Osomatsu-San Episode 1 [First Impressions]

Osamatsu is a unique creature. Not only this season, but in general. This is another one of those “Revivals” to bring attention to animes that were popular back in the day, but not so anymore. I myself have never seen the original version of this show…but that doesn’t really matter as the series will elaborate on. So yeah…Let’s start this up.
So the series is about a group of sextuplet brothers who all live in the same house yet have different personalities. We start up in the old black and white style with the film all grainy and bad sound quality. They become excited when they find out that they’re going to get another anime series after 27 years. However one of the brothers wonders if they’re still relevant enough to do so as their humor is a little out of date since their heyday was way back in the 60’s. And..I have to say, this is where the series gets pretty damn funny.

They decide that the only way to survive in the anime community nowadays is to cater to what anime fans like now. So…they redraw themselves in the style of a reverse harem idol anime. And i’m sorry, that’s freaking hilarious. They play up all the tropes of this and for someone like me who thinks that reverse harem shows are all the same and boring as I do, It’s very very amusing.

As super popular idol celebrity brothers all the girls in school want them and they are separated by their personalities as thus. #1 is the super smart book loving one, #2 is the jerk with a heart of gold, #3 is the effeminate one, #4 is the charismatic one, #5 is the emotionless cool one, and #6 is the flirty one.
And…that’s actually really funny as I see all these stereotypes all the time, but they’re played off as being completely serious in other shows, but they completely make fun of this. Not only does the animation change to a generic idol show, but there are crazy over the top scenes where the jerk guy is a jerk to the girl, but then out of nowhere inside of a school a car drives through the school and he saves a cat to show that he’s kind IMMEDIATELY after he’s a jerk. It’s like every generic Otome game in one.

As the episode progresses things get crazier, including, and i’m not joking, them saving the world from a meteor causing Obama to cry with joy and hug a scientist who looks like Albert Einstein. …and I can’t believe I just typed that sentence.

The plot of this episode is hard to explain really throughout it, the 6 of them are flirting with the one girl who I assume is the one girl from the old series. By the end of the flirting, her nose bleeds so much that SHE DIES. Which…in itself is pretty damn funny.
The nerdy one is worried that this is too much and they’re going too far to be popular with the new anime audience. They start to show their true selves and one of them for a brief moment turns back into their black and white self before turning back.
Eventually they realize they want to try to branch out even more and try to copy MORE genres….and…they actually do an Attack on Titan parody. And…I have to admit, I laughed out loud. Yes. characters from the 60’s, pretending they’re reverse harem show idols, attack a Titan. The word I’m looking for is ‘glorious’.

After all this, they copy a whole bunch of different series in quick succession from Bleach to Dragonball Z. We then cut back to their original black and white world. One of the brothers then apologizes for the insane episode and promises that they’ll do better next week and that’s where the episode ends.

Honestly…I had WAY too much fun with this episode. This ended up being a lot more enjoyable than I thought it would be. I had never before even HEARD of these guys, but I already love them. The wackiness was just enough while there was a voice of reason holding them back somewhat which made it work really well. The 6 of them (at least in their bishonen forms) have defined characteristics and it’s easy to tell them apart. I don’t know if that will continue in the coming episodes, but I suppose we’ll find out.
Head: I honestly really like when they revive old shows. I was a fan of it when they did it with Astro boy, I liked it when they did it with Ushio and Tora, Yoru No Yatterman, and I liked what they did with this show. The plot for this episode was all over the place, but that’s okay. I realized about 5 minutes in that that was the kind of show I was in for. As far as I can tell from this episode, this show doesn’t really HAVE an overarching plot, and I’m okay with that. This show isn’t MEANT to be a “Black Cat” or a “Parasyte”. It’s a wacky, fun show. and that’s all right by me.

7.5/10
Eye: This one is very hard to pin on the first episode as much of it was a parody, so the animation style was changed. However, I have to say, they had a FIELD day with this animation as well as the old school black and white animation from back in the 60’s. You could tell that these people making the series were having a LOT of fun and it showed through in the final work. I like the Doraemon looking old fashioned style. It works for these characters and the new update seems like it will work too.

7.5/10
Heart: This show, at its core, you can tell that the people working on it really do care about it. This series was made to celebrate what would have been the 80th birthday of the guy who originally made this show. And you can just tell that this show is a labor of love. It’s something this studio wanted to do and they’re just making it flat out enjoyable. They poke fun at themselves as the jokes are old and they know it, and even though there’s six identical twins, they act differently enough that i actually know the differences between them.  (at least in this episode) I laughed, I smiled, and I enjoyed this show.
8/10

Overall score
7.66/10
For a first episode, this show was a lot of fun. It’s good to know that I have 2 shows this season where I can just laugh. I think that’s what a lot of anime is missing nowadays. People are so wrapped up on the stories being  SUPER AMAZING EPIC that they forget to just have fun now and then. This show was completely my shot in the dark show… and i’m glad I gave it a shot. I like this show a lot more than I thought I would. So yes, I am going to keep watching it, and yeah. I’m going to keep blogging it. Like the series itself worried about not being popular with the current generation, I have no idea if people will watch it with me and read the reviews, but the hell with it. I’m doing it. Anybody who wants to follow with me, see you next week.
Watching: Yes
Blogging: Yes

-Hideki