Acro Trip

Episode 7

Man, I can't remember the last time I needed a stupid comedy about incompetent idiots and magical goofballs as much as I did today. Acro Trip may be just as inconsistently written and cheap looking as its ever been, but you know what? It still got a chuckle out of me. That's worth something, darn it.

Also, I have to say that I didn't expect the show to follow up on its teasing of Mashirou's true identity with a full-on Mashirou/Chrome origin story. Acro Trip isn't a show that is in desperate need of world-building, but hey, I'll take it, I guess! The big crux of this flashback episode is that Mashirou was not just the red-head kid known formerly “Mashima” that inspired Chrome to pursue a career of villainy; he and Chrome were rivals at Ohmizu Technica who were both gunning for the favor of Mr. Ohmizu himself. Beyond putting a face to the corporation that has apparently been funding Chrome's pathetic schemes, though, I'm still not sure what the implications of Ohmizu's involvement in the narrative will be. On the plus side, though, we got a scene of Chrome's magic bears stopping a rampaging elephant in the Ohmizu commissary, which is more than enough to tide me over until we see what the company gets up to in the future.

More compelling is Mashirou himself, who proves to be a capable foil for Chrome. Their frenemy-ship is pretty cute, and it makes Mashirou into an even more hilariously depressing character to find out that not only was he cursed into his new cat form, but that the magical blowup that incited his punishment was due to Mashirou being doomed to constantly be overshadowed by the world's most embarrassing weirdo. That said weirdo seemed to genuinely value Mashirou's friendship only makes their silly dynamic an even better fit for this show. It's almost like these cartoon caricatures are starting to be treated like actual characters!

The development of Mashirou and Chrome's past has me asking all sorts of questions, too. Is Berry Blossom the only magical girl around, seeing as she's essentially the result of a petty corporate grudge on Mashirou's part? Are there other evil organizations out there doing shenanigans in other cities? Where do the Kuma Kaijin even come from!?

I don't know what answers — if any — await us, but here is what I do know: This episode featured Mashirou getting into arguments with a band of roving stray cats, and it was adorable as heck. They even got little subtitles for all of their meowing. More of these guys, please and thank you. Chizuko needs a familiar of her own, after all, and while that one guy who go turned into a walrus or whatever is undoubtedly going to serve that role, c'mon. Are you telling me our anti-heroine wouldn't benefit from having more cats in her life?

Rating:

Acro Trip is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on Twitter, his blog, and his podcast.