Joshiraku - Episode 10

The episodes of Joshiraku just keep on coming - worse (or rather, better) still, they simply keep on getting better too.

Episode ten begins with the gang pondering Halloween - while Marii predictably gets short-changed when it comes to receiving treats, thoughts soon turn towards what other American days of celebration might end up making it over to Japan, and more importantly how to make Halloween seem more Japanese in spirit than the more traditional concept of "trick or treat" - a discussion which somehow ends up with our rakugo group turning into a death metal version of Houkago Tea Time.  No trips to England for these performers though...

We hit the street once again for the second segment of this episode, this time paying a visit to Kabukichou; a place which, despite its name, actually has no kabuki theatres whatsoever, and seemingly never has.  While changes to the area have seen it become safer and more sedate than it perhaps was in the past, it seems that Marii would rather see it return to a more dangerous state filled with gun-toting yazuka for some reason.  Finally, we rather ironically shift from talking about sweets earlier in the episode to talking about dentists, from Marii's refusal to visit one to Kukuru's success in depressing a dentist by mentioning health insurance.  A couple of twists later we're talking about earthquake warnings and personalising the earthquake alert tone (I'm all for emergency warnings brought about by kittens mewing) before returning to dealing with Marii's tooth problem in an impressively convoluted way.

I feel like I've probably said this before, but I'm going to draw a line in the sand here and say that this was by far the funniest episode of Joshiraku yet - hilariously self-referential and more than willing to poke as much fun as possible out of other anime series... oh, and the PS Vita of course, but that's a joke that writes itself.  Every segment of this episode had some wonderful laugh out loud moments, and these late episodes almost feel like the series is finally settling down and really finding a rhythm and focus for its comedy that it perhaps lacked before.  Then again, maybe it's just because I've understood more of the references in the past couple of instalments... either way, I'm increasingly realising that I'm going to miss this series when it's all over.  Still, at least you haven't been cancelled, right girls?