Acro Trip

Episodes 1-4

If you read my coverage of Acro Trip in this season's preview guide, then you know how much I love this stupid-ass little dark horse of an anime. It's janky as hell, it's barely animated half the time, and none of that really matters. This is partially just because the premise is rock solid, as it is basically the exact same setup as Gushing Over Magical Girls, except that the end result is a thousand times less likely to get you ostracized by all of your friends and loved ones if they ever walk in on you watching it. On top of that, each episode of Acro Trip is chock full to bursting with the dumbest jokes imaginable, and the entire voice cast commits to every last one of them with what can only be described as deranged sincerity.

Chizuko Date isn't just a magical girl fan — she will commit herself to a life of wanton evil (read: Incredibly tame mischief-making) in order to ensure that her heroine has a reason for being. Chrome may pretend to be the capable master manipulator that leads Fossa Magna, but he's also a deeply weird and almost unbelievably incompetent clown whose idea of a grand scheme is sending his army of giant, goofy bears out with a bunch of hand-drawn crayon posters that declare his intent to take up a swing on the playground all day…even if a kid wants a turn. Sure, Berry Blossom might seem like your everyday Magical Girl, whose infinite font of cheer and pep allows her to battle the forces of Mildly Inconvenient Trolling, but she is, in reality, an incredibly dangerous buffoon who is more than capable of causing millions of dollars in property damage as she nearly mass-murders a bunch of homeless bears (and their equally homeless leader) with her terrifying lightning magic. Mashirou has more to offer the world than being Berry Blossom's cute little animal mascot; he's also girl's sweetly pathetic cheerleader/cameraman/PR representative who just knows that Berry Blossom could be the world's next big superstar hero of justice…if only they could get their footage on a better timeslot than the local news station that has to compete for ratings with whatever the hell Training Pants Man is about.

It's this cast of loveable losers that proves to be Acro Trip's secret sauce because as so many different comedies have proven since time immemorial, you can get away with sucking at a lot of different things if you've got a cast that is willing to suffer any kind of debasement and humiliation imaginable for the sake of a good joke. Case in point: There is a gag in Episode 3 where Chrome sticks his head out of the window in the middle of a storm and gets plonked in the face with a soda can, and I ended up laughing so goddamned hard at Nobunaga Shimazaki's wretched wail of defeat that I rewound the clip at least a dozen times before I could even finish the episode. I'm still watching it, right now, as I type this review. It might be the funniest goddamned thing I've ever seen, and I couldn't even tell you why.

Here's another great bit: In the post-credits sequence of Episode 4, Grandpa takes one of the Kuma Kaijin bears to his “Go Fitness” aerobics club, and the poor bear gets worked out to near death. It is funny, you see, because Grandpa is shockingly yoked, and the way that the bears say “Bear!” for all of their lines is intrinsically hilarious.

My favorite moment of this first batch of episodes, though? The moment when Chizuko embraces her destiny and claims the title of “Dante”, the Dark General of Magna. It's great for two reasons: The first is that, obviously, of course, Chizuko will become the heir to Chrome's nefarious legacy, because this girl is just so down bad for Berry Blossom, and the only way that this girl is going to satisfy her craving for that sweet, sweet strawberry jam is to become the nemesis to end all nemeses. (Have I mentioned that I am a diehard fan of The Demon Girl Next Door?) The second reason this moment is wonderful is because, immediately after donning her new persona, Chizuko immediately fails to accomplish the most basic task of completing her first threatening hostage phone call, because the sound of Berry Blossom munching on toast just makes her too weak in the knees. She has demonstrated mastery of the ultimate skill that an evil Fossa Magna General can possess: She is catastrophically incompetent at being evil.

So, in case it wasn't obvious, I am not anticipating spending a whole lot of time breaking down the animation gaffes of Acro Trip's production values or digging into the show's deep themes and complex storylines. This is a delightful, absurd, scrappy little comedy, and my chief concern is whether or not it can make me laugh. These first episodes have done their jobs with aplomb. Let's hope it can keep up the winning streak!

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.