Mr. Osomatsu

Episode 19

While Mr. Osomatsu doesn't exactly knock it out of the park this week, it still manages to deliver a reasonably solid episode. Following last week's hilarity-filled half-hour, episode 19 had a pretty big act to follow. This latest installment is middle-of-the-road Mr. Osomatsu—which is still a cut above many other anime comedies. Provided you don't go into this episode expecting something on par with the series' best, you should walk away sufficiently entertained, though not cheering in the aisles.

Since you never know what to expect with this series, I genuinely believed there was a possibility “Hijirisawa Shonosuke-san” would encompass the episode's entire runtime. Fresh off his victory in last week's vehicular battle royale, the seldom-seen Shonosuke takes center stage in the latest cold open. Hoping to one-up (or eighteen-up) the Matsunos, Shonosuke intends to steal the show with the help of his seventeen identical siblings. However, before the Hijirisawa brothers can hit their stride, the audience is informed that the production staff has exhausted their ideas for this strange new program. Considering how little we've seen of Shonosuke until this point, I was kind of intrigued by the idea of the character being given his own half-hour. Still, if his minute or so in the limelight is any indication, such an episode may not have offered much in the way of laughs—which was likely the joke all along.

The first third of episode 19 revisits the sketch comedy format that has had intermittent success for Mr. Osomatsu in the past. This time around, the common theme is Japanese period dramas. Throughout the latest collection of skits, the Matsunos and their friends are portrayed as samurai, police inspectors, ninja, and corrupt magistrates. Like the other sketch comedy-focused episodes, some of the featured segments are more amusing than others. Karamatsu wandering the streets as a cocky ronin and Dayon reciting haikus are among this portion of the episode's highlights. Theme-wise, this is one of the most interesting skit-driven installments, but the gags themselves don't land as hard as those featured in previous sketch comedy episodes.

It's become abundantly clear that the producers enjoy the Girlymatsu-san segments, as episode 19 features the female Matsunos' fourth appearance since the second cour kicked off. (To eat up some time, we're shown the minute-long character introductions that were featured in episode 13.) Just last week, I expressed a desire for something original to be done with these characters in order to justify their continued existence—and it looks like the staff met me halfway. Instead of the usual versions of the gender-flipped Matsunos, the latest Girlymatsu segment shows us the girls in their sunset years. Still single and perpetually catty, the girls poke fun at each other's financial and romantic blunders as they reminisce at a coffee shop. I'll give the staff credit for trying something different this week, but as usual, Girlymatsu-san fails to strike comedy gold. The first couple segments were perfectly harmless, but enough is enough. These bits largely function as novelties, and the problem with novelties is that they quickly wear thin. Conversely, I'd welcome the opportunities to see the Matsunos as elderly men.

This week's final segment finds Choromatsu renouncing his love of idols and setting out to improve his life. After running his lofty aspirations by Osomatsu and Todomatsu, Choromatsu discovers that his self-awareness has assumed physical form—a massive green ball hovering over the city. In the hopes of bringing their brother's self-awareness down to manageable levels, Osomatsu and Todomatsu take “Fappymatsu” out on the town to pick up girls. Unfortunately, this makes things considerably worse. Deathly afraid of approaching any woman who doesn't meet a very specific set of criteria, Choromatsu quickly becomes overwhelmed by stress, causing his self-awareness to grow to epic proportions.

While self-awareness being represented by glowing balls is an original idea, I'm not sure this segment needed this level of zaniness. The bungled attempts of Choromatsu's brothers to help him attain his goals (after being utterly annoyed by the fact that he even wants to achieve any goals) should be entertaining enough on its own. The ending was also vague. Did Choromatsu's self-awareness get so unmanageable that he's now incapable of living outside of a fantasy world in which he achieved his goals—or was he simply crushed under the weight of his massive self-awareness?

Taken on their own, each of this week's stories is amusing, but they fail to live up to the comedy standard set in previous weeks. Still, I suppose that's to be expected with a show this consistently unpredictable. Not knowing what to expect from week to week can be both a blessing and a curse. Fortunately, Mr. Osomatsu typically falls into the former category.

Rating: B

Mr. Osomatsu is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

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