Osomatsu–san has never been the easiest series to write about, but this episode might have set a new standard.
As one tries to chart the course of Osomatsu-san‘s future, it becomes clear that this series is a bit different than most of the other mega-hits of recent vintage. There’s no source material, for starters, but truth is there’s really no plot either. The show is just a free-associative satire on hyperdrive, pinballing from idea to idea and gag to gag at a dizzying clip. Obviously there will be be more – series that sell 100,000+ disc volumes don’t just stop. There will be more seasons, manga, maybe movies, spin-offs… But maybe not for a few seasons. And where are the ideas going to come from – does Osomatsu-san have staying power, or is the creative team going to exhaust the well by going all-out to top itself in weirdness week after week?
This week’s episode was definitely one of the standouts for straight-up strangeness, among the most Python-esque material yet. It starts out with a largely dialogue-free number where the brothers are lazing about at home (now there’s a shock) when the heater runs out of kerosene (those things are still pretty common in older houses in Japan). In the interest of taking NEET-dom to the purest form none of them want to actually get up and refill it. I think the lesson here, if anything, is that the seemingly nice ones (Totty and Jyuushimatsu) are the scariest of the bunch – but we probably already knew that.
If you imagine this episode as a Monty Python’s Flying Circus where the whole ep is Terry Gilliam’s animation, you might be getting pretty close to the surrealistic reality. The sketches link in true Python fashion, with Choromatsu sent off to buy kerosene (nominated by Jyuushimatsu) and Osomatsu and Karamatsu following when he doesn’t come back. The three of them end up in a pub, and then in a Dayon – literally inside him, that is. It’s a kind of psychedelic Fantastic Voyage with vomit, with a bit of Barbarella mixed in.
What more can one say about this, really? It’s left to Totty to more of less be the voice of reason when he and his brothers Jyuushimtsu and Ichimatsu end up inside Dayon too when searching for the others – “Seriously – what the fuck is this?” It’s funny, though not uproariously so – really, it’s more bizarre than hilarious. I do wonder when I see episodes like this (especially given the ending, which I saw coming a mile away) what the long-term prognosis for Osomatsu-san might be. This show is going to need to find something more than shock and gross-out humor and simple outrageousness to stay on the cutting edge of anime comedy – though there’s been enough good stuff in 23 episodes to suggest it might very well do just that.
ruicarlov
March 15, 2016 at 3:36 amSomehow, the thing that grossed me out the most in this episode was the Ichimatsu nose molestiation, for lack of a better word. It was hilarious, but at the same time I was cringing inside. Only Osomatsu-san can manage this duality.
Chrysostomus
March 15, 2016 at 6:37 amIt was good, but… now that this cour is almost over, I think I can safely say that I enjoyed the first cour a lot more than the second. And I say that as a Choro boy, very thankful for all the focus he’s been getting lately, but the first cour was a lot funnier.
elianthos
March 15, 2016 at 9:11 amOh my. ‘the ending, which I saw coming a mile away’ dat gut feeling :p
For all its surreal 2nd half the episode mostly left me feeling melancholic I must say. Pseudo-Inca Dayon-village-girl, aw :,). She was sort of cute too in her Japanese bridal attire :,).
P.S.: Woe on the preview. I was looking forward to a Karamatsu Orange Road.
gilraen_tinuviel
March 15, 2016 at 9:33 amChoromatsu had his own love story at last. BTW, somebody translated the title of book, which was read by him earlier. It was about self-awareness! A nice reference to earlier episode. 😉
I hope there’ll be episode about Osomatsu, because, honestly, for him it was the least.
Mari
March 15, 2016 at 10:29 amHow to deal with your self-consciousness – The influence affected by your self-consciousness and the study on the bloated one (self-consciousness)
Taimis
March 15, 2016 at 12:57 pmChoromatsu rising!
As someone with a couple of siblings and cousins her own age, the Kerosene skit just killed me. Ah, I recall the days when I would pretend to sleep just to get out of doing something as simple as…turning on the electric fan. (That nose molestation tho. Thank God none of my siblings were that hardcore.)
Wasin
March 15, 2016 at 3:31 pmGlad I wasn’t the only one that felt that first skit was too close to home, like, why do I have to do a chore when another sibling can do it XD
I gotta say, this episode was frightening and funny at the same time. That face Karamatsu made when he claimed his spot at the kotatsu, a true Matsuno at heart…
And I think that, as this ep proves, Totty is the most realistic of the brothers, going out in the world and accepting whatever reality throws at him unlike his other brothers, and maybe because of that, he’d lost his heart somewhere (since he doesn’t connect when that heartfelt moment between the Dayoons). Of all the brothers, I gotta say he’s the one who’s got the most surprising development.
Gina
March 23, 2016 at 6:31 amI thought Choromatsu was the straight man but Totty’s “Eh” is the best.
I found the first half honestly funny, that Totty is the brother everyone thinks is a pushover (and he is wily in his own way). You see that first it was Karamatsu who squeezed in the Kotatsu spot with Totty, later it was Osomatsu who squeezed in with Totty.