GochiUsa season 1 recaps/screenshots

This looked like it'd be boring at first... but the characters quickly grew on me, on the first episode.

Episode 1 - I Knew at First Glance That It Was No Ordinary Fluffball

Cocoa moves to a new cozy small town, and then comes across a cafe called "Rabbit House"... she gets excited and runs in looking for a rabbit. Chino, the small, quiet girl greets her and asks for her order. She says she wants a rabbit, and then sees the fluffy round rabbit sitting ontop of Chino's head... Chino says that rabbit is not for sale... and tells her she can only pet the rabbit if she buys coffee. The rabbit, Tippy, apparently speaks Japanese...

Then Cocoa learns this Rabbit House is actually the place she was sent to live in... Chino is the granddaughter of the owner of this place... her grandpa passed away, but her parents still work here...

There's also a part timer girl, Rize. She's very strong and military-minded because of her dad being a general or something...

Cocoa wants to help out at her new home any way she can... but she doesn't have any special talents... Rize can memorize types of coffee really quickly just by smelling it, and can carry bags of coffee beans no problem. I dunno what Chino's talent is, but they find out Cocoa can do math really well, so at least that's something.

Rize also has a cute side... after she shows off her coffee cream drawing talents, and Cocoa tries it out and draws a bunny with a crooked mouth, she loves it and tries to hide her gushing... and then they get Chino to try drawing something and it's this crazy abstract art... Chino's the weird one for sure.

Oh, and Rabbit house becomes a bar at night, and Chino's dad is the bartender. Tippy works with him at the bar as well, sitting on his head just like with Chino.

Cocoa loves it when Chino calls her "Cocoa Onee-chan"... she follows her around all night and acts all sisterly... even goes into the bath with her, and asks for them to sleep together, since she doesn't have her stuff here yet, and she wants to bond with her more.

Chino doesn't like being treated as a teddy bear.

The dad is talking to Tippy... who we find out is actually Chino's grandpa, stuck in the boddy of a stuffed rabbit for some reason.

That ending theme is appropriately cute and catchy.

Episode 2 - The Girl Who Loved Wheat and the Girl Loved by Azuki Beans

Cocoa wanders off to try to find the high school she's supposed to go to, while Chino heads off to her elementary school... Cocoa gets distracted when she runs into a bunch of rabbits, and meets Chiya, another rabbit lover. Chiya tells her that the entrance ceremony is actually tomorrow, not today, and she decides to show her how to get there. Chiya works at Amausa Cafe, which used to be in rivalry with Rabbit House... She loves making sweets, and giving them really bizarre names...

Cocoa used to live at her family's bakery, and she invites Chiya over and teaches everyone how to make bread. Chino is really fascinated by the concept of yeast making bread expand, and watches the oven as she makes bread in the shape of her grandpa's face... Cocoa makes bread in the shape of Tippy, filled with strawberry jam, and Rize comments that it looks very macabre.

Then everyone else goes to visit Chiya's cafe... they have a pet rabbit as well, who goes to chase Tippy who is a female rabbit (even though he's a male on the inside). Nobody knows what they're ordering because the names of the sweets all sound like anime attack names or something. Chiya tries to suggest Cocoa move in with her and work there instead of Rabbit House.

Episode 3 - Do You Remember the First Day You Got Drunk? You Tried to Light a Campfire in Your Own Home, Didn't You?

Another new character, Sharo, is introduced as they are out looking for new mugs for their cafe. Sharo is really into teasets and stuff, and they falsely see her as an upperclass woman. She doesn't want them to know she actually lives in a small house. Only Chiya knows the truth... Sharo also really likes Rize a lot, and tries to impress her...

Then they meet Sharo at the rabbit maid cafe she works at, Fleur de Lapin, and she treats them all to tea. Then they invite Sharo to Rabbit house, and treat her to some coffee... Sharo is mostly a tea person, and the caffeine in coffee makes her very hyper and weird until she crashes... that's what the long title of this episode is referring to. When Chiya and Sharo are about to go home, it suddenly starts thunderstorming, and they stay with Cocoa and the others for a sleepover instead. Sharo and Rize get really scared by the scary stories and Sharo gets to bond with her some more.

