Out gambitting so next level that no one can truly be sure that's what it was
"You've got to be kidding me... snails in the pencil case, a mongoose in the drawer, an octopus balloon in the closet... And now on top of all that, shaved ice for supper!"
After failing an exam, Utena joins a study group led by Student Council member Miki Kaoru. Miki soon finds himself falling in love with Anthy. Nanami tags along and tries to humiliate Anthy in front of the group.
"The Sunlit Garden - Prelude" provides examples of:
- Animation Bump: A brief shot of Nanami's live octopus with its tentacles wrapped around Chu-Chu and his bowl of shaved ice is drawn on the ones.
- Apathetic Student: Anthy does not really engage during the study date. Even though the Miki's orginial intention was to help her in particular, he ends up tutoring Utena instead while Anthy draws herself a little flipbook animation in her workbook (and she's utterly tickled with her own creation.) Good grades are meaningless to the Rose Bride.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Nanami on Anthy: "Snails in her pencil box... A mongoose in her desk drawer... A giant octopus balloon in her closet! And now shaved ice for dinner?! You're making me sick!"
- Brain Freeze: Chu-Chu grimaces and rubs his head after having a big spoonful of shaved ice.
- Chekhov's Gun: There is a piano in the common area of the East Hall dorm which Utena uses as an impromptu study desk in the first half of the episode. At the end of the episode, Anthy sneaks away from the study date to play a song on this piano, and in doing so confirms to Miki that she really is the dream-girl he's been looking for.
- Dialogue Reversal: Wakaba gets bad score on a math test and complains about having to learn advanced mathnote to which Utena replies, "I think it's so we can cultivate logical reasoning." But it turns out that Utena did poorly on the test too, so Wakaba turns it around on her.Wakaba: That's no good, you need to cultivate logical reasoning!
- Embarrassing Hobby: In the shadow play, a boy fancied B-ko only to discover that she was into pro wrestling (and loves big bowls of garlic ramen,) and dumped her. Her true nature was at odds with who he imagined her to be. Will Miki's pedestal for Anthy come crashing down like this, too?
- Epic Fail: Nanami's attempts to frame Anthy as a weirdo during a study session fail miserably because Anthy's natural state is far stranger than what Nanami was planning to make her look like, and everyone else present already knew that.
- The Fake Cutie: Nanami is over-the-top saccharine during this episode as long as other characters are observing her. When she's not observed, she skulks in the corners and eavesdrops, and thinks up convoluted Embarrassment Plots.
- Foreshadowing: After Nanami blows up at Anthy following all her humiliation, Anthy muses to herself and Chu-Chu that she should've made takoyaki instead of shaved ice. Takoyaki is made from diced octopus, meaning Anthy's implying she should've killed the octopus Nanami used to try and humiliate her, and served it to Nanami. This is a pretty big hint that Anthy is not harmless or as docile as she appears.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Nanami keeps trying to humiliate Anthy by making it look like she's keeping disgusting animals in her room. Trouble is, Anthy's already keeping animals in her room and Miki thinks it's cute so Nanami just humiliates herself by freaking out.
- Imagine Spot: Before trying to plant disgusting animals on Anthy's room in an attempt to humiliate her, Nanami imagines her succeeding: Nanami pretends to be shocked by the animal being there, and Utena and Miki become disappointed at Anthy, complete with Nanami giving a shrill Noblewoman's Laugh while saying, "The jig is up, Anthy Himemiya!"
- In Medias Res: The episode begins by establishing that Miki challenges Utena to a duel, then goes back in time to show how he reached his decision to fight.
- Lost Food Grievance: Nanami brought snacks for everyone, but when she pulls out her bento box, the only thing in it is Chu-Chu with a Balloon Belly after eating it all. As much as this seems like a last straw situation, she manages to just barely hang on her composure. The shaved ice for dinner is what actually makes her blow up.
- Mistaken for Flirting: Nanami listens in on Miki's piano playing and gets all blushy when he says he hopes a "certain someone" will hear it, assuming that he means her. She looks quite put out when she flips through his score book and finds a picture of Anthy stuck in-between the pages.
- Operation: [Blank]: Parodied with the names Nanami keeps giving to her plans to humiliate Anthy, that are way too long and 100% literal about what Nanami is going to do. Not that it matters much, because Nanami is the only one carrying out the plans.
- Relationship Sabotage: Nanami tags along to Miki's study date with Anthy and Utena with a bag full of tricks for making Anthy look bad. Her goal is to get Miki to change his mind about Anthy.
- Running Gag: Nanami trying to humiliate Anthy by making it look like she keeps disgusting animals in her room, having imagine spots of her succeeding in her goal, and then failing miserably when she tries her plans for real.
- Samaritan Relationship Starter: Nanami's Girl Posse employs Stock Shoujo Bullying Tactics on Anthy until Miki shows up and shoos them away. He helps Anthy gather up her belongings and they strike up a conversation. He goes on to correct her math test, which is covered in red marks.
- Snake Versus Mongoose: One of Nanami's plans is to hide a snake in Anthy's home and spread rumors that Anthy is the kind of girl who keeps snakes - her plan fails when Anthy's pet mongoose eats the snake.
