If poor Ika-chan were human, she’d probably have realized that no matter how nice Chizuru was being, it’s always time to run screaming when the closed-eyes character decides to open them…

Three solid winners this week, though the first one had a bit much Sanae for my tastes.  That was balanced, however, by the long-overdue return of Nagisa.  I adore her neurotic anxiety, and she’s really the only character who gives Ika the ego boost of actually seeming to believe her nonsense.  And is it my imagination or have we seen a lot more of The Three Stooges than we did last year?  Anyway, Sanae was really creepy with the whole hypnosis thing, though thankfully she was so ineffectual that there was no risk of her successfully hypnotizing Ika and molesting her.  Not so lucky is the rest of the human race when Ika-chan finds the Stooges’ “Coin for use against aliens that will always successfully hypnotize” (now that’s some relevant inventing).  It works against humans well enough, though Harris Clark and Martin are dismayed by that – but then since we don’t know if Ika’s an alien…  And did it not work against Chizuru because she’s an alien, or because it was broken?  Ika got off on the wrong foot with Chizuru this week and it only got worse.

Of course it’s always a good thing when Ayumi’s Dad shows up, and his historic meeting with The Stooges was one of the highlights of the episode (“Yay!!”).  I get his whole thing about wanting to defeat Ika-chan and all, but unless I’m wrong there’s something important about the “contest” nobody mentioned – wouldn’t Ika be DEAD if she loses to the robo-Ika and has her hat taken off?  I mean, seriously – Eiko isn’t worried, and even asks Ika to throw the match – and Ika doesn’t seem too worried either.  Of course the contest reveals that like all Harris, Clark and Martin’s inventions this one is inherently flawed – like Geoff Peterson, this Ika could really do with an extension cord.

Finally, as has been its wont this season, Shinryaku Ika Musume closes with a heartwarming chapter – or at least it looks that way for a while.  Ika’s probably right in finally realizing that she’s being way too nice to effectively invade anybody, and she even tries to start her anti-Google “Be Evil” campaign by doing something manageable – using the wrong recycle bin.  But not even this new and improved evil-Ika can bring herself to deliberately provoke Chizuru.  Alas, provoke her she does, if accidentally, and she’s right to be more freaked out by Chizuru’s forgiving behavior than her anger.  It turns out Chizuru is just envious of the close relationship Ika has with her siblings, and the two of them have a long talk that seems sweet as butter, but the eyes – it’s always the eyes…

Even though this season probably hasn’t been quite as good as the first on the whole, I’m realizing just how much I’m going to miss this series when it’s gone.  There’s something comfortable and loveable about this premise and these characters, and as clichéd as it sounds they really do take on the feeling of friends rather than just fictional characters more than in almost any other show I can think of.  Oddly, there was no mention in the preview that next week is the last ep, though I’m quite sure it is – and while I may be misremembering, I don’t think Ika has ever done one of the previews herself before.  Maybe that was the acknowledgement that the show is ending, though there’s – as always – much hope for another season.  Please buy those Blu-rays, ~degeso!