Osomatsu-san has a way of winning me back every time I start to wonder if it’s finally lost its spark.  That was very much the case here – though to be fair, it really started with the B-part of last week’s episode.  After a fairly indifferent start that really had me wondering whether their hearts were still in it, the subplot with the two A,I. was a real breath of fresh air – smart, a little edgy and dark, and quite different for Osomatsu-san.  Naturally I was pleased to see that it was destined to become a recurring storyline at least for a while (and they are in the OP).

After another brief visit from the mysterious seiyuu Murakami Kouji in the cold open, we launch straight into the continuation of the A.I. story.  It seems that Karamtsu, Choromatsu and Todomatsu are bonding best with the pair – though all of the boys play the “shuffle” game to try and fool them (unsuccessfully).  Osomatsu they seem to be snubbing altogether (he is kind of a jerk), and the cheerfulest trio take their new stepbrothers off on an adventure to introduce them to the rest of the cast.

The gag here is pretty straightforward (although Rice Ball and Salmon may have an ulterior motive).  The two A.I. have no tact and no ability to read the room (which they’re repeatedly begged to do).  They simply tell it like it is.  And when you have friends like Dekapan, Dayon, Hatabou, and Chibita (who has his own “Oden A.I.”), that paints a pretty harsh picture.  The world the sextuplets inhabit is a bizarre and ridiculous one, which the newbies seem constitutionally unable to ignore.  As for Iyami, they just narc him out immediately as an arch-villain.

The really dark part of this, though, is that the robots have the ability – or at least the temerity – to assign an absolute value to everything (and everyone) they’re asked to.  Well, it doesn’t take a genius to see that’s going to lead to trouble, and that comes when the boys take them to visit Totoko.  A 94 rating isn’t good enough for her, but she should have quit while she was ahead.  Again, the newbies have absolutely no tact – all they do is tell it like it is, and the truth hurts.

The second part (I tend to prefer these episodes with fewer and longer chapters) is a pretty hilarious mahou shoujo sendup called “Magi Lunatic Ichi”.  This is pretty low-hanging comedic fruit, honestly, but the genre is so ripe to be plucked – especially the dark mahou shoujo that’s become all the rage in recent years.  That, plus Fukuyama Jun is clearly in his element playing the titular Ichimi, who veers rather more towards Carrie than Madoka…