Is the Order a Rabbit? Bunnisode 9

 Aoyama Slump Mountain (青山 スランプマウンテン) is the ninth episode of Is the Order a Rabbit? anime series.

Synopsis
''In the past Cocoa met an elderly man and seemed to grant his wish to be reborn a rabbit, but finding out her master has passed away causes Aoyama to go through depression and give up writing. Later, Rize attempts to get in touch with her feminine side for the school play and gets advice from Chiya. ''

Summary
One autumns day, an elderly man sits down with his pet rabbit at the park. He speaks to her before commenting that life would be much easier if he was a rabbit. He's joined by a little girl who picked up the rabbit and she sits down to hold her. Cocoa, the little girl picks up the scent of coffee from the rabbit and the man is surprised upon realizing that Cocoa heard him speaking. She plays with him by pretending to cast a spell on him so that someday he becomes a rabbit, and her sister calls for her. Cocoa gets up and runs away after saying goodbye, and the male resumes petting Tippy. He comments that he'd hate to become a rabbit like her, since she's so odd looking- but Chino loves her so it wouldn't be so bad.

Currently, Chino approaches Cocoa in the Cafe to find her sleeping on an upset Tippy. She hears her speak in her sleep but stays quiet so that she can listen.

Later, the girls are doing the dishes when Rize recalls that she will need to take some work off soon. She was requested to lend the Theater Club some help and needs to rehearse for it. Cocoa isn't surprised since she's so talented, and Chino thinks about how interesting it is until Rize assures her it isn't anything really soft and cute, she will be playing Christine, the heroine from The Phantom of the Opera. Chino goes on to notice how happy she looks- but Rize quickly denies it and gets flustered, earning teasing from Cocoa before claiming she once played the role of a dog. Rize gets upset by their pestering though, and accidentally breaks a plate before commenting on how hard this role will be for her, so they suggest she gets advice from Sharo and Chiya due to their ladylike personalities. Cocoa sends Chiya a text to inform her of this.

Rize arrives and explains that she would like help trying to become ladylike and Chiya quickly has her put on a dress and asks to do her hair. Rize is initially against it but eventually agrees- only to express shock by how feminine she has become suddenly. But she realizes her attire looks familiar and Chiya quickly brings her to her first task, admiring a flower. Rize attempts this but struggles, asking why she had to dress up instead. Chiya claims it would help her before putting on a pair of glasses, showing a more serious side to herself, although Rize claims that it would just be better and quicker if she practiced on fixing her personality. Chiya claims it won't help unless she goes the full way, and as this is going on Aoyama observes them from the nearby table.

She compliments Rize as she observes the plant and comments that by attempting to change by using her full strength in such a way she is already showing her a ladylike side to herself. Chiya reminds Rize that Aoyama was the one who made the movie they went to see. As Rize recalls this, Chiya brings up that sometimes she asks Aoyama for help thinking up menu names. Rize is amazed by how poetic Aoyama sounds while she speaks, and they question if she has been able to get over her own predicament as of late.

Meanwhile, Chino and Cocoa discuss whether or not Rize will need to learn to sing and dance for the play. Cocoa gets excited at the idea of performing for customers at the Cafe, then asks Chino if she played any roles in theater. Chino recalls that she played a tree once, then Cocoa suggests they dance around as trees.

Sharo hurries up to get home from school, curious to know why Rize was in such a hurry to come to Ama Usa. She steps inside to find the a very scary mask greeting her- which alarms her and she hides in a corner while Anko quickly finds his way to her head. To try to help her feel better, Chiya reveals that Rize wanted her opinion on becoming refined and Aoyama makes a comment. Sharo is able to recognize her from the park and she is surprised to learn her true identity and listens to her speak over how to find a good, descriptive way to describe a Waitress.

Cocoa and Chino start to discuss the chance of Rize joining the Theater Club for real. While they would be happy for her, they feel sad at the chance of her not working there any longer. They recall how helpful she normally is, while Cocoa admits to worrying over having to defend the place if she wasn't there. They rush right over to Ama Usa and spot "Rose" inside, unaware that she is actually Rize still. As she interacts with the girls, she pretends not to be Rize while Chiya and Sharo watch and see just how feminine Rize has suddenly become. "Rose" apologizes for not coming to their Cafe and mentions that she could never forget about it, then apologizes while making small talk with them until a jealous Cocoa runs back to Rabbit House with a concerned Chino running behind her.

