Mr. Osomatsu Season 2

Episode 10

While Mr. Osomatsu didn't exhaust all of its animation budget this week, it nonetheless provided some golden moments.

In the first of three segments, Karamatsu has to learn to say no to his brothers. The poor guy is caught halfway between cherishing the idea of being the only one they can ask, and suffering the consequences of becoming their doormat. Even if he later confesses to Choromatsu how he really hates being taken advantage of, the music playing when they first promise not to bother him anymore tells a more nuanced story. This show doesn't have to dedicate any in-depth analysis to how his nice and cool persona is only an act and he really wants to feel appreciated; that would be very much out of place given this segment's ultimate payoff. But it's nice that there's often just a little something extra hidden where it can be appreciated.

While hilarious on their own, Choromatsu's impressions of his brothers also reveal something deeper: Choromatsu must truly despise his brothers, reducing each of them to the worst caricatures of themselves. But Karamatsu doesn't seem to see them as the failures and monsters they often are, once again confirming him as best Matsu.

After Karamatsu has been set free (much to Choromatsu's sorrow), Mr. Osomatsu transports Totty and Totoko to an office environment, where the latter thrives on the same recipe that seems to work for her in every situation: get as much praise for as little work as possible. It's always great when the show takes its characters out of their usual roles just to have them behave exactly as they always do, and how these role changes serve to bring out their most and least desirable traits. In Totoko's case, she feels entitled to others appreciating her based on her perceived cuteness. And with some initial hiccups, she's got Totty wrapped around her opportunistic little finger.

The music certainly helps to make her the performer her usual fish idol self aspires to be. The waltz accompanying her speech about how hard she worked just opening up the document fails to allay Totty's suspicions, who abruptly cuts off her music (and the BS it tries to mask). Failing to make him dance, Totoko effortlessly switches to confession mode (cue piano and crying strings), leaving Totty confused but not yet sold. Only when she vows to do her best – twice, while quitting in between – does her cuteness and fake admiration for the vainest Matsu defeat him.

Also, Totoko shouldn't be allowed to have a My Neighbor Totoko blog. That's just not right.

The third segment takes the cake this week, from the sextuplets' "voice actors" keeping spare throats around in case they scream themselves hoarse to a naked haka dance to taking method acting to brutal extremes. Dubbingmatsu-san is Mr. Osomatsu at its most meta since the second season's premiere. When these six strip down as only the absolute best seiyuu would do, 50 million fans each could fill an ocean with tears and nosebleeds if they could see what's behind the pixels.

In the show's end of year special, Daisuke Ono took a lot of heat for improvising on set, and what he came up with often didn't make it into the final cut. In this episode, scripts are for amateurs, just like clothes. When Totty wonders why he studied abroad to scrub his bottom with scallops, I wonder who came up with this very self-referential joke. I'd love to think it was Miyu Irino, almost as much as I would love a follow-up to the VA commentary in the form of a live action behind the scenes special.

Who would've thought such professionals were behind those shitty episodes that air on TV, one of our unnamed commentators wonders. Makes you respect them even more, the other replies. And as the sextuplet VAs lead a row of beautiful ladies wearing very little clothing to their six private helicopters, I think he's right.

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.