“He’s already dead”. This, along with “After people die, where do they go?” form the legendary lines of this episode.

There’s a funny sort of structure to SnO, where you basically have two episodes running parallel to each other. In one, Tomoki is in “normal” form and actual plot advancement and character development happen. In the other, Tomoki is usually in chibi form and the normal rules don’t apply – things that would normally kill you are temporary and things slip into a sort of Chuck Jones mode, and the only thing that matters is mining for laughs. This week, the development pretty much all involved Nymph, and the diversion was an “American Sumo” tournament – the sadistic Prez’ latest attempt to screw with everyone’s minds and inflict maximum possible damage. Everyone gets involved, from the PE teacher to Astraea to Prez herself, with a 10 million yen prize on the line – but it’s Tomoki as “Mask DuPants” who steals the biggest laughs. His strategy is simple – fondle the girls till they flee the ring. In the process he alienates the girls and makes fans of the guys, and is heading for a great victory over the Prez before Sohara – in disguise – descends from from the rafters and unleashes standing death on him. Fondling girls other than her is a definite no-no.

The big news to come out of all this, really, is that Nymph is officially in love with Tomoki and has even admitted it to herself. That rather complicates things, with Ikaros and Sohara still squarely in play and Tomoki primarily interested in working with his hands. Given that this isn’t a romance series I don’t really expect any serious relationship development here, but it should be fun to watch – an embarrassed Nymph is one of nature’s great wonders.