Urusei Yatsura

Episode 34

It's been a while since we had an episode that was just pure comedy since this season seemed to be going for a balance between comedic and dramatic skits. I prefer the dramatic episodes to purely comedic ones because they aren't always funny. Humor is subjective, but Urusei Yatsura has a pattern in executing some of its humor. I like the mean-spirited humor and how everyone is terrible without really realizing it. Still, some of the jokes suffer a little bit from either being drawn out way too much or repeating the same joke over and over again. Unfortunately, I feel like this episode did highlight some of the weaknesses of the show's comedy on both fronts.

The first skit was a homage to Detective Conan and other investigative crime stories. The setup was fine, and I liked the added details in the references. But, if I'm being honest, I'm not sure what I was supposed to be laughing about. Everyone accusing each other of knocking the principal out and coming up with these bizarre theories could've been funny if it wasn't because everyone already dunks on each other throughout the show anyway. Framing all that under the guise of accusing them of an actual crime didn't feel that different. If we're being honest, all of these characters commit crimes daily, so I didn't find it funny when they were suddenly taking it seriously. Plus, the punchline was just sad. I feel bad for the teacher because while he does come off as the stubborn and angry teacher that was very prominent in a lot of older anime, I feel like it's justified since none of the students get in trouble for their actions. It feels like the joke here is that the cast could get away with murder, and there was nothing that the teacher could've done about it except to get blamed for the crime when he very obviously didn't commit it.

The second skit had a pretty fun setup, but it wasn't properly utilized. The idea of a flower spreading your secrets throughout town can be funny and horrifying. The fact that all of this starts with Ran, whose whole shtick is that she is trying to hide how toxic she can be, was also pretty solid. The problem was the way the flowers worked in the episode. They set it up so the flowers would repeat precisely what was being yelled around them, but instead, they ended up repeating selected phrases that the flowers heard. Not only does this make the hunt for them seem unnecessary because there's no way that people could grasp the full context of the secrets being shared. This ended up making a lot of the jokes feel the same. The flowers ended up comedically saying something at an inappropriate time to influence how some people are being perceived, even though it's pronounced that the flowers are the things that are saying these things. As much as I don't like Shutaro, it felt lazy how the episode dunked on him specifically at the end.

Overall, it's not my favorite episode of the season, and I would almost recommend skipping it. It doesn't feel like there's a real payoff to any of the setup, and the humor felt repetitious or drawn out. I hope future episodes can properly balance the show's strong points.

Rating:

Urusei Yatsura is currently streaming on HIDIVE.