Episode 23

**Meru Meru Me~! Flame on, Umagon**(メルメルメ〜! 燃よウマゴン, *Meru Meru Me~! Moeyo Umagon*) is the 23rd episode of the Konjiki no Gash Bell!! Anime. This episode first aired in Japan on September 14, 2003.

## Overview

With their adventures in England finally over, Kiyomaro and Gash return home to Japan. When they retrieve their belongings from the airport however, they discover Umagon had followed them back to Japan. Despite the fact Umagon and Gash seem to get along well, Umagon does not feel the same way toward Kiyomaro, who he bites him upon first meeting him. Tensions escalate further when Umagon is brought back to Kiyomaro's room where Kiyomaro refuses to allow Umagon to stay. While unpacking his luggage, Kiyomaro makes an interesting discovery.

## Plot

Just before Kiyomaro prepares to leave England, his father, Seitaro, wanted to show him something at the University. Inside a special case is a special artifact that was recently discovered in Africa — a mysterious stone tablet. As Kiyomaro looks at it, Seitaro points out the mysterious creature that appears to be carved into the stone as well as the writing near the bottom of it that greatly resembles the writing seen in Gash's spell book. To further add to the mystery, Seitaro adds that the tablet had been found inside a 1,000 year old ruin which fits exactly into the same time cycle as the battle to decide king which occurs every one thousand years.

Now outside, Seitaro informs Kiyomaro that the stone tablet will be further examined at the University. He then gives Kiyomaro photographs of the tablet and tells him to inform him if he discovers any new information about it. Just as they finished talking, Gash calls out to Kiyomaro telling him that he should hurry up as everyone had come to see them off. As he finishes putting his belongings away, Seccoro tells Kiyomaro to make sure to come visit England again someday. Jem also shyly tells Kiyomaro to not forget about Yopopo to which both he and Gash reassure her that they would never forget him. Kiyomaro and Gash are eventually driven off in a taxi and everyone else waves the two of them goodbye as they disappear into the distance.

Now back in Japan, both Kiyomaro and Gash share their eagerness to return home as they wait for their luggage. When their luggage comes out however, they see a tail wrapped around the bag strap. This is soon revealed to be Umagon who had followed Gash and Kiyomaro all the way back home from England. Seeing Gash, Umagon reacts in excitement and starts to lick him. Kiyomaro notices that the two of them seem to know each other, to which Gash explains he had played with Umagon quite a bit before. Seeing how friendly Umagon appears to be, Kiyomaro reaches out to him with his hand only to end up being bitten by Umagon multiple times. Later back home, Kiyomaro refuses to allow Umagon to stay due to the fact he had bitten him earlier that day. Suddenly, Hana calls for both Gash and Kiyomaro to come downstairs for some tea. Gash then sees this as an opportunity to ask for her permission to keep Umagon and quickly leaves the room.

Kiyomaro stays in his room however and starts to unpack his bags. When opening his backpack, he sees something inside that he doesn't remember packing. When taking it out to investigate, he then sees that he's holding a light-orange spell book. Questioning Umagon if he's a demon causes a brief moment of tension between him and Kiyomaro before Umagon simply nods to confirm this. Umagon then retrieves his book from Kiyomaro's hands and slips his arms through the ropes around the book to show it off on his back. Umagon then removes the book from his back and tries to untie the rope knots on it but with no luck. Seeing Umagon having trouble untying the ropes, Kiyomaro grabs a pair of scissors and cuts the ropes open. Seeing the ropes cut open however causes Umagon to react in a panic then hopelessly tries to put the cut pieces of rope back together again. Kiyomaro then reminds Umagon that it won't come together again due to the fact that it's now been cut. Umagon tries again to slip on the rope backpack just the same as before only to see that his book falls out from it easily. Reminding Umagon again that the rope has been cut causes Umagon to try and communicate to Kiyomaro about how the ropes were lovingly handcrafted by his mother and were made so he would be able to carry his spell book anywhere. Kiyomaro however disregards all of what Umagon had been trying to say due to the fact that he can't understand anything he's saying.

Meanwhile, Gash hears a knock at the front door and when he goes to open it, he sees Kiyomaro's friends, Yamanaka, Iwashima, and Suzume, have come to visit. Hana greets everyone as well and informs them that Kiyomaro is in his room upstairs but hears some commotion from up there. In his room, Kiyomaro's friends and Gash see that he is currently being senselessly beaten up by Umagon. Kiyomaro's friends get sidetracked debating about what kind of animal Umagon appears to be before Kiyomaro tells them to help him out. Gash then pulls Umagon aside to ask what's wrong and finds out from him that Kiyomaro was being mean to him. Once again, they all become distracted with debating about Umagon before they're once again brought back to reality by Kiyomaro. It is then that, despite everything still, they each tell Kiyomaro that they're glad he has returned safely— primarily because they need his help with homework.

Just as Kiyomaro leaves to go grab a table for them, he warns everyone to be careful around Umagon despite how nice he appears around Gash. When he comes back however, he sees how much fun everyone is having with Umagon which irritates him further. Tio also comes upstairs announcing her arrival to Gash and Kiyomaro where she explains to them she came over to play since Megumi is busy that day. Umagon then suddenly tackles her to the ground and starts licking her face in excitement which once again causes Kiyomaro to wonder why Umagon is choosing to be so hostile around him. It becomes evident as well that nobody else aside from Kiyomaro seems to see this side of Umagon when Iwashima questions him about that.

