Chapter 153

Kureha objects to Chopper's decision to leave the castle. However, the team set off with Chopper after being chased off by Kureha. While the team escapes, Kureha uses Hiriluk's special 'red dirt' to create a sakura tree effect to see Chopper off.

Hiriluk's Sakura

The Straw Hat Pirates are ready to depart, they are only waiting for Chopper and Dr. Kureha to say good-bye. But when Chopper reveals to Kureha that he has decided to become a pirate, she does not accept it. Enraged by what she considers a selfish behavior after everything she has done for the young reindeer, she starts to chase him in order to force him to stay, praying him to not believe in Hiriluk's hopeless dreams. Chopper with no other choice but to run away, mounts Dr. Kureha's sled and rushes toward the Straw Hats who have no other choice than jump in it for a hasty departure.

Going down by the Drum Ropeway, Chopper has sad feelings, he does not know if he should trust Dr. Kureha or believe in Hiriluk who gave him hope with his researches and pushed him to discover the world.

At the castle, Dr. Kureha reveals her true feelings to Dalton, she hates sad goodbyes and grants to Chopper a nice farewell. The preparations she asked to the villagers are now completed, and she asks them to fire the cannon which are pointing toward the sky. The noise of the canons wakes up the entire island who first worried for a possible return of Wapol. They discover a marvelous sight. The cannons, filled with Dr. Hiriluk's pink powder, color the snow and cover the island with the miracle Sakura aura. Chopper, in tears, watches the show fall with his new friends. His doubts have vanished and he is thankful for the two doctors that have helped him.

Mission 102

After finally returning to Ostania, Martha rushes to her home in Berlint and shares a tearful reunion with her parents. The next day, Martha leaves for Eden Academy to meet with Henry but is surprised to learn that it is currently the weekend, so none of the teachers who live off the campus are there. Martha runs into her former teacher, Mr. Fowler, who gives her Henry's home address when she requests it.

Martha dashes Henry's home, but trips and falls flat on her face. To her surprise, she gets helped up by Henry himself. The two cry tears of joy and relief to see each other again, but before Martha can say anything else, Henry's wife, Lucia, appears. Martha is devastated to learn that Henry married Lucia one month ago, and while she manages to congratulate the newlyweds, she cannot accept it as the memories of her youth shatter before her. Martha internally cursed their era and herself, thus bringing a close to her adolescence.

In the present, Becky cannot accept the end of Martha's tale. She asks why Martha did not steal the man she loved back, which Martha dissuades against and clarifies that the man's wife was a fine woman. Lucia's uncle was a distinguished man who heavily supported the postwar reconstruction, and she and Henry were able to get Martha to dance ballet at one of their charity events. While Martha was unhappy with being marketed as a war survivor and her lessened ability to dance due to her injuries, she had one of the most impactful experiences of her life. During that event, where she felt that she had performed in a world where her dream theater troupe still existed and she had joined it, Martha experienced what it meant to feel alive again and accepted that she had an entire life ahead of her. As Martha came to that discovery, Lucia was happy for Martha, which was mutually felt. Henry also loved Lucia dearly, and Martha respected and felt pride in that, something she admits to accepting years later.

Becky admonishes the war and the elites that wanted it for dashing Martha's dreams and love, as well as dragging innocents into it, but Martha tells her young mistress that the world is not that simple and is full of many things that interact with each other in complicated ways. Not understanding Martha, Becky presses for answers. Martha explains that the things that people cannot understand are what cause them unease, so they will convince themselves that they do understand to make themselves feel better. However, clinging and believing in those assertions as truths is a dangerous weakness, and Martha tells Becky that accepting the unknowns is equally important to finding the truths.

Martha goes further, saying that even after fighting in the second East-West war, she was still unable to understand anything except that battlefields are tragic and miserable places. Becky is shocked that Martha went back to the war, and Martha adds that "he" was also furious about it. Becky suspects that the "he" Martha has been referring to in her story is Henry, but Martha shushes her and advises against prying, as everyone has things they wish to keep secret. Martha then leaves her confused mistress at home to run an errand. Dressed in funeral attire and carrying flowers, Martha arrives at a cemetery, where she meets with Henry. Henry thanks her for always bringing flowers every year, and Martha remarks it has been 15 years. She jabs at Henry, saying that despite the passage of time, he is still a terrible dancer, which an embarrassed Henry protests. As they note the lovely weather, Henry invites Martha for some tea, which she accepts.

