Recap

Dandy and crew go on a hunt for the rare, shape shifting alien known as the Chameleonian

Zigg’s Thoughts

Space Dandy has dabbled in some pretty intriguing artistic and philosophical waters over the past few episodes, but this episode retreats to the safe shores of excellently written, well crafted slapstick comedy and you know what? I’m more than OK with that. Part of what makes the show fun is its lighthearted attitude and the fact that you’re never sure what’s coming next, and so switching from last week’s slow paced, largely black and white mystery to this fun-filled romp was just the ticket.

It’s also a good example of how great execution is arguably more important than originality. ‘Shapeshifter causes wacky hijinks’ is a time honoured storyline in sci-fi/fantasy, but it’s much better than it has any right to be here. The comic timing is excellent and the crew is very good at pacing and framing the scenes to make them as funny as possible. The joke with the random dude trailing the team, for example, is dragged out just long enough to be as funny as possible. We’re also deep enough into the show that the writers can milk laughs out of pure character moments, like QT’s sudden fishing infatuation, or the easy rapport between Dandy and Meow over the boombox. The banter between the three leads feels natural and comfortable, a great sign at how well they’ve been established.

This is also one episode that benefits hugely from the simultaneous dub. The jokes are much funnier without the additional reaction time needed to parse the ‘Japanese-ness’ of them and the script is smartly rewritten for maximum chuckles. The performances of all the voice actors are excellent and there’s a real sense of anarchic fun in the story, something which the very stiff, limited style of most anime often fails to capture. There’s also some great animation in this episode, a marked contrast from the very slow, painterly style of last week. Instead the art fizzes and pops, with some almost Simpsons-esque moments of clever cinematography. This might be the most traditionally ‘expensive’ the show has looked since its first episode.

The end result is a very funny, very well put together episode that serves as an excellent reminder of Space Dandy‘s flexibility. We may have been praising it for its trips into the wild and surreal recently, but it also deserves credit for putting together a half hour of great looking, laugh out loud television. Maybe it’s the show that’s the real shape shifter?

Random Observations

• THE FAR FUTURE still using Maxell cassette tapes is perhaps the most Shinchiro Watanabe thing ever.
• The brilliantly on-point spoof of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? is perhaps a few years too late, but still unusually topical (and notably Western) for an anime show.
• The ultra self-aware ending narration is a delight and very Douglas Adams-esque.
• Dandy looks extremely young and almost bishounen at various points in this episode, probably due to different key animators.