In some respects this episode encapsulated everything that’s good and everything that’s bad about Kore was Zombie Desu Ka? It was peppered with moments of inspired comedy and clever dialogue, but all too often fell back on the tired running jokes that stopped being funny by the second time they appeared, if they were even funny it all. It’s that creative laziness that makes it impossible for the series to ever ascend into the top tier of Winter shows, though I certainly appreciate the finer moments it offers.
Like “Mask Donald’s”, for one. Thole concept of a Lucha Libre burger joint in Japan screams comedy, and it doesn’t disappoint. The scenes there evidenced something I really appreciate about this show, which is that there’s very often something strange and amusing going on in the background. The vexing part is that it takes real creative energy to do that – it’s obviously much easier to use generic backgrounds with minimal movement. So then why fall back on tired gag of Haruna or Sera beating on Ayumu for no reason? Why use Sera’s “Piece of shit” tag line so often that it becomes grating?
I haven’t liked Sera from the beginning, and I still don’t, but Haruna is a puzzle. I want so much to like her – she’s just so damn cute, for starters, though I know that’s a bad reason. Her genius routine is funny, but the hardcore tsun act is wearing thin. She crossed the border from being cute to annoying when she beat up Ayumu for showing up in her erotic dream. Comedy or no, that’s just stupid.
Things are much better with Yuki-chan/Tonomori. Her earnest effort to deal with her forced marriage to Ayumu have a real charm to them, as does her incredible level of naivete. And of course, Yuu has been a delight since episode one – rotating seiyuu and all. Unfortunately she’s missing at the end of the episode – right after the appearance of a mysterious young man we can only assume is the King of Night. That was one of a very few nuggets of real plot in this action-free episode – the other being the revelation that Ayumu’s glasses were actually meant for Sera and thus, probably not his package from Dai-sensei after all.
