Finally! After 18 months, episode 18 of Mystical Mermaid Melody is out! (Heh, two 18s) Anyways, remember Ishibashi's backstory? Back in Episode 10 (Of the original series)? Well, today we're gonna take another look at it. Also, my first idea for this episode is just putting a roses are red poem before every chapter, and to even make the "Pichi Pichi Voice Live Start" and "Love Shower Pitch! How about an Encore!" roses are red poems. So, let's get crackin'! Roses are red, / And so is my heart. / Pichi Pichi Voice Live Start!
(Xuffie places down the X Crystal, ready to start the recap. An interface shone out of it)
Xuffie: Xuffie's log. Week 17. So, the craziest thing happened. Kiha somehow managed to mute the entire world. Which means we couldn't sing. Fortunately, we had a solution! Tarou's piano playing didn't need any vocals, so he was able to help us. After a long hard battle, we were able to get our voices back! Hmm… I feel like this episode is going to be a bit poetic. Well then, let's begin.
(The screen faded to black)
Hanon was in English class, not really paying attention. Their teacher was talking about famous short poems in English. One of the poems she talked about "Roses are red" poems. "Poems of this form begin with the line 「Roses are red」, which translates into "Roses are red"." the Teacher explained, "Each line is usually about four-to-five syllables in length, with the second and fourth lines rhyming." "Now, everyone. Try having a go at writing one of your own. You can write about any topic, and, of course, you are allowed to use a dictionary for this." Hanon got out a piece of paper, and wrote the first line. She stared at the one line on the piece of paper, and began to think about what she was gonna write next. She tapped her pencil on her desk trying to come up with ideas. But then she thought of something. She proceeded to write down the rest of her poem, and looked at her work. "Eh… good enough, I guess" she thought to herself
Intro
"Roses are red / My name is Hanon / A convenience store shelf / is what you would put a can on." Rina read out loud. She looked up from the paper to face Hanon, and asked her "Is that all that you can come up with?" "Hey! I couldn't find any good rhymes for my name!" Hanon cried. "Well, you know what I wrote?" Rina said, "Roses are red / Grass is green / Put them together, / You get a nice scene." "Well, that is better than mine," said Hanon, "What about you Lucia? What did you write?" Lucia sighed and reluctantly gave the two a piece of paper. Rina began to read it. "Roses are red / Hibiscus is red / Blood is red / Tomato is red." "Lucia!" Hanon cried, "Don't you know how to rhyme?!" "I'm sorry I don't know English!" Just then, Hanon spotted Ema walking. "Hey! I wonder what Ema wrote for her Roses are Red poem!" said Hanon, "She is the English speaker." "Hey, Ema!" Rina called out.
Episode 18: Roses are red. Violets are blue. Sleeping mazes vex quickly just how few
「Roses are red / that much is true, / but violets are purple, / not bloody blue.」Ema said. "Bloody?" Rina questioned, "Oh, yeah. I forgot you were British." 「I found that one in a book I read a few years ago.」Ema said. "But if violets are purple, why does the poem refer to them as blue?" Lucia asked. 「I think it's because there aren't any rhymes for "purple".」Ema said. Lucia stared at her. "She said that the word "Purple" doesn't rhyme with anything in English." Hanon said. "Colorful?" Lucia suggested. 「Eh… that sort of works…」Ema said. "Hey! Karen is purple and Noel is blue!" Rina said. "I think Noel is more Indigo." said Hanon, "She is the Indigo Pearl Voice." "Indigo, Violet, same thing." Lucia said. 「Aiiro? Sumireiro?」Ema wondered, confused. 「Oh sorry, Indigo and Violet.」Hanon clarified, "Where are Xuffie's subtitles when you need them?" She looked towards Lucia, "Anyways, they're really not." she said, "That would be like if I called YOU 'Red Pearl Voice'." "Speaking of which, I wonder what Penelope's doing now?" Rina said.
