Episode 24 — “The Last Pilaf”
Bathos Melodrama Meter
Even in a series finale, Goddess Café Terrace can’t avoid rolling out the bathos. The last episode had two instances where heartfelt pathos generators devolved into bathos. Ouka said goodbye to Hayato in the most straightforward way possible for emotional impact. Then Ami arrived to take the audience’s warm fuzzies away by offering her boobs for squeezing as she wore a gorilla mask.
But the show made the bathos stick with one last pull at your heartstrings because Truck-kun almost sent Ami to another world. Only Ami’s written words to Ouka traveled there.
Protecting the Goddess Café Terrace Nest Points
Hayato won enough points by keeping the Familia Café Terrace from turning into a parking lot. If he had figured out how to go to school and own the restaurant simultaneously, Ouka would not have gone to France. It’s harder to gain admission to Toudai than to graduate in the modern era, so Riho’s attitude is more common. Hayato should frame his acceptance letter and hang it up in the restaurant for the same prestige.
Grandma’s Little Girl Points
Ouka scored all the points by cooking Grandma Sachiko’s rice pilaf for Hayato. She poured her memories of her conversations with Grandma into the dish so Hayato would never feel alone again.
Baka Charm Points
As the baka master, Ami won all the points for getting into college through a karate recommendation and offering gorilla mask booby squeezing.
All the Goddess Café Terrace Drunk Girl Charm Points
Look. We all know that Shiragiku would have sniped the most drunk girl points in the last episode. She can’t control her behavior even if she knows it’s happening! But I love how we learned that Akane’s drunkenness relates to her scaredy-cat ways. We still need to see how a crybaby transitions to Akane’s sly seductress mode. Also, Riho’s iron liver will never let her have an excuse for throwing herself at Hayato. But Ouka understandably stole her final scene by tweaking Hayato’s nose and kissing him. No alcohol was necessary to lower Ouka’s inhibitions to display her fetish for humiliation and sadism.
Cool Charm Points
The points go to Ouka for discombobulating Hayato before kissing him. Her slyly evil grin made the move more surprising.
Goddess Café Terrace Makes Me Go Heh.
Oho. Poor Ririka. She and the Chiyoda Diner crew were up all night assembling traditional New Year’s Day meals. That cursed purple aura usually signals foul ingredients in the dish. Moemi is a slave driver! The calendar date of 1/1/2022 confirms that Goddess Café Terrace happened three years ago. Hayato is grateful for the efforts from his other restaurant.
Uh oh! Riho brought sake. Can Shiragiku behave herself? Ooh. Akane can drink now. How would you describe her tipsy alter ego? I see. The Chiyoda Diner mirrors the Familia Café Terrace for staffing issues. Like Hayato at the start of Goddess Café Terrace, Moemi also has a one-year limit on how long she can be the chef for the restaurant. Hayato’s deadline arrives in three months. Moemi claims her harsh methods are for teaching her mates to be competent enough to handle the restaurant without her. Only Valentina survived with a cheerful attitude. Oops. More slave driving ahead!
Sloshing New Year’s Day Away
Let’s get back to dangerous drinking. The girls don’t want to change out of their kimonos yet because they took a long time to dress. But undressing could be fun, according to Riho. Watch out. Shiragiku’s reactions to alcohol do not match her past behavior in Goddess Café Terrace. Anything could happen! Oh no. Ami scares Akane into thinking Sachiko Kitty is looking at an invisible ceiling cat. That’ll fix things: cover the cat’s eyes! Ah. Scaredy-cat Akane strikes first in the new year for harem points. Drunk Shiragiku won’t let that last long. It’s time for her to do “dirty things.” No one is less surprised than Hayato and Ouka.
Here we go. Shiragiku reverts to drunken form. But Akane is a crybaby drunk! Enough flirty drunk talk from the others. Riho jumps in! There goes the bottle of sake. Ah. Riho is a manipulative, flirty drunk. Ha! Hayato called her bluff! Riho needs much more hooch for inebriation. Damn her inherited liver from her lush mother! We’ll wait for another season to see Riho get drunk. Can Ami get dizzy enough to appear drunk? Tornado Spin!
