Mr. Osomatsu Season 2

Episode 12

The best and longest Totoko/Nyaa segment we've seen so far frames an otherwise traditional Mr. Osomatsu two-parter. The fact that we don't get the in-between (Totoko pouring her heart out, one semi-alcoholic idol to another) is crucial to the climax working as well as it does. Who'd want to see these two bash their heads in with oden ingredients after truly heartfelt bonding or any public display of vulnerability?

While this segment's best line is arguably "you're ruining my liquor", the tragic story of Chibita and his (singular) hair is at its heart. Did it grow back after the events of last week? Are we seeing a blast to the past before unfiltered idol violence returns us to the status quo? Maybe he glued it back on, but then, he seemed pretty content with the situation after being complimented on his new look. I'm thinking that maybe Chibita is always destined to lose his hair and livelihood, no matter what timeline, universe, or segment we're in.

As we wait for the Totoko/Nyaa story to conclude in the predictable but epic fistfight, Jyushimatsu finds himself a lonely, impressionable grade-schooler to take under his wing (literally when he poses as a bird), teaching him all the stuff grade-schoolers are so desperate to learn, like ultimate fart techniques. Things get as touching as they often do when Jyushimatsu sets out to pursue his dreams or bond with lonely strangers. From his new fan Eitarou wearing a crappy, self-made version of a Jyushimatsu sweater (aww) to Eitarou's mom making him a real one after joining the Jyushimatsu fan club (awww), Mr. Osomatsu isn't content with simply building up to the inevitable fart joke—not without letting the fish in the aquarium float upwards to give us a visual representation of Jyushimatsu's current embarrassment levels. It's these wonderful details that keep the show's crudest moments from getting truly repulsive.

Of course, Eitarou would only remember calling Jyushimatsu "master" when bribed with muscle power candy, or when it really would be better if he just shut up. Of course, we would cut away instead of showing Jyushimatsu's inhuman wind power twice (taking one joke beyond its limit is what the next segment is for). When we cut back to Jyushimatsu's super-puffy face, with the previously well-spoken mom in full apology mode, it's much more fun to imagine how things went down than actually observing them.

Totty and Ichimatsu (the only other Matsus to get any screen time worth mentioning) are impressed with the success of what they assumed was Jyushimatsu's social experiment. Instead of getting to feel ashamed on Jyushimatsu's behalf, the results of his unconventional tutelage are pretty impressive—so impressive, in fact, that a grade-schooler being better at acting his age sparks enough jealousy on Jyushimatsu's part that he even refuses the eligible lady throwing herself at his feet. It's obviously more important that Jyushimatsu pitch her son into the stratosphere for getting himself a girl using the tactics Jyushimatsu himself taught him.

After this well-balanced and sometimes surprisingly subtle story, Mr. Osomatsu switches gears to explore how much screen time you can wring out of a single joke. It's not even a particularly funny joke to begin with, yet it gains extraordinary amounts of hilarity proportionally to the time it's dragged out. It makes sense to choose Dayōn and Dekapan for this. There's a clear limit to how many innovative jokes you can get out of one-note characters like them, so much like in episode 8, Shū Matsubara and his team simply pick one joke and see how far they can run with it, which takes us into space and back, running along beaches in slow-motion and through video games of various genres and generations. When Worm-Dekapan chasing his pants still needs to have his private parts censored, it's clear the number of jokes has little to do with the degree of funny Mr. Osomatsu can deliver.

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.