding Chiyomi and Shunichi and being suspicious. Firstly, we have Ami who knows that Chiyomi is not at the workshop, so I am super interested to see what she does with that information, I’m assuming she may go to Riku first. And then we have Asuka, who is suspicious and confused about Shunichi’s behaviour regarding Chiyomi’s dolls clothes. I think this one will be rather funny when it plays out!

This episode had a lot of secondary stuff going on, but it was still very enjoyable and I really like how relationships are forming and everything seems natural, well as natural as this odd little drama can be ^^

Oh, and the preview for the next episode… wow… episode 6 looks to be a wild 40 minutes!

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Thank you for reading~