Episode 46

**Meru Meru Me~! Umagon's Close Call!?**(メルメルメ〜! ウマゴン危機一髪!?, *Merumerume~! Umagon Kikīpatsu!?*) is the 46th episode of the Konjiki no Gash Bell!! Anime. This episode first aired in Japan on February 29, 2004.

## Overview

Umagon continues his quest to find his destined bookkeeper. Despite being down on his luck for most of the day, he ends up meeting a man who bears striking resemblance to him and he becomes convinced he had found his true partner.

## Plot

Umagon looks after Gash in bed as he worries over how withdrawn Gash seemed to be after losing a recent battle. Gash tries to act the same as he normally does in order to quell Umagon's worries then asks him if he can borrow the dog house that he normally stays in outside. Umagon gives Gash the space he needed but still felt worried about him. When he peaks inside the dog house, he sees Gash using it as a space to cry in after holding in his feelings for so long. He then thinks about Gash's partnership with Kiyomaro and the strong bond they have that especially shines when they're in battle together. Umagon then tries to imagine his own bookkeeper and the kind of partnership they would have. He soon becomes frustrated when he remembers the reality of his situation and finally makes up his mind to make another serious attempt to find his bookkeeper that afternoon.

Despite his best and persistent efforts, Umagon finds no luck in finding his bookkeeper no matter where he went or who he showed his book too. By evening, Umagon sits alone prepared to give up his search before he remembers a memory of his mother giving him about finding his true partner. In this flashback, his mother talks to him about his worries about the kind of person his bookkeeper would be and how he can tell if someone is good. She mentions to him of the friendly store keeper they knew that sold hay to them tells him to use someone similar to them as a frame of reference. Remembering them gives Umagon a better idea of who he should be looking for and he finds himself with renewed confidence in his search. He looks around again for anyone with horse-like facial characteristics but sees nobody that matches his criteria. Just as he gives up, he walks past a man who bears great resemblance to him and thinks that he could be his bookkeeper. When the two meet and the man starts looking through his spell book, Gash ends up finding them at the same time and starts congratulating Umagon in finally finding his bookkeeper. The man then asks if Umagon is able to understand human speech and after confirming that, he then asks both Gash and Umagon if they wanted to come by to his house to which the two of them gladly follow him home.

At the house, the man introduces himself as Doronma. While Gash and Umagon find themselves fascinated by the various possessions in his home, Doronma tells them about his "job" delivering presents to the poor. He would then ask if Gash and Umagon would be interested in helping him with his job and explain that they would assist him in being able to carry these presents. Believing in his genuineness, Gash and Umagon gladly agree and Doronma declares that they'll be partners from then on. After Gash introduces formally himself, Umagon tries to tell him his real name only to see that despite thinking Doronma would understand him as his "partner", he nevertheless refers to him as his existing nickname which greatly disappoints and frustrates Umagon.

Later, Doronma has Umagon and Gash work together in pushing a large wheelbarrow under the impression that they are helping him gather "presents" when in reality they are assisting him in robbing numerous jewelry stores throughout the night. When the cart gets filled up, they would stop at Doronma's house for a quick break and marvel at the various things they have collected. Doronma would soon be out with them again to continue stealing from even more stores. Meanwhile, police have already started investigating the scene at one of the jewelry stores Doronma had visited and it is revealed by one of the investigators that Doronma is a well known masterful thief that they have struggled in catching for a long time. Back at Doronma's house, he thinks about how well things had turned out for him thanks to Gash and Umagon and decides that he can finally pull off his greatest heist with their help. He tells them that this is a task that he had been unable to do on his own but with their help it would be possible.

The trio would arrive outside of a large mansion where Doronma tells them that the "present" that they are looking for is hidden inside of it. The mansion of course is filled with a variety of traps and while Doronma plans on getting through each of the early traps as carefully as possible, Gash and Umagon consistently do things that cause numerous alarms to go off which forces Doronma to try and rush through the remaining traps as fast as he could with them. After many trials, Doronma finally gets his hands on a large diamond that was sealed within a large safe but by the time that he, Gash, and Umagon exit the mansion, they find themselves surrounded by police who had shown up as a result of all the alarms that were set off. Although Doronma tries to think of a way out of this situation, he suddenly realizes that the diamond he had been carrying is gone. When he looks up, he sees that Gash and Umagon would foil his plans for the last time and bring it straight to the police as they are still under the impression that they are delivering it as a present to them. After Gash and Umagon are praised by the lead investigator in helping them with the case, Umagon would then turn his attention to Doronma who is being arrested. He rushes over to him and the police escort him and tearfully tries to stand up for him as he still believes he is a good person. It's then that Doronma regretfully confesses to him and Gash that he really is a thief but after seeing how they still continued to believe in him, he tells them he will try to work on becoming a better person who is worthy of their trust.

As Doronma is put into the police car ready to be taken away, Gash frantically tries to ask how would Doronma be able to help him in the battle to decide king and reminds him about Umagon's spell book. Doronma remembers the spell book and as he looks through it one more time, he reveals that the only thing that caught his attention was the fact a fly had been squished on one of the pages and that he can't actually read anything in it. All the police cars would soon leave the scene and Umagon finds himself crestfallen once again as he finds himself once again with no bookkeeper. Gash cheers him up by telling him he still believes he will meet a wonderful partner and to take good care of his spell book until that day. The two of them would then finally head home together as they look forward to the dinner that would be waiting for them when they return.

## Features

### Characters by Appearance

* Umagon
* Gash Bell
* Kiyomaro Takamine
* Tio
* Hana Takamine
* Wife (Flashback)
* Umagon's Mother
* Kotaro Dorouma

### Locations

* Mochinoki City
	+ Takamine Residence
		- Kiyomaro's Room

## Manga & Anime Differences

* Gash's involvement in assisting Doronma in the anime is entirely filler as much of the chapters this episode was based on was primarily focused on Umagon. Gash's appearance in the manga was originally very minimal.
* Minor scenes in the manga showing Umagon being found by someone with the intention of training him into becoming a racehorse and Doronma quickly stealing a bag of chips for Umagon were not present in the anime.