I’m at the point with Osomatsu-san where I tend to favor the semi-serious chapters over the pure comedic stuff. I guess that’s just where the show has evolved. There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of in inspiration to most of the comedy these days – it usually plays as pretty tired. So fleshing out the characters is really the last recourse the show has, which makes it fortunate that it’s pretty good at that. And the comic moments generated in these chapters feel a lot more unforced.
I’m not sure what the intro skit with Dekapan and Dayon as fighter pilots was all about – if it was a parody of a specific Japanese franchise it was lost on me. It was actually rather beautifully animated but very weird, especially the ending. After that the entire episode was devoted to the brothers taking a day trip to Mt. Takao, painstakingly organized by Choromatsu. And this, on the whole, I thought was rather good. Osomatsu-san as a slice of life has been kind of a thing this season, and generally speaking that’s delivered the season’s best moments (like the wedding chapter).
Takao is Tokyo’s playground to be sure, overcrowded almost every day but better on weekdays. The boys riffing on how much nicer it is to do stuff when the normies are all working was not lost on me, because it’s a painful reminder of what a pain in the ass having to work for a living is. I also empathized with the ungrateful response Fappymatsu was getting from the others, as I tend to fall into that organizer/tour guide role myself. Everybody’s true personality comes out on this little trip in very clever ways, and it’s actually rather fun to watch. I especially enjoyed Totty’s assessment that the reason NEETs do stuff like this is to help them bear the ever-lurking anxiety they feel as NEETs.
Lift or cable car? How I’ve agonized over that decision on Mt. Takao. And once again I empathize with Choromatsu, as I always feel a moment of panic whenever I ride a lift (more so getting off than getting on). And the approach to Yakuoin is a ball-buster even if you aren’t a NEET. All in all this totally worked for me, right up to Todomatsu finally caving and taking pictures with his siblings. The series pulled its punches – as it’s wont to do – with the ending, which I could do without. One of the reasons I liked the wedding sketch so much is that it never broke the spell. Still – just pretend the last 15 seconds never happened and this was a very good episode of Osomatsu-san.
Rasu
December 9, 2020 at 4:06 amthe Dayon-Dekapan segment remind me of Laputa, Porco Rosso and Captain Harlock, maybe Future boy Conan, I guess?, but I can’t say for sure they referenced that since there’s a lot I also don’t know very well.
For now, it’s been well received, but someone pointed that it has lost popularity in Japan which I’m realy not sure about but it wouldn’t surprise me either. Last episode was another slice of life and now I can tell that the IA’s are also a depiction of nowadays generations (maybe also of twitter ussers?) who seems to lack a certain degree of common sense to the point they sound “like” robots (pretty fun, since I was called a robot for being formal by those children).
Guardian Enzo
December 9, 2020 at 8:37 amIt has lost popularity but it’s still very popular. You have to remember that the first season was probably the biggest commercial blockbuster of the decade after the first season of Shingeki and Kimetsu no Yaiba generally.
I’m not too well-versed in the genre that skit was spoofing – I was most curious whether that weird ending was a parody of something specific.
kiwi
December 9, 2020 at 3:34 pmHonestly, I rarely found the skits in oso-san that funny even in the earlier seasons, and am still watching mainly for the slice-of-life bits. I truly hope this production has the balls to end on a sentimental or serious note, because that departure from the norm would actually be bolder and more meaningful than another rug-pulled-out-from-under-you “everyone dies” ending. I guess we’ll see…
(although i admit i’m kinda worried they have a whole 25 episodes to fill lol… )
also Enzo, are you still watching Jujutsu Kaisen? Even though I enjoy it, it’s kind of on the respirator for me… it feels kind of stale and like there aren’t enough good character moments for a shounen.
Guardian Enzo
December 9, 2020 at 9:22 pmI did laugh often, but I too mostly like the slice of life chapters the best.
I finally did drop Jujutsu Kaisen. Just started to bore me, and generally came off as pretty generic. Another sensation passing me by.