Things settle down eventually when Kiyomaro's friends start to work on their homework with him. Downstairs, Hana cuts up watermelon slices and calls for Kiyomaro to come and get some for him and his guests. Hearing this however, Gash decides he'll come bring everything upstairs and Tio soon joins him. Seeing that both Gash and Tio are gone, Umagon hops off Kiyomaro's bed and starts showing off his spell book to Kiyomaro's friends. This ends up annoying Kiyomaro which leads to only more tension between him and Umagon. Suzume ends up stepping between them and tells Kiyomaro that he'll never end up befriending Umagon if he keeps acting the way he does toward him. Yamanaka and Iwashima both explain to him that if he were to simply just be nice to him, then he'll end up being nice to him as well. Iwashima then tries to have Kiyomaro recite "meru meru me" and encourages him to put his heart into saying it for Umagon. When Kiyomaro does so however, Umagon ends up laughing at him and Kiyomaro gets even more upset with him and his attitude. While pointing at him, Umagon ends up biting his hand once again which proves to be the final straw for Kiyomaro. He finally orders Umagon to leave after having been nothing but trouble to him and refuses to keep him any longer. Umagon, distraught and in tears, takes his spell book and runs away. As Gash and Tio are bringing in the watermelon slices, Umagon dashes right past them and Tio immediately notices the spell book that Umagon is carrying with him.

After seeing Umagon run off, Gash asks Kiyomaro about what had happened where he then explains the situation to him. He then tells Gash and Tio to come outside of the room with him so they can talk. In the hallway, Kiyomaro finally tells Gash that Umagon is actually a demon and Tio confirms this by telling them she had seen him carrying his book with him. Kiyomaro then goes on to explain that aside from how he feels about Umagon, he can't let him stay as he could potentially attack them at any time. Gash, frustrated with Kiyomaro, eventually runs off to find Umagon and Tio ends up doing the same. When Kiyomaro returns to his room, he's greeted with the sight of his friends upset with him for kicking out Umagon and demanding him to bring him back. Kiyomaro eventually gives in to his friends' dramatic protests and sets out to find Umagon.

Downtown, Kiyomaro manages to catch up with Tio who he asks about Umagon's whereabouts. After telling him where he is, Tio confesses to Kiyomaro that if Umagon really is alone, then she understands how he must be feeling right now. Hearing Umagon in the distance interrupts their conversation and the two of them hurry off to find him all while Kiyomaro wonders what Tio meant by what she said. In the middle of the busy shopping district, Kiyomaro and Tio see that Umagon, with Gash's help, is trying to get people's attention by showing off his light-orange spell book. Despite their best efforts, people continue to walk past them. Kiyomaro notices this and remembers that Umagon had tried to do the same thing back home in front of his friends. Tio adds to this saying that Umagon is trying to find his bookkeeper. Although strange as it seems to see that there is still a demon who has yet to meet their partner, Tio reveals to Kiyomaro that it had taken her months to find her own bookkeeper and so she understands the feelings of worry and loneliness that Umagon must be having right now. Hearing this, Kiyomaro understood why Umagon was glad to have found Gash despite the fact that they're technically enemies. Kiyomaro also figures out and the reason why Umagon had been so hostile to him this whole time was because he was already Gash's bookkeeper and therefore could never be Umagon's. Kiyomaro eventually approaches Gash and Umagon where he then tells them that Umagon can come home and stay with them only until he finds his bookkeeper.

Later that evening, Kiyomaro announces to everyone at home that he finally decided upon a name for Umagon. Despite Umagon's hope that he would be recognized as his real name, Schneider, Kiyomaro ends up giving him the name, "Umagon", due to the fact that in Japanese, "Uma" means horse. While everyone else seems to have accepted this name, Umagon becomes upset about this and attacks Kiyomaro who doesn't understand why Umagon is upset to begin with.

## Features

### Characters by Appearance

* Seitaro Takamine
* Kiyomaro Takamine
* Dartagnan
* Seccoro
* Cook
* Jem
* Umagon
* Hana Takamine
* Hiroshi Yamanaka
* Mamoru Iwashima
* Suzume Mizuno
* Tio

### Locations

* England
	+ University
* Japan
	+ Mochinoki City
		- Takamine Residence
			* Kiyomaro's Room

## Manga & Anime Differences

* In the anime, Dartagnan can be seen among the group of people waiting to see Kiyomaro and Gash head off. He does not make an appearance in this scene in the manga however.
* In the manga, Kiyomaro and Gash recognize Umagon back in England where he had played with Gash briefly just before they left. In the anime, Umagon was introduced much earlier prior to Kiyomaro and Gash's trip to England and had been seen interacting with Gash in earlier episodes.
* In the anime, Umagon's book is stored away inside of Kiyomaro's backpack. In the manga, his book is placed in the back pocket of the backpack.
* A filler scene in the anime shows Suzume giving Gash a model of Big Ben that she claims to have gotten from "Hong Kong".
* In the manga, Umagon is seen trying to show his spell book to passersby on his own while Gash sits on the sidelines watching him. When Kiyomaro and Tio talk with Gash, Gash explains how he thinks Umagon is looking for his bookkeeper. Gash also mentions that back in England, Umagon appeared to be overjoyed to have seen him and thinks he may have remembered him from back in the Demon World. In the anime, Gash tries to help Umagon by getting people's attention to stop and look at his spell book and Tio is the one who tells Kiyomaro how she thinks Umagon is trying to find his bookkeeper.

## Censorship & Other Localization Differences

* Dartagnan's cigar was removed in the VIZ localization of the anime although this then causes him to appear as if he's holding nothing in his hand.
* In the VIZ localization, all instances of Umagon hitting Kiyomaro were censored over by a brief flashing screen sequence.

## Trivia

* In the original Japanese episode, Iwashima makes a reference to George Adamski when mentioning UFOs. Adamski is an American author who is best known for his writing contributions in regards to UFO myths.