You know you’re in an Ikuhara moment when you see a headline like “Anime Director Says Pitch Did Not Mention Butts”. I mean, who else is that going to be about, really? His larger point was actually a perfectly sensible one – when you’re pitching an original anime, you have to save the edgier stuff for after it’s been approved. Ikuhara is perfectly right of course that it’s much easier to get adaptations of popular source material approved than originals (he specifically refers to WSJ titles), and although I rarely find his work ultimately satisfying, I do appreciate that Ikuhara has the stature to get weird stuff made on his name alone, and isn’t shy about using it.
I also took note of something else Ikuhara said in talking about his latest opus of the bizarre, Sarazanmai – he kept expecting somebody on the staff to tell him “No!”, and no one ever did. Take away from that what you will as regards what’s yet to come in this series, but it strikes me that as a viewer, I’d probably be happy to see Ikuhara get told “no” a little more often. Not everything is a good idea just because you can get away with it, and while I’d always prefer a creator try too much rather than too little, Ikuhara always – without exception – expresses that to a fault. And sometimes the fault is big enough to spoil the experience.
That brings us to this week’s episode, which I think is pretty illustrative of this point. As I noted last week, I find Enta works best among the three main characters here because he has a grounding effect on the scattershot narrative. With Toi and Kazuki we have a lot of mystery and a lot of pubescent guardedness. With Enta, there’s never any doubt what he’s thinking or what he wants. His motivation could hardly be more straightforward – he’s in love with Kazuki and wants to be a “golden combi” with him forever (like this). And everything he does is in the service of that (probably impossible) dream.
That kind of clarity is exceptionally rare with a writer/director as fond of obfuscation as Ikuhara, and while in some shows it could make Enta a little boring in Sarazanmai it makes him a breath of fresh air. And this episode all the more so, since after Kazuki and Toi had their go, it’s Enta’s turn in the spotlight. And we learn a lot about him, not just through his desire leak either (though that is hilariously excruciating for him). He’s good friends with Haruka (who does turn out to be either disabled or seriously ill), and indeed seems to be acting more the big brother than the big brother is. And his love for Kazuki goes back a long way.
Apart from that, we have the usual Groundhog Day elements here. Ikuhara reuses the same animation sequences as he always does, though as this is in many ways a boilerplate mahou shounen series that sort of makes sense. We get a new musical number (mostly reused animation) for the two desire-extracting cops, revealing that they’re connected with “The Empire”, whose leader appears to be an otter. The usual zombie shirikodama plot, this time the boyfriend of Enta’s sister (though he’s actually just a guy collecting kisses). All the “kisu” puns – and Enta’s reaction to them – were pretty funny though.
So far I’m still pretty much on-board with Sarazanmai. As loopy and sometimes disgusting as it can be, this is actually pretty tame and even linear by Ikuhara standards – and believe me, I consider that a positive. Of course, next week is when certain staff members promised that we’d really find out what Sarazanmai was about, so that’s likely to be a tipping point episode one way or the other. I’m not feeling anything especially deep or profound here (as Mawaru Penguin Drum could be, at its best) but this is one of the more intimate and relatable stories Ikuhara has told, which I think is a worthwhile trade-off. I never discount the possibility of a catastrophic decompression with Ikuhara, but the signs (you don’t always get them, mind you) aren’t pointing to one yet.
Simone
April 26, 2019 at 8:37 pmThe big deal will obviously be WTF is up with the cops. I’m still not sure what is it that they’re doing – they say “Desire extraction!” but then actually seem to be *empowering* those desires, and possibly harvest the energy they produce? Or something? Something that I loved about Utena but seems to be missing here is that in that show, for all its weirdness, the symbolism seemed to be very coherent and consistent. Here shirikodamas embody desire, but there does not seem to be much connection between that and what characters do or say. Of course, it may be this will only become clearer later.
Anyway, ’tis a fun ride, honestly. And if a twist awaits next week… bring it on.
animealex
April 27, 2019 at 1:50 amI agree that the big thing happening here is what the two cops are doing, because that part still confuses me to no end. But I’m also wondering about Keppi’s role of using the three boys to oppose it. Why does he care and interfere in the whole creating desire-zombies plot? What’s in it for him and is he a benign player in all of this or another “parasite” only in it for himself?
TheYepMan
April 27, 2019 at 8:11 amWell, remember that no one even knew what ´Penguindrum’ meant until the very end.
Guardian Enzo
April 27, 2019 at 8:54 amOh, I think MPD was way more obtuse than Sarazanmai is so far. But there was a lot of complex symbolism that was fun to try and pick out, even early in the story.
Litho
April 26, 2019 at 10:06 pmTried, but ultimately failed to like this. It’s just too cringey and gross, and I’m not talking about the kissing here. You know that Mad Magazine skit with the guy squeezing his zit? Yeah, that’s downright floral compared to this.
TheYepMan
April 27, 2019 at 9:45 amI’m actually more hopeful now than how I began.
The way I see Sarazanmai… Yes, it sort of straddles the line at certain points, but unlike Mad Magazine skits this overflows with very pleasing and eye-catching visuals, it oozes style like every Ikuhara show, and at least so far it’s been very decent in terms of character arc presentation and development. You can tell this is not just “lol butts” and there’s signs that the story has a place where it’s going.
That Ikuhara had a pitch approved before the addition of butts to the premise means that he had a pitch good enough to be approved, after all.
Guardian Enzo
April 27, 2019 at 10:56 amTheYepMan
April 27, 2019 at 8:03 pmA friend watched Penguindrum for the first time recently and I had a chance to rewatch it with him. That’s… sort of… the source of my hope, to be honest.
Rita
May 2, 2019 at 7:31 amCompletely meta note, but I do like the fact the Penguindrum was about larger than life aspects like fate, karma, etc and the story elements were in many senses much more abstract or philosophical (which was part of the appeal!). And in Sarazanmai, the pitch is connections, namely human connections, and while it’s not ANY less weird, it does seem much more grounded (by ikuhara standards, mind you, which still puts it about 1000km above ground by normal standards)
Rita
May 2, 2019 at 7:35 amI forgot to add, but it wasn’t until you said it that I realized, if Ikuhara was to go for the mahou shoujo/shounen genre (and not go down the Utena route), you’re right. That’s basically Sarazanmai. And the fact that I can’t imagine explaining HOW in the world this is an Ikuhara take on the magical girl/boy genre to someone who doesn’t know Ikuhara kind of sunk in the longer I thought about it
Guardian Enzo
May 2, 2019 at 9:01 amYeah, it’s all there – structurally speaking it’s actually a very classic mahou shounen.