Missing Identity

As the episode opens, SpongeBob is at a diner on a dark and weary morning, while rain is pouring down outside. A patron is solving a crossword puzzle and realizes that he has lost his pen. A waitress says he can borrow hers, and he does. It then shows SpongeBob sitting at a table, he says he once lost something he could not live without: his identity.

Even though no one asked or wants to know, he recounts the events of last Monday. In the flashback, he wakes up and throws his blanket into the air, and says "Good morning, world, and all who inhabit it!" The blanket falls on him, and SpongeBob, being unable to see, falls off of his bed, and his alarm clock falls on top of his head. He falls down the stairs and the alarm propels him into the window. He feeds Gary and comments that he has been feeding Gary snail food for years and does not even know what it tastes like. He tastes it and is revolted, and his screaming of disgust is sensed at the headquarters of the company that makes the snail food. He looks at the clock and realizes that he is late for work, and quickly gets changed and skips to work. While he is skipping to work, Patrick greets SpongeBob.

After SpongeBob tells the diner people about greeting Patrick, he decides to skip to the part when he was about to serve a customer.

As SpongeBob serves food to a customer, the customer tells him that he should wear a name tag so that she can thank him properly. He indicates that he is indeed wearing a name tag, but then realizes that his name tag is missing. He panics, hyperventilates, and eventually faints.

When he wakes up, he asks Squidward what happened. Squidward tells him that he fainted because he lost his name tag, but he assures him that his name tag is not that important, and SpongeBob hyperventilates once again until Squidward stops him, saying it is not the end of the world. However, just as he says this, Mr. Krabs comes out of his office and informs them that there is a uniform inspection in one hour and anyone who fails has to wear a very stinky boot all day. Squidward suggests to SpongeBob that he should retrace his steps.

SpongeBob repeats everything he did that morning several times, including his "horrific incident of terror" with the alarm clock and eating the snail food. SpongeBob repeats this many times since Patrick continuously fails to say "Hi" to him. As an example, Patrick accidentally says "Hi, SpongeBoob" and laughs afterward. Still, SpongeBob fails to find his name tag. Patrick then asks him what he did after he greeted him before noticing he lost his name tag, and SpongeBob explains that he skipped merrily to Krusty Krab, said hello to Old Man Jenkins, put an apple on Mr. Krabs' desk, and was thrown into a dumpster by two thugs. Patrick predicts his name tag is in the apple he placed on Mr. Krabs' desk. SpongeBob likes Patrick's prediction but claims Mr. Krabs has probably thrown that apple away by now, so Patrick suggests looking in the dumpster, and they go to search there.

During the search, SpongeBob gives Patrick two hints but he is still confused. SpongeBob does a double-take of Jack Benny while wondering, but panics that he has one minute left. Patrick then sees SpongeBob's name tag on the back of his shirt, but when he alerts him to this and SpongeBob turns around, it seems to disappear and Patrick cannot remember where it was. SpongeBob gets irritated after he does this twice, and he soon tells Patrick to go home since he is no help. However, after an annoyed Patrick replies "Well, at least I don't wear my shirt backwards!" When SpongeBob hears this, he looks at his back and realizes that he had his name tag all along, and his shirt was supposed to correct to wear the pants not backwards on his name tag, and his shirt was just on backwards. At the uniform inspection, however, Mr. Krabs smells SpongeBob and is disgusted by the stench of the dumpster, and seemingly suspends him from working at the Krusty Krab.

As the episode ends with SpongeBob finishing telling his story, thanking the waitress for listening and explaining that he managed to kill eleven minutes, calling her "Betty," she says that her name is not Betty and that she is just borrowing someone else's uniform while hers is getting cleaned. When SpongeBob learns this, he does another Jack Benny double-take.

Jango's Dance Paradise

Vol. 21 : "Lucky!! Jango Escapes"

ジャンゴのダンス天国vol.21「ラッキー!! 逃亡のジャンゴ」

Oda Eiichiro

You can have a lotta fun with the 'Log Pose' from Bandai. In fact, I think I overdid it a bit and my muscles are really sore.

バンダイさんの『ログポース』は結構遊べる。ちょっとやりすぎて筋肉痛になりました

Chapter 154