Synopsis: Prof. Itsuki gives Misato and Kawahama a bill for the destroyed room’s repair.

Tadayasu has fallen asleep in Kawahama and Misato’s room. Misato awakens him and Kawahama. Kawahama sneezes and spews rhinoviruses into the air. Rhinoviruses are the cause of common cold. Tadayasu sees a tub of kuchikami, a type of sake created by chewing rice and spitting the mixture into a tub. A. oryzae, S. lactis and S. cerevisiae are playing on top of the tub’s cover.

Misato suggests that they check the bulletin board since it lists the students’ daily schedule. Kawahama says he’s not going. Misato tells him that in his case, he has to go or else he’d be in trouble. Kawahama then decides to attend classes.

Tadayasu notices that Kei hasn’t come back. Kei was given several tasks by Haruka and he had to stay up until morning. Haruka tells him he should be grateful he got to see a part of a graduate student’s work. Kei tells her he just entered the university the other day, he doesn’t understand the details. He did learn how to use some machine though.

Tadayasu, Misato and Kawahama are surprised to see their names posted in the bulletin board. Prof. Itsuki wants to see them. Tadayasu thinks it might have something to do with the illegal making of sake but wonders why he and Kei are included.

Back to Kei, Haruka tells him to break ties with Kawahama and Misato as the two have no future. Unknown to her, Kawahama and Misata have come.

The professor arrives. He says he’d like to celebrate Sawaki and Kei’s entrance to the university before discussing things. He beckons an Oikawa to come. A huge ray appears at the door. Sawaki and the others are shocked at the sight. Prof. Itsuki introduces her as Oikawa Hazuki. It turns out that a girl was holding the ray. Prof. Itsuki asks Oikawa to cut the ray into pieces. Oikawa refuses but Prof. Itsuki tells her he’ll give her credit.

Haruka asks if it’s hongeohoe. The professor explains it’s a South Korean dish, a fermented skate sashimi. Tadayasu wonders why he doesn’t see any microbes. He takes a closer look and realizes there are lots of them. There are Lactobacillus plantarum, Bacillus halodurans and Pediococcus pentosaceus. Prof. Itsuki says that by the smell alone, hongeohoe is five times stronger than kiviak and fourteen times stronger than natto. It’s the world’s second strongest fermented smell. He asks Tadayasu if it’s good. The others are disgusted.

L. plantarum are present in sauerkraut, pickles and kimchi. They are also present in saliva. They are is said to be a probiotic or “good bacteria”. Pediococcus pentosaceus are categorized as “lactic acid bacteria”.

Tadayasu asks the professor what kind of research he is doing. He asks if the kiviak and the hongeohoe are related. Prof. Itsuki asks him in return if he’s heard about terraforming. He explains it’s an idea of altering planets so they would become like Earth. Microbes can live in the harshest of environments. Thus, the professor is interested in their potential for terraforming.

Misato and Kawahama wonder why they were told to come. The professor tells Haruka to hand over something to them. It’s a bill for repair of the room they used to illegally make sake. The cost of the equipment in that room as well as the materials they used in making sake is also included. Kawahama and Misato look at it. They are shocked at the amount. It totaled to 10,285,000 yen.

Hazuki asks why money was being demanded from the two. Tadayasu says he doesn’t know. Kei, however, says that the two deserve it.

Tadayasu and Hazuki have some snacks together at the school grounds. Hazuki offers anti-bacterial tissues to Tadayasu. She says Tadayasu should first wipe his hands before eating. Tadayasu finds it weird since it was Hazuki who suggested that they sit on the ground. Hazuki then asks why Tadayasu isn’t with Kei. Tadayasu replies that Haruka called out Kei and the others since morning. Hazuki thinks Haruka is making Misato and Kawahama work off the 10 million yen. Tadayasu doubts it but it’s actually happening.

Later that day, Hazuki and Tadayasu goes to Misato and Kawahama’s dormitory. Tadayasu tells her she didn’t have to come. Hazuki is shocked to find the dormitory stinking of molds. Tadayasu comments that the wet tissues wouldn’t be enough. Hazuki says it’s alright since she has an disinfectant spray.

Hazuki is even more shocked to see the two’s filthy room. She tidies the room and washes the two’s dishes saying she can’t stand dirty places. Slowly, the room becomes spic and span.

