In this week’s installment…
A bit of a down week as Osomatsu starts to show its age, Miss Monochrome can’t decide what to do with this week’s episode, and Monogatari wraps up one of its worst arcs. But hey, Dance with Devils will never disappoint us, right?
The Roundup is a weekly guide to all the “other” shows we’re watching this season. Check out our full coverage of:
Noragami Aragoto | One Punch Man | Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans | Comet Lucifer | The Perfect Insider
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Mr. Osomatsu
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Artemis: I have to say, this was overall the weakest episode I’ve seen from Osomatsu-san so far. Not that it was necessarily bad, mind you – apparently even at its worst, the show still manages to be at least mildly entertaining – but I’ve come to expect better. I think the main problem is that while the sextuplets have made for an incredibly successful update from the 1960s to the 2010s, the side-characters really have not – which means that when a whole episode comes along that focuses primarily on the side-characters, things start getting rapidly less amusing. It’s fine when our six main cast members interact with Dekapan, Chibita, Hatobou, or Iyami, but on their own, these latter characters just aren’t that funny. (And neither are butt jokes, incidentally.)
Dance with Devils – No further comment necessary
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Dance with Devils
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Artemis: This episode was both good and terrible. Good because things to do with the plot actually happened – we finally got our first glimpse of Ritsuka’s mother since the episode one, and Azuna finally outs herself as an exorcist – and terrible because predictably, Shiki makes all the other boys of the student council look like paragons of manhood by comparison. Sure, they might be arrogant asshats but at least their hobbies don’t include animal torture, plant butchery, or murder… well, to the best of our knowledge. Actually, putting it like that, these guys are all pretty awful choices for a date or a lover – clearly Ritsuka/Azuna is the only pairing in this show that makes sense.
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Miss Monochrome – The Animation Season 3
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Jel: There was something weirdly amusing about Kikuko strolling around in a Monochromedayo suit, but otherwise there was a bit too much randomness going on here. I’m not saying I wanted the stereotypical Osaka jokes we’d expect from an episode like this, but it was strange they made a big deal about their trip and didn’t do anything with it. Also, what’s up with Wooser just randomly appearing? Other than making things weirder than they already were, he didn’t add anything either. I would have loved to see the Frenemy angle played up more between Monochrome and Kikuko, and how did we get through this without a single joke about Mana being the worst person on Earth? Disappointing.
Miss Monochrome – There is TOO much going on here
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Owarimonogatari
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Jel: Well that was all a waste of time. The answer to Oikura’s mother’s disappearance was incredibly anti-climactic, so much so that even the characters kind of acknowledge it. Maybe that was the point? That would be a very NisioIsin thing to do, seeing how he has a history of doing things different for the sake of being different. I’m still holding on to hope that this was all just set up to make Ougi the antagonist, in which case mission accomplished. That all said I might rank “Sodachi Riddle/Lost” as low as the second worst arc in the series after the disaster that was Onimonogatari. Ironically we’ll be dipping back into that territory as “Shinobu Mail” (I believe as in armor and not post office) is next, not to mention Ougi’s casually mention of looking for a “lost child”. I’d complain about the potential return of Mayoi, but I have to admit the trailer looks pretty great. Maybe we’ll get back on track now?
