Weekly Digest: 4/16/12 – Kimi to Boku 2, Haiyore! Nyaruko-san

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[HorribleSubs] Kimi to Boku 2 - 03 [720p].mkv_snapshot_07.04_[2012.04.16_21.41.36] [HorribleSubs] Haiyore! Nyaruko-san - 02 [720p].mkv_snapshot_01.51_[2012.04.16_22.13.48] [HorribleSubs] Haiyore! Nyaruko-san - 02 [720p].mkv_snapshot_13.16_[2012.04.16_22.24.20]

Comedy comes in many flavors.

Kimi to Boku 2 – 02

[HorribleSubs] Kimi to Boku 2 - 03 [720p].mkv_snapshot_00.51_[2012.04.16_21.36.06] [HorribleSubs] Kimi to Boku 2 - 03 [720p].mkv_snapshot_02.28_[2012.04.16_21.37.00] [HorribleSubs] Kimi to Boku 2 - 03 [720p].mkv_snapshot_05.21_[2012.04.16_21.39.53]
[HorribleSubs] Kimi to Boku 2 - 03 [720p].mkv_snapshot_09.32_[2012.04.16_21.44.04] [HorribleSubs] Kimi to Boku 2 - 03 [720p].mkv_snapshot_11.04_[2012.04.16_21.45.36] [HorribleSubs] Kimi to Boku 2 - 03 [720p].mkv_snapshot_12.09_[2012.04.16_21.46.41]
[HorribleSubs] Kimi to Boku 2 - 03 [720p].mkv_snapshot_13.40_[2012.04.16_21.48.12] [HorribleSubs] Kimi to Boku 2 - 03 [720p].mkv_snapshot_14.08_[2012.04.16_21.48.40] [HorribleSubs] Kimi to Boku 2 - 03 [720p].mkv_snapshot_14.27_[2012.04.16_21.48.59]
[HorribleSubs] Kimi to Boku 2 - 03 [720p].mkv_snapshot_16.06_[2012.04.16_21.50.38] [HorribleSubs] Kimi to Boku 2 - 03 [720p].mkv_snapshot_17.05_[2012.04.16_21.51.38] [HorribleSubs] Kimi to Boku 2 - 03 [720p].mkv_snapshot_20.20_[2012.04.16_21.54.52]

This wasn’t an especially good episode of KtB, at least by the standard the show has displayed lately.  I’m sure to manga readers who have more context with them Azuma and Akira are interesting characters, but to me they’re just fairly boring side characters who show up every once in a while and slow everything to a crawl (and it doesn’t help that Akira is Kaji Yuuki at his most ingratiating).  The most interesting thing about them is musing on the nature of their relationship, which certainly feels like a couple whether it is one or not.

The ep had much more of the feel of the first half of season one, where things were so laid-back and wistful as to be borderline dull.  None of the humor did much for me – it’s always amusing to see grade-schoolers mistake Shun for a girl, but we’ve had that joke a couple of times already and the grounds are producing a pretty weak brew by now.  Considering that it’s been a while since I’ve had an ep leave me this apathetic, I’m hoping the safer bet is that this is an aberration and not a trend.

Haiyore! Nyaruko-san – 02

[HorribleSubs] Haiyore! Nyaruko-san - 02 [720p].mkv_snapshot_04.21_[2012.04.16_22.15.25] [HorribleSubs] Haiyore! Nyaruko-san - 02 [720p].mkv_snapshot_05.42_[2012.04.16_22.16.47] [HorribleSubs] Haiyore! Nyaruko-san - 02 [720p].mkv_snapshot_06.55_[2012.04.16_22.17.59]
[HorribleSubs] Haiyore! Nyaruko-san - 02 [720p].mkv_snapshot_08.45_[2012.04.16_22.19.50] [HorribleSubs] Haiyore! Nyaruko-san - 02 [720p].mkv_snapshot_09.35_[2012.04.16_22.20.39] [HorribleSubs] Haiyore! Nyaruko-san - 02 [720p].mkv_snapshot_13.50_[2012.04.16_22.24.55]
[HorribleSubs] Haiyore! Nyaruko-san - 02 [720p].mkv_snapshot_14.48_[2012.04.16_22.25.52] [HorribleSubs] Haiyore! Nyaruko-san - 02 [720p].mkv_snapshot_15.33_[2012.04.16_22.26.37] [HorribleSubs] Haiyore! Nyaruko-san - 02 [720p].mkv_snapshot_15.59_[2012.04.16_22.27.03]
[HorribleSubs] Haiyore! Nyaruko-san - 02 [720p].mkv_snapshot_17.07_[2012.04.16_22.28.11] [HorribleSubs] Haiyore! Nyaruko-san - 02 [720p].mkv_snapshot_18.03_[2012.04.16_22.29.07] [HorribleSubs] Haiyore! Nyaruko-san - 02 [720p].mkv_snapshot_18.54_[2012.04.16_22.29.58]

I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a comedy more different that the other series in this post, or one that covered more comedic bases in two episodes.  I have a feeling someone (with more time and knowledge of otaku esoterica than me) is going to compile a weekly tally of all the cultural references this show throws out every week.  This episode brought us Kamen Rider, One Piece, Ideon and many I’m sure I missed, not the mention the non-stop barrage of Lovecraft bastardiazations.  There can be a quantity over quality feel to some of the comedy here, but for the most part it’s working for me so far.

