The Sleepwalker

**"The Sleepwalker"** is the twenty-sixth episode of *Kobushi*. It was released in April 10, 2013, on Gulli, and later in December 17, 2014, on Mangas.

## Synopsis

Toro passes and succeeds in passing his belt: yes, but now, he was sleeping! Because Toro is sleepwalking. Ebi takes advantage of the windfall to train him while he sleeps in the mouth of Neko. But beware ... we must NEVER wake a sleepwalker!

## Plot

The episode begins with Toro training at the bonsai tree. Onigiri then arrives, asking Toro if he's hungry since he's been training for hours. Toro responds by saying he's not and he continues training, ignoring his friend as Onigiri leaves to go back to the dojo. Toro have been training for so many hours that he stops when it's literally the next morning. The now-tired Toro falls asleep when Master Tako's students and the Yakuza all meet up to participate in the black belt martial art competition. After Shaké randomly draw the students' name, the first fight is between Ebi and Burimu. Oni San nags to Ebi that he has no faith in him to knock out Burimu all by himself and he instead advices him that he have to cheat to win. Ebi obeys what Oni-San said to him and he cheats the competition by farting at Burimu instead of physically fighting him. But when Toro snores very loudly, Burimu gets distracted and get knock out by Ebi. Master Tako declares Ebi the winner, but Burimu doesn't take his lost very well. He complains that Ebi have cheated and he got himself distracted by Toro's loud snore. Master Tako, understanding what Burimu meant, asks Onigiri to bring Toro back to his room because of him disturbing the competition with his snoring. Onigiri tries to reason with Master Tako that Toro have been training too hard to get ready for the competition, but Master Tako points out that because Toro have trained too hard last night he had fail to save his energy during his training and he instead fall into a deep sleep.

After Toro is place back into his room, it is Tamago's turn to fight someone. Shaké draws out Toro's name, but because of Toro's absence, Master Tako asks the remaining contestant if one of them would be Tamago's opponent. No one respond to the master since they don't want to fight with Tamago. But just then Toro have somehow wake up and arrive to fight with Tamago, claiming that "[he's] on top of the menu!". Master Tako allows Toro to be in the competition since he have regain his energy after a short amount of sleep. But much to the surprise of everyone, Toro easily knocks out Tamago all without blinking his eyes. Master Tako eventually realizes that Toro have actually sleepwalk during the entire fight since Toro doesn't respond to him when he walks by, stating that because Toro doesn't conspicuously beat Tamago, he can't be bestowed his belt. Onigiri asks Master Tako what's "sleepwalker" mean, but Shaké answers the question for him. She said that Toro is actually asleep but he looks like he's awake. He can hear what's going on around him, but for him, it's like he's dreaming. She also warns the Kobushis that they should not wake up the sleepwalker or else something bad would happen to him. Shaké then tells Toro to go back to bed and he obeys her by sleepwalking back to his room.

Toro's somnambulism causes Oni San to have an idea and asks Ebi if he's thinking what he's thinking. But Ebi comically misses the point, saying that since Toro would do anything someone said to him, he could manipulate Toro into cleaning his room. Oni San angrily nags at Ebi for not realizing what the former is thinking and explains to Ebi his plan. Ebi arrives at Toro's room and tells him that there's something "cool" he wants to show him. He picks up the sleeping Toro and carries him on his back as he runs to where Néko's altar is. Along the way, Toro starts talking in sleep about him being "on top of the menu" and he insensitively said to his "faithful warhorse" that his smell reminds him a lot of Ebi and that he stinks, offending the real Ebi who carries him like an actual horse. Toro then reveals to his "warhorse" that he likes Ebi and that he deep down he's a good guy. The real Ebi stops running upon hearing what Toro said in his sleep is the truth. Oni San appears and nags at Ebi when he believes what he did isn't a good idea since Toro unintentionally reveal to Ebi that he likes him as a friend. But Oni San convinces Ebi to keep going with his plan, and he is force to obey.

At Néko's altar, Néko is very happy to see that Ebi have successfully deliver Toro to him. Ebi warns Néko that Toro is asleep and that he must keep quiet because if Toro hears Néko's voice, he could wake up and it's very dangerous to wake up a sleeping sushi. He then adds that Ebi himself deserves to be eaten by the Great Néko, but Néko refuses the offer since he never promise to eat him, much to everyone's surprises. Néko points out that Ebi must always come see him before he brings a Kobushi to the altar and because Ebi forgot to do so, Ebi and Néko both actually didn't make any promises that Néko would eat Ebi once he brings Toro to him. Because of it, Néko refuses to offer any exception and asks Ebi to leave. Ebi, now angry that Néko is going to eat Toro and not him, transforms into Ninjasmin in hope to rescue his "friend". Meanwhile at the altar, the somnambulist Toro have convinced Néko to dance with him, much to Sho's, Yu's, and Ka's amusement. Ninjasmin arrives to take down Néko, but Sho warns him about not waking up the sleepwalker. Since Toro and Néko are both dancing, Oni San complains to Ninjasmin that he must revolt them to get them to stop. Ninjasmin listens to Oni San's advice by insulting both Toro and Néko; he insults Toro that he's the worst samurai he have ever known; while he insults Néko for not being unable to a single Kobushi and calls him a fool. This anger both Toro and Néko, and they both start chasing after Ninjasmin. At the edge of the table, Ninjasmin leaps before the two can attack him, which lead to them being knock into a wall. With both Néko and Toro unconscious, Ninjasmin carries Toro back to his room in the village.

Later at Toro's room, Toro finally wakes up and meets up with Tamago. Since he doesn't remember anything that have happened to him while he sleepwalked, he said to her that he had a weirdest dream of himself passing his yellow belt against her and that he had beat her. Tamago, still upset about what happened earlier and that Toro have sleepwalked the entire time, angrily said to Toro that he must stop taken his dream to reality. She then marches away and said that she had a good-night sleep, much to Toro's confusion.

## Characters

* Toro
* Ebi/Ninjasmin
* Oni San
* Néko
* Sho, Yu, and Ka
* Tamago
* Onigiri
* Shaké
* Master Tako
* Burimu
* Hokkigaï (background)
* Unagi (background)
* Ebi's great-grandmother (mentioned)
* Villagers

## Trivia

* The French title is "Le somnambule".
* This episode revealed that every time before Ebi could successfully bring the Kobushis to Néko, Ebi must always meet Néko at his altar to strike the same deal with him: if one or more Kobushis get capture, Néko must promise to eat Ebi last. Because of it, in this episode Ebi forgot to come to the altar to strike the same deal with Néko and thus, Néko refuses to eat Ebi since he doesn't give any promise to him.
* It's revealed by Toro that he likes Ebi. Despite he can't stand Ebi's smelly odor, Toro thinks he's deep down a nice person.

### Errors

* The first letter of Michaël Delachenal's surname isn't capital in the title card.

## References

1. ↑ https://playtv.fr/programmes-tv/gulli/10-04-2013/
2. ↑ https://playtv.fr/programmes-tv/mangas/17-12-2014/
3. ↑ https://playtv.fr/programme-tv/563518/kobushi/