Mr. Osomatsu Season 2

Episode 9

In another two-parter (plus Totoko/Nyaa encore), Mr. Osomatsu delivers a surprisingly un-zany first segment dedicated solely to the sextuplets' everyday coexistence, mostly characterized by mutual lack of consideration. When his brothers dare to invade his personal space of counting cats to sleep and cast him out onto the roof for demanding even a kindergarten level of thoughtfulness, Ichimatsu finally puts his paw down to enforce the We Are Brothers, So We Should Be More Considerate Toward Each Other Campaign. Naturally, Osomatsu will prove himself unable to grasp the new law's ramifications or even remember its name.

At first, Ichimatsu's brothers accuse him for being selfish (or "my pace", in wonderful wasei eigo) for trying to put a lid of common sense on Matsu selfishness. But everyone's reservations are quick to evaporate once they realize that their cat-loving brother's oversight will mostly just be detrimental to one certain brother's supremely jerkish behavior even by Matsu standards. No more pawning your siblings' stuff, Osomatsu. You deserve everything you got.

I've always been amazed how these six haven't strangled each other in their sleep by now, given that they not only share a room but a blanket. This episode provides great material for Jun Fukuyama to go as wild as Ichimatsu can ever get. It's funny without being gross, and – by Mr. Osomatsu standards – pretty down to earth. Most of the humor is drawn from playing with established character traits, from Choromatsu noisily crying over light novels, to Karamatsu studying the latest news on ikemen fashion and personality trends. Hearing Ichimatsu try to keep his self-appointed "cool" brother from waking up with the words No problem, brother. Goodnight. Bye-bye forever. wouldn't be half as funny without the context. From censoring psychological disorders with a bleep to the usually anti-social Ichimatsu being the one to drill some basic manners into his brothers, it's a well-rounded segment of a quieter variety.

Things get a little zanier in segment number two, where Iyami accumulates the impossible wealth of 300 yen from underneath a vending machine, only to gamble away his riches in an arcade Whack-a-Komodo. Because why would you whack a mole when you can whack a Komodo dragon, which just happen to be a protected species. Employing a bunch of secret techniques as amazing and insane as this show deserves, he's quick to win a fortune of 100 yen coins and the admiration of every kid in the neighborhood.

Proving that secret techniques are nothing compared to preparation and dedication, Iyami even conquers games as random as rock-paper-scissors by "training" for it through losing a lot before coming to the arcade. At the height of his success, he will have to face the ultimate challenge: a claw crane where the crane has no claw, and the machine has neither a button to operate it nor a place to put the money in. The time for preparation is over, and Iyami reveals his last secret technique: to become the game in order to beat it.

It's the stuff of nightmares when the plushies start begging to be let out of the machine, before simply floating out on their own, compelled by Iyami's new god-like powers while the kids watch on in awe, providing the necessary shōnen battle commentary from the sidelines. Unfortunately, instead of becoming the game, the fact that he is playing the game is proof he's being played by the game. Crane claws can only be rigged by the people behind the curtain, not the player, and we couldn't possibly expect this episode to end with Iyami being successful at anything. Watching Iyami fly high and crash hard is always fun, but compared to the more character-focused first half, his exploits are more of a side note.

Post credits, Nyaa is living the medium high life of a lonely wannabe idol craving social media validation. Really, these girls acknowledging each other as rivals is probably the greatest validation they can get.

Rating: B-

Mr.Osomatsu Season 2 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Anne is a translator and fiction addict who writes about anime at Floating Words and on Twitter.