Mahiro tends to be at the butt end of some of the best Nyaruko lines (“I have a feeling you’re going to be a man who neglects his family for work”, “If I don’t get back soon they’ll take Mahiro’s virginity before me!”) but as a character he’s still pretty much a cipher – and the odd casting of Kitamura Eri isn’t helping there.  But let’s be honest, he’s an accessory at best – and that was never more clear than when most of the ep was devoted to Nyaruko’s battle with her rival Kuko (Matsuki Miyu) another Cthulhu God, Cthugha, whose flames are outstripped only by the fire of her yuri passion for Nyaruko.  Then there’s Nodens (the stalwart Shimada Bin), the Neptune look-alike who’s running an auction of forbidden goods (one of whom turns out to be Mahiro, as the lead of a new BL bondage drama) in the drowned realm of R’lyeh (complete with R’lyeh Land theme park) that Nyaruko is pledged to stop.

I’m still whether this Thompson Gunner style of comedy will hold up for the long term, but when you fire that many bullets some of them will certainly hit, and there are quite a few more wacky characters still to be introduced (including a Rie Kugimiya entity who may be a trap, or possibly a reverse trap, but definitely one or the other).  I wouldn’t hold out for a Peabody, but there’s an opening at the moment for this sort of otaku-centric, ecchi meta-humor and Haiyore! Nyaruko-san is ably filling it so far.

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12 comments

  1. E
    Eternia
    April 17, 2012 at 2:06 pm
    Reply

    It's really too bad, I think Nyaruko's 1st episode is much funnier. And the yuri action didn't get very far either, probably because of the time slot.
    I hope they will come up with something really funny when Mahiro's parents come home, to find a girl free-loading at their house.

  2. M
    Myssa Rei
    April 17, 2012 at 2:08 pm
    Reply

    We should meet Mahiro's mom very soon, but the show's going to have to round off the rest of the Great Old Ones first. We've already met Kuuko, so all that's missing is the Trap in Yellow and the Sleeping One.

  3. E
    Eternia
    April 18, 2012 at 8:53 am
    Reply

    Is it trap or reverse trap?
    I have been wondering about it from seeing him/her in OP and ED sequence.

  4. M
    Myssa Rei
    April 18, 2012 at 9:34 am
    Reply

    Since I'm not a LN reader, I'll just go with what the Japanese wiki entry says on the King in Yellow's (note my reticence in naming He Who Shall Not Be Named directly) sex in the series: a 'He'.

    Take note I have my own personal doubts about assigning sex to Great Old Ones like the Rapine Storm.

  5. A
    Anonymous
    April 17, 2012 at 4:07 pm
    Reply

    "This episode brought us Kamen Rider, One Piece, Ideon and many I’m sure I missed"

    Also Big O, S-cry-ed, and a yaoi manga that I can't remember the name of.

  6. S
    Steelman
    April 17, 2012 at 7:42 pm
    Reply

    And Macross, and Gurren Lagann, and Jojo (that was my favorite one)…

  7. S
    SQA
    April 18, 2012 at 8:15 am
    Reply

    Also Star Wars, Utena, Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail and a few references I can't quite place.

    Plus, there's probably a few background images for other references.

    This series would require a frame by frame analysis to cover all of the references.

  8. admin
    April 18, 2012 at 4:02 pm
    Reply

    Where was the Python reference?

  9. S
    SQA
    April 19, 2012 at 3:35 am
    Reply

    When she first throws the grenade. It's the "not-holy" grenade. The Crunchyroll sub doesn't quite get the reference. I saw it pointed out somewhere else. CR has it as "Blaphemous Grenade", which is an inversion on the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch. The references here come a mile a minute. (1m:15s in)

    Here's a good example. In episode 1, during the dinner scene, there's a 5s visual with Nadia as a salt-shaker. The shaker changes the next time its on the screen. That's how many references they're shoving in. A full rundown would probably cover 100+ references per episode.

  10. d
    dv
    April 17, 2012 at 4:43 pm
    Reply

    Scryed is more correct than Kame Rider. LAST BULLET!
    which reminds me… when is the new season coming around?

  11. A
    Anonymous
    April 17, 2012 at 6:53 pm
    Reply

    GE, I really want to know what you think about Kaji Yuuki. Personally IMO I feel he is conquering too many anime roles nowadays. Every series I watch at least one character is voiced by him.

    Now I don't mind if it is side characters, but I'm quite tired of him when he's voicing MC. I've watched No.6 then followed by Guilty Crown and I have enough of him. He's one of the reasons I don't feel like watching Aquarion EVOL and Accel World.

    Also as a fellow Irino Miyu fan, I'm quite saddened that nowadays he gets only genki supporting characters. Nazo no Kanojo X doesn't interest me at all and I'm not quite in the mood of forcing myself to watch it after AnoHana. Sigh, guess I'll wait for that Code Geass OVA then.

    (Sorry if you think this is inappropriate and offtopic for your site, you can remove it if you want it).

  12. admin
    April 17, 2012 at 7:30 pm
    Reply

    Well I think I made my feelings about Kaji here clear in the post – I don't always mind him in supporting roles, but he's at his worst here. And yes, he's in everything and I'm very sick of him.

    I don't see Miyu Irino as only getting genki supporting roles. He's the lead in MGX (did you give it a chance? It's pretty great) and the co-lead in KtB and Tsuritama. That's a pretty good season for a VA, and I don't think he's being trapped in the genki role, just getting a few good examples of it to play. Shows like AnoHana and CG don't come along every season.

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