Mr. Osomatsu

Episode 14

After last week's flights of fancy, Mr. Osomatsu returns to business as usual this week. (Or whatever passes for "business as usual" in a show this crazy.) While not quite as ambitious as other recent installments, episode 14 manages to entertain despite keeping things relatively low-key. With the vast majority of this week's action being limited to the Matsuno brothers' bedroom, this is the closest Mr. Osomatsu has come to a bottle episode.

Anyone who grew up in a home where viruses frequently circulated throughout the entire household should find this week's opening segment instantly relatable. When five of the Matsuno siblings come down with a nasty cold, Osomatsu, the only one not to be stricken with the illness, decides to take advantage of the situation by stealing his sick brothers' wallets and gambling away their money at the pachinko parlor. In an act of retaliation, Ichimatsu french kisses his eldest sibling, infecting him with the virus. As the segment wears on, different brothers get over their cold and make misguided (and sometimes downright diabolical) attempts to care for their suffering siblings. When Jyushimatsu gets over his cold, the ever-hyper ball of energy makes curing his brothers priority one. After inexplicably transforming himself into millions of antibodies, Jyushimatsu enters each of his siblings' bodies and lays waste to the cold virus. However, this miracle cure comes with a catch: each of the Matsuno brothers subsequently turns into Jyushimatsu, much to the chagrin of their long-suffering mother.

Since multiple brothers have the chance to play caretaker throughout the story, viewers are given a look at their different bedside manners. (By the way, how do the boys keep "re-catching" colds? How many different strains of the cold virus are floating around their bedroom?) From Ichimatsu's sadistic blackmailing to Karamatsu's grand, overdone gesture to impress, each boy's style of caregiving is perfectly in line with their established personalities. (Apparently, self-proclaimed "neat freak" Todomatsu isn't above burning his brothers alive to purge any lingering germs.)

As we saw back in episode 7, youngest brother Todomatsu yearns to have a life outside of his siblings—and his bros are anything but okay with that. As we (and the Matsunos) learn in this week's second segment, "Totty" hasn't given up on leading a rich, fulfilling, and most importantly, brotherless existence. When the boys discover that their baby-faced bro belongs to a gym and a Go club and has even scaled Mt. Fuji, they accuse him of being self-centered (Pot, meet Kettle) and demand to know every detail of his personal life. After wearing Todomatsu down, the boys get more than they bargained for as Totty shares his bizarre sexual fetishes and proceeds to rank his brothers from most-liked to most-reviled. Just when it seems the Matsunos have learned the value of respecting each other's privacy, we learn that Jyushimatsu has a shocking secret of his own. In a way, the boys' discussion about what siblings ought to share with one another makes sense. However, in true Matsuno fashion, the circular conversation quickly becomes impossibly convoluted, serving to compound Totty's confusion. Todomatsu's explosive overreaction and Jysuhimatsu's surprising reveal are the icing on the cake.

The week's post-credits skit is the only segment that takes place outside of the regular continuity and features Todomatsu as a well-meaning high school teacher and Choromatsu as a wiry, balding vice principal. As Todomatsu-sensei runs seemingly harmless ideas for the upcoming cultural festival by his tightly-wound boss, Vice Principal Choromatsu continuously finds ridiculous reasons to reject them. For example, scaring people in the haunted house is described as bullying and the mere mention of AV equipment elicits thoughts of adult videos in the perpetually panicked vice principal. This skit serves as an interesting satire of political correctness and features a number of amusing gags. Also, while any of the brothers could have comfortably fit into the teacher role, casting straight-laced Choromatsu as the ornery vice principal was a stroke of genius.

Episode 14 proves that Mr. Osomatsu doesn't need out-of-this-world settings to be out-of-this-world funny. Granted, the episode had its share of beyond-belief elements (I'm looking at you, Jyushimatsu antibodies), but the situations were rooted in reality, albeit a cartoonishly inflated reality. Furthermore, with nary a secondary character to be seen this week, it's clear that the Matsuno brothers don't need help to put on a fantastic show.

Rating: A

Mr. Osomatsu is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Amy is a YA fantasy author who has loved anime for two decades.