As usual, there was a ton of great stuff happening on Ramen Akaneko this week. But I just want to single out Hana calling Tamako “Tama-chan”, because it was truly a great gag. In Japan “Tama” is the arch-typical stereotypical cat name – like Fluffy or Whiskers in English (cat names are something of a theme this week). Then there’s the subtext of it, with Tamako-san having tried so hard to get Hana to show more of her dere side. That made it odd that it was seemingly glossed over in the moment, but it got a callback in the “Daily Akaneko” (which I’m coming to appreciate as an extremely clever narrative device).
First off, we get a genuine cat fight where I’m actually safe using the term. And one that would put Kana and Akane to shame, too. The problem here is “bonito confit” – the special limited edition snack delicacy Sabu was saving. It’s gone missing, and he just assumes Hana has eaten it. Because apparently that sort of thing happens a lot. Tamako ends up investigating after a fashion, which leads to an amusing conversation with Krishna about mystery novels but no actual progress solving the case. That has the two combatants almost in full yowling and spitting mode. Hana makes a pretty unassailable point – if he had eaten the confit, she’s just admit it. Like, what the hell would she care?
As it turns out Bunzou ate it, assuming because of where Sabu hid it that the bonito was old and forgotten. As a peace offering he makes Sabu a plate of duck breast chashu (something actually safe for cats to eat), though a justifiably salty Hana winds up poaching most of it. This segues into a visit from the BFG of a few weeks ago. And he actually has a name, Taki (so does the lady who hired him to eat Akaneko Ramen – Sakura). He orders an asari instead of his usual house special, noting that it’s because he has a match coming up. Taki is a martial artist, it seems, and he has to watch the ramen intake.
When he tells Hana he wants a word, she’s thrilled at the notion of being asked for romantic advice. But no – Taki wants her to ask Krishna to train him on how to be intimidating. Eventually there’s a feline Algonquin Roundtable gathered around Taki’s square table, with Krishna protesting her lack of fighting spirit and Sasaki opining that intimidation is really used to avoid fights, not win them. Eventually the advice settled on is that Taki is simply too nice, and needs something to protect if he’s going to savage up. It’s pretty obvious what that’s going to be, and Sakura shows up before long to join the party.
Finally, a Sasaki chapter – and what a chapter it is. He’s a cat of many hats, and he’s let the admin side of the business pile up with his focus on the front of house. So much so that he recruits Tamako to help out with data entry and accounting, something she says she did as part of her mysterious prior job. She has no issues with the work – Sasaki is hyper-organized as usual, and that makes it easy for her. But the poor girl has to do this without a desk or even a human-sized table to work at. Sasaki will really need to do something about that if she keeps helping that way. And besides, new furniture would come in a box and we all know what a banner at at Ramen Akaneko that would be.
The headline, though, is the letter Tama finds addressed to “Sasaki Pudding”. “It’s not exactly a secret”, Hana says, but still cautions Tama-chan not to make fun of Pudding (like she ever would). Sasaki doesn’t seem too out of sorts about it – getting called by his full name at the bank is a lot worse than Tamako knowing, I’m going to assume the “one person” Pudding says is allowed to call him that is the old man with the ramen card who rescued Sasaki and Bunzou. And that jibes with the notion that Bunzou has a cute cat name too – though Sasaki says he can’t remember it. Much to the relief of Bunzou and the irritation of Hana, who’s desperate to know.
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