Episode 6: Case 16 Loudly Laundry

## Episode 6

**Episode 6: *Case 16 Loudly Laundry*** is the sixth overall episode of *Princess Principal* season 1.

## Episode Plot

Episode 6, titled '*Case 16 Loudly Laundry',* opens in the Little Lambs Laundry mill where the viewer is first introduced to the many Laundry Mill girls (Rita, Marilla, Mary Jane, among others) as they work. After the viewer is reintroduced to Team White Pigeon who have gone undercover at the factory under the aliases Becky (Beatrice), Dorothea (Dorothy), Chieko (Chise), Priscilla (Princess Charlotte) and Alice (Ange) by the site foremen.

A flashback shows has Dorothy threw down a newspaper in front of the rest of Team White pigeon as they sit in the Natural Science Room. The newspaper's front page depicts Poison Gas Jack, an elusive serial killer who has been assassinating Commonwealth supporters with nerve gas.

Control believes that Poison Gas Jack is working alone and is not being backed by anyone. Due to the nature of his crimes and acquisition of a nerve gas it is believe he has to be in the Kingdom Army to have access to such ingredients. Since nerve gas was banned by the Geneva convention, gas produced before the convention was left in military storehouses, particularly one inside the London wall guarded by a barracks of Kingdom soldiers. Control believes Poison Gas Jack is most likely a solider of this barracks of 1200 soldiers.

Since the Army is a *'boys club'*, Team White Pigeon can not disguise themselves as soldiers as women would draw too much attention. Ange suggests that men don't do laundry, inferring that the barracks would send their uniforms off site to a laundry to be cleaned and that they should be able to find out who Poison Gas Jack really is if they get the uniform. This is because, as explained by Dorothy, the nerve gas would adhere to Poison Gas Jack's uniform.

Back at the laundry mill Team White Pigeon test the uniforms using a pyridine test to try and find the right uniform, while Ange scares off any employees from getting too close to discover what they are doing. Meanwhile Chise tries her hardest at the job and asks Marilla, the head *'Master laundress'* to help her out with the operation of an iron.

A wide shot of the factory floor shows how disorganised and ill-maintained the equipment is, with poorly repaired pipes and laundry baskets covering the floor. Rita is seen tripping over these pipes shortly before one of the large industrial washing machine breaks down. Marilla calls everyone for a break, a decision Chise does not like as they had been working for less than an hour and views this as being lazy.

Back at Queen's Mayfaire Academy at a table in garden, Team White Pigeon discuss the last two days working at the mill and the 150 articles of clothings they have tested in that time, with no confirmed chemical reactions to the pyridine test. Chise brings up how she feels that the workers are too lazy.

Back at the Laundry Mill, the girls are shown to be working with the faulty equipment which are not running properly/breaking. Marilla once again calls for everyone to have a break but Chise does not want to go on break, instead continuing to preform her iron work causing an argument between the two of them. Chise believes that *"you have but one life to live. Why would you not give everything your best effort"* and Marilla is trying to stop her before any of the equipment causes injury due to their faultiness.

This argument is cut short when an electrical short on an iron used by Rita causes a fire which sets her sleeve on fire, scaring her arm. Chise quickly rushes to Ritas aid and puts her clothes out while Marilla turns off the power to the electrical fire. Marilla yells at Chise about *"this is why i told you to take a break"* and tells Chise that they go on break every so often so the machines can rest and that even though they get paid less as pay is by how much work is done, if they get injured they can't earn money.

Marilla's speech to Chise is cut short when they are interrupted by Franky, a debt collector and two of his men who are looking for the foremen. In the foremen's office Franky reminds the foreman of his payments and threatens to run his "*sorry little mill into the ground"* if he doesn't pay up. The laundry mill girls worry that the mill will be shut down and they won't get paid. Princess Charlotte knocks and enters the room where the foremen and Franky are talking and proposes to the both of them that she will buy the laundry mill and pay the debt.

