Episode 40

**Canchome Becomes an Older Brother**(キャンチョメ、兄ちゃんになる, *Kyanchome, Nīchan ni Naru*) is the 40th episode of the Konjiki no Gash Bell!! Anime. This episode first aired in Japan on January 18, 2004.

## Overview

Canchome gets separated from Folgore when he gets taken by truck to a circus in a distant rural town. While out exploring the countryside, he comes across a quiet young girl who he sees sitting by herself. After befriending her and getting her to laugh and smile, he decides he wants to become an older brother to her.

## Plot

Somewhere in Italy, Canchome sits by himself while watching Folgore sign autographs for a large group of fans. When he looks away from the commotion, his attention is immediately drawn to an unattended bowl of candy left inside of an empty truck parked not too far from where he was sitting. Unable to resist the idea of sweets, he climbs up into the truck prepared to take it for himself until he finds himself trapped behind closed bars in it. Folgore immediately notices the trouble Canchome has gotten himself into and tries to chase after Canchome on foot as the truck he's in drives off. Folgore however is unable to keep up with the truck and the two of them end up becoming separated from each other.

Meanwhile, just as Kiyomaro heads off for school, Gash tries to stop Kiyomaro to ask if he's able to come along. As usual, Kiyomaro tries to tell him he can't only to then be met with Gash's usual protests claiming he has nothing else to do. Suddenly, Tio drops by for a visit and tells them that she happened to have some free time since Megumi would be busy with work related things that day. With things working out for everyone, Kiyomaro heads off for school and Tio, Gash, and Umagon are left to decide how they want to spend their day today.

Somewhere else in a distant rural town, the Ororon Circus had set up a tent and is now preparing for a show. Canchome is introduced during the first act of the show as a clown who would be performing a variety of tricks for the crowd despite having little to no experience with any of these acts. Although he ends up messing up in each performance, he still manages to get the crowd to smile and laugh. At the end of the first act, Canchome runs backstage to cry over how much he misses Folgore. The ringmaster of the circus would come backstage with Canchome too to tell Canchome he's excused for the rest of the day due to the small turnout that day. He would also then praise Canchome for how well he did and tell him that the audience had enjoyed his performance too.

With the rest of the day to himself, Canchome decides to go exploring the countryside while riding a small scooter board. When he notices a young girl sitting alone under a tree, he decides to head in her direction with the hope that he'll be able to make a new friend. When he tries to talk to her at first, he's met with silence as she is seen sitting still holding a doll in the air. Assuming that she's lonely like him, Canchome goes over to sit with her and continue to try and talk with her. He introduces himself to her and tells her about his current situation with how he's in town with the circus. He then tells her about how he knows that his performance that day wasn't great but mentions how he thinks it's interesting still how others still manage to laugh despite that. Canchome then tries to show her his juggling skills to prove how he's not great at any circus acts but him messing up at this ends up causing her to laugh and smile. She would then introduce herself as Rushka and tells Canchome that she thinks that while it's great he's able to make people laugh when he messes up, it'll be even better if he's able to make people cheer if he succeeds. With this in mind, Canchome decides this will be something he'll try to keep practicing to do his best. Happy to have met Rushka, he ends up asking if she would like to be his little sister. Rushka smiles at the thought of that and tells him that it makes her feel very happy that she now has an older brother.

Soon after this, Rushka takes Canchome back home with her to show him the large herd of sheep that she takes care of. She then calls out for Lily to come outside the house nearby so she can introduce Canchome to her. Lily introduces herself to him and tells him that she's Rushka's guardian. While Rushka tends to her sheep, Canchome sits with Lily and asks her about the sheep that Rushka is taking care of and about her parents. Lily explains to him that Rushka's parents had both died some time ago and that those sheep are the only things that they had left for her so she takes great care of them as a result. Canchome becomes shocked when he learns Rushka has no family and thinks back to when she had told him how happy she was to have him as her new older brother. While Rushka waves to him as she herds her sheep in the fields, Canchome waves and tries to smile back but can't help but feel a bit sad after learning this information about her.

At the same time, Gash, Tio, and Umagon find themselves at the local park where they walk around trying to find something to do. Just as they're all walking together, Naomi stops in front of them in her toy car and steps out to ask Gash about Tio, someone who she had not seen with him before until now. While Gash tries to introduce them to each other, he and Umagon can't help but feel a great sense of tension between them and become a bit frightened as a result. Naomi becomes surprised and a bit jealous when she learns that Tio is Gash's friend and Tio would go on to brag about how much she and Gash had fun during the time they had went to the amusement park together. Naomi would become more jealous when she hears Tio talk about how she had made a boxed lunch for Gash that day. But while Gash confirms that he did eat it, he comments that he still prefers yellowtail over her food which causes Tio to react with anger and strangle him for that. Naomi, impressed with seeing how Tio is able to easily put Gash in his place, extends her hand out to Tio and tells her that it seems they have plenty in common and can be good friends after all. While Tio and Naomi shake hands, Gash and Umagon comment on how scary the two of them can be.