I think Sharo is the cutest character in this. She's even cuter than Chino.

By now, I've started just copying the episode summaries from wikipedia instead of writing my own summaries, and just adding some of my own thoughts on stuff that the wikipedia summary left out.

Episode 4 - Your Lucky Items are Vegetables, Crime, and Punishment

After hearing some remarks from Cocoa, Chino gets advice from her classmates, Maya Jōga and Megumi "Megu" Natsu, about how to grow taller. The next day, the girls try their hand at fortune telling, whilst Cocoa experiences some bad luck whilst spending time with Chiya and her rabbit, Anko. Later, the girls go to the library to study, as well as search for a book Chino is looking for.

Some more new characters are introduced here, including Chino's friends from her school, and Cocoa's fortune-telling friend who is also Sharo's long time friend... All the girls from different schools come to hang out together later in the episode, and it's revealed that Sharo is sad because she goes to a different school than Rize and the fortune teller girl.

Episode 5 - Cocoa and Murderous Intent Without Malice

Chino asks Rize to help her practice for a badminton tournament whilst Cocoa and Chiya practice volleyball, soon inviting Sharo to take part in a volleyball match. Later, Rize takes on additional jobs at both Ama Usa An and Fleur de Lapin so she can buy her father some vintage wine for Father's Day. After finding the wine to still be too expensive, Sharo helps Rize pick out an alternative present.

This one was really good. Sharo is the cutest... and Rize becomes a lot cuter in this episode too.

Episode 6 - A Story About Telling a Story

On their day off, Cocoa and Chino take a walk in the park, encountering the others along the way, where Cocoa meets a novelist named Aoyama Blue Mountain. The next day, Maya and Megumi come by the Rabbit House to help out and get to know Cocoa and Rize, leaving Chino a little bit jealous and lonely. Whilst lamenting at the Ama Usa An, Chino receives some sound advice from Aoyama, soon learning that Cocoa and Rize had similar feelings. Later, Aoyama explains to Cocoa about a certain café owner who inspired her to write her best-selling novel.

This new character Aoyama obviously knows a lot about Rabbit House... that rabbit guy was embarrassed when he heard her talking to Cocoa about the book she wrote about a cafe owner who wished to turn into a rabbit...

Although this episode is mainly focused on Chino and Cocoa, there's also something going on with Rize, where she's secretly trying on some new girly clothes and hairstyles and trying to hide it from the others.

Episode 7 - Call Me Sister

After upsetting Chino by finishing a jigsaw puzzle she had been working on, Cocoa apologizes by buying her a new 8000 piece puzzle, which the girls get together to solve. The next day, Chiya gets depressed after getting into a little fight with Sharo, so Cocoa helps the two make up with each other. Later, Rize and Sharo pass out flyers for their respective cafés, unaware that the flyers for Rabbit House sport a rather noticeable typo. That night, the other girls learn Sharo's secret that she is a poor scholarship student living next door to Chiya.

Sharo being the main focus for most of the episode was really nice... she's totally the best character.

That mysterious woman Aoyama keeps showing up... she apparently has this problem with making eye contact when talking to people, which all of her scenes so far have shown that.

Episode 8 - Wet with Pool Water, Wet with Rain, Wet with Tears

The girls spend the day at a swimming pool, where Sharo teaches Rize how to swim. Later, the girls overcome tiredness and rainpour in order watch a movie based on Aoyama's book together.

Aoyama gave the barista girls tickets to her movie... Later she shows up at Rabbit House and wants to go in and meet the old owner for the first time in a long while... then she runs away in embarrassment when she accidentally makes eye contact with Chino's dad instead.

That movie is obviously making reference to this show's backstory, but none of the girl's paid much attention to it and Cocoa slept through some of it.