Goddess Café Terrace and Melodramatic Announcements
Hayato’s sexy dreams continue into the new year. Sachiko Kitty can be his constant and sane companion. Traditional New Year’s holiday games like karuta keep the girls busy. Ami’s karate gi won’t help her, though, especially after she chops Ouka in the forehead! Ouka acts in pure oldest-sister mode! It’s the return of Mad Dog Ouka! Goddess Café Terrace transitions to the future. It has material foreshadowing Ouka’s dramatic exit, but it anticlimactically focuses on Ami first. The local university (where Riho and Shiragiku attend) already accepted Ami into its karate program through a recommendation! Aw. Hayato thought his big announcement of staying on to run the café and dropping out of college would be more shocking, stunning, and surprising. I like how Sachiko Kitty also attends these family meetings.
Oh, finally. Ouka announced her exit from the Familia after the quickie foreshadowing Goddess Café Terrace teased last week. She’s moving to France to work for a fashion designer job! Sadness. But Hayato, unsurprisingly, keeps his feelings under the surface. The news hits Hekiru the hardest because her harem horserace narrative went up in flames. Harem heroines have a graduation system!
Even Ami’s eighteenth birthday can’t put a smile on her face. I appreciate the soberly naked discussions in the bath. Ah. Akane explains how Ouka’s departure preoccupies Hayato’s thoughts because he has never had the opportunity to say goodbye to a family member before they left him.
Farewell to a Harem Member? Or See You Later?
Ouka bookends her presence in Goddess Café Terrace by cooking the only thing she knows how — Grandma Sachiko’s rice pilaf. Flashback to Ouka flashing him! Ouka feels relief that Hayato won’t turn the Familia Café Terrace into a parking lot. That’s how far things have progressed in less than a year. Oops. Gorilla Ami’s boob-squeezing offer crashed into Hayato’s nostalgia.
Goodbye Ouka! The market neighbors saw her off while her immediate family said their goodbyes the day before. Ha! Ouka does not need Mao’s “gift.” How could she bring that through the security checkpoints? Hayato acts like a sad dad who sees his daughter off to college. Each goddess gets to say a unique farewell at the airport. Riho and Akane ask her to design costumes after they hit it big. Shiragiku casually states she’ll run the Familia restaurant as Hayato’s wife, but Riho and Akane have objections. I like that running joke in Goddess Café Terrace. Aw. Ami couldn’t fulfill her promise to see Ouka off with a smile. Yeah! Ouka got one last scene humiliating Hayato! Repaid with a kiss! Not fair! Okay. It’s fair enough because she hadn’t used it up yet. Now, that’s a dramatic exit! Not that kind, Ami.
The Isekai Chapter of Goddess Café Terrace!
Epilogue time. Hayato has little time to mope about missing Ouka. Shiragiku still needs to avoid wet disinfectant wipes. Boo! Don’t hide Hayato’s abs behind a blur effect, Goddess Café Terrace. At least Shiragiku can warn him before her alcoholic amnesia starts. Riho has cornered the market on roles for murder victims. I can’t believe Akane’s bandmates still allow that ridiculous name, Mussy Mustache Girls. Ack. One last moment of bathos for us. No, Truck-kun did not run over Ami. Only her heartfelt airmail letter reincarnated in another world. Ooh! Ouka’s time in France resembles her ending theme scene from the first season! Come back soon, Ouka! The end.
Final Thoughts on Goddess Café Terrace.
Will Ami be the winner because she is the only one left? We see echoes of the grandmothers leaving the first Familia Café and worrying about Masahiro being alone. Each one left before the harem horserace finished. But Ami and Hayato have left no hint of romance between them. Even Ouka threw down a romantic marker on her last day in Japan. Seo Kouji (the manga author) will continue to draw out the clues, hints, and parallels between the past and the future.
My thoughts always return to the flash-forward between Hayato and his academically challenged daughter at the end of Goddess Café Terrace’s previous season. I now know that the girl is the twin of Sachiko in her younger days, so I can’t base her looks on a combination of Hayato and his wife. But the daughter’s need for tutoring always points me to a gorilla-masked spinning tornado.
Goddess Café Terrace (The Café Terrace and Its Goddesses, Megami no Café Terrace) streams on Crunchyroll in Japanese audio and multiple language subtitles.
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How did you like this second season? Enough to justify another season soon? Whose chances increased for becoming Hayato’s daughter’s mother after Ouka left? Or is she still in the running? Even manga readers don’t know who won yet. Who would be your choice? Let us know who will win in the comments below!
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