It would seem the most common complaint about this show is that it picks from unrelated manga chapters and storylines to build episodes. Having not read the manga myself, I could care less if the writers play Dr. Frankenstein. Of course, trying to condense a long-running manga series into a 13 episode anime series is no easy task. So, even if I had previously read the manga, I think I'd be willing to cut the writers some slack - provided the story didn't completely jump the rails along the way.

Anyway, after a disappointing start, the show has been picking up steam these past few episodes. And this time around, I think it finally found the right balance of comedy and drama I've been looking for. It was nice to see Midori get some true character development for a change - even if it was relegated to only a couple of scenes. And, I have to admit that "big" Midori is far more interesting and likable than "little" Midori. Although, the latter shows shades of the former in the final few minutes...

I'm curious, though: who pays this much for two cups of coffee? That's almost $7 USD per cup.

I'll have to disagree with you on this one because the manga chapter that they cut out was far more interesting than what they ended up with in this episode. And I think Midori's characterisation would have been better if her realisation about her freakish condition doesn't involve anvils dropped to her head like in this episode.

'Big' Midori' also comes off less thoughtful (and more noisy) in the anime than in the manga. I suppose since this is just a dream, I can pretend that the 'big Midori' in this episode is still not the real Midori. It's more like a 'projection' of a 'projection'.

What I mean is that the real Midori wishes that she's far more extrovert. And her wish manifests into 'small Midori', who is extrovert, bright, and talk too much. And in this episode, 'small Midori' tries to imagine her real personality but not doing a good job at it. At least that's what I try to convince myself. :P

The coffee is actually a normal thing in Japan, apparently.

Haven't you heard, Japan (Tokyo, in particular) is one, if not the only place in the world where you could a buy a $10-coffee? ;)

Yeah, in Asia such as Hong Kong and Shanghai a cup of coffee can start from $3 to $60 depending where you are!