Pit-a-Pat

"Pit-a-Pat" is the fourth episode of season 3, FLCL Alternative, and the sixteenth overall. It aired on September 29, 2018, at 11:30 PM ET on Adult Swim's Toonami block.
==Synopsis==
The four girls watch Sasaki's basketball game; Haruko makes out with Sasaki, which triggers Kana’s N.O. to activate.
==Summary==
Haruko and Kanda realize Medical Mechanica's plan is to cover the Earth in pins, but disagree on their next move. During class, Haruko arrives and starts sensually touching Sasaki while he attempts to announce more bad news about the basketball team. Mr. Sudo adds that the team is struggling so much that Haruko has been hired to help, though it's already clear her mind is elsewhere. Kana brings her friends to the game that day to cheer on Sasaki, but Haruko's behavior distracts both him and Aida, who is jealous and accidentally hits Kana in the head with the ball as a result. Meanwhile, Pets trades an object with Mossan for her hand-made cloth featuring a piece of meat. Haruko fakes an injury to force Sasaki to rub lotion on her inner thigh, much to his embarrassment and Kana's frustration. Maki Kitaki gives a speech about love on television during Kana's work and she becomes so distressed she has to leave early. Maki and Kanda meet at the soba shop in secret after to discuss Medical Mechanica's plans, and she hints at a plan of her own that Kanda is unsettled by. She also mentions a "being called Haru-something" that she tells him to deal with, which brings forth a memory from Kanda's younger days. Haruko had once been in the Bureau's facilities and was taking a bath under his supervision. Like with most men, she toyed with his attraction to her without ever returning the feelings. In the present, Sasaki manages to find Kana after much searching to check on her injury and confirm that Haruko's advances are unwelcome. Pets makes another random object trade with Hijiri during this time. Throughout the conversation, Kana is reading advice cards held up by her friends, but she gets a terrible headache at their command to confess her feelings for him. She winds up knocking him out when he gets too close to her as she reacts to the pain, ending any romance for the time being. The next day, the girls are discussing Sasaki and reveal he used to play on the basketball team until a nerve condition progressed to a point that it became impossible. Kana resonates with this, as she used to be sick when she was younger and is suggested via flashback to have spent long periods alone in a hospital. She encounters Haruko, who is looking for Sasaki, and the two have a glaring contest as Kana claims she doesn't know where he is, but finds him immediately after trying unsuccessfully to shoot baskets by himself. They talk and are enjoying themselves until Sasaki's nerve pain flairs up, disrupting the conversation. He admits it happens when he moves too fast or his heart beat increases, his blushing suggesting the latter. Haruko, likely frustrated with her manipulation's slow progress, hits Kana with a basketball before she can continue to progress the romance naturally. She falls onto Sasaki and knocks them both into a laying position, head glowing bright pink as she leans in to kiss him. However, she stops as her N.O. activity suddenly calms down, claiming the "spark" is gone. A robot arrives because of the activity and sucks Sasaki inside itself, merging their consciousness, much to Haruko's pleasure. She came prepared for a battle, suggesting this was her true reason for toying with the two, and defeats the robot by hitting it with a basketball dunk from the three-point line for style. The next morning, Sasaki has recovered and Kana stops him before class starts to talk. She apologizes for her behavior and admits she isn't ready to go that far with him, something Sasaki is able to accept.
==Songs==
* "LITTLE BUSTERS" (Fool on cool version)
* "Star Overhead"
==Credits==
*Original Concept: Production I.G.
*Executive Producers: Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, Jason DeMarco, Keiji Ohta
*Production Supervisor: Katsuiji Morishita, Takayuki Oshima
Japanese Cast
*Kana Koumoto: Karen Miyama
*Tomomi "Pets" Hetada: Yuri Yoshida
*Hijiri Yajima: Riho Iida
*Man "Mossan" Motoyama: Mutsumi Tamura
*Kan Sudo: Katsuyuki Konishi
*Mon Sasaki: Takuma Nagatsuka
*Ben Aida: Ryota Suzuki
*Bunta Koumoto: Maho Masaka
*Dennis Yoga: Katsuji Mori
*Maki Kitaki: Kaya Matsutani
*Tsukata Kanda: Yutaka Aoyama
*Haruko Haruhara: Mayumi Shintani
English Cast
*Kana Koumoto: Megan Taylor Harvey
*Tomomi "Pets" Hetada: Marieve Herington
*Hijiri Yajima: Erica Lindbeck
*Man "Mossan" Motoyama: Marianne Miller
*Kan Sudo: Patrick Seitz
*Mon Sasaki: Max Mittleman
*Ben Aida: Ben Pronsky
*Bunta Koumoto: Erick Abbate
*Dennis Yoga: Steven Blum
*Maki Kitaki: Erica Shroeder
*Tsukata Kanda: Ray Chase
*Haruko Haruhara: Kari Wahlgren
==Gallery==
FLCLAltEp4Cap4.jpg
SasakiChar.jpg
Sasaki_and_haruko.jpg
AidaChar.jpg
Pit-A-Pat001.png
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FLCLAltEp4Cap5.jpg
FLCLAltEp4Cap2.jpg
Bath-haruko.jpg
FLCLAltEp4Cap1.jpg
FLCLAltEp4Cap3.jpg
BuntaKoumoto01.png
KanaReaction.png
Pit-A-Pat002.png
AltEp4Robot01.png
AltEp4Robot.png
==Trivia==
*Though very brief, Pets and Maki Kitaki's behavior hints at and builds up to the plot for the next episode.
*When Haruko forces Sasaki to read the words for her, in the Japanese version, the words he reads are playing off of sexual terms:
**Nakadachi (仲立ち) - Mediator (Nakadashi (中出し) - intravaginal ejaculation; creampie)
**Bichiku (備蓄) - Stockpile (Chikubi (乳首) - Nipples)
**Kuri Manjuu (栗饅頭) - Round steam cake filled with chestnut paste - (possibly alluding to breast fondling, due to the shape of manjuu and "Kuri Kuri" being an onomatopoeia for twisting / fondling ) 
***In the English dub, he simply reads the already explicit terms ("Willing and Erecting", "Well Hung", "Trim the Bush") out loud.
*The manga in Haruko's hand when she uses her feet to fondle Sasaki as he tries to encourage the team is titled "Back Dunk", which is a parody of the basketball manga and anime, Slam Dunk. Specifically, the cover is based on Volume 1.
*After Sasaki accidentally knocks Haruko off of her chair and then shows him her injury, she offers him a jar of Liger Balm, a parody of the pain relief ointment, Tiger Balm.
Category:Alternative
Category:Episodes