Penelope was having a chat with Yuya at a café. "So remind me again why you keep a vase of blue roses in your workshop?" Penelope said. "Alright. So, a rose means love, right?" Yuya explained. Penelope nodded. "But roses are red, not blue." "Well, that's obvious." "So, a blue rose represents an unattainable or impossible love." "I see…" Penelope said, "And that relates to that girl you fell in love with all those years ago." Yuya nodded. "Blue was her favorite color too." "You know, in Chinese folklore, they say that the blue rose symbolizes hope for unattainable love." Penelope said, "So… cheer up!" "You seem to know a lot about flower symbolism, Pence-Pence." Yuya said. "Thanks. I keep a bowl of carnations back at my apartment." said Penelope. Just then, Penelope noticed Caren and Subaru at the window. ["Caren?!" "Subaru?"] Penelope and Yuya said respectively. Looking at each other, they asked each other, "You know him/her?!" "Oh, Subaru's my friend and roommate." Yuya said, "And… What about you?" Penelope shrugged. "Rivals."
So that's how two rivals ended up on a double date. To say it was awkward was an understatement. Penelope and Karen stared at each other, while Subaru and Yuya just sat in silence, concerned with their girlfriends. Yuya broke the silence. "So… uh… nice weather we have today." … "How was The Great Silencing last week?" … "It sucked." Karen spoke up, "But hey, at least then I didn't get any complaints about my voice." They heard a voice. "Hey, got room for two more?" It was Noel and Kazama! "Noel?! What are you doing here?" "We were gonna meet Rina and Hamasaki here," said Kazama, "Rina has something to show us." "Well, why not sit with us?" said Caren. Noel and Kazama sat down next to Karen and Subaru.
Meanwhile, Rina and Masahiro were walking, when they noticed a lady with light blue side-plait hair, holding a blue rose. "Wait, that's a blue rose, right?" Masahiro said. "I guess not all roses are red." Rina said. They walked over to the lady. "Uh… hey." said Masahiro, "That's a blue rose." "I know." said the lady, "Isn't it pretty?" Blinking, Rina asked her, "Just how did you manage to…" "Oh, with a bit of dyed water, you can turn a white rose into almost any color." the lady said. She stared at Rina. "You look a lot like me when I was younger." the lady said. "Well, we better be going. Gonna meet up with some friends." "Aw, can't you stay for a little chat?" the lady asked. "I promise we'll be right back after" Rina said. The two verdettes walked off. Little did they know, Viola was watching them. She turned to the viewer. "A blue rose, eh? Now where have I seen that before ;)"
Meanwhile, back at the café, the group were talking, waiting for Rina and Masahiro to arrive. "So… Janee or Janai?" Kazuma asked. "I say Janai, but only because I'm not from here." Subaru said. "Yeah, Janai for me as well," Noel said. Rina and Masahiro came. "So, Rina. What did you want to talk about?" Noel asked. "Well, we were discussing Roses are Red poems in class, and I thought I'd write one about us." Rina said, "Violets are indigo / Grass is-" "Wait, did you say violets are indigo?" Subaru asked. Rina ignored him and continued her poem. "Grass is green / Best friends forever / We've always have been" "Granted," Rina self-commented, "It's not the-" "You said Violets are indigo!" Penelope said, "Violets are violet!" "Ema actually talked about that with me and the others." Rina said, "Lucia said that violet and indigo are pretty much the same color." "Well, indigo's a much darker shade." Noel said. "And we saw someone holding a blue rose on our way here, so who cares?" Masahiro said. "A blue rose?" Yuya said. "Yeah! A blue rose!" Viola said. "Viola! You need to stop doing that!" said Penelope, "And where's Ozma? Aren't you always with her?" "She's at the beach with Kura-chan." Viola answered. Rina thought of something. "Your name's Viola, right?" "I demand that it is, yes." "And your hair is red." Masahiro added. "Yeah?" Rina and Masahiro clapped twice. "Well, boys, we did it!" the two exclaimed, "We have a blue rose and a red violet!" Viola anime-style fell. "Oh my Aqua Luce"
