Episode 17 — “A Hot Spring Trip for the Familia Party”
The Goddess Café Terrace Bathos Meter
Ami’s origin story is about running away from home until her grandmother overcomes senility. It also appears that Ami only connected with Grandma Sachiko through a quirk of fate in Goddess Café Terrace. For a regular tragic story, these circumstances referring to Japan’s aging population would be a relatable plot point leading to a sad resolution. But there would be room for character growth, relationship development, and plot progression. But this is a bathos story! How will Kouji Seo end Ami’s arc through an anticlimactic action that preserves all the harem dynamics? Older people usually succumb to degenerative diseases. I trust Seo’s creativity to arrive at a ridiculous and bizarrely disappointing explanation.
Protecting the Nest Points
Ririka scored the most points here because she protected Hayato’s investment and avoided diluting their customer bases. He better watch out after she pays off his loan!
Grandma’s Little Girl Points
Ordinarily, the girl showing the most connection to Hayato’s grandmother would win these points in Goddess Café Terrace, but Ami won. How? She followed Ouka’s pattern because her grandmother knew Hayato’s Grandma Sachiko when they worked together. It’s like knowing Hayato’s grandmother by proxy. Plus, his grandparents’ memories coming through dreams will only solidify this method.
Baka Charm Points
Ouka wins through pure ignorance. She avoided the harem Olympics and treaty negotiations. She expressed moronic joy at all the amenities the hot spring hotel afforded them. Blissful ignorance awarded the most points.
Goddess Café Terrace Drunk Girl Points
Akane, Shiragiku, and Riho collected points for displaying their fetish for long sushi rolls. But Shiragiku eked out the win by imagining a sushi session to completion!
Cool Charm Points
Moemi wins all the points. Just put a Japanese chef hat on her head and a kitchen knife in her hand, and she becomes a Michelin ice princess.
Goddess Café Terrace Makes Me Go Heh.
Chiyoda Diner previews its menu for “owner” Hayato and the Familia staff. Ririka’s crew decided on Japanese cuisine so the new restaurant could avoid overlapping with Familia Café Terrace. Moemi is a Japanese chef! Plus, Ririka negotiated favorable prices from the fishmonger. “Negotiated.” Moemi comes from a famous family running a traditional restaurant. Ah. Moemi’s character note said something about Japanese hats changing her personality. But it’s specifically a Japanese chef hat that turns her into a Goddess Café Terrace Gordon Ramsay-san.
Oho. Ririka wants to set Riho up with Hayato at a hot spring inn getaway. I’m sure the harem gods will allow one girl to get ahead of the others. Not! Anime girls sure are lucky with those market district raffles. Ririka is all of us as she expresses frustration at Riho’s lack of progress. Fun. Goddess Café Terrace continues the comic strip omake from last year.
The other Familia girls left Riho alone with Hayato. Suspicious! Can she ask Hayato to go to the onsen hotel with her? Of course not! Because all the other girls won the raffle, too! Relief for Hayato. Why does that guy have less stress from more girls bothering him? That must be how harem kings operate.
Off the Rails with Goddess Café Terrace
Train trip! Everyone but Ami feels excited about staying at the hot springs resort. Foreshadowing! Uh oh. Harem battles begin! The Familia party for six has three rooms for two. Who rooms with Hayato? Ami (supposedly) is the safest solution. That’s true, though, because she hasn’t had a sexy, vulnerable scene with Hayato yet in Goddess Café Terrace. Ami has sexy bodily proportions but has never shown any sex appeal except for the booty shorts attempt in the first episode. I see her as a clumsy puppy. Will that change during this story arc? Riho wanted her shot at Hayato. Look at the disappointment on Akane and Riho’s faces!
Well. At least Goddess Café Terrace steams up our screens. Hoho. The girls love hearing about how big Hayato’s “pincho” is. They want to sample his “sushi roll!” Ami has been quiet this whole time, still wearing those glasses.
Tone shifts for Goddess Café Terrace always start with Hayato’s paranoid accusations that are conveniently one hundred percent correct. Ami has been wearing those funny glasses to hide her identity from the hotel workers. But they saw through her disguise. How does Ami’s family relate to the hot spring hotel? Poor Ouka. She’s the only one thoroughly enjoying herself. Riho, Akane, and Shiragiku negotiate turns to spend time with Hayato in a shared bath. Hahaha! Censored lip reading!
Familia Goddess’s Origin Story
Here we go. Ami’s older sister finds her, but Ami’s utmost concern is if “Grandma” has improved. But Grandma hasn’t and still has memory problems. Ami has a bathos sob story of her dead parents, her only relative taking her in, and that grandmother running a foster care facility. Goddess Café Terrace beats the audience over its head to emphasize how much Hayato and Ami have in common. Ami’s foster sister confirms a Familia connection to Sachiko and the other grandmothers.
Ooh. Is it time for Ami to graduate to adulthood? Nah. She’s a little girl who wants comfort from Hayato. Ami hopes (childishly?) that future medicine can cure her grandmother. Her justification is that she only wants to visit the “real” Grandma, not the fake one who can’t remember her. But Hayato pressed her to visit anyway because his greatest regret was not seeing Grandma Sachiko before she died. Tug the heartstrings harder!
Steamy Dreamy Goddess Café Terrace
Oh boy. Goddess Café Terrace will start doing this odd device to deliver hidden knowledge to Hayato. His grandfather’s memories come to him in dreams! The first time I saw this, the dream showed a young Sachiko and Masahiro. They looked almost exactly like Hayato and his future daughter in the flashforward from the twelfth episode. Then, the past version of Sachiko talked directly to Hayato. Well. Hayato’s remark about regret worked on Ami. She wants to visit her grandmother, whose name (Private Tatsuta) came to Hayato in a dream.
Next time on Goddess Café Terrace, a senile woman with a swiss cheese memory recognizes a hero of justice. Try and prove me wrong! But! The anime provides a second round of hot spring fanservice at a haunted onsen. Or something similar, so tune in next week!
The Café Terrace and its Goddesses streams on Crunchyroll in Japanese audio and multiple language subtitles.
Let’s Chat
Also, be sure to follow J-List on these platforms!
- Twitter/X, where Peter posts anime booba for you
- Bluesky, where we post several times a day
- Facebook, where we share memes and discuss anime
- Instagram, where you can look at sterilized anime memes because it’s Instagram
- Discord, if you want to chat with other J-List customers of culture
Steamy censorship offers more verisimilitude than blatant light beams, but that comes with tradeoffs. Like, you can see way more naked skin through a censorship laser light show! Which do you prefer? “Realistic” censorship using a scene’s circumstances? Or go for the memes, like the mosaic added to bleeping vulgarities? Let us know in the comments below.
We hope you’re enjoying the holiday season and getting ready for a warm and fuzzy Christmas if you celebrate it. J-List has added tons of new stock to our website, and as an extra gift to you, we’ll pick up $25 of your shipping during our Shipping Support Sale! Just buy $200 or more of in-stock products shipping from Japan, and we will apply the discount automatically. Start shopping now!
