The second cour I never expected kicks off with another wonderful episode. And with a new OP and ED, which broadly follow the same template: kind of a rocker to open and a golden oldie chart-topper (“Subarashi Hibi” by Okuda Tamio and Unicorn) remixed by Kuricorder Quartet to close. To be honest I was kind of hoping they’d keep the old ones, because they were both among the best of the year. But these were good too, and maybe they’ll grow to equal stature with repeated listening.

We start off round two with the alien invasion problem far from anyone’s mind. In fact it literally gets not a mention during the entire episode.That’s the sort of science fiction story Uchuujin MuuMuu is. It’s more about goofballs being goofy and general geekery than any hard plot.The theme this time is the university festival. And having been to a couple of those in my day, I can tell you they get very zany indeed – there’s less exaggeration here than you probably think. These circles need to raise money for the entire year in a couple of days, and they’re at an age where pride and dignity are pretty disposable items.

Tenkubashi’s idea with the HRS booth is to sell the romance of specialized appliance. Like a sweet potato roaster for example, or some sort of slow cooker that stirs the food automatically (who knew). Fortunately Sakurako’s parents have sent her a bunch of vegetables from home and (over the Prez’ misplaced objections) she uses them to show off what the machine can do. This sets off Miwa (to be fair pretty much everything sets off Miwa, especially where Sakurako is concerned), trying to drum up business for the tennis club.

Alongside this drama we have the “Mr. and Miss Campus” contests. There’s never a doubt who’s going to win the former (and it doesn’t even merit showing on-screen). Sonoko of course is the reigning Ms. Campus, a burden she’d just as soon be without. But as soon as she finishes up selling off a thousand maneki neko charms dressed as a miko, she gets drafted into the contest. Miwa enters of course, and Tenkubashi makes Sakurako (“she’s very popular with the culture clubs”) play too.

The talent portion consists of Miwa reciting a hilariously overdramatic poem, incorporating Akihiro for a kabedon. That’s followed by Sakurako soldering a capacitor, which she really sells by drafting MuuMuu to do so alongside her. But neither of those can stand up to Sonoko unleashing her karate skills against a raft of defenseless tiles. This rather frustrates Tenkubashi, who put Sakurako up to it not so much to draw attention to the Human Regenerative Society, but to get that burden lifted from Sonoko. But they end up having kind of a happy ending anyway, though I remain skeptical that he’s ever going to be able to hold up his end up a relationship.

Another great bit here was Tenkkubashi and Miwa arguing the merits of used appliances. This goes way past jockeying for festival business because they’re naturally arch-enemies – he makes his living selling crap appliances he fixes and her family makes their money selling new ones. In the end Miwa is foiled by Sakurako – as always, pretty much – and her inaka produce. And after Sakurako plotzes when Akihiro compliments said produce, MuuMuu accuses her of being in heat (when he’s right, he’s right). But the implication is that his life is about to get a lot more complicated in that regard…