[title screen]
A strong storm is coming at full speed. Inside the house, Papa is fixing a device of his own with a soldering iron, while Mama sets up the automatic breakfast machine with her choice of dishes (scrambled eggs, coffee..) for tomorrow morning. Leaving the kitchen, she almost bumps into her dog Molly and begs her husband to hurry or they'll be late at the party. In no time he's finished with what he's making, and hands out to her, his wife Natsumi, a compact with a mirror inside and a red light that starts beeping and flashing when it pops open. Then Papa puts one of the two small hearts he also made on their baby, and on his way upstairs, makes a test to see if these portable intercoms work. Instead of thanking him, Natsumi yells him to hurry and get ready, so he hastily goes upstairs but the 2nd heart drops on the stairs, unnoticed.
-- Note1: the compact and the 2 small hearts all bear two large "MM" letters. It _might_ be the baby's name and surname. Nothing is told though..
-- Note2: Natsumi has long dark hair, but Papa is only showed from behind or with his head down, therefore we know _nothing_ about him except that his hair is dark. I almost forgot.. we can see his face very briefly during the OP animation !
Then Natsumi spots the heart that her little baby girl, in a pink outfit with a rabbit tail, wears. Her blond hair is tied up in a pigtail on top of her head. Natsumi tells her they are going to the manga autograph party Aunt Izumi is holding, and for that special occasion, picks up a pink rubber ring in her jewel box and snaps it onto the baby's hair lock to "dress her smartly", since it's the first time she is invited. Soon Papa rushes down, looking for his necktie.
Outside, the storm is now just over the house, and a flash of lightning hits the antenna and goes all the way down to the TV set in front of which the baby is sitting. The screen turns green and a flash of light comes out of it and surrounds the baby, the compact and a tote bag, making them fly in mid air, much to the baby's happiness. Natsumi, coming back, can only witness her baby, trapped in the green light, vanish before her eyes, making her scream. The baby, still laughing, now seems to be travelling in an everlasting tunnel, along with the tote bag and the compact..
At some other place. Mizuki Natsumi, a cute schoolgirl with short dark hair, is having a farewell party at her school, since she's following her parents who are transferred to London. Her friends make her swear not to forget her, then give her a lot of byebye presents. Eriko, one of her friends, even gives her her favourite stuffed rabbit, and Tamae gives her a giant rice cracker she cooked, thinking Natsumi couldn't find any in London.
-- Note3: Natsumi's friend Eriko is performed by Shiratori Yuri, who also performs Nonohara Aiko, Hime-chan's elder sister in Hime-chan No Ribbon.
From afar, resting alone against the window, a boy, with dark hair tied up in a ponytail and an earring on his left ear, is staring at Natsumi with a stern look. Natsumi spots him, and pulls her tongue at him.
Then the "Mitaka Shun of the class" [a Maison Ikkoku pun ^_^], Fukazawa-kun, with the same sparkling teeth, comes to apologize for not having been able to get a present for Natsumi, making her blush [it's obvious that she loves him].
Natsumi's classmates eventually give her a last hug, crying all tears out.
On her way back home, Natsumi thinks that transferring isn't that bad after all, since she got this many presents, but soon she hears the dark haired boy, Daisuke-kun, riding on his bike and passing by her at full speed, almost making her fall. She yells at him for driving carelessly, he retorts that she was walking dizzily. Shouting aloud that all he seems to be up to is to quarrel with her until the very last second, they start to fight against each other. Daisuke eventually dashes away, leaving behind a musical box for Natsumi, with a message inside: "even going to London won't make me cry over you !". [the musical box plays the OP theme's music]
At the police station, the policeman on duty is having a hard time trying to explain to an old lady what a convenience store is and where it is. He offers her to take her there and to carry her shopping bag. But then some kids playing soccer nearby shout him to stop their ball, that he catches, letting the old lady's bag drop on the ground, breaking the bottle inside. Natsumi thinks to herself that this policeman is kinda clumsy.
In front of Natsumi's house, the taxi driver puts the last pieces of luggage in the trunk of his car then locks it. Natsumi's parents, still waiting for Natsumi to come back from school, ask him to wait just a little more. Then Natsumi arrives, at a run, and her mother tells her that they unexpectedly have to leave for London today. Natsumi wants to go with them, but they couldn't find any ticket left for her, so she will have to wait until tomorrow. Besides, her aunt Izumi will come to see her tomorrow morning. With a last kiss, they leave, Mother telling Natsumi she'll be always by her side, Father warning her that Aunt Izumi hates dogs. Natsumi, left alone, sadly thinks that all she can do is to watch TV.
On screen, the TV show features a scary drama with a blond girl about to be "sliced" by the ax of a giant horned monster, so Natsumi quickly turns it off. Eating the rice cracker she got today, she complains to herself about parents leaving for other countries, leaving their children alone at home behind. Looking at the picture of her dog Bobby [who actually is Elder Natsumi's dog's, Molly, lookalike], she wished he'd be with her now. But since Izumi hates dog, he had been taken away. Natsumi complains aloud that she never liked Izumi from the beginning.
Then she hears a strong storm coming, and as lightning strikes the antenna, the TV screen turns green and the baby, the compact and the tote bag pop out of it, much to Natsumi's surprise.