Meanwhile, Lucia, Hanon and Ema were thinking of more Roses are Red poems with Xuffie. 「Oh, I have one that Karen might like!」 Ema said. She showed them a short poem. "Red roses are red / Now part, a sin I border / A red robin is a trap / Wonder erases order." "Wow! How did you manage to do that?" Lucia said. 「I realized that "Roses are red" backwards spells "...der erases or…".」 Ema replied. "Hey, how's Kura-chan doing?" Hanon asked. "Ozma took her to the beach 'cause she wanted a swim." Xuffie said. "Ozma? Not Viola?" Lucia asked. "Viola doesn't like sand. It's coarse, and rough, and irritating, and it gets everywhere." Xuffie explained, "I think she told me she was gonna spy on people at the park." 「Isn't that invading privacy?」 Ema said. "Pearls of Mystery, remember?" said Xuffie. 「Oh, right.」... "What was the point of this scene?" asked Xuffie. "Probably for Writer-kun to show off." Hanon said, forgetting I have a fricking name. "It's probably also filler." Lucia added, "I mean now we're just talking about things the viewers already know."「To be honest, an entire episode about a single poem seems like a filler episode anyways.」Ema said. "We have 26 episodes! We don't have time for filler episodes!" Hanon said. "The last episode also felt like a filler episode." Lucia added. Hanon interrupted, "It's not filler!" … "It's… not… filler…" Xuffie facepalmed. "God dammit, Angelo."
Eyecatch: Karen
At the park, the group was walking around. Viola telepathically communicated to Rina. "They're still not talking to eachother." Viola said. Rina nodded. "The air is very tense here." "I demand that we break the tension." "So… anyone wants to sing karaoke later?" Rina asked. "I'm down." said Penelope, "I want to show Caren who the better singer is!" "Shut the hell up!" Karen complained. The two began arguing. "Oh boy, here we go again." Noel said. "Why are they rivals again?" Subaru asked. Noel looked at Yuya and Kazama. "Can you two leave for a moment?" Noel asked them. Once the two other humans were gone, Noel began to explain. "You know how the Southern Ocean wasn't officially recognized until 2000?" Noel asked. Subaru nodded. "Well, before that, the Mediterranean Sea was part of our seven." Noel explained, "But we kicked it out when the Southern Ocean became recognized." "I'm guessing that Penelope's the Mediterranean Sea Princess, right?" Subaru asked. Viola nodded. "To be honest, really, I don't really see the difference between a sea and ocean." Viola said. "Well strictly speaking, a sea is a body of water partly or fully enclosed by land." said Subaru. "But by that definition, almost all oceans are seas." Masahiro said. "I suppose so. There's really no strict distinction." Subaru said, "Some people don't even classify the Arctic Ocean as a separate ocean from the Atlantic." "Now I feel annoyed." Noel said, "I'll go get Yokkun and Yuya." "Wait, Yokkun?" Masahiro asked, "How far has your relationship advanced!?" But Noel was already gone.
A bit later, the seven of them were sitting on a bench. "Hey, Viola." Rina said. "What is it, Rina?" "Purple is orange / And yellow and blue. / Indigo is green, / And red is too." Viola tried to understand the poem given to her, when it hit her. "Oh. I see." Viola said. Noel and the others came back. "There was an ice cream truck, so we got some for all of us!" Kazama said. "Thanks, you guys." Rina said, taking the mint ice cream from Noel's hand. Karen got a text from Ema, and read it. "Oh look," she said, "Ema-chan has made a poem! And a palindrome too!" Noel looked over. "That is pretty neat, actually." Masahiro noticed the lady they met earlier walking off. "Hey look! It's that blue rose lady from earlier!" he said. Yuya looked over and gasped. "C… Corina?" "You know her?" Rina asked. "Of course her name ends with -ina." Masahiro said to himself. Yuya ran over to her. "... Yuya agrees with me, right?" Penelope said to Karen, before seeing Yuya run off. "Hey! Yuya! Where ya goin'?" she said, running after him. Karen got up, and walked away. "I'm gonna go to the bathro-" Suddenly, a cage fell on the others. "Rina! Subaru-kun!" Karen cried. She noticed 6 familiar chibis on a tree, arguing. "Nyanfa! That was too late!" "Look! I'm sorry! I was distracted!" "Hang on a moment. There are only six of them." Karen said. She gasped. "Oh crap." She ran off, calling for Penelope.
