Any series that’s a take on a young artist struggling to get started has a head start in my book. I love that sort of story – creativity is an endlessly fascinating subject, even if it expresses itself in a medium one doesn’t know (or even care, necessarily) all that much about. But then, if any sort of story is good enough knowledge of the topic is clearly not a prerequisite – I don’t care much about auto racing and I love Capeta, for example.
This episode of Tonkatsu DJ Agetarou takes us into staple territory for any series about a performing artist – the first performance. I must confess I was pretty nervous for Agetarou as he got on stage for the first time, knowing that there’s so many things that can go wrong. The lack of experience for any performer doesn’t manifest so much in knowing how to avoid the rough moments, but how to stay cool when they happen. So when Agetarou’s crush Sonako walks in during his debut just as he’s really “frying” it, that moment of disaster seems to drag on forever.
Fortunately, Oily-san has foreseen this moment and built in a fail-safe – a portable with a sample of the popping oil from Shibukatsu. That takes Agetarou to his happy place and he immediately pulls out his own secret weapon, the old-school soul stylings of “Rainy Lenny”. Everyone from Agetarou’s nerdy friends in tuxes to the hot girls to the old geezer who thought he was coming for free tonkatsu can get into that, and the day is saved. And while I don’t know much about the DJ world, I can only assume that when you start to get buzz online, big things are about to happen…
elianthos
May 9, 2016 at 5:48 am– Agetarou ended up rather literally mixing oil with water. He is miracle man! I wonder if DJ Oily with was vaguely inspired by Alan’s Psychedelic Breakfast in putting that oil popping sound on record btw.
– If only we could see men in a tux more often…
– Coincidentally it’s drizzling outside right now. And no tonkatsu or fry-friendly materials at hand. Woe is my life.
– Loved the old man’s reaction to the song. Borderline Hinata crow jump at the end XD.
– Taira, one of the very few modern anime MC with a fully-outlined nose :,) .
Guardian Enzo
May 9, 2016 at 11:48 amOne reason I especially loved the bit with the Oji-san is that Shibuya is Tokyo’s melting pot – everybody goes there. It’s hipster, but not as hipster as Shimokitazawa. It’s tony, but not as much as Aoyama or Omotesando. It’s full of tourists but the locals go there too. It’s a mix of everything, and every demographic has a slice of the Shibuya pie.
Passa
May 11, 2016 at 10:18 pmBrilliance…
They went with something similar to a Nujabes vibe in that last tune, which was cool in my opinion.
They need to have a episode now about making and trying to sell his mixtape lol.