[CM break: -OP: Izumi, Natsumi, Mirai and Bobby pop out from behind the flute and Mirai's MM heart; -ED: Natsumi is rolling the giant MM compact in front of her when Mirai falls on top of it [VERY cute] ]
Natsumi, who had shyly retreated behind the sofa, sticks out her head to look closer at the baby who just popped out from nowhere. When the green light vanishes, Natsumi catches the baby in her arms, but then lets it go on the sofa, scared. Soon she realizes that the baby girl is real, and smiles.
But then she hears a strange noise at the front door, as if somebody wanted to get into the house. Thinking it might be a thief, Natsumi grabs a tennis racket, walks on tiptoes to the door, and when it opens, slams her racket onto the thief's head.. that Natsumi recognizes when the lights turn back on: it is her aunt Izumi.
Izumi is now lying on the sofa, with a wet towel over her forehead. As Natsumi apologizes to her, Izumi straightens things up: she came here for 1 day just because her big sister (Natsumi's mother) asked her to, but does NOT intend to take care of Natsumi therefore she'd better take care of herself. Then she yells at Natsumi to bring her something cold to drink.
While Natsumi is busy rummaging in the fridge, the baby comes to see Izumi and pats her head gently. It wakes up Izumi, making her scream loud. Natsumi explains her where the baby came from, but in no way Izumi will believe a lie that big, and instead shyly retreats, yelling that she hates dogs as much as babies. She doesn't like the way Natsumi calls her either, "obasan", which means "aunt" as well as "old lady", and would prefer being called "oneesan", like children usually call their elders a more friendly way. But Natsumi replies she's her mother's younger sister, therefore she should call her "aunt", not "elder sister" [hmm... typical Japanese ways of calling people, I hope that's not a too obscure gag ^_^].
Natsumi adds that the baby must be an angel since she fell from the sky. Izumi doesn't share the same opinion though, and despite what Natsumi tells her again, wonders if this baby had been brought there by someone. So she decides to call the police and let them handle this. Natsumi doesn't want to hand out the baby to the clumsy policeman she saw earlier today, but hopefully the phone is out of order, probably due to the thunder. Natsumi begs Izumi to keep the baby for tonight, and she agrees, being too tired to argue. Natsumi doesn't notice the compact that has fallen on the floor and is beeping.
Before they go to sleep, Natsumi asks Izumi what kind of manga she is writing now, and wishes her a "good night, auntie!" that Izumi does NOT like: "call me big sister, you HEAR me ?!".
Izumi is very tired and about to fall asleep when Natsumi bursts into her room, holding the baby, crying out, asking for help. Izumi angrily gets up, yelling at her that the baby might be starving and that she'd better give her some milk. Hearing this, Natsumi spontaneously and naively replies: "milk ? I don't have any. You'd better breastfeed her yourself." [^_^;;].
Then Natsumi goes to have a look inside the tote bag that came with the baby, and finds some powdered milk and a baby-feed bottle. She heats them a little bit, and asks Izumi to "touch" it if it's warm enough; in fact, she burns Izumi's cheek by doing this. She then feeds the baby, who drinks it all.
Izumi then goes back to sleep.. but not for long, as Natsumi soon bursts in again, since the baby is crying out. Izumi gets very mad and yells her to get out of there with the baby, bringing Natsumi on the verge of tears.
Izumi is then about to sleep, when she realizes that the house has suddently become too quiet. "No she hasn't ?..", she thinks, but both Natsumi and the baby are nowhere to be seen: Natsumi has left the house with the baby.
Natsumi has taken the baby to the nearby park, and leaves her on the bench while she goes to get some hot drink at the vending machine.
Izumi, very worried about them, is now running in the streets, looking for them.
While Natsumi is making her choice, the baby, left alone on the bench, wriggles so much in her blanket that she falls down into the grass, and on all fours creeps away. She eventually runs into a scary animal whose eyes gloom in the dark. Natsumi panics when she comes back and doesn't see the baby anymore.
After a while, Izumi runs into Natsumi, crying all tears out. They team up to find where the baby went, and search into the grass behind the bench where Natsumi hasn't gone yet. Soon Izumi finds the baby, that Natsumi's dog Bobby is holding in his mouth. Izumi yells out (she doesn't like dogs!) and takes shelter behind the bench. Natsumi, spotting the baby and Bobby, is very happy and cries at the same time.
Back home, the 2 girls are quarelling because Natsumi has decided that she would nurse the baby herself. Izumi says in no way a mere elementary student like her can take care of the baby. Natsumi angrily retorts that she IS in her own house, therefore she does as she likes, and that's not her DEPENDENT aunt that will lecture her. Izumi, now very mad in turn, pinches Natsumi's cheek, swearing she will teach her the good manners, but then Matsumi kicks her aunt's leg.
The baby and Bobby are watching the two, and enjoying the show, and as they are about to have a real fight, when they hear the compact beeping from under the table. Wondering what this might be, they suddently hear, among strong interference, the voice of a panic-stricken woman, yelling: "hello ? hello ? is there anybody there ? hello ??..".
[to be continued !]
P-chan, 9 Nov 1994 at 00:26