Sabegebu! - Survival Game Club!

Episode 11

Last week, I suggested that Sabagebu! – Survival Game Club! could get away with an occasional mediocre episode as long as it bounced back with good material. This week, the series made good on that possibility by delivering plenty of solid comedy. Each of this episode's segments draws from a different source of humor, but all three offer an entertaining experience.

Things start off with a case of comedic misunderstanding: Momoka visits a specialty shop to have her phone decorated, but the clerk assumes that she's asking to have the work done on a handgun instead. It can be difficult to write a conversation where the participants are talking about completely different things, but Sabagebu! handles the challenge well. It's a very funny exchange, and the contrasting visuals help make the scene even better. The show also has the good sense to move on before the joke grows old, coming up with other bits of humor to fill the remaining screen time. The result is a very strong first segment.

The episode's middle third offers a twisted take on the glass slipper premise from Cinderella, allowing Momoka to be one heck of a fairy tale villain. Lemon makes another appearance, this time to guide Momoka through a crash course on walking in high heels. How much you enjoy this story will depend on how much you enjoy Lemon's shameless eccentricity, but an amusing training montage and some inspired sight gags help to carry the segment either way. The conclusion isn't as much of a surprise as it wants to be, but it certainly brings a few laughs. The whole sequence is an example of Sabagebu! indulging in its ridiculous side, and it works well at that level.

Platy gets some welcome screen time in the final segment, where he forms a hard-fought alliance with a very tasty and very expensive crab. A continually escalating level of mayhem keeps things fun and unpredictable. Of course, I'm a sucker for the angry cartoon platypus regardless of what he's up to. A scene close to the end of the episode is nearly heartwarming amid all the insanity, but the show's mean streak refuses to go down without a fight.

While I've praised Sabagebu! in the past for some of its action movie references and parodies, it was nice to see the series put together a good episode without having to lean on that particular crutch. A comedy like this needs to have more than one trick up its sleeve if it wants to hold up over time, and this episode's ability to spread the jokes around bodes well for its longevity. Well, at least it would if the preview didn't mention that the next episode would be the last. It's been a bit of a bumpy road, but I'll be sorry to see Sabagebu! go at the end of the season. Part of me hopes it'll follow the old action movie villain routine and come back to life after the final credits.

Rating: B+

Survival Game Club! is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Paul Jensen also covers anime and manga at SharkPuppet.com.