Misato talks to Sawaki about the C. sinensis. He and Kawahama obtained Common Swift Moth larvae, the host for the priced fungi. Misato wonders how they are going to cultivate it. Kawahama thinks they should put more of the microbes. The three notice Hazuki spraying the room. Misato apologizes for having her do it. She goes around the room in a spraying spree. Tadayasu suddenly realizes something bad. The C. sinensis are also microbes!

Misato and Kawahama rush to their box of larvae but according to Tadayasu, the C. sinensis are already dead because of the spray. The two go to Hazuki, yelling. She does not understand what’s going on. She thought she cleaned the room for their sake. Kawahama says that the human body might have a hundred trillion bacteria. If one would line them up, they’d cover five times the circumference of the earth. Hazuki tells them to shut up. She sprays some more. Tadayasu tells them to stop.

Kei, Haruka and Prof. Itsuki arrive. The professor tells Tadayasu he should have come with them. Since he did not come, they came instead, thinking that Tadayasu would be there. Kei notices the gloomy mood in the room. The professor sees the box of larvae and says that it must be going well. He says the room (which was destroyed) is filled with yeast and is doing well too. He shows Tadayasu blueprints for the new room.

Tadayasu takes a look at it and becomes amazed. The professor explains it will be a fermentation cellar, a laboratory for research in fermentation. Misato and Kawahama are shocked to hear about it, they thought their debt was only for the room’s repair.

Prof. Itsuki decides to demonstrate how unrefined sake is made. Misata and Kahawama say they are illegal manufacturers as well. Haruka tells them they got permission from the university since it’s research. Prof. Itsuki then explains that fermentation and decay are the same since they are phenomenon resulting from microbial activity. What is beneficial to people is called fermentation, other than that, it is decay.

According to the professor, to make unrefined sake, rice is first placed into a bucket filled with an equal amount of water. An onigiri is placed in a pouch and is soaked into the bucket. If stirred once a day, it will begin to smell like sake in three days. The yeast in the air is cultivated in the water. The water is then set aside. The rice is heated to body-level temperatures and filled with yeast. This rice and the water from before are combined into a single container.

Tadayasu asks if it will be covered since he sees other microbes in the container. He says it is just spoiled water. The professor tells him that the container will be placed in a room with 6°C temperature. It is slowly heated after that. The S. cerevisiae and A. oryzae that remain will begin to brew. Starch is converted to sugar and then sugar to alchohol. In about a month, something intricate will happen.

Tadayasu comments that sake is basically made from yeast waste. Prof. Itsuki corrects him saying that when it comes to fermentation, it is called by-product instead of waste. The professor then instructs Haruka to try the finished product.

Haruka tries to drink but finds out it is very sour. It doesn’t taste like sake at all. Misato says it was their sake. He switched the containers. He says he doesn’t use yeast to brew sake. In his method, cooked rice is chewed and spitted out into a container. Haruka is disgusted.

Kei says it’s kuchikami sake. It uses saliva to breakdown starch. He explains further that it’s sake from ancient times. Originally, it was the shrine maiden’s job to chew the rice.

Kawahama says that aside from that method, they also added insect eggs. It holds the sake’s roundness and improves the flavor. Haruka is angry at them for switching the containers. Misato says that their ancestors didn’t even know the science behind the enzymatic effects of saliva but they created the kuchikami sake.

The professor, however, is awed. He says he is deeply moved, Misato and Kawahama are using skillfull, practical science that arose from their interests. He kneels in front of the two and apologizes for giving them a ridiculous bill.

Moyashimon microbe theatre

A. oryzae introduce their friends. There’s Aspergillus sojae, used in making miso and soy sauce. There’s Aspergillus niger, used in making shochu, they use citric acid. And then there’s Aspergillus awamori, used in making awamori, a strong Okinawan liquor

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In my previous blog, I mentioned about Moyashimon showing viruses. They did in this episode — the rhinoviruses that came out when Kawahama sneezed.

There aren’t much microbes in this episode though compared to the previous one. The microbe theatre showed molds of the genus Aspergillus. Since they are relatives, the design for the molds look alike. Aspergillus molds have commercial and medical importance.

A. niger grow in damp walls and are major component of mildew. They are major source of citric acid, which they produce from sucrose.

As for sake production, which was featured in this episode, A. oryzae convert the starch in rice into sugars. The sugars are subsequently fermented into alchohol by S. cerevisiae and S. lactis. Kuchikami sake, however, does not use A. oryzae as the starch in rice is broken down by the enzyme amylase in salive.

Anyway, I think this was somehow a boring episode. I think it’s because it mainly focuses on Misato and Kawahama. I don’t like the two much. Oh well.

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