Stop me if you’ve hear this one before…
In a sense, it’s kind of odd that Shinya! Tensai Bakabon isn’t getting more attention than it is. It’s an reboot of an old Akatsuka Fujio series that’s already had multiple anime adaptations. It’s produced at Pierrot (Plus, this time). It’s re-imagined as an R-rated social satire with lots of otaku gags. But mostly, crickets – and I think that applies here as well as in the West. Are folks burned out on the whole Osomatsu experience, or is there simply no sense that lightning could be could in a bottle twice?
Whatever the cause of the inattention (including from me, if I’m honest) I think the premiere of Shinya! Tensai Bakabon was probably just as funny as that of Osomatsu-san. There was a lot of clever stuff here, and while some of it does sort of recycle what Osomatsu-san did , it’s spun in a pretty fresh way. But I think I may have unwittingly hit on the problem right there – Osomatsu-san has already blazed this trail. No matter how bold this show gets, it can’t be the first of its kind, the game-changer. And that might be a pretty big hill of perception to climb.
Nevertheless, there was an awful lot here that made me laugh. I thought the decision to bring back Ogura Hisahiro to play Bakabon no Papa at the start of the episode (the character actually had four seiyuu this week, ROFL) was a classy and clever touch. I liked the aspect ratio gag, and that bit with Akira from X Japan and “permission” was really funny too – especially given that they got Shinichirou Miki to play “not Akira”. The way seiyuu were used in this ep was quite effective generally, in fact – stuff like Ohtsuka Akio reprising his role as Black Jack (for which many permissions must indeed have been granted) and Nozawa Masako and Fukuyama Jun playing both themselves and (briefly, in Nozawa’s case) Papa.
I assume Hooters had to give their permission too – and whoever makes the Roomba, maybe? That’s more seiyuu delight right there – Ishida Akira as Rerere no Ojisan, first himself and then a robot vacuum. And of course we have Miyu Irino (who I guess is back from his American sabbatical) as the titular genius Bakabon (all six of him). Will we get Osomatsu-san cameos here at some point? Hell, they should already have all the permission they need for that – but it might just be a little too on the money to do is literally, rather than by inference as the premiere did.
In the end, we have yet another new voice for Papa (Furuta Arata), and a cast full of big names, and everyone is back to looking more or less like themselves. Again, I thought this was really cleverly done on the whole, and even if it doesn’t have the shock factor the way Osomatsu-san did when it started, I think Bakabon still has some pretty fertile comedic ground to cultivate. Whether anyone will be paying attention as it does is an open question, but I’ll certainly be watching for a while to see how this series holds up.
Rasu
July 16, 2018 at 6:05 amI’m glad you not just watched it but enjoyed it to; it was also hard for me to find it since it most places it didn’t appear, but even though it remind me of Osomatsu I also find it very fun as a show, as I mentioned before the simmilarities with the last Osomatsu’s “first episode” did show up pretty obvious, though different in what happend the essence is too similar to not notice it (and, the few comments I found expressed that they didn’t like it or couldn’t watched it full, which it’s really a pity, or maybe they’re too young or ignorant to really apreciate the jokes… which again: is sad), in a way I think that Osomatsu-san’s fans might like it, but I also think that maybe that’s not the case, the fandom I knew liked mostly the BLmatsu, and very very veeery few liked the appeareance of the second characters incluuding Iyami… which they can’t scape from here since almost every character has that signature aesthetic, and also because I doubt they can explote the incestuos relatioship as much as they’d like so… maybe even them wouldn’t pay attention (and I am not gonna investigate, I don’t want to see that nasty an awful fandom never ever again, even if it’s for curiosity of knowing if they’ll support it or not or how would they react, I’m tired of all of them), also, there’s no longer the NEET trait which, as portrayed in the second season first episode, they ironically liked a lot (the worst was that they portrayed them too well, I indeed read girls fantasizing with becoming NEETS or having a relationship with guys who were similar to them, but well, they were most teenagers, that explains it, but still is embarrasing to read…), so as I mentioned you before I suspect that maybe it isn’t going to have a similar success as