Week 2 Synopsis
Episode 2 Synopsis (Alien and Violence Cosmic Bath):
“In the red! In the red!” Kotomi, the owner of the Enohana Bath-house, is not happy. She’s called a meeting of all the residents of the place–herself, Yoshioka the boiler-man (“Yoshinen” to his friends), Momo Enoshima (a very old woman who takes the tickets), and Mayuki. There’s also NieA (who’s only there for the snacks) and Wakaba the cat (whom NieA quickly starts tormenting), and as the meeting begins Kotomi is saying that she’s so desperate she’s even willing to take help from a cat or an alien. The bath-house is in serious financial trouble, and what they need is some sort of sales point, like a Jacuzzi or something, that won’t cost any money. Yoshinen has a fantastic idea: he’s heard that there’s a strange, flammable oil bubbling up in the crater area where the Under Aliens live. If they use that to heat the water, they can call it the “Enohana Cosmic Bath!” When NieA mutters that she heard some of the Under children talking about it, it’s decided: Yoshinen will go to the crater to find the mysterious oil, NieA will guide him, and Mayuki will accompany them because… well, you can’t have too many people when it comes to controlling NieA.
As the Mysterious Oil Retrieval Team leaves, Kotomi gives them a huge pack of bento. NieA is delighted because it’s food; Yoshinen is delighted because it’s Kotomi’s hand-made food, and when she gives it to him and those hands touch his, he has a temporary breakdown of bodily functions. As the team heads out and wanders through the beautiful countryside, NieA tries her best to consume the bento but she is stopped by Yoshinen’s quick reflexes and Mayu’s scary shouting. When they reach the crater they discover that NieA actually has no clue where the oil is; she just heard “some brats” talking about it. They go down in the crater and visit the shanty of the Under aliens, where NieA finds three children who look like they might know something. It turns out they don’t, but when they make fun of NieA for having no antenna she kind of looses it and ends up being pelted with mud.
Fortunately an old alien gentlemen points them in the right direction, and the group enters what appears to be a tropical forest. When Mayuki expresses her surprise at finding such a place in the crater, Yoshinen mentions that he’s been there before, looking for something interesting to burn. The hungry and crabby NieA starts taunting Yoshinen about his feelings for Kotomi (“No!” he insists, “I am but a lowly employee!”) and while they fight Mayu gets eaten by a giant plant. Wait, that deserved more emphasis.
Mayuki gets eaten by a giant plant!
However, Yoshinen is equipped with a machete and he hacks Mayuki out; it seems that the first time he came to this area, he had the same experience. Despite Mayu’s protests that he might have warned her, they continue on their way until they come to a pleasant little lake. NieA and Mayuki get into a splash fight, while Yoshinen chuckles and lights up a pipe as a he watches them. He also lights his own arm. “Ah,” says NieA, unusually perceptively, “is it possible that the lake is made out of oil?” This statement is followed by quite a bit of confusion and the conflagration of Mayu’s butt, but in the end NieA puts them both out by tripping them and spewing tea all over their flaming appendages. In return she demands all of the bento (of course), but she’s cut short by another giant man-eating (or in this case, bento-eating) plant. Staring in shock at the devastated boxes, NieA and Yoshinen snap: how could that plant DO that to Kotomi’s hand-made bento?!
After a bit of violence, the group triumphantly returns with their oil and the dead plant pieces. Yoshinen takes off for the boiler to try them out with a grin on his face. “He likes burning things,” says Kotomi fondly. And indeed he does: by mixing the oil with the plants, Yoshinen creates a perfectly-heated bath that has a delicious, otherworldly fragrance. The special bath is a huge success, and for once the Enohana bath-house makes some money! For about 2 hours, of course… because that evening, as Mayuki mops up, an ominous rumbling and some growing cracks in the tile herald the reappearance of the giant plants, which burst through the floor and take over the entire building. The cleanup costs are enormous, and once again Kotomi discovers that the bath-house is in the red.
On the bright side, at the show’s end Mayuki, NieA, and Kotomi get to take a bath that still has the sweet and pleasant smell of man-eating plant.