Yes I know, this is a late episodic. In truth the past few days I have been uninspired to even bother doing anything productive, so yeah. I watched this a few days ago though, and yeah, most of the time I have been either playing Sacred or watching anime or sleeping. My sleeping habits this week is seriously screwed, and I hope to be reverting it with a week of rest next week from the gym. Anyway, on to the episodic. This episode introduces the third sister, the meganekko Ikaruga Chihaya.

Summary

Chihaya is first seen talking about her manga draft to her company, and then the episode starts off with some sparring between Ibuki and Yoichi to show the 4 students of the Ikaruga Dojo some moves. Yoichi notes how he has never seen Ibuki’s strength in action and how strong she is, and decides to go all out, but tears apart Ibuki’s uniform in the bust area in the process, earning severe punches for both himself and the 4 students. Yoichi then asks Ibuki rather timidly if the reason for the dojo having so few students was because of her violence, and Ayame subtly agrees. Ayame then leaves for the bath, and tries to remember what went on during the duel between Yoichi and Ibuki in order to learn something.
 

Chihaya then catches her sister in the bath, making Ayame very embarrassed at the mention of Yoichi. In response to Ayame’s question on why Chihaya was there, the latter answers that she ran out of ideas and wanted a bath to change the mood. Since they were on the subject of Yoichi, Chihaya decides to interview Yoichi for some ideas. Meanwhile Washizu appears in front of the dojo, wanting to return Ibuki’s handkerchief, but stops when he realizes his clothes were too plain and dirty, and runs away. Yoichi is dragged by Chihaya to her room, and Ibuki notices this.
 

In Chihaya’s room, Yoichi is given the opportunity to look at her manga drawings, and notes how, despite her age, she is able to draft such an elaborate world in the manga. Praising her for her works, Yoichi also mentions how swordplay and training were his passion, and this reminds Chihaya of her true purpose in drawing Yoichi to her room. She then plays up to Yoichi, pretending to want to strip and asking him if he liked any of the four sisters. In response, Yoichi pushes her away firmly, stating his convictions. Chihaya then laughs and says it was all a joke, right before Ibuki slams the door open and sees them both together. Yoichi tries to inform Ibuki it was a misunderstanding, Chihaya purposely said Yoichi forced himself on her, causing him to be whacked yet again.
 

Outside the room, Ibuki reminds Chihaya not to allow males into her room, especially ones like Yoichi. Chihaya then mentions how Ibuki might instead be jealous that he had gone into her room, and this causes another small argument between Ibuki and Yoichi, to which Chihaya giggles and says how well they get along. Upon closure of her door, Ibuki then thanks Yoichi for helping Chihaya to destress, for she was working and studying at the same time and she had surely gone through some tough times. Later on, Chihaya also tells Ayame that Yoichi is a really good person, and hands some advice to her. Washizu appears again at this point, in a hilarious formal suit, and the attire is eliminated by Torigaya.
 

That night, Yoichi spots Chihaya’s lights on while headed for the toilet and thinks her to be studying. The next day Kagome returns with her arts-and-craft work, but upon opening the door finds Ibuki chasing Yoichi with a boken because the latter had touched her chest by accident. Yoichi slams full force into Kagome, and her hard work is smashed to pieces. Yoichi is kicked out as Ibuki comforts Kagome. As he begs to be let in, Ibuki opens the door and hands him a notebook. It turns out the notebook is Chihaya’s and she had forgotten it, and since Ibuki now had to help Kagome with the reparation of her work, Yoichi was to go and hand the book to Chihaya instead. Yoichi takes it as repentance to the Ikaruga family, and hurries to the school, but like his usual self somehow mistakes the girls’ changing room for a classroom and gets hit hard for it.
 

Chihaya meanwhile draws her manga work at school, and is caught by the teacher. She had not realized until she was caught that she had been working on her draft, mistaking the draft book for her notebook. The commotion outside by Yoichi causes them to stop, and Yoichi hands the notebook over to Chihaya. After a small conversation, Yoichi walks away. Going down some stairs however, he overhears a group of 3 male students from Chihaya’s class and learns she had been bullied, and runs back to the classroom to find Chihaya with her artwork in tatters. Chihaya stops him from going after the students, and throws him out of the classroom, claiming all was fine, but cries after he is out. Yoichi is determined to punish the students, and upon listening to their conversation about living life too freely, he stops them and beats them up. Chihaya later moves out of school and finds the student, upon which the leader asks how she and Yoichi could live and do so much for a passion, to which Chihaya replies that there was no need to hurry, for he would certainly find something important in life to work on as well.
 

Washizu appears in a chicken suit at this point, and is again eliminated by Torigaya.
 

Back at the Ikaruga dojo, Kagome’s artwork is restored, and Chihaya finishes a new draft on a new hero of her manga, a samurai of justice. Yoichi denies any involvement hurriedly, and Chihaya notes the roughness of his hand. Yoichi replies that it is likely due to his training that he has such rough hands, and Chihaya also cheerfully adds in that she has pen marks, and both their hands were proof of their passion. She locks his hand in his, and both Ayame and Ibuki are understandably upset.
 

Impressions

So I am actually rather puzzled as to why they introduced Angela and Tsubasa before Chihaya, whom I would consider to be more of a main character than the other two. Still, we are given quite the insight into Chihaya this episode, and know for sure she is hardly interested in Yoichi as much as her two elder sisters. I am sure the fanservice provided by the meganekko would be fine for people with a fetish for spectacles too.
 

Of course, I was all over the early bath scene, but how much of Ayame can they really expose in the DVD? :\

No Angela this episode, gah. A few Ibuki moments that were worthy of saving I guess. We are also shown Yoichi’s honorable side once again, proving that not all harem series need to have weak or useless main male characters. Washizu was also relegated to solely comic relief this time round. He was always comic relief, but still, for him to have such a minor role this time round…
 

So I am pretty sure we will be introduced Kagome in like two to three more episodes. More Angela pl0x though. And does anyone have good images of either Ayame or Angela? If you are into vectoring stuff as well, I can provide you with screenshots to vector of those two and Ibuki, I need the images to work with for header images on my blog. Drop me a comment if you have a working colored image or want to help me out with vectors.

Related posts:

1. Asu no Yoichi 06 – Manly Love
2. Asu no Yoichi 08 – The Noble Washizu
3. Asu no Yoichi 11 – Realization
4. Asu no Yoichi 09 – The Festival of Wrong Delights
5. Asu no Yoichi 10 – Onsen ni Tatakai