Zina adjusts to life in Japan and enlists her new friends to join her in an idol group audition.
Episode 7 – “Want to Be an Idol?”
Hmm.
This week, Dumbbell gave us an almost pure slice of life comedy with absurdist elements. Zina’s integration into Japanese life with her new classmates and friends was the setting, but it was her jumbled knowledge of Japanese pop culture that was the catalyst for crazy times culminating in the strangest idol group audition ever. There were many throwaway jokes for the otaku and Akihabara fans. The ultimate of the absurd was Macho Man himself, who confirmed that he is the muscle-bound magical mascot of the whole city. He can overhear conversations from miles away, as long as it’s fitness related, and he doesn’t just break the 4th Wall. He leans his elbows on it! It’s a bit sad that the bikini scenes with the kendo mask in the end credits did not correspond to another sexy swimsuit episode. I suppose we can’t have cheesecake all the time. Today was not a cheat day.
We also didn’t have any of our usual exercise videos with sexy exercise models. We still had fitness tutorials, covering beef and beef byproducts, active recovery, and the Deadlift. It’s one of the Big Three of free-weight strength training, along with the Squat and the Bench Press. It’s also considered the most difficult because of how many muscle groups have to be used in the right way to lift very heavy bars. You can easily hurt yourself if you are attempting to lift a weight near your maximum.
Active recovery is a real thing for serious athletes. A great example of how important it is for professional athletes is the Rest Day during a Grand Tour for pro cyclists. A Grand Tour is a three-week stage race, like the Tour de France, but it’s really three week-long races strung together. In between racing every day for 7 to 9 days, the whole organization takes a break. However, the riders will still ride 4 to 6 hours while they are supposed to be resting. The important thing is that they won’t be racing. A minimal exertion will still activate the muscles where soreness and inflammation have built up during the competition, allowing blood to flow and push oxygen and nutrients in, as damaged cells are carried out. It’s like washing muscles — lather, rinse, repeat.
Heh.
Zina learned Japanese from pop culture, and some things that aren’t really Japanese. Jackie Chan movies are not Japanese! Our own senpai discourages against learning Japanese from anime.
The gym is closed today? Zina’s revenge will have to be postponed. Zina’s mixing in of Chinese city-states is odd and interesting.
Eat at Hibiki’s place? A barbecue restaurant? All that meat! That matches Hibiki’s preferences. Oh, it’s her brother’s new place, not a family-owned business. You just know the mangaka took a trip to a yakiniku restaurant as “research.”
Zina is still playing the cold-hearted, calculating Russian stereotype.
Ah. The tutorial is on different kinds of beef and the varying calories and protein found in them, depending on fat marbling and the cut of meat. This kind of counts as muscle talk since they’re eating cow muscles. Let’s skip over the liver part. Cowsplay… I’ll show myself out. And I’m back.
Cow T-Shirt, RIP. Now, what about exploding Satomi’s T-Shirt?
I absolutely adore Hibiki’s squeal of delight for food.
Omake Gif Anime – Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru – Episode 7 – Hibiki Squeals in Delight pic.twitter.com/jidrgo9IUW
— Joe Morris (@joeschmo1of3) August 15, 2019
This pro wrestler Zina’s talking about comes from the mangaka’s earlier work.
Huh? The school pays gym fees? Oh. Akemi’s infamous sister is chairman of the board, getting the school to pay for her hobbies. She works out, but still smokes. Oh, Japan.
Oh ho. Zina has a good eye. Watch out for those foreign otaku recognizing cosplayers’ moles. Satomi-sensei is in a Dai Pinch!
Zina is quick to take advantage! I like a girl who acts decisively. Does Satomi have the thighs to do a good Not-Chun Li? Zina actually just wanted to meet famous cosplayer Yulia Riko, but Satomi panicked and offered all kinds of ransom. Ha! Satomi knows her cosplay hobby is borderline pornographic!
Zina thinks Hong Kong and Macao are just some train stops away from Tokyo.
Macho Man is totally a magical animal mascot! He “sensed” active recovery happening. Satomi is precious. She thinks people go to Akihabara for “electronics.” Zina is a foreign otaku, so naturally she’s going to visit the otaku Mecca for otaku things. Like idols! Zina keeps mentioning non-Japanese things in her string of otaku references. I love it.
Zina just assumes all the girls, and Satomi-sensei too, will join her idol group.
Stereotypical Idol Producer is bored of stereotypical idols. His name 出入苦太郎 is like a bad pun for “In and Out Suffering Boy.”
What the hell. That’s how you make a Muscle Gal entrance. Nice. We’ve seen the other girls’ swimsuits already and Zina immediately lets us see her skimpy gold bikini.
Gah! Macho Man is just sitting almost naked in the crowd. We’ve reached ludicrous levels of slice-of-life comedy. What kind of idol audition is this? Sparring and bench presses? The girls are definitely not shy.
Satomi will do the Deadlift. Mysterious Macho Man XX is there to explain things. Well, that explains the end credits. Sadly, there will not be a Muscle Gals Idol unit.
The omake is not related, but the girls do lateral raises, which focus on the shoulders. Everyone’s here!
