Mr. Osomatsu Season 2

Episode 25

I said I didn't want to be trolled for caring and see the boys revert back to being NEETs, negating the impact of episode 24. I wanted to be surprised. Of course, the Matsuno brothers can't be allowed permanent graduation from their NEET status, so Mr. Osomatsu goes for the surprising but obvious (in Osomatsu terms) third option in its last episode:

Ichimatsu: Today's the last episode. It's all over today, anyway.
Karamatsu: It's the end, so all that's left is for us to die.

It's not just any kind of death, either. Yōichi Fujita and Shū Matsubara decide to drop a plane on our boys, sending them off to hell – a colorful place featuring the usual burning and freezing torture schemes, but also some lovely customization such as instantly regrowing nipples to be ripped off over and over again, nude painting sessions with demon girls in sailor uniforms, and having one's middle school essays read out loud in front of a crowd. Hell is an awesome setting to let creativity run wild, but when it's time to escape its grasp, that's when the true Osomatsu magic happens in a great season finale. It's zany, it's meta, and it wraps up loose ends that didn't even need it. Still, this effort provides an unexpected feeling of closure by bringing back a lot of one-off and recurring side characters, who are ready to help our non-heroes on their glorious quest back to life (and the possibility of a third season?).

Poor Sanematsu is confirmed to be dead once and for all, as are the sextuplets' bishi F6 idol versions, who we hadn't seen in a while. I wonder if they've been in hell ever since the creators decided they weren't gonna use them in the remaining episodes, or if the deaths of our main universe Matsus would automatically take all their alter egos with them? Even the necessary pinch of feels is taken care of in a nice balancing act that brings back former neighbor Kinko to join Totoko, Chibita, and company in their mourning. And they really do mourn the brothers' passing! Totoko might be unable to think of any great memories, and Chibita claims that he only wants to bring them back because of what they owe him, but the truth is that life's just boring without sextuplets around to cause mischief.

Last week, the zoom on Akatsuka-sensei's portrait already hinted at the author himself getting involved in his creations' fates. And so he lowers down a thread to hell just like the Buddha in Akutagawa's short story to save his treasured sinners. Screaming "we're not going to let it end like this!", the Matsunos run toward the thread through the speedline-heavy battle, high on the powers of friendship as the music changes from Yukari Hashimoto's Sawano-esque Kamimatsu vs. Akumatsu theme to the show's first opening, Hanamaru Pippi wa Yoiko Dake, changing the mood from pure epicness to the more fitting slapstick glee Mr. Osomatsu is so skilled at expressing.

In the end, it's not the thread to their original creator that saves the sextuplets, but the creations of his successors, as I somehow doubt there were idol versions and a Propershitter mecha before this Osomatsu incarnation, an interesting statement for a show that was originally conceived to commemorate the late Akatsuka's 80th birthday. Since its conception, Mr. Osomatsu has very much grown into its own thing, which hopefully Akatsuka would approve of.

But how could he not? It's such a proper finale to a season that not always overwhelmingly satisfying, but never disappointed either. As the mecha rips off its white garment to sheeeh the Matsus out of hell with its Final Propershitter move, the only icing on an already respectable cake I could have wanted was for the F6 to sing along.

Even without such an extra treat, the series' soundtrack has always been sharp and effective, just like its editing. Both come together hilariously as Iyami's plane falls apart in the episode's initial moments, just as Osomatsu fails to tell his brothers something very important. It's the only question left unanswered: What did he want to tell them? That they should stick with growing up so they might have the chance to lose their virginity after all? While I would love to know, the fact that they still are virgins when they ultimately do come back to life pretty much cements that our boys would still be NEETs in a hypothetical third season. Of course, they can't come back without a final meta wink; If Mr. Osomatsu does return one day, it probably will be shittier than before.

I would still be there, but for now, it's over – congrats, guys, go and reward yourselves with some pachinko, baseball, and kitty cuddles. You've earned it.

Rating: A-

Mr.Osomatsu Season 2 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Anne is a translator and fiction addict who writes about anime at Floating Words and on Twitter.