First rule of comedy – if you make me laugh, anything else is secondary.  And this show makes me laugh – a lot.

I can’t say this is an easy show to write about, because it’s really just about the experience of watching it.  But any doubt I had that the premise would hold up were erased, because the second ep was probably even more hilarious than the first.  This is not exactly highbrow humor, but I’m sorry – when Sloth-san said ”I’m going to run some errands.” I was on the floor.  I’m not bragging, and I’m not proud of it – but the heart wants what it wants.  If you have a low tolerance for painful puns, this might not be your bag.  But it takes real quality to be smart and dumb at the same time, and this show has it.

Some other favorite moments:

• Panda’s Grandpa throwing out his back doing tai chi.  I always see those old folks doing tai chi in the park and wonder how that doesn’t happen all the time.
• Polar Bear’s “Change it all back”.
• Llama (Ono Daisuke) describing his “Llama Café”, which sounded disturbingly like a cross between a cat café (a very real and delightful Tokyo entity) and a brothel.
• Pretty much the whole hanami party, because that’s a tradition that lends itself to satire.  Want to see polite, dignified Japanese act anything but?  Head for Ueno Park in early April.  I especially loved Polar Bear’s Champagne tower.
• Drunk Penguin-san mistaking everyone else for other penguins with human names.
• “The Penko-san”

I even like the rather touching ending, where Polar Bear comes back to the park so Sloth-san has someone to watch the night blossoms with when he finally gets back from the convenience store with the booze.  There’s nothing especially profound with this show, but it has a distinctly clever and weird sense of humor that’s totally working for me.  I’ve laughed hard several times in each of the first two eps, and very few comedies can make me do that.  If you’re avoiding this show because of the premise and the concept art, give it a chance – I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.