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Megawangokyo Episode 1: Tick Tock Trouble

Summary

Hidro doesn't know what to do. He needs to hold down his job at Hostelity, but Chime really wants to go out and explore the city. Worried she might get hurt or lost in the city on her own, Hidro tells Ooesuke to accompany her. Ooesuke, however, proves that he isn't the best guardian, and immediately forgets about Chime in order to pursue an "evil" cat (which isn't really evil at all). Alone in the city, Chime has a series of cute misadventures.

Meanwhile, back at the hostel, the female employees have started to take notice of Hidro. They find themselves attracted to his unassuming, quiet passiveness so much that they immediately start hitting on him in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. Hidro, intensely shy, tries to remain oblivious to these advances. However, when one girl's attempts to seduce Hidro in a storeroom ends with Jade Lotus catching the two of them in a rather compromising position, Jade thinks Hidro's the one who's trying to seduce the young women of the hostel. Jade explains that she will not tolerate such a thing and threatens to fire Hidro, but he pleads with her to let him stay. She agrees, but says she'll keep a close eye on Hidro from now on.

When Ooesuke returns to the hostel without Chime, Hidro flips out and the two go on a quest across the city to find her. They ultimately find Chime disrupting traffic by running through the streets. Hidro manages to catch her just in time to keep her from causing a major accident. This episode ends with the three of them returning to the hostel, with Hidro rejecting Ooesuke's apology.

Notes

• This episode, along with every following episode, was ultimately published as manga. It's unclear if this was authorized by the people at Realmworlds or not, but no legal action was ever taken. This has caused much debate over the years as to whether or not Megawangokyo can be considered an official ELotH:TES work or not.

• This episode introduces what would become a running theme in the series, the fact that Hidro Kobayashi is intensely attractive to all female characters for no apparent reason, to the point where they'll literally throw themselves at him if given the slightest opportunity. It's unclear if this choice was made because it's something of a romantic comedy manga staple or because Hidro is supposed to represent series creator Ken Nordris.

• Jade Lotus' outfit changes five times over the course of this episode, even though it supposedly takes within the time frame of a single day. Ken Nordris later explained that this was a visual gag for loyal readers to catch, though the fact that the outfits become progressively more tight and revealing has caused fans to wonder if there might be an alternate explaination.