Osomatsu-san S2 – 03

「トト子の挑戦」 (Totoko no Chousen)
“Totoko`s Challenge”

Cavemen

There isn’t much to say about this part of the episode because it’s such a short segment, but there was something about it that made me giggle. It revels in how immature the gag is in the brothers trying to create a pre-historic onahole after watching a mammoth couple mate. The technologically advanced ones are mildly silly, but the visual image behind some of the brothers’ creations was outright hilarious. One of the brothers eagerly awaiting for the others to carry over the world’s tallest onahole was one of the dumbest laughs I had in a while along with the giant Rube Goldberg machine that repeatedly slammed an onahole against another brother’s junk.

Rising Fappymatsu vs. Darkmatsu

The most fascinating part of the episode was the section that elaborated on the relationship between Choromatsu and Ichimatsu. Because they have no particular feelings about each other aside from the animosity behind knowing that one’s a creepy otaku and the other’s a creepy loner, it’s awkward for all involved. It’s even weirder for them when they slowly open up to bonding as they’re trapped in the house while the other Matsuno’s go out gambling. In a way, it’s cute to see the both of them giggling with each other, and proposing chances to hang out more often. Much like every other brother pairing, they don’t have a healthy relationship with each other, but unlike the others, they want to open up to easing the discomfort they have with each other. It is to no avail, but it was worth the shot.

Shouei

This is sadly the weakest segment of the episode. I’m a fan of almost every time Totoko is on-screen, but the brothers and guest-star Shouei end up taking the spotlight away from her. It is a plot-point in the sketch, and it’s funny to see Totoko go berserk over her concentration being broken by their antics. The problem is that it doesn’t really go anywhere, and relies on your knowledge on who Shouei is as the actor who played GingaBlue in Seijuu Sentai Gingaman. In this role, he’s hosting an eating contest as Iyami takes a chance to use his name in his catchphrase as a pun. When he meets the Matsuno brothers, they move him to passionate tears with their sob story of being lonely NEET virgins, and stir him with passionate anger as he fights them and takes off into the sky like a rocket. It’s all goofy and surreal, but it comes off like something that’d be funnier to the people involved in the writing and production behind the section than the viewers. It reminded me of the Luke Perry episode of Johnny Bravo where your enjoyment of the segment rides on whether you knew who the actor was, or if you’re within the demographic that watched the cartoon and Beverly Hills, 90210. If you’re in the dark about who any of these people are, you’ll be curious why everyone is saying “Oh my God, it’s _______!” or why that would take so much of the focus.

Final Impressions

The second season is still off to a fresh start. It’ll be great if there are more segments like the one between Choro and Ichi because it offers up both some good laughs as well as gives us development on how the brothers attempt or avoid growing up, and it showed both of the brothers’ depth by giving us a look into how they perceive each other and those around them. There are dabble into absurd humor as expected like the caveman and eating contest, but I’m looking forward to seeing how deep they get with their plotlines, and if we’ll see anything rough with the upcoming episode about the Matsuno’s parents.

Preview