These characters are really starting to grow on me now. Cocoa and Chino have a really nice contrast with each other. Chiya is kinda turning out to be like the most mature one of the group. Rize is very weird and funny in her own way. Sharo is hilariously obsessed with Rize and gets very timid around her, and she has a fear of rabbits for some reason, and she has the cutest facial expressions and is best girl.

Episode 9 - Aoyama Slump Mountain

It is shown how a young Cocoa met Chino's grandfather, seemingly casting a spell to grant his wish of becoming a rabbit. Meanwhile, Rize is chosen as the heroine for a school performance of The Phantom of the Opera and seeks out Chiya for advice on how to become more ladylike, although in the end, her role ends up being scripted to her usual personality. Later, Aoyama, who has decided to quit writing, takes up a part-time job at the Rabbit House, becoming saddened when she hears Chino's grandfather had died. She explains that her slump came from losing a fountain pen that was given to her by Chino's grandfather, so Cocoa and Chino help to look for it. Upon finding the pen, Chino convinces Tippy, who possesses the soul of her grandfather, to encourage Aoyama, who is inspired to return to her writing career. However, being airheaded, she remains completely oblivious as to Tippy's true identity.

This show is really cute and funny... just when I was expecting it to take a more serious turn, it still doesn't stop being cute and funny.

Episode 10 - The Anti-Sister Battle Corps, Also Known As the Chimame Corps

Cocoa stays over with Chiya to study for exams, while also helping out at the Ama Usa An in between. Megu and Maya also help out at the Rabbit House, where Chino starts to show signs that she misses Cocoa. After work, Chino and the girls head over to the pool, where they participate in a water gun fight and also run into Aoyama. Meanwhile, Sharo comes over to help Cocoa and Chiya with their studies and sleeps over with them.

At first I was kinda bored by this episode, and attributed it to not having much Sharo appearances.
But Chino was incredibly cute in this... it was really interesting seeing her admit to herself that she misses Cocoa being around, and then during the night she went and talked to Cocoa on the phone and Cocoa instantly made her feel better.

Episode 11 - The Girl Dons a Red Coat and Drives a Team of Rabbits Across the Christmas Eve Night Sky

As the girls go to a Christmas Market to buy ornaments for the Rabbit House, they make plans to hold a Christmas party after everyone finishes work on Christmas Eve. As the guests arrive for the party, they help out around the Rabbit House when their special Christmas pancakes bring in a lot of business. After a successful work day, the girls get the party underway with food and presents. Later that night, Cocoa takes on the role of Santa Claus to try and sneak a present under Chino's pillow, but ends up falling asleep by her bed. Nonetheless, Chino is delighted with the present from her 'scatterbrained Santa'.

I wonder why Chiya and Sharo aren't working at Ama Usa An and that other place during this time. I guess they're closed on Christmas Eve so they decided to go help out Rabbit House instead.

It's kinda weird that Chino's grandpa isn't even trying to hide his ability to talk anymore. He's sometimes adding to the conversation when others are around, but I can't tell if the others actually hear him or if they assume it's just Chino doing ventriloquism or something... Aoyama still thinks she's hearing the owner's voice from heaven...

Episode 12 - For You, I Can Sleep Late

Megu and Maya come to the Rabbit House to interview its employees for a school report, roping Cocoa into taking them to interview Chiya and Sharo at their workplaces. Later, Chino discovers Cocoa has a fever and puts her to bed, whilst Chiya also looks after Sharo who has her own fever. As Cocoa's fever worsens, Chino and Tippy go out into the snowy streets to borrow some medicine from Chiya, as theirs had run out. Cocoa recovers but Chino ends up getting sick with mumps instead, so Cocoa nurses her back to health. The next morning, Chino, attempting to wake up a sleeping Cocoa, whispers in her ear, calling her "Big Sister," causing Cocoa to wake up immediately.

That was great, seeing Chino take the role of "big sister" for once.

This episode confirms that whenever Tippi talks, everyone just assumes it's Chino talking. Except for Aoyama who thinks it's the owner's ghost.

Not much happens in this one, it's just a relaxing, cute episode to end the first season on.