During the early evening, Canchome joins Rushka and Lilly for dinner and learns about the rumors regarding a pair of thieves that have been stealing the livestock all around the village. Canchome reacts to the news by assuring Rushka that as her big brother, he'll protect her sheep so she'll have no worries. Just as everyone begins to eat however, an explosion is heard just outside by the barn where Rushka's sheep are. Although just as startled as everyone else, Canchome again tells Rushka that she has nothing to worry about as he'll be the one to stop the thieves from taking her sheep. Canchome charges outside feeling confident he'll scare off the thieves for Rushka's sake but ends up stopping in his tracks when he ends up actually seeing who the thieves are.

The pair of thieves are revealed to be a large dragon-like demon, Bago, and his bookkeeper, Frito. Despite being terrified of Bago's threatening appearance, when he looks back at Rushka who watches helplessly on the sidelines, Canchome remembers that she's counting on him to stop them and tries to be brave in the face of danger. Without his spell book, Canchome first attempts to stop the thieves by using a newspaper projectile that he learned to make in the circus but when he actually uses it, he sees that it ended up doing nothing. Canchome then tries to threaten the two of them that he'll still try and do something to stop them but both Bago and Frito remain unbothered by his words and disregard him as they collect the rest of Rushka's sheep in bags. When Canchome tries to talk back at them again, Bago scares Canchome into thinking he's going to eat him which causes Canchome to ultimately back down. With all the sheep collected, Bago and Frito fly off to head back to their hideout where they plan to eat all of the sheep.

With the thieves gone, Canchome sits alone feeling defeated and feels especially guilty about being unable to protect the sheep when he sees Rushka cry. Canchome reflects on what had happened alone and thinks how there was no way he would have been able to stand up to Bago especially without his own spell book or Folgore with him. Canchome also ends up thinking to himself he may as well return to the circus before it gets too dark then goes to first say his goodbyes to Lily. When he explains to her how he feels he's not cut out to be Rushka's big brother, he asks her about Rushka's whereabouts so he can say goodbye to her as well. Canchome would end up finding Rushka in the middle of her now empty field crying alone after having lost all of her sheep. Canchome tries to talk with her by first suggesting she should head back inside since it's getting dark and there's no use in standing outside anymore for her sheep. After hearing her sheep mentioned, Rushka does end up turning around to head back inside but does not look or say anything to Canchome as when she walks by him. Seeing how much pain she's going through and how he had failed to protect her sheep as promised causes Canchome to also cry alone in the empty field. Canchome is seen visibly frustrated with the way things turned out as all he had wanted was to make Rushka smile and hated that he had made her cry. Soon enough, Canchome comes to the realization that it doesn't matter what it is he has to face no matter how weak he is; what's important to him is that he wants to be able to make Rushka smile again because he's her big brother.

Canchome returns to Lily and Rushka's house where he asks Lily about the whereabouts of the two thieves and learns from her that they have a hideout in a cave by the beach. When she asks why Canchome needed to know that, Canchome tells her that he's determined to get all of Rushka's sheep back. Hearing this causes Lily to be concerned for Canchome and reminds him of how terrifying the thieves were and there's little he's able to do against them. Cancome ignores this warning and before he heads off, he asks Lily to tell Rushka that he promises she won't have to cry anymore. Moments after Canchome heads off alone, Folgore shows up beside Lily where she tells him about Canchome's situation. While Canchome propels himself along the road using his scooter board, Folgore rides along with him on his motorcycle to question if he's really willing and able to get Rushka's sheep back. Although he realizes how difficult this mission would be, Canchome remains adamant that he wants to be able to make Rushka smile again no matter what and asks Folgore if he's willing to help fight with him. Proud of how brave Canchome had become just when he found him, he reassures him that he will help him in this fight.

They would soon discover the hideout that Bago and Frito are located in and both teams meet face to face with each other. With Canchome's desire to make things right for Rushka and Folgore's desire to help Canchome with this goal, the two of them stand their ground against Bago and Frito and prepare themselves for an important battle.

## Features

### Characters by Appearance

* Parco Folgore
* Canchome
* Kiyomaro Takamine
* Gash Bell
* Umagon
* Tio
* Rushka
* Lily
* Naomi
* Bago
* Frito

### Locations

* Europe
	+ Italy
	+ Spain
* Japan
	+ Mochinoki City
		- Takamine Residence

## Manga & Anime Differences

* All appearances Kiyomaro, Tio, and Naomi have in this episode is entirely filler as none of them have any involvement during these same events in the manga.
* In the beginning of the first chapter this episode was based on, it starts off by showing Gash and Umagon at home where Gash talks to Umagon about the fact that there are now only 40 demons left in the battle. This minor detail would not be seen in the anime.
* The order of events in this episode contrast somewhat with the manga's depiction of events. In the manga, the story starts off showing a minor scene showing Gash and Umagon's at home before shifting to Canchome's perspective as he performs at the circus. After his performance, context as to how he ended up in that situation is finally shown. In the anime, the episode starts off showing how Canchome got himself separated from Folgore. It then transitions to showing Gash, Tio, and Umagon's perspectives before returning to showing Canchome at the circus.

## Censorship & Other Localization Differences

* A beginning scene for the episode showing a woman holding her breasts and expressing how she hopes Folgore would comment on them was removed from the VIZ localization of the episode.
* A scene during Canchome's circus performance showing the ringleader being hit in the face by a baton was removed from the VIZ localization of the episode.