Sunday 30 September 2012

Joshiraku - Episode 9

After so long without any subtitled Joshiraku to watch, suddenly two episodes show up in short order like some kind of proverbial buses.

With the school holidays beginning, the gang are worried about the lack of children attending their rakugo performances - ignoring the fact that rakugo isn't exactly the ideal form of entertainment for children, the group still look for ways to tempt kids to visit.  Ultimately though, there's clearly only one thing that will bring children surging in through the doors.... a view of Marii's ass!  Never let it be said that Marii isn't the butt of this show's jokes....


After all of that excitement it's time for a visit to the zoo, which includes discussions about front-loading your zoo with pandas, lamenting the misfortune that is being a red panda and discussing favourite animals - of course, Polar Bear Cafe gets a mention too, as do the multitude of sad animal-related stories that can reduce anyone to tears.  For the episode's final segment we find our group of performers feeling decidedly sleepy; not least Marii, who certainly lives us to her motto of "sleep and let fortune strike you" - unfortunately for Marii, those fortunes seem to strike everyone but herself, no matter how grandiose her dreams and sleep-talking.  Then again, maybe the others are just getting a little too lucky; could it be that they're just a figment of Marii's dreams too?

Having missed the mark a little too frequently in its previous episode, this felt like a return to form for Joshiraku - lots of laugh out loud moments and smart (and occasionally snarky) references, and no shortage of nods to other anime (watch out for cameos from Birdy and Last Order amongst others) to keep you on your toes.  In short, it's another little slice of classic Koji Kumeta, and that's something that we can always do with more of.

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