Osomatsu-san is definitely getting more experimental lately, which is hardly surprising.  The writers of this show have been given a lot more leeway as a result of the huge success of the first season, and I always had the sense that they were writing primarily to amuse themselves.  They probably had no idea the Osomatsu phenomenon was going to happen, no notion that a sequel (or perhaps even a second cour) was likely, and when it was announced, faced their greatest potential foe in boredom.  And episodes like this one are their response.

For me, this certainly amounts to a positive.  I like Osomatsu-san best when it’s pushing creative boundaries rather than simply the boundaries of taste, and while this ep wasn’t as serious or earnest as last week’s (much less “Iyami, Alone in the Wind”) it definitely tested the limits of the show’s format.  It was a singular story, right down to the cold open (which I can’t recall happening before), and told a completely linear tale from beginning to end.  There was a fair amount of humor here (mostly in the form of parody) but it was definitely a plot-driven episode.

Scene: the boys are flying to Hawaii (along with the other main cast members) courtesy of Hatabou.  The notion that Kami-sama won’t allow such happiness for them is proved out before the popcorn can get cold, as the plane quickly loses all four engines (and the wings) and Hatabou bails out.  Everyone else survives (though that’s in doubt in Dayon’s case) and washes up on a deserted island.  I think it was a good idea to have Karamatsu narrate this piece, because he’s definitely the one I could see standing up and trying to rally the troops if such a thing ever happened.

The satire runs hot and heavy right from the start here – the basic premise is pretty much Lord of the Flies, and things take off from there.  We get Field of Dreams (Jyuushimatsu builds a diamond in the sand), Dragonball, Sailor Moon, various and sundry gattai shows…  Plus some more conventional Osomatsu-san humor like Iyami trying to open a coconut and Todomatsu becoming so desperate for his old life that he carves a stone sumaho (Osomatsu goes with a stone pachinko machine).  Iyami tries to steal the raft the others build, is almost eaten by sharks, and eventually gets put in “prison” (but turns that to his advantage).

While we go through some seemingly peaceful times as everyone adapts to life on the island, social order is destroyed when a pack of toilet paper washes up.  This prompts “awakenings” from everyone in the group as they find their (often quite bizarre) true forms.  It all culminates in a rather painful gag, and the joke is on Totoko.  Does it work?  Mostly – there’s some funny stuff here, especially in the final third, and it’s a very clever construction.  It’s not top-tier Osomatsu-san in the vein of “Alone in the Wind” or “Jyuushimatsu’s Girlfriend”, but I’ll take this mode of Osomatsu-san over the two-minute machine-gun comedy style any day of the week.