Meanwhile, the other six Lanhua chibis are waiting somewhere. "Are you sure that lady is gonna lure in the red pearl?" one of them asked. "Look, this is Shifa's plan, not mine." another one replied. "Couldn't Lanhua drop the cage and you trap the red pearl, Kiha-sama?" a third one asked Kiha, a few metres away. "I'm the one who will stop the cosmetician from interfering." Kiha said, "We've gone over this, Liefa." "I'm Chufa!" "Whatever! You're all just Lanhua!" Kiha said. What they didn't notice was Karen running after Penelope. Penelope stopped when her shell necklace lit up. Karen looked up to see Kiha and Lanhua (?) arguing. "Good, they're distracted." she thought. Karen ran up to Penelope, yelling, "Penelope! Look out!" The distracted duo or septet or sesquet (1 and a half) stopped and looked at them. "Lanhua! Now!" Kiha said. The half-Lanhua dropped the cage, but Karen pulled Penelope out of the way. Yuya and Corina ran over. "Penelope," Yuya cried, "Are you alri-" Kiha grabbed the two. "Yuya-kun!" Penelope cried.
The other six Lanhuas came up to them. "Sorry, guys!" they said, "The purple one got away!" "I can tell!" a chibi from the other group shouted, "How on earth did you let her get away?!" "Don't blame it on me! It's all Nyanfa's fault!" another one said, "Besides, look at your cage! It's empty!" "Oh how useless you all are! At least we actually caught some, unlike you guys!" "You take that back!" Kiha facepalmed. "Is the Purple Pearl the only one who escaped?" "Of course, Kiha-sama!" "Oh really, then show me!" another chibi said. The twelve Lanhuas left, leaving Kiha alone holding down Yuya and Corina. "Hey you guys! Don't leave me!" Kiha sighed. "Who knew looking after kids would be this difficult." Just then, he heard the last few bars of the transformation music. "Why do I hear transformation music?" Sure enough, Penelope and Caren have transformed.
"Me and Penelope formed a truce offscreen!" Karen explained to the viewers. "Oh crap!" Kiha panicked, "Lanhua! Get over here!" Yuya and Corina stared at them. "How pretty!" Yuya said. "Are they idol singers?" Corina asked herself. "Well, Caren. Let's do this!" Penelope said. "Pichi Pichi Voice Live Start!"
Fukushū no tokida yo ne
Seigi no tame ni tatakau
Yume wa sekai ni kagayaku
Jinsei no gēmu ni katsu
Sōzō-sei no hikari
Sekai o seimei de mitasu
Kirameku sekai o mamoru
Kiha started to struggle, letting go of Yuya and Corina.
Gēmu o purei suru
Sen ga sotogawa ni odoru
Aka to orenji ga shudō
Iwa ni daihyō sa reru hana no katachi
Iro no niji ga kagayaku
Watashi wa ai de ippai desu
Watashi wa taore, soshite futatabi jōshō
Ōku-iro ga nagarete iku uchi ni higatatsu
Tamashī no naka de seigi no honō ga kagayaku
Kurayami demo kōgeki shimasu... Fight on!
Watashi-ra ga hajimeta tatakai o oeru jikan
"Lanhua! You're on your own now!" Kiha said, before disappearing
Watashi no mawari no kusari o kowasanai
Sekai no tame ni tatakau... Game on!
