Well, that was certainly the Ying and Yang of Osomatsu-san right there.

For me this season of Osomatsu-san has been a bit more uneven than the first one, with a couple of episodes that have more or less flat-out whiffed.  But this episode was uneven in a good way, and I think totally on purpose – it gave us one of the show’s more “serious” and plot-driven chapters (featuring Jyuushimatsu, as those often seem to) followed by one that was as abjectly pointless and stupid as even this show ever gets.  Yes, Osomatsu can be funny either way – and this week, it was.

• Throwing in the cold open – you didn’t only think things were going to end there with Totoko and Nyaa, did you?
• Jyuushimatsu as a shishou?  Well, if the apprentice is a small boy like Eitarou-kun (Kobayashi Yumiko) it makes a whole lot of sense.  Who’s more expert at being a juvenile male than Jyuushimatsu?
• This was a relatively earnest chapter, but there were some excellent comic moments – like when Jyuushimatsu had to explain “NEET” and “Cherry Boy” to Eitarou.
• When Eitarou’s mother was looped in, let’s just say I thought the plot might be turning in a different direction.  But this being Osomatsu-san, instead of being royally freaked out she was into it.
•  In all seriousness, it’s totally in-character for Jyuushimatsu to take kindly to a lonely little kid desperate for a friend “his own age”.
• I think Jyuushimatsu was lucky it was Ichimatsu and Totty who spotted him – his other brothers (especially Osomatsu) might have made things a little harder on him.
• As for the second chapter, well – Dekapan chasing Dayon around naked for about 10 minutes was exactly as intellectually stimulating as it sounds like.  But somehow “Dayon” and “Hooeeh” still make me laugh even after 10 minutes.
• I can’t be the only one who was put in mind of a certain hotel scene from “Borat” by that chase sequence, can I?
• Why didn’t Dekapan just stay in the bath?