VOLUME 2
The front cover depicts Matsuri and our new girl, Ana, under a light blue umbrella held by Ana. Matsuri is holding John. She has on a short-sleeved one-piece dress. The top part is white with red polka dots and hems; the bottom part is blue with red gingham pocket(s) and hem. In addition to John, she's carrying a light yellow bag with a white... label? ...on the pocket that says "FERRETS" and has a silhouette of a ferret. The strap of the bag is on her left shoulder, while the bag rests against her left thigh. Ana wears a black sleeveless shirt with white polka dots and neck hem, tucked into a pair of white long shorts with a broad belt. She has a white bag with a dark purple strap hanging from her right forearm. The bag has a stylized picture of a crying bear and a loving dog and the letter "R" on it. They're standing side by side, facing the reader.
On the back cover is Miu, looking rather cute in her blue gingham two-piece swimsuit, She has the end of a sci-fi-style squirt gun resting on her lip. Walking toward the left side, farther back are Chika and Nobue, walking under the pink umbrella that Nobue is carrying. The umbrella has, in lighter pink letters, "Hail To The Thie" (probably ends with f) on it. Chika, looking back at Miu, is wearing a short-sleeved shirt with thin blue horizontal stripes on a white background. Over her left hip is a pair of blue cherries with blue stems and leaves. There may be writing on the chest, but I can't tell. She's also wearing a white skirt that looks like it may be a quarter of the way down her thigh. Nobue has on a gray short-sleeved shirt with pink writing on it: "ever". Whether it says "forever", "fever", or something mostly different is impossible to tell. There's some sort of dotty pattern on the white portion of her sleeves. Her skirt extends past the bottom of the cover. It's white with big pink polka dots.
On the first page, across the top, in red, is "CHIGOMASHIMAR" in lines intended to evoke a pattern typical of this kind of picture. Below that is pink kanji with "by Barasui" in black. Below that, the girls are in cheongsam (I guess; if you've seen the picture and know it's actually something else, tell me and I'll look it up and correct it).
In the middle is a wooden bench for two. Seated in it are Matsuri and Nobue. Matsuri has her hair up in "ox horns
", and an open paper fan hiding her mouth. Her cheongsam is a pink two-piece, and the slits are right below the knees... you know, maybe Matsuri's isn't one. It looks like the same material and is has a similar pattern of light and not-quite-as-light colors, but the bottom part is more like shorts. I don't know if it still qualifies. Anyway, she's also wearing cute pink formal shoes with little bows.
Nobue's cheongsam is kind of a light...gray... purple? Blue? It's in one piece, as are Ana's and Miu's. I don't know about Chika's; I'll tell you why later. It has sort-of-short sleeves Anyway, Nobue has her left elbow up on the back of the chair, hidden by Matsuri's head. She has a small cup of something in her right hand at chest level. (I wouldn't be surprised if it was sake, but if you know something it's more likely to be...) Her legs are crossed, taking perhaps the most advantage of the hip-high slits of any of the girls... which, I guess, is appropriate; it would be kind of disturbing if the preteens "outdid" Nobue in this regard. Her shoes are black.
Ana's cheongsam is a little darker than Nobue's, and comes down to her ankles. Her sleeves are shorter than Nobue's, but still there. She's standing with her side to the viewer, and is slightly leaning on the left arm of the bench. Her face is kind of turned to her left, with her eyes looking at the viewer. Her shoes are lavender.
On Nobue's side of the bench, Miu is on her knees, facing the viewer with open eyes and an open-mouthed smile. Instead of pigtails, her hair is also in "ox horns", surprisingly without pigtails. Her cheongsam is salmon with gold spots, and stops about her knees. The shoes, which are about 90 degrees apart, are black.
Chika is walking behind Miu, toward the left of the page, carrying hot food in a hangiri on a tray. Her cheongsam is yellow and brown. The length, and her shoes, are hidden by Miu.
The next page has Ana standing with her wrists and fingertips together, the latter in front of her mouth. Her face is toward the viewer, but her eyes are looking to her left. She has a light blue bow of long, broad ribbon on the top of her head.
The page after the copyright page has Chika and Ana in reindeer costumes, as shown in the middle panel of page 99.
On the introduction page, "Cute girls are back in town." This phrase is at the top of the right-side page. Across the top of the two pages are a series of light squares. Below this, both of the pages have squares in a 3 wide by 4 tall formation. On the square are pictures of the characters, accompanied by name and description. The picture of each girl was first used on their respective spring pages in the previous volume.
Nobue stands in the right side of the first three rows. "Age 16. The oldest of the bunch, and has an irrepressible addiction to nicotine." I don't know... she stopped for a while, and got back into it because she was eating so much Pocky now that she can taste them better. Maybe that was an excuse? "When she's not puffing on a cig, she's teasing the girls through any means possible." Well, generally Miu, and to a lesser extent, Chika. Matsuri, not so much.
On the same page, Chika stands in the left side of the bottom three rows. "Age 12. Nobue's little sister, and complete opposite. She tends to play victim to the other girls' antics."
Speaking of antics, Miu stands in the upper left. "The cutest of the cute, this spazztastic ball of energy lives next door to Chika, and will never pass up the opportunity to bring a little mayhem to their lives."
"Age 11. Also known as 'Mats,' Matsuri is timid, a crybaby, and completely lost when it comes to sports." I haven't ever looked into what she's called in Japanese, but I have wondered what: Ma-chan? Matsu-chan? "She's also often teased by the girls for her mysterious white hair." This is mostly informed, as you only really see them do it while she's in a drugged sleep, although she does tell Miu that that's most of what she doesn't like about her (see Episode 3 for both).
John's tucked into the lower left, and there's not much to say about him. His episode divider picture is not used here.
On the table of contents, the episodes are listed in order, though each listing is indented more.
At the bottom of the page, the girls stand, drawn at a tilt. Each girl in the line stands with her right arm in front of the next girl's left arm.
First is Nobue. She wears a "26 Mixes for Cash" pullover with frontal pocket over what might be a tank top. Below is a pair of plaid shorts or pants. She also wears a necklace with a five-pointed star inside a five-pointed star. It menaces with spikes of silver. Or not.
Next is Ana. She has on a short-sleeved shirt with laces tied in a bow at the neckline. It has a halved strawberry motif. Below is a striped skirt with white stripes between stripes of light and/or dark.
Chika's wearing a sleeveless shirt with a nondescript animal on her left chest, grass and a heart in front of it, and "SFA" below it. (Super Furry Animals? Sweet Female Attitude? Something entirely different?)
Matsuri has on a polo with a flower and...
- oa
- sis
...written on it.
Each of these girls has thrown a strawberry with the intent to catch it in their mouths. At the moment captured, Nobue's, Ana's, and Chika's strawberries are still in midair; Matsuri's has hit her in the head.
Miu has on a short-sleeved white shirt with tiny polka dots. Miu has opted for the "hold it while biting it" method. She seems to have applied a thick dairy-based substance, possibly the "miruku" in the bottle in her left hand.
Next time: Episode 11!
