Weekly Anime Comic: Dirty Pair - page 14 (Patreon)

Look, it was that or make an election joke, and nobody wants to hear that (Understand, comment section? NOBODY WANTS TO HEAR THAT.)

But seriously, it's a testament to the often wonky pacing of DIrty Pair episodes that the whole fear hallucination thing is as minor plot point as it is. Most shows introducing a plot point like that would make it a key element of the story and let the animators loose on a wacky, indulgent visual showcase as the episode climax. Instead, Kei spends as much screen time getting menaced by the cook as she does dripping out. I just find it interesting how severely overstuffed many of these episodes actually are.