Sakamoto desu Ga Episode 6 [ This is Fine ]

The weird part about Sakamoto desu Ga is that it tends to pull me back in right when I’m absolutely bored by it. If I have failed to convey this about Sakamoto, it’s a show that is very Japanese. Many of its joke are based in Japanese society and are made to be hilarious and amusing to them. I’ve studied Japanese for around 2 years so I can say I get about 75% of the jokes, seeing as I’ve never lived there, and the ones I don’t quite understand in context I think I would find boring anyway. (Following Sakamoto because he kicks stones well just seems bland) But the second half of this episode reminded me why I liked the jokes: Because I love Japanese culture, and I love Sakamoto’s weird perfection and how it can be a completely passionately experience.

The second half of this episode was focused on. . .the grudge. Or rather, a ghost who is haunting Sakamoto. The only one who has proof of this, Megumi, knows because she has a habit of secretly taking pictures of Sakamoto. Once she realizes what is happening she wants to warn him, but realizes to prove this she would have to show Sakamoto all of her photos and this would probably make him hate her. This part of the episode has some of the funniest jokes in a while and it’s also pretty ironic that some of my favorite Sakamoto skits have to do with either rivals or love interests. Weird.

This episode gave me a good perspective on what works for Sakamoto. While normally the skit routine is not my favorite, I feel that Sakamoto would suffer if it was anything but what it is. The show has no genuine ‘plot’ and forcing it to have one would just make what works about the show suck instead. It also gives us the ability to forgive an initially unfunny episode because we can then review over the content and say hey, this one doesn’t suck, even if that one did! While I like longer episodes, sometimes it’s definitely a better option than the things we’re opening ourselves up to. (Can you imagine 20 minutes of bee puns??)

While Sakamoto isn’t my favorite anime this season, I can’t help but be won over by what works. Sakamoto is still working, even though sometimes I wish it had better skit priority than toilet paper lines. Perhaps the best description is when Nobuta describes Sakamoto best: He acts as if everything happening is natural. So naturally, he is perfection.

Oki