Episode 8

**Idea 8** is the 8th episode of the Heaven's Design Team anime.

## Synopsis

### Part 1

Inside the office, Kimura and Mizushima are engaged in a battle of martial arts. Mizushima appears to have the upper hand when Kimura suddenly lunges at him and leashes a secret technique- the bone hug. He then makes his rib cage spring out from his size startling Mizushima. Shimoda is watching from a distance and wonders what is going on.

Higuchi then walks in, stating bones can't grow that fast on Earth, which disappoints Kimura. Earlier, God had assigned Kimura to create “an animal bones are a weapon.” To plan out a design, Kimura is performing modifications on himself to gain experience. Although Mizushima comments that he is doing it to have fun.

Seeing as having the bones shootout is impractical, Kimura comes up with the idea of putting the bones on the outside of the body. He then tries it out on himself much to his coworkers' stunned faces. Suddenly, Higuchi becomes worried about how he is moving his arms without shoulder blades on the outside. Kimura replies that he switched the position of the shoulder blades to the inside. Despite Higuchi’s skepticism, it appears that Kimura has made some progress.

To test the bone's durability, Meido brings in a lion to be the predator. However, the test proves to be a failure. Then the team increases the bone density and offsets the placement of the joints at the cost of some mobility. They conduct the test again and the lion fails to break the bones. But then Kimura collapses onto the floor. The new modifications have made it harder for him to breathe.

Meido suggests not using the ribs to move the lungs which gives Kimura an idea of how to use the shoulder blades. After getting Higuchi’s approval, Kimura makes the modifications on himself and is able to breathe easier. However, he still has trouble moving. Further complications occur when he tries to make the ribs longer, causing osteoporosis.

Despite the flaws, Kimura refuses to back down. To counter the osteoporosis, he suggests getting rid of the teeth and Mizushima suggests using a bird's beak design to make up for the lack of teeth. Knowing that he is heading in the right direction, Kimura puts his body back to the way it was and starts adding the new features. As soon as he finishes, Shimoda receives a message from God with divine approval and the turtle is born.

Although pleased with the design, Higuchi notes that the head is vulnerable to attack. This prompts the others to brainstorm ideas. As a result, three new variations get approved- the side-necked turtle, the hidden-neck turtle, and the box turtle. Sometime later Kimura informs Shimoda that God was pleased with the turtle. However, God noted that maybe the animal doesn’t exactly need to use its bones. As such he approved one of Kimura's boring sketches from earlier, the Iberian Ribbed Newt.

### Part 2

Shimoda walks into an empty design department, when Unabara comes up from behind startling him. Upon being asked what he is up to, Shimoda explains to Unabara that he came to check on everyone’s progress. The latest request from God is “an animal with a courtship ritual so cute, it makes your heart squeeze.” Unabara informs him that everyone is hard at work behind closed doors. Since he is nearly finished with his design, Unabara decides to accompany Shimoda as they check in on the others.

The first person they check on is Kanamori, who has dressed herself in a feathered outfit and singing karaoke. Both Shimoda and Unabara are stunned and confused by Kanamori’s performance. Shimoda gets a shock when Kanamori fluffs out the feathers, and Unabara becomes embarrassed when Kanamori has him join in as a backup singer. After a few seconds, Shimoda interrupts the song and asks Kanamori if this was for the order from God. Kanamori replies yes and explains to Shimoda how birds impress potential mates with their feathers, singing, and in some cases plumping.

Intrigued to know their opinions, Kanamori asks the two what they thought of her performance. Unabara replies that it was impressive, but notes that he can’t determine whether it would work without someone to compare it to. Surprised by the epiphany, Kanamori immediately asked Shimoda to dance along with her much to his dismay. As the two engage together, Unabara comments how the display is making him blush. This makes Kanamori realize that she can incorporate it into her animal.

She then designs her animal to have a mating ritual where one would force a less experienced one to perform together. Thus improving its chances and intern teaches the other to do the same in the future. Unabara concurs with the love between a teacher and a student relationship. Suddenly, God sends a message with divine approval and the Long-tailed Manakin is born. Kanamori celebrates being the first to finish while Shimoda and Unabara go to check on the others.

In the next room they find the interior transformed into a summertime rice paddy environment. Meido is standing over by a waterfall while Mizushima and Kimura are a few feet away engaged in what Shimoda recognizes as a rap battle. After the two stop for a break, they ask Unabara to judge who the winner is. However, Unabara is unfamiliar with hip-hop music and points to Meido nearby. But Meido chimes in stating that she didn’t hear the lyrics due to the nearby waterfall.

Seeing the shocked looks on Shimoda and Unabara’s faces, the three explained that the set up was to simulate a frog’s environment. When male frogs compete for a mate, they utilize their vocals to see who cooks the loudest. To help Meido out, the boys offered to engage in a rap battle to see if they could get Meido’s heart to throb.

Since it appeared that their lyrics didn’t have any effect, Mizushima and Kimura decide to see if a display of strength will work. The two engage in hand-to-hand combat shocking the others. Suddenly, the impact of the battle causes a nearby cliff to crumble resulting in a rockslide. One boulder manages to break away and is about to fall on the two, when out of nowhere, Unabara jumps in and delivers a powerful kick destroying the boulder. While everyone gets their bearings together, Meido gets an idea of showing off one's muscles to impress the female. After a few tweaks to her frog design, God sends divine approval and the Foot-flagging frog is born.

After receiving thanks for their help, Unabara and Shimoda return to the main office. Unabara then begins work on the courtship ritual for his seal design. Thinking back to Kanamori’s display, Unabara contemplates using the seal's lung capacity. But before he can come up with an idea, one of his seal prototypes inflates a section of their head to form a bladder. The other prototype then joins in and the two start to engage in a battle. Suddenly, one of the seals inflates a reddish-black sac out of its nostril and is declared the winner.

Looking at his design Unabara explains that the sack is the seal's mucous membrane. Unabara admits that he did write “body inflates” on his rough draft, but had not decided on which part to inflate. Shimoda notes how the whole situation made his nose twitch. Suddenly, Shimoda receives a message from God giving divine approval and the hooded seal is born, much to Unabara’s surprise.

## Characters

* Shimoda
* Ueda
* Tsuchiya (Mr. Saturn)
* Kanamori (Venus or "Ven")
* Kimura (Jupiter)
* Meido (Pluto)
* Mizushima (Mercury)
* Unabara (Neptune)
* Higuchi (Mars)

## Featured Animals

* Turtle (Testudines)
* Side-necked turtle (Pleurodira)
* Hidden-neck turtle (Cryptodira)
* Box turtle (Terrapene)
* Iberian Ribbed Newt (Pleurodeles waltl)
* Long-tailed Manakin (Chiroxiphia linearis)
* Foot-flagging Frog (Staurois)
* Hooded Seal (Cystophora cristata)

## Trivia

* This episode consists of chapters 23 and 24 of the manga series.