Meanwhile, Aoyama hears someone speak and believes it to be her Master. She looks to the window but doesn't see him. As she looks away, the voice is revealed to belong to Tippy- with Anko chewing and playing with him as he attempts to get free.

Rize comments on how the ladylike image doesn't suit her and decides to just give up the role. The girls, along with Aoyama tell her not to give up just yet since she tried to work so hard up until now, but Rize is starting to feel embarrassed. She decides that she should still give it a try though and thanks them for their words of encouragement.

Later, the girls observe the various photographs of Rize in the play and they see her acting like normal. She reveals that from the start, they had wanted to write a script suiting her to begin with; but after all the trouble she went through she decided to try to get another role next time. But they quickly beg her not to.

A few days later Chino is out walking when a paper airplane lands near her. She is surprised to see that the person who wrote it has decided to quite writing novels.

Cocoa is running late for work and she finds Aoyama wearing her uniform, which had gone missing again. With someone much older she fears she really has been fired this time- but as it turns out, Aoyama accidentally grabbed the wrong one. She decided to quite writing, and Chino decided to bring her there for the time being.

After glancing around, Aoyama questions where the Master of the Cafe is, since she came to see him. They inform her that he passed away, but she is confused since she heard him speaking the other day. Cocoa assumes she is hearing things and suggests she cuddles with Tippy. She agrees and notes his scent, but is sad to know that her Master is really gone after all this time since he will not be able to give her anymore opinions.

Chiya and Cocoa discuss Aoyama and how she hasn't been coming to Ama Usa for a while. Cocoa mentions her writing slump before leading her to Rabbit House to reveal she's been running an Advice section in the Cafe. She wanted to try to lend a hand, but this is all she is good at doing since she enjoys listening to people. She was inspired by Chino's father, Takahiro, who serves customers while listening to them talk. Chiya supports the idea, and Cocoa reveals the booth she made for Chiya, for Palm Reading.

Later, Aoyama admits that nobody wants to speak to her. The Master was always good at listening to others and she had been hoping to become as calming and wise as him. Chiya suggests she tries to dress up a little, but they suggest if she helps further people may be find her more approachable. Chiya then reveals that she grabbed Sharo, to try to get someone for her to speak to. Aoyama thanks her for coming and gives her a cup of coffee, which Rize assures Sharo is fine since she put it together to make sure it didn't make her "too drunk". It ends up depressing her though, and she spills her guts fairly easily until Rize comforts her. As Aoyama notes this was what she wanted to do, Cocoa hands her a letter saying someone wrote it to her.

Aoyama reads the letter, before deciding to write a reply. Chino takes it and is quick to realize Cocoa wrote the letter, so she attempts to get revenge by claiming to know someone with their own problem. Aoyama seems happy and attempts to write something for the letter when Sharo suddenly asks if it was a good idea to quit writing as easily as she did. She admits that she wants to keep writing, and Rize attempts to get her to reconsider until Aoyama reveals she hit a slump since she lost her fountain pen. It was special to her because the Master gave it to her, and no other pen could replace it. She recalls having it until some time back after she met Cocoa.

Outside, Cocoa and the other girls try to find it where they met. Cocoa gets distracted by a rabbit, but Tippy is quick to locate it after he recognizes the pen. He picks it up and Chino takes it at his suggestion, but seeing how sad Aoyama is, Chino speaks with Tippy to ask if he could tell Aoyama the truth about his identity.

Aoyama holds her novel and sadly thinks about how he will never get to read her book. To her surprise she suddenly hears a voice and runs up to inform the girls that she heard the Masters voice coming from a stuffed toy. While Cocoa is surprised, Chino points out she grabbed the wrong thing.

Later, Aoyama is able to continue writing. She got into working as a bartender, so she's been helping out a little bit during the evening. She also revealed her next book to be based on Sharo; and while everyone is a bit weirded out when she mentions how Master must have borrowed Tippy's body to speak to her; Chino and Tippy are frustrated knowing she doesn't understand what actually happened.

Characters

 * By order of appearances.


 * Chino's Grandfather
 * Tippy
 * Cocoa
 * Mocha (flashback from the past)
 * Chino
 * Rize
 * Chiya
 * Aoyama
 * Sharo

Gallery
Is the Order a Rabbit? Bunnisode 9/Gallery

Trivia

 * In the corner of Aoyama's advice booth is an image of Hello Kitty.
 * Chino's grandfather's human form is shown for the first time.
 * Mocha makes her first appearance in the anime through the use of a flashback.

Major Events

 * Aoyama learns that Chino's Grandfather passed away.

Navigation