"Free Bird Pitch!" "How about an Encore!" "Well, I do want to hear one." Corina said. "Then follow us, before we have more friends we need to save!" Penelope said, before running off with Karen. Yuya and Corina were about to follow when a voice called out Corina's name. They turned around. "Daisuke!" A black haired man was there. "Hey, Yuya-kun." Daisuke said, "It's been a while."
Meanwhile, Lanhua was singing her song to everyone, affecting even Subaru and Kazama this time somehow.
Nijuyon no saikuru. Chūya, Jikū
Hana ga saku, tori ga utau
Kūkan no tanmono ga oritatama rete
Sekai ga mawashi, konran ga shōjiru
"Stop right there!" said a voice. It was Penelope and Caren. "Ka…" Rina said, before remembering Kazama was there, "I mean… It's you!" "How dare you two escape!" Lanhua cried. "Remind me again who let us escape?" Karen said. Lanhua was speechless. "We've already taken care of Kiha, so you should be a piece of cake!" Karen said, "Pichi Pichi Voice Live Start!"
Asahi ga ureshikute (ureshikute)
Omowazu namida ga deru..
Dokoka de miteru ka na? (miteru ka na?)
Onnaji sora dakara tsudzuiteru
The cage broke and Lanhua started feeling the effects
Yume wa mada, yume demo
"Yuya." Corina said, "I'm sorry for leaving you all those years ago." "I forgive you." Yuya said, "After all, I found someone else."
(Let's stay ima anata ga)
Iru basho o shinjite
OORORA no kaze ni notte "my wish" todoiteru?
Mukae ni yuku yo datte zettai aitai yo
Juujisei no shita ima wa Two Life hanaretatte
"So, Daisuke." Yuya said, "How's the daughter?" "She's so sweet." Daisuke said, "You should see her sometime!"
Kokoro wa hitotsu onaji One Wish dakishimete
"Cutie Hot Pitch!" "How about an En-" "Shut! The hell! Up!" Lanhua interrupted. She disappeared. "I'm gues-" Noel looked around and saw Kazama wasn't there, before continuing, "I'm guessing you two made up?" "It's more like a truce." said Karen, as the two de-transformed, "But yeah." "Don't worry about exact semantics." said Rina, "That's what we've been doing this whole time." "What do you mean?" Penelope asked. "Just like there are many ways to describe the color of a violet, there are many ways to divide up the world's oceans." Masahiro said, "Why else do you think we make a distinction between the North and South Atlantic?" "And who even cares that the Antarctic's an Ocean and the Mediterranean is a Sea. They're both bodies of water." Viola said. "I guess you're right." Karen said, "Maybe we shouldn't worry about specifics all the time." "Well, I guess there's just one thing to say." Rina and Masahiro said. "Roses are red. / Violets are purple. / But exact distinctions don't matter. / Everything is colorful!" "I demand that purple does not rhyme with colorful." Viola said. "But she just said." Noel said, "It doesn't need to fit the exact definition of rhyming."
Credits
The next day at Masahiro and Kazama's school. "Since today is Children's Day, I've decided to get a special guest to teach us flower arranging." the teacher said. Corina walked in. "It's her!" Masahiro thought. "Greetings, everyone." Corina said, "My name is Corina Minato." "Minato? As in Daisuke Minato, the famous rock musician?" "He's my husband." Corina said, "But we don't really like to talk about music that much." Corina looked at Masahiro, and smiled at him.
So Karen and Penelope have finally made up! I told you this episode wasn't filler! Also, for any BanG Dream fans reading, no, that is not a coincidence. After all, what else would I think of when I think of blue roses? And this is episode R, dammit! Anyways, I'll be fixing a few errors in some previous episodes. See ya in Episode S, "Sleeping mazes vex quickly just how few, you see! Traumas and flashbacks?" (Yes, I just thought of the title ahead of time.) Roses are red. / Are there more wheels or doors? / Love Shower Pitch! / How about an Encore!
