Jewel Pet 35: King for a Day

Diana is oh so happy with his big brother Dian.  And Dian seems satisfied.  Heaven and Paradise are within reach…

fraternal bliss

So what could mar this?  Money, merchandising, Mammon, that’s who!

Many would say the sole raison d’être of the Jewel Pet anime series is to sell Jewel Pet goods, but in this episode we find the same commercialization going on within the show!  Is this a brilliant marketing scheme [get your Ruby keychain, Rinko has one]?!  I don’t know, but it’s charming to see the plotline of the show affected by this merchandising.  Sort of a vicious cycle.  Or a virtuous cycle.  The product sells itself.

BUY BUY BUY

The town of Takaragaseki is flooded with Jewel Pet products.  By far the most popular line is Peridot’s.  Let’s remember Peridot is the Stars & Stripes bikini-wearing American Papillon.  All of her products have sold out, which is either a testament to American ingenuity or a sign that Japan is finally leaving the postwar mentality behind, or both, or neither.

Haro Eburibadii!

Ruby and Garnet aren’t happy about this development.  Saddest of all, though, is the ugliest pet of the bunch: King the Frenchie.  King’s products haven’t sold at all!

crownfallen

But in actuality, King doesn’t even know about the sales situation.  He’s moping because he misses his girlfriend, the Russian Blue Lapis [interracial love is tough].  Lapis has been missing, and is actually one of Dean’s captives.

too bad she's evil now..

So in order for the Jewel Pets to get her back, they must join the Jewel Games.  This week’s Jewel Game was dodgeball, and the match came down to King and Lapis.  King, torn between his intense dislike for smacking his girlfriend in the face with the ball and the need to do so in order to win the game, fails miserably.

According to Jewel Game rules, this means Dean and Diana get to take one of Rinko’s group with them.  Diana chooses Rinko, but when the little game umpire tries to zap Rinko to give her to Diana, King steps in-between and the evil kitties end with him instead!  A picture speaks more than a 1,000 words so here you go:

This is possibly the biggest defeat for Rinko and crew yet.  Not only did they fail to retrieve Lapis, but they lost King too.  Then again this might be a good thing: King is ugly and annoying, as his low sales in Takaragaseki indicate…

~ by Haloed Bane on December 15, 2009.