The school festival kicks off with a competition between Mamako and Medhimama. There’s also the matter of Medhi’s festering anger towards Medhimama that needs to be sorted out. Looks like Masato will have a lot of things to worry about, including the fact that Mamako is the new popular beauty in school! 

Plot & Story

While bathing together, Masato talks with Mamako, Wise, and Porta about helping Medhi repair her relationship with her mother. The next day, they’re all tasked to organize an activity for a school festival and Mamako suggests doing a cafe. Medhimama takes the chance to challenge Mamako on who can draw the most crowd. Naturally, Mamako’s cafe is a hit while Medhimama’s is empty. To help bolster her cafe’s popularity, Medhimama tries putting Medhi in a swimsuit, but is interrupted by Masato. Medhimama knocks out Masato and controls Medhi to seduce him away from helping Mamako’s cafe. This plan fails as well, so Medhimama tries getting her daughter to win a beauty contest. Unknowingly, Mamako aces the competition by preparing a pot of miso soup. Medhi runs away crying, but is consoled by Masato, Wise, and Porta, saying that she wants to be friends with them. Unfortunately, Medhimama interrupts the touching moment by pinning her up against a tree and berating Medhi for failing once again. Mamako intervenes, but is too late as Medhi snaps back at her mother and uses her dark energy to transform herself into a dragon. 

Episode Highlights

Mamako Wins Again

I like how they’re giving Mamako new ways to shine and highlight her cheerful personality. It’s pretty much a running joke now that Mamako will win anything all the time, and the anime wants you to know that. Whether it’s cooking or a beauty contest, Mamako has the edge over anyone else, but Masato is still the most precious person to her. 

Medhi Powers Up

You’d have to be really mad if you have enough power to turn yourself into a dragon. We’ve seen in previous episodes that Medhi has obtained ‘creepy, swirled yandere eyes’ and is just about ready to lose her cool. She’ll prove to be a formidable opponent for Mamako and Masato, who’ll probably have to convince Medhi not to torch Medhimama. 

The Power of Friendship

Kudos to Masato, Wise, and Porta for sticking up for Medhi. I do think Medhi will make a great addition to their party and seeing them convince her to stand up for herself is admirable. They’re all still children and Masato and Wise specifically used their experiences with their own mothers to make this happen. 

Comments 

Things have definitely taken a turn since last week’s episode, as we see the frustrations from Medhimama and Medhi boil up to interesting levels. Having lost to Mamako twice and being placed second, Medhimama’s attitude towards her daughter escalates from mild annoyance to borderline abusive. Her high expectations for Medhi generally causes the latter to crack under pressure and her social life suffers because of it. With that said, the anime does a good job to have Masato, Wise, and Porta step in and reassure her that they’ll be friends with her no matter what. With them having troublesome mothers themselves, it’s easy to see how they can all have common ground. 

The worst part for Medhi, however, is that she can’t take anymore of her mother’s expectations. As suspected from last episode, it’s revealed that Medhimama is only pressuring her for her own convenience. To her, if she isn’t number one, she can’t respect herself and she’s just using Medhi to build up her own ego and make herself feel good. Naturally, Medhi doesn’t take this too well and I don’t blame her for it. If a kid worked hard for their parents, only to find out that it was all to make them feel better about themselves, they’d probably throw a fit too. In this case, Medhi transforms herself into a fire-breathing dragon, which is probably not the best method to vent your anger, but it’s a good start. 

Mamako once again tries the role of the mediator in all of this, reminding Medhimama that as a mother, she should be more lenient and happy with whatever result her child ends up with. That doesn’t happen though and Medhi’s trust in Medhimama is crushed after hearing why she pushes her so hard. Much like the previous arc, the mother-child relationship parallels how Masato acts around Mamako. Having her follow him around in class is bad enough, but she always cheers him on. That parental support is lacking in Medhi and Medhimama’s relationship and it’ll have to be something they’ll have to work out. Despite nothing else of significance happening in this episode, it’s great to see the anime return to this theme. How they’ll apply what they learned to help Medhi and Medhimama is still a question in the air. 

Turning Point

Expect to see a big battle next week as Masato and Mamako face off against Medhi. Perhaps Medhimama will also learn a thing or two about proper parenting. Are you excited for next week’s episode? Will Medhi stop herself from raging against her mother? And what outfit will Mamako wear next and embarrass Masato with? 

Let us know in the comments and be sure to check our other Summer 2019 Anime Reviews on MANGA.TOKYO. 

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Summer 2019 | Anime Info | Simulcast