Joshiraku - Episode 5

To say that Kukuru is feeling down isn't exactly a shocking revelation to begin this entry for episode five of Joshiraku with, but even by her usual standards her currently malaise is unusual to the point of being notable.

Given her depression, there's only one thing for it - a Christmas party!  Who cares that it isn't Christmas?  Discussion then turns to the current financial crisis and how it's up to the populace to buy as much crap as they possibly can to bolster the economy before going into more religious and spiritual (read: bonkers) territory.  From here it's onwards to Harajuku, and a discussion about Hayao Miyazaki, the negative connotations of the word "back" and tongue twisters, before Marii has a few things to say about the current state of the crepe industry.

For the episode's final segment, the girls discuss the unique properties of their various skin types (who knew Kukuru would be great for - and excuse the pun - grating wasabi on?), ultimately leading to the formation of a super sentai team... if you think my pun was bad, check out the Power Rangers gag here.  All of this goes by way of some decidedly subpar attempts at creating a tattoo for Marii.

Once again, Joshiraku delivers the good - some smart puns, some ultimately stupid ones, amusing (but admittedly cheap) cultural references and a fair number of decidedly bizarre moments all combine to make for a quickfire comedy experience that hits its target often enough and causes enough outbursts of laughter to tip its scales very much in its favour.  If you're not a fan of Kouji Kumeta's style of humour, this series won't be doing anything to win you over, but as a fan of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei I can't help myself but to lap it up for the most part.