Franky thinks that Princess is lying to him about buying the mill as he sees her as a little child and a women who would not and should not have the means to buy the mill. When he reaches out to grab Princess, Ange intervenes and beats Franky and his two goons to the ground for trying to bring harm to the princess and tell Franky to "*shut up and sell it to her"*. This offer is accepted off screen and the laundry mill is placed in the control of Princess.

In the Natural Science Room at Queen's Mayfaire Academy that night Team White Pigeon discuss the acquisition of the mill and how long it will take to test the remaining uniforms. Princess wants the purchase to not be a poor investment and actually turn a profit. The team head down to the mill later in the night a begin fixing and rearranging the machinery "to create the optimal work path", to vastly increases efficiency and productivity. This process of rearranging the heavy industrial machinery is made easy thanks to Ange's C-Ball. Chise is happy with this as the work place accidents should now cease.

The next morning when the Laundry Mill girls arrive to start the days work they are surprised to see the new layout and all of the equipment working correctly and operational and they question how the five of them could have done all this in one night. Due to the improved layout and fixed equipment the Laundry Mill is able to complete the weeks works before the days end. Since all the work is complete and they do not receive anymore uniforms from the Army until the Weekend Dorothy, accompanied by five of the Laundry Mill girls, leave to find move work to bring to the mill, which they succeed at.

At the London wall barrack Poison Gas Jack is shown stealing chemicals from *'No, 13 Chemical Depot'* and head back to his room, where he realises that his uniform jacket is not on his bed where he left it. He asks another solider, presumably one of his roommates, where his uniform and is told that he gave it to the individuals who were collecting laundry before.

Back at the Laundry mill Chise is talking to Marilla and gives her a hachimaki, meanwhile Dorothy, Ange and Princess are searching uniforms in the back, when Princess finds the uniform of Poison Gas Jack, revealing that his name is Private William Ricard, of the 2nd Platoon. As Princess tells the other two, Private William is seen hiding outside having let the barracks to either get his uniform back or keep an eye on the mill workers. When Dorothy leave to get the car so they can head to the barracks, Private William enters the mill with a knife drawn with the intent to silence Princess.

He is caught by almost immediately by Chise upon entering the mill and a fight breaks in which he draws his service pistol and Chise attacks him with an iron. Princess tries to help when his back is turned with a broom, but Ange intervenes and pulls her out of the fight. Chise gets the upper-hand and knocks him to the ground, when Marilla appears looking for Chise and sees the commotion. Private William upon seeing another person and not having the upper-hand attempts to kill them all by using the nerve gas he had on him, he is thwarted by Chise who knocks him out with a blow to the head. Marilla walks away without saying a word.

Over the next few days Team White pigeon don't show up to the mill, leading the laundry mill girls to worry. Eventually Princess shows up and calls a meeting in which she steps down as the laundry mill's foreman and informs them that herself and the rest of team pigeon are leaving much to the despair of the girls. Princess promotes Marilla to take her place to her disagreement. The episode ends with Chise, Dorothy and Ange discussing if the laundry mill will get on without, too Chise believes they can now as they are strong and will be able to take care of themselves from now on.

## Trivia

* The closing song for episode 6 is *Let's turn it once more (もひとつまわして, mo hitotsu mawashite)*.
* Episode 6 and 7 originally aired in the wrong order, with episode 6 releasing on August 20, 2017 a week after episode 7. This is because when the episodes were send over for the original broadcast they received the episodes in the wrong order. In the home video release the order is corrected to the intended episode order per the licensor.
* The real-life Geneva Conventions make no mention of poison gas, though the 1899 Hague Convention did; only to be violated in the First World War.
* A storyboard book of episode 6 is included in the *Princess Principal* Special Edition 6-Volume Blu-Ray. The storyboard booklet is titled *Storyboard Book 「case 16 Loudly Laundry*.