TANI-SAN: AN AWKWARD CUSTOMER

In which TANI-SAN goes to war with her household appliances, leading to the Kitchen Treaty of October the thirty-ninth, twenty-ninety-onety.

In which Tani-san has difficulty keeping body and soul together with not much help from a very peculiar person.

In which Tani-san attempts to persuade a group of germs to act in her favour with the aid of a microscope, a bottle of iced tea and some spit.

In which Tani-san's idea of a shortcut is so off the mark that she and her friends not only end up lost but off the map entirely.

In which certain parties try to take advantage of Tani-san's temporary indisposition only to be shown the error of their ways.

In which Tani-san reinstates her grandmother's cat map only to end up being chased by a tiger, although not so much in the forests of the night.

In which TANI-SAN is prepared to do just about anything to win a bake-off, exploiting official secrets and misappropriating corporate funds to get her hands on the infamous milk chocolate of the Third Reich.

As usual, Tani-san is labouring under the illusion that she is far too nice for her own good. But when she then takes a drug to make her more assertive, it does not have the desired effect.

Once again Tani-san promises to take care of the Kawano sisters only to lead them straight into the jaws of a typhoon. This is entirely consistent with her childminding style which is characterised by extreme danger.

In spite of being the owner of a vast, multinational corporation, Tani-san shows zero interest in ' Tani-san Industries' other than as her own private toy box to be ransacked as and when.

Tani-san comes up with a plan to outwit her mother, who is malingering in hospital.

In which Tani-san attempts to circumvent the Laws of Nature in order to prevail over her furry, feline frenemy, William, who savours the moment for its ironic qualities.

Tani-san takes the Kawano twins to Ueno Zoo, where she employs some rather questionable methods to animate the animals.

With her precious freedoms still at stake, Tani-san plays a game of Go against the bitchy twelfth-century demoness, Tamamo-no-mae. She cheats ... obviously.

Tani-san and friends test the bounds of economic theory ( and patience) on an unsuspecting shop owner.

When Tani-san accidentally causes a 'miracle' to happen at the grave of Mrs Ishihama's dull aunt, the race is on to make the deceased seem worthy of it.

Tani-san kidnaps Princess Otohime - a Turtle and daughter of the Emperor of the Sea- but then decides to collaborate with Otohime to undermine the food chain and defeat the Evil Emperor.

Tani-san visits a local restaurant that is famous for its fresh seafood - so fresh, in fact, that she ends up in a pitched battle with her main course.

In which the Kawano sisters learn absolutely nothing about Tani-san's marital status and there is also the matter of a missing piece of tiramisu measuring 1.85 centimetres.

Tani-san and her friends accidentally spend a weekend at a mountain retreat, somewhere far too quiet for our auntie-hero. It is not long before things get a bit weird.

With her bottom getting bigger by the day, TANI-SAN makes use of a capybara diet toy which issues cautionary advice at the press of a snout. However a small domestic accident inevitably leads to this  'voice of conscience' being quietly silenced.

Tani-san is quite used to exterminating cockroaches en masse with Dr Ichibangase's Super-Power Goki-Chan Bye-Bye Spray. But when she then comes face-to-face with one gigantic bug, she is forced to resort to premeditated murder - i.e. getting it drunk on sake and sending it over a cliff in a minivan.

Faced with the prospect of being abandoned on a tiny island off the coast of northern Hokkaido, Tani-san conspires with one friend to cannibalise the other two.

Tani-san resorts to the use of a homemade cat-a-pult to rid herself of her long-term feline frenemy, 'William'- the feral cat who likes to do his business in her garden just to annoy her.

The Gifu Bush warbler turns  tables on her Abductors as Tani-san discovers some curious family history