Osomatsu-san Season 3 – 10

It kind of figures that Osomatsu-san would be the first anime (that I’ve seen, anyway) to more or less directly address the pandemic.  This show has historically been the most topical anime out there, and we’re basically 9 months into serious disruption with thing.  In that light it’s kind of surprising it hasn’t happened before now, but about all I’ve seen has been a few offhand mask sightings.  Maybe it’s considered a third rail and productions have been discouraged from acknowledging it (that would be a very Japanese thing) but Osomatsu-san isn’t a series that gives a lot of deference to taboos.

I do wish the skit had been funnier, though.  And I think some potential was lost by not satirizing the situation in a more direct way.  I haven’t been that enamored of K6 as a comic device generally, and this was no different.  The whole “Zansu” parody went on a bit too long (that’s been an issue this season), and it was really short on real laugh lines or payoffs.  Definitely funnier before the bishies showed up, though.

I would say the same of the werewolf chapter, which had about 3 minutes of good material stretched out to three or four times that length.  There were a couple of good laughs with the fortuneteller thing, but not much after that.  If the “Calming Detective” and the band sequence were satirizing something specific it’s nothing I’m familiar with, but going by what I did get I’d say it was a mixed bag of a sketch at best.  I continue to find the more serious S3 material better than the zany comedy so far.

Noblesse – 11

While I kind of knew this was how Noblesse the anime would probably end – the whole gang of superhumans heads off the Lukedonia for cabbage rolls and coffee while the humans and the school are forgotten – it saddens me just the same.  None of the last few episodes have been anything less than perfectly competent.  But on the whole Noblesse is a lot less distinctive when it’s in gothic fantasy mode than it was for its first 8 eps.  The odd interplay of tonal elements and sense of whimsy is what made it stand out despite the pedestrian visuals.  Now it’s just… competent.

That said, it seems quite possible we’re going to get quite the battle royale here at the end of days.  Rai, Frank, and Regis head off in a private jet, the thinking here seemingly that Rai can’t let Gejutel and Seira take the fall to protect him.  Now, I’m not sure why beings of such power would have been unable to detect the modifieds stowing away on a little plane like that, but I guess I won’t quibble – they’re along for the ride too (and how did they survive the crash anyway, as long as we’re not quibbling?).

As to what went on in the past, which seems to be the key, it all centers around the death of the previous lord (the current one’s father).  Rai doesn’t deny the conventional wisdom that he betrayed the old lord and killed him (or at least caused his death) but he doesn’t admit to it either.  And the new lord seems to have had more of a motive – she was furious that her father was considering making Rai the new lord (if indeed he really was) rather than her.  Gejutel is a key figure here too, as everyone in the royal court seems to revere him as a father figure – even the lord, who orders him into eternal sleep (which I guess is the Lukedonian immortal version of capital punishment).

There’s an awful lot we still don’t know here (like who Frankenstein really is, for example) but I get the sense that Noblesse is going to be one of those “now read the source material” adaptations that leaves a lot of stuff unresolved.  If so that’d be a shame too, but par for the course with these sorts of adaptations (just look at Kami no Tou).