Mr. Osomatsu Season 2

Episode 13

It's the end of the year and time for something extra special to happen on Mr. Osomatsu to wrap up a cour that started with a bang and continued to deliver great, but never quite as outrageous episodes (behind the scenes voice acting segments aside). When Choromatsu's suffering from eleventh hour panic after yet another year of doing nothing but sleeping, drinking and playing pachinko, Osomatsu's quick to assure him that the year isn't over yet (to melancholic strings while bathed in the beams of sunlight streaming into the room right on cue). How right he is. Where 2015 looked back on previous episodes to determine the biggest loser of them all, this year's finale takes a different approach: the Matsu no longer considered to be enough of a loser to be part of the cast gets fired from being a sextuplet. Buckle up to find out why Totty has been so suspiciously absent from the shorter vignettes in the episode's first half – and even the ending of the OP!

Before we can get to the main course, let's look at the hors d'oeuvres, some more, some less tasty, but necessary to build up a Matsu world without Totty. Osomatsu and Choromatsu can still accomplish one good deed to turn it all around, like ridding the world of one bad person – and themselves, after a wonderful pause of silent contemplation that saw me waiting for an avalanche. Karamatsu and Ichimatsu are eaten by giant carnivorous plants on their way down the rabbit hole to a magical lottery stand, while Dayōn pounds Dekapan into mochi. Once again, there's no surprise with these two, we know it will happen right from the first shot, increasing the thrill of "when" along with their pounding rhythm. The Matsus play around in the snow like all good manchildren should, building a giant snow Totoko (brought down by Chibita sliding underneath her skirt between her icy legs) and, in Karamatsu's case, an impressively detailed snowman version of himself. When Ichimatsu has to choose to either run over the figure or his brother with a truck, he of course opts for both.

The best and longest of these shorter segments is arguably the Matsu-fication of the Kasa Jizou story. In the traditional version, the statues are moved by the main character's generosity and reward him by leaving rice on his doorstep. Our Jizous, however, are happy to exploit Hatabō's kindness, proving that even as statues of a beloved divinity, the Matsus are still selfish jerks. Seeing these 5 (not 6) statues lined up, it first dawned on me that we'd been missing Totty the entire episode, and when the following New Year's cards vignette confirms his absence, the way is paved for the curtain to rise on this week's main segment and a seasonal highlight.

We know we're in for a special treat when Choromatsu begins to tell a story off-stage – and gets a narration credit for it. The heavy use of credits and annotations continues, presenting Totty as former youngest Matsuno Family sextuplet, the first of so many awesome lines that it's hard to pick a favorite. My best line of this Mr. Osomatsu cour goes to His hoodie had no color, and there was nothing written or drawn on it for being so hilariously self-aware and yet so tragic because of what their color-coded outfits represent. The quote even gains in emotional impact after Eitarou expressed his admiration for Jyushimatsu by making himself a matching sweater last week. Totty, who always aspired/pretended to be better than his brothers, is nothing without his identity as the youngest sextuplet, and all it takes to show him and us is taking away his pink hoodie.

We continue to trace the story about Todomatsu's fall from NEET grace in inquisitional manner with a best of Totty moments retrospective – before he became too successful and independent by Matsu standards. Mama Matsuno has to break it to her youngest that he's being written out of the story next year, before kicking him out onto the street (without his Todomatsu sweater). Officially relieved of being a sextuplet, Totty became a freelance youngest brother, regretting having contributed nothing beyond scrubbing his ass. While he still vows to give it his all to be reinstated, his family has already moved on, recasting the role of the pink Matsu with helper foreigner youngest brother, Michaelmatsu, who even has to have his butt censored in the bathhouse.

Totty contemplates training at the Matsuno Family secondary team training grounds, a place of limbo for wannabe (or discarded – do we really know?) Matsuno abominations to dream of their (re)turn as NEETs in the dim limelight of their parents' basement. From there, our poor freelance brother joins other characters discharged from various anime to gather at the Joint Anime Tryouts for the chance at being chosen for a regular show next season, proving Mr. Osomatsu can go full meta without pulling out male idols or giant robots. You'll probably pause to check out the other competitors, and if you stick around post credits, you'll get a Matsu-fied idea of what happened to Miyu Irino while studying abroad, before coming back to kill them all.

What a way to say goodbye to 2017. Please start off 2018 as strong as you left us.

Rating: A-

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.