Osomatsu-san showed, I think it will have a good (not exceptional, just good) reception the first weeks, and then it’s going to decrease…, and maybe it won’t sell too much discs, but I suppose they can do what they do with Osomatsu and make collaborations with a lot of local companies, maybe as you mentioned, some crossovers and cameos with the Matsuno (which can happen not just for being from the same author, but it seems Rerere ojii-san have already had Iyami and the others feature in one of its episodes). The comparisons will be inevitable, and now, the characters, the family dinamics, the satire, it’s all too diferent and maybe the young audience won’t click enough as they did with the sextuplets (by the way, I enjoyed a lot how they made fun of the fact the Matsuno are now what they tried to emule in it’s San’s first episode: the popular and “modern” anime example of these days, it’s always fun how they “laugh of themselves”, I believe that’s part of what makes good a comedy),also, most anime fans are too much in its comfort zone respect cliché comedy, so I don’t think it will be their cup of tea, even when it did made fun of “comedy around a voluptuos woman”, so there’s a possibility it won’t be able to have more seasons, and I also think that in Osomatsu-san’s case, make a third season won’t be a good idea, and maybe this prediction will apply to this third season’s idea. As you have mentioned before, when something is very good, instead of trying to exploit over and over again until it stops being a masterpiece or a very good work, is better to know when to stop even if you as the autor/anime-manga team and we, the anime fans, want more, sometime, just as what happen with desserts, simple and few is best.
I’m sorry for diverting awfully a lot from the main point, but, contrary at what it appears, I enjoyed it a lot, it was very fun, I would like it can be enjoyed as Osomatsu but at the same time be perceived as a totally independent work, so it can stand alone and be as good as or even more than it, and maybe, why not?, just as in Puella Magi’s case, become the beggining of a reestructuration of comedy in anime, but better executed (the post Madoka dark magical girl shows, still can’t achieve the same level or execution it managed, sadly).
Finally, I’d like to comment how fun it was for me the Black Jack or the X-Japan jokes, abour how some “old” things “like them” are still classic or liked nowadays, and specially, all that stuff about the “appropriate” things or the permissions, I sensed them as a reference to what happened with Osomatsu-san’s first episode (all that legal stuff that made them retire it) and at the same time about how things have changed not just in their own country but in others, and how sometimes the gravity levels can reach absurdity since now it could be seen as if one has to be more cautious with every single action or art expression one makes, that is so hilarious (without it being as annoying as what social nets do or try to represent). Thank you for give it a chance and for sharing your thoughts about the premiere, I hope it can be enjoyed inside and outside Japan (by all generations), meanwhile let’s see how it develops, it will be one of the very few good shows this season has to provide anyway, so…
Rasu
July 16, 2018 at 6:10 amSo many gramatical errors, my apologies for that, I didn’t notice them until it was too late, also I’m not a native english speaker so maybe despite my blabbering I not only appear as a an arrogant person but also one that can’t comunicate properly, I’m so sorry for that, thank you for your attention.
Guardian Enzo
July 16, 2018 at 6:11 amThank you for reminding me to give this a watch – I’d kind of forgotten about it!
Rasu
July 16, 2018 at 7:29 amMe too! I also forgot about it, I suddenly realized while checking again this summer releases list (’cause I wasn’t interested in much titles) and when I searched for it in the schedule it was indicated, I couldn’t find it so easily, though, it seems it’s been aired on Crunchyroll too (I ended up checking quickly and it seems Oso-san’s fans are going to watch it, but as I thought they don’t like it as much as “-san”, at least in this region that’s the case), well, enjoy it!, I’ll be waiting for it and to read your posts, and sorry for don’t leave much comments even when I’m a follower of your blog and for talk non stop when I do. Greetings.
P.D. I will miss Hoozuki so much, nothing will fill the empty place it left in my heart, oh, and by the way, the extra episodes for Kekkai Sensen and Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san have finally been realesed, I’ll pay a phantom visit when you share your impressions about them!.