Otaru, his Marionettes and the entire population of Kasahari Apartments are all going to have an outdoor barbecue by the river to celebrate Lime's recovery from last episode - or just because they really wanna have a barbecue. However, even though the weather is nice and everyone gets off to an early start, they are unable to ditch Hanagata successfully - though late and still clad in his official Otaru PJ's, he arrives, loudly bemoaning his mistreatment. After Lime breaks the generator that Gennai brought, Otaru is sent upstream to a potter of Gennai's acquaintance to get some earthenware so that they can barbecue the old-fashioned way. At the mention of Gennai's name, the potter agrees to lend some real nice dishes 'n' stuff to Otaru and shows him the kiln. The potter and his assistants have found an underground plasma reservoir that, though quite temperamental, can cook up pottery 10 times as fast as a normal kiln when it's working properly. This gives Otaru an idea... Meanwhile, Lime is getting very bored without Otaru around to entertain her. Hanagata tries to introduce her to fishing, but an argument over technique leads to the creation of a whirlpool by Lime that opens a chasm in the riverbed that drains all the water into an underground cavern. Meanwhile, Otaru is busily painting pottery and Geltland is testing a device, similar to the Tower of Babel in Nadia, that cuts through the smog above the Geltland capital, giving it the first sunshine some of its inhabitants have seen in generations and sending all the nasty weather elsewhere... Sure enough, all the weather winds up right on top of the barbecue, bemusing Gennai and making Lime worry about Otaru's lateness more than ever. At last Otaru returns, plates in hand, and apologizes to Cherry and Bloodberry for his lateness - walking right past Lime. Though unintentional, this sends Lime into an even deeper funk, and she goes and sulks in the rain. Even when the rain stops and the steaks are being sizzled up in a most appetizing fashion, she continues to sulk. However, the amusing spectacle of a gluttonous Hanagata being fed a rock (Bloodberry: "I just said it was done!") is interrupted by Gennai's discovery, on his portable Sirius Cybernetics Corporation Omni-Magneto-Sens-O-Matic, that there is a massive electromagnetic disturbance in the plasma below the ground below them, further evidenced by massive explosion coming from about where the big plasma kiln is/was. Otaru takes off for the pottery barn at a run, just in time to find the potter in a reflective mood. Perhaps a mountain of plasma is too much for any man... but Otaru should consider himself lucky otherwise! However, what Otaru sees tends to convince him otherwise. The Marionettes meet him on the way back, including Lime who, though still unhappy, realizes how much she's worried everyone and is prepared to apologize unilaterally. She hugs Otaru, causing him to drop something out of the little bag he was carrying. It's a tall Japanese-style teacup, obviously handmade, with a painting of Cherry. At least, it looks like Cherry, in the same way that Crayon Shin-Chan looks like a real four-year-old boy. There's another one in the bag, of Bloodberry. These, Otaru explains, are to mark the solid year that the Marionettes have spent with Otaru. However, Bloodberry and Cherry notice that there's no crappy teacup painting of Lime in evidence, and they close the book and gracefully decline the gifts - the Marionettes are a package deal, man, dis one and you dis them all! Otaru, when he gets a chance to finish, brings out the third piece, the one he was going to try to finesse a bit. It's Lime's teacup - except, thanks to a little plasma-kiln mishap, it's sort of sagged into more like a bowl. Otaru needn't have worried, tho: Lime is simply in hysterics over her picture on the teabowl, and promises to keep it forever and ever. The voice of Lorelei, which Lime continues to hear even after she was repaired, asks Lime if she's happy. Lime replies, out loud, "Yes!"
click here to see where to watch or .
Ready to Watch Saber Marionette J, Season 1, Episode 21?