Kirarin Revolution, episode 19

(きらりん☆レボリューション) 2006

Kirari (voiced by Koharu Kusumi of Morning Musume!) is a middle schooler who LOVES her food. So much so that it's scary! While girls her age swoon over idols, Kirari swoons over her dad's cooking, and couldn't care less about the life of a celebrity. But when she saves the pet turtle of Seiji of pop group SHIPS and falls in love, she decides to become an idol herself so that they can be together (or so she hopes).

Erina and Kirari are starring in a TV special together! They think it's just going to be cute and harmless, where they act like close friends (Erina certainly doesn't consider herself friends with this idol rival) for the camera, but it turns out the spring resort they must go to is so creepy it must be haunted! Neo Takada is the name, and the man in charge, Adamusu Takada (hmm... last name sounds familiar) keeps things quite strange. Even the spiders make them a welcome sign out of their webs! When they go outside to enjoy the hot springs, a whirlpool appears and sucks Erina and Tantan in. But it's not a spirit - it's Arashi making a dramatic entrance. Erina does not appreciate the interruption, and whaps him good with a fish.

And the odd occurances don't stop there. During a serve in ping pong between the girls, the ball stops in midair, and blue fire zooms around the room. When the crew takes a food break, everything has been eaten, even though nobody else was around. Come night, as Kirari and Erina try their hand at firework sparklers, the blue fire returns. None of this was Arashi's doing, or so he claims even after violent threats from Erina. Then, what could it be? Unable to hold back any longer, Mr. Takada tells them there are indeed spirits in the building. They've been there for 10 years and have the ability to make fire appear, along with white fog, so guests are afraid. The poor man was hoping to advertize with the program and boost business, but at this rate things look hopeless. Kirari gets the idea that they should go out to look for the alleged spirits - if they can disprove any hauntings, Neo Takada can yet be saved. So that's what they do.



Not one to be outdone, at the restart of filming Erina runs ahead of them in the dark (they were walking down a path towards the hotel, like the beginning), and does the old sign switcharoo at a fork in the road. She, of course, takes the "easy" way (shortcut) to where they are headed. She's so thrilled to be beating Kirari that she doesn't pay attention to her surroundings. As she tries to catch a hat that blew off her head, she falls off a cliff. Thankfully, the crew hears her cries and finds Tantan, who wildy tries to demonstrate Erina's terrible situation. Arashi runs off to get help, while Kirari takes it upon herself to look for her. As fate would have it, SHIPS shows up at the entrance. They were supposed to be a surprise for the end - instead, they join the search for the lost idols.

Meanwhile, Erina emerges from where she fell. She landed in a bush, so things aren't as bad as they could've been. However, her ankle is sprained and it's not known how she'll be able to get back to anyone, especially when they might not even know she's missing. When she sees two bobbing yellow lights in the woods, she freaks out, assuming ghosts are coming to get her. No, it's just Kirari and Naa-san holding flashlights. She tries to make like everything is OK, nothing to be alarmed about, but Kirari insists on carrying her piggyback. This only frustrates Erina more, and she asks why she's even doing this. Why not? After all, Kirari says, they are friends. Moments later, SHIPS comes swooping down the cliff on ropes.

After the whole group has been reunited, a white fogs comes rolling in. Rushing off to solve the mystery once at for all (with Erina, riding Tantan, in the lead), they find Mr. Takada the producer, relaxing in a hot spring with his two pet pigs. Turns out this is his own private little spot, as he didn't want to disturb his relative in the hotel. When it's wondered how Mr. Takada could've made blue fire appear, the weird things come back, revealing themselves to be the spirits of past owners of the resort. Screams ring out into the night.

Shoujo cliche #15, falling down a cliff. Usually a female, one character will find themselves alone and probably injured after taking a fall. Another character, a potential love interest/friend, will come down to save them. A realization or bonding tends to occur. Though, this was cute. You have to wonder how this will affect Erina's future pranks, and if she will ever struggle over Kirari's kindness and claimed friendship.