Episode 15 — “The First Counterstrike”
The Goddess Café Terrace Bathos Melodrama Meter
Shiragiku breaking chains brought extra thick schmaltz to Goddess Café Terrace, but Riho’s scene at the Family Café Restaurant supplied the bathos. She assumed the role of a bitter former child actor to provoke Ririka’s coworkers to defend her. And it was all to rescue Ririka’s reputation with her most loyal audience members. The anticlimax dribbled out as Ririka’s coworkers realized what Riho did and how Hayato saw through Riho’s acting. All to end with headpats.
Protecting the Goddess Café Terrace Nest Points
Riho contributed to increasing traffic to the café by leveraging her past notoriety. And she drove a wedge between the Family Café Restaurant staff and the supervillain boss of Goddess Café Terrace. What a conniving manipulator! Hayato should be glad she’s in love with him. But! Yandere warning signs, my dude.
Grandma’s Little Girl Points
Shiragiku kept Grandma’s recipes for a drabby diner way too long but added dishes that Spanish cuisine inspired. I like how fitting the name Primavera (Spring in Spanish) is for the springtime of her culinary career.
Baka Charm Points
We’ll retire Hekiru from consideration after this episode because she only played a silly role. Ami, of course, wins through her combination parrot mask with glasses. But Valentina came on strong in the preview voiceover with Mao. How fun is it to play with Mao’s buzzing toy, anyway?
Drunk Girl Points Still Missing from Goddess Café Terrace
We had another episode devoid of drinking and fetishistic flirting with Hayato. Five new roommates in the next episode should make up for lost time.
Cool Charm Points
Strangely, Hayato scored all the points here. That boy usually freaks out and yells at somebody, but he kept his cool this time. He encouraged Shiragiku to shake her moneymaker for him. Er. Shake her chains off and cook something she could call her own. Yeah, that’s the ticket!
Goddess Café Terrace Makes Me Go Heh.
Why is the Family Café Restaurant so busy? I can’t put my finger on it. Literally, I mean it. The police would arrest me if I honked those bouncy honkers. And Familia Café Terrace has tumbleweeds blowing across the screen. But things will change after the goddesses wear Ouka’s Halloween uniforms and serve Shiragiku’s new menu items. Ami is already implementing her plan: a new crazy mask! That’s the hope, anyway.
Shiragiku has the chef’s version of writer’s block. Hayato identifies her problem: she only modified his grandma’s original items instead of creating something new. The other problem: Grandma Sachiko never intended to make money with her menu. She wanted to serve regulars as a one-woman café so that she could spend enough time raising a bratty grandson. That brat in Goddess Café Terrace wants a menu for a café that makes money! Break those nostalgic chains, Shiragiku. Bring Hayato some moolah! Sachiko Kitty approves.
Breaking Chains from the Past
Oho. Riho and Ririka Chiyoda have a history in the entertainment industry. Ririka has a competitive streak against her “senpai,” but Riho claims a tool to help her restaurant reclaim business. Ririka guesses that Riho will rely on the story about a failed child star.
Meanwhile, Shiragiku broke through the chains around Hayato’s checking account to use up the kitchen’s ingredients. That’s marginally better than Goddess Café Terrace breaking Hayato’s laptop and phone. Uh oh. Ami can’t stop saying the Spanish word “pinchos,” an open-face sandwich in Spanish cuisine. Spanish speakers will understand how close she comes to saying vulgar things. Oh? Akane is an excellent cook because of her family upbringing. I’ll keep a note of that. Shiragiku calls her signature pincho “Primavera” because the café reopened during the spring. What did Riho do? She brought the market district neighbors to the café on its weekly day off! Is this something related to her past as a star child actor? More pressing question: when do we see Ms. Wagashiya’s abs again?
Goddess Café Terrace Familia Strikes Back
What is happening at the Family Café Restaurant? Ririka runs her live stream from there. Ugh. The Family staff calculates all their actions and appearances to craft an image. It’s inauthentic. The girls know their job is crushing someone else’s business, not running a restaurant. They’re in on Fuwa’s plot to destroy the Familia Café Terrace. It’s in their contract! What overwrought writing. Oh no, shocking news for the Goddess Café Terrace contract killers: their target has started its counterattack!
Why are all those people waiting to eat at the Familia Café Terrace? Ah. Riho told her sob story to that camera crew for the local news that ambushed her at the beach hut in last year’s Goddess Café Terrace season. That’s the mistake of thinking streaming numbers translate to walk-in business. People watching over the internet might not be anywhere near your location. Riho’s public relations sense is much more in tune than Ririka’s. Credibility and authenticity are the new coins of advertising and marketing. Hahaha! Riho used the shopping district neighbors as extras for the news shot! She has given away her identity to help the café, but Hayato can repay her. How? Make her his girlfriend! But only after the café makes a profit. Welcome to the fall season version of Familia Café Terrace!
The Return of the Goddess Café Terrace Goddesses
Three weeks later, the café still buzzes with traffic from that news shot. It was a team effort to convert the curious into repeat customers. Oh? What is Riho’s “urgent business?” Why is she watching Ririka’s Family live stream? Ah. The tables have turned. Family Café Restaurant is in danger of going out of business. Their foot traffic dwindled to nothing. Ha! Valentina and Moemi came back from Familia with pinchos. The Family girls blame the management (Fuwa, the Goddess Café Terrace supervillain) for not letting them adjust to changing market conditions. And all of them want to stop playing their “characters.” The online reviews are below average. The complaints all refer to “busty waitresses.” Aw. They sound like nice girls, but Fuwa’s contract stuck them in a worsening situation.
Pinche Boss Girl Brings Pinchos
Ah. Riho showed up with pinchos! Valentina will eat more! Uh oh. Riho noticed something about Ririka’s streaming setup. What? Goddess Café Terrace borrowed a cliché plot development? I’m gobsmacked! Did she forget to end it? If so, her audience heard her and her colleagues’ complaints about how fake the restaurant is. Riho points out how naïve Ririka was to expect her fans to visit the restaurant. Uh oh. Riho saved Ririka’s reputation with her fans by playing a villainess. She should have ended the scene with an evil “Ohohoho!” ojousama-like laugh. Ririka still has loyal fans. What will happen to the Family Café Restaurant crew now? Revolution?
Hahaha! Hayato is so nosy! He saw the whole thing happen! You can’t keep secrets from your boss, Riho. Repayment in headpats. Again!
Goddess Café Terrace Seasonal Prologue Ends
Next time, the Family coworkers move in with Hayato. Really? I’m dreading the melodrama that will unfold before that conclusion. I might have to add character notes to reflect their hidden personalities instead of the roles they played.
The Café Terrace and its Goddesses streams on Crunchyroll in Japanese audio and multiple language subtitles.
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What did you think of Riho being extra bossy in this episode? Will boss for headpats! Are you impatient for the next episode when we see what the Family Café Restaurant girls are like after they drop their masks? Who will be sexier? Mao or Valentina? Someone else? Let us know in the comments below.
Goddess Café Terrace figures are coming to J-List soon! Choose from the beach hut uniforms or stay true to the busty drunk oneesan, Shiragiku.
