Atari spots Ran in the park but loses her, but not before she drops a neatly-packaged cake from her basket. A cake she said would “knock him dead”. Hearing her use those exact words puts us in the Lum’s state of mind, because when she finds Ataru, he’s flat on his back and in bad shape.
Lum, noted inventor and tinkerer, turns to her robodoc, who confirms poison, but no treatment: just funeral preparations. Hooking him up to a vital sign monitor of her own design that she can check on with a handheld remote, Lum heads out to save her Darling. She manages to find the warp gate Ran used to travel to a fantastical (and gorgeous) forest, but she’s always a step behind her.
When a napping Cherry snags a wire, Ataru’s vitals flatline on Lum’s remote. But as expected, “knock him dead” was just an expression: Ran made the cakes for Rei specifically, and the galoot does seem to enjoy them. But Lum doesn’t know that, assumes Darling is dead, and her wailing lament draws both Rei and Ran to her. Ran is pissed at first, but when she sees Lum won’t stop crying, she seems genuinely concerned for her old friend.
She’s able to calm Lum down, assuring her there must be some mistake. Sure enough, they return just as Ataru is reovering a bit, but is still wretchedly bloated. Turns out the cakes were specifically formulated to be one hundred times more filling than normal, in order to satisfy Rei. Pissed that Ataru ate one, Rei goes after him, while Ran lays into Lum for ruining her date.
It’s a raucous, unpleasant ending, but it can’t ruin the previous display of Lum’s genuine love and devotion for Ataru (and despair upon believing him dead) as well Ran showing she’ll be there for Lum if she needs her.
The second half marks the return of the adorable little fox (we’ll call him Kitsune) from last season. It starts with a positively gorgeous folktale of a fox who fell for a human girl and used charmed horsetail shoots to turn her into a fox for a night. Kitsune just happens to have some of spring’s first shoots, and sets out intending to play out the folktale with his beloved Shinobu.
Between the folktale and Kitsune finding Ataru and Lum, his journey to the big scary city and issues with big dogs and cars is played out with scarcely any dialogue. Kitsune, the dogs, and his Kotatsu Cat hero simply make expressive sounds. The music is also superb in this sequence, as it perfectly complements Kitsune’s unique POV in the otherwise familiar town setting.
When he spots Ataru and Lum at a vending machine, he disguises himself as Shinobu (which of course means he looks like a little fox Shinobu and isn’t fooling anyone). Shinobu feels bad about simply sending the little guy on his way, and agrees to help him find the horsetail shoots he lost.
They take him to Shinobu’s, where he disguises himself as Ataru and Lum and even adopts (and mixes up) their unique manners of speech. Kugimiya Rie is the perfect button-cute voice for Kitsune, no matter who he’s imitating. The four eventually encounter Cherry and Kotatsu Cat, who are cooking something (I love how everyone ignores Cherry until they simply can’t anymore).
They initially offer Kitsune some of their soup to comfort him after they were unable to find his shoots. But Kitsune, Cherry, and Kotatsu make the soup seem so tasty, Ataru, Lum, and Shinobu have a bowl as well. And because Kotatsu Cat put the horsetail shoots in the soup, they all turn into foxes!
This reveal, complete with soaring music, cozy lighting, and adorable character designs is masterfully directed and timed for maximum emotional impact. The whole episode was a feast for the eyes and ears, but you simply cannot go wrong with a Kugimiya Rie-voiced little fox. I’d watch a whole season of his adventures and terrible disguises!
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