Anime Review/Recommendation: Osomatsu-san

Osomatsu-san is very popular in Japan – Source

Osomatsu-san or also known as Mr. Osomatsu was the first anime that got me falling in love with Ono Daisuke and Kamiya Hiroshi, my current favourite voice actors or seiyuus since they are in it. It is a comedy and parody anime that I would always love and recommend. It is a 2015-present continuation series which follows the sextuplet Matsuno brothers from the original 1962 manga series Osomatsu-kun by the late Akatsuka Fujio. What I love about Osomatsu-san is its adult-oriented humour and interesting characters. I can say that it’s an absolute cult classic.

• 

• 

Although the sextuplets’ faces in Osomatsu-san (right) remain the same as they did in Osomatsu-kun (left), their personalities sure changed a lot!

Osomatsu-san’s story is pretty simple but also random at the same time. It describes the daily (and sometimes made-up) lives of the identical sextuplets who are ten years older than their original counterparts from Osomatsu-kun with the action occurring in a present-day setting. All of the brothers have now grown up into lazy virgin NEETs, each of them having developed their own unique personality.

They must get a job soon as they can’t be dependent on their parents’ finances forever! – Source

Now for the review part. For the anime’s story, I think it’s random since there are no fixed story arcs, climax and actions involved, but that’s the great part of the anime. Each episode basically consists of different segments and gags, or random skits and sketches occasionally, they are ridiculously entertaining and never fail to make me laugh my head off. In short, random weird stuff happens in one episode, and the characters move on with their lives in the next episode as though nothing happened and the cycle repeats itself. However, certain segments can be also heart-warming and even bring a tear to anyone’s eye. There are dozens of parodies, adult jokes and toilet humour, which remind me of the comedy used in American animated sitcom South Park, but less offensive and without racism and anti-Semitism.

I gotta admit that Osomatsu-san is in the 2nd place after SpongeBob SquarePants on my list of funniest animated series! – Source

Heck, the anime’s first episode was banned from streaming sites due to violating Japan’s copyright laws. I’ve watched the first episode after I bought the anime DVD, and I can tell you that it was the definition of insanity and craziness. Many parodies and references of other famous anime such as Uta no Prince-sama, Love Live!, Attack on Titan, Naruto, Bleach, Dragon Ball, Pokémon and Sailor Moon were squeezed in the single episode, it all happened so fast and I couldn’t comprehend what was going on! I also told myself that the anime’s going to be great. Although the creators have already pulled the episode, it still remains as one of the funniest anime episodes I’ve ever watched.

Yeah, I’m not kidding. In the first episode, it went from this… – Source

To this absolute madness! But I love it! XD – Source

The anime’s art is weird but fascinating. The character design of the six Matsuno brothers seriously remind me of Nobita from Doraemon with their Muppet-like mouths, hairstyle and wide eyes. Some of the side characters also have exaggerated features. Nevertheless, this suits the general comedic mood of the anime wonderfully.

If Nobita ever becomes sextuplets, this would be it – Source

There are certain times when the brothers’ design changes to something that resembles Uta no Prince-sama, which is strange but somehow effective.

Uta no Prince-sama version of the sextuplets called themselves F6! – Source

Another good part is the fluent animation. The characters’ movements and expressions are funny and exaggerated, clearly portrayed and they transition very well, they could even rival SpongeBob SquarePants’ meme-worthy expressions (someone please make Osomatsu-san face memes already). The Matsuno brothers are easily identifiable by the colour of their clothes and facial features. In addition, the backdrops are nicely done and represent what certain places in real life Japan look like.

Todomatsu has meme-worthy faces! LMAO – Source

OMG their faces I can’t😂 – Source

The characters are the best part of the anime. The six Matsuno brothers may look similar at first glance, but each of them has their own unique characteristics and personality. Osomatsu (the eldest brother who often dresses in red and has a wide toothy grin) is an avid gambler and the self-proclaimed leader of the brothers. Karamatsu (second eldest brother who often dresses in blue and sometimes a leather jacket and sunglasses and has thick eyebrows) is a cool guy wannabe and always oblivious to what is actually happening around him. Choromatsu (third eldest brother who often dresses in green and has smaller pupils) is the most responsible and the straight man of the brothers. Ichimatsu (fourth eldest brother who often dresses in purple and has messy hair and tired eyes) is the sharp-tongued and reclusive loner of the brothers. Jūshimatsu/Jyushimatsu (fifth eldest brother who often dresses in yellow and has a wide open smiling mouth) is the energetic and child-like airhead of the brothers. Todomatsu (the youngest brother who often dresses in pink and has a smaller mouth and bigger pupils) is the most outgoing of the brothers and also two-faced.

Each of them has identifiable features which allows viewers being able to tell them apart – Source

The dynamic between the brothers is humorous. The interactions between the brothers and the supporting characters are also enjoyable to watch. Furthermore, viewers can easily relate themselves to the characters and become emotionally attached to them due to how well done the character development is. The characters pretty much reflect the authentic personalities of various people in real life.

The anime also has interesting supporting characters too, such as Totoko, Iyami, Chibita, Dayōn, Dekapan and Hatabō – Source

The voice acting is the icing on the cake. The anime has a prominent cast of seiyuus and they did a magnificent job in making their characters stand out to me. Emotions are evident in each character’s speech, not to mention that there’s a lot of screaming and yelling from the characters, especially the sextuplets and one of the side characters Iyami (RIP the seiyuus’ vocal chords). I absolutely respect their vocal chords for such sacrifice during the recording sessions. *salutes*

Photos of the seiyuus with their characters, they look so precious! – Source

The sextuplets’ seiyuus looked so dapper in suits in a magazine photoshoot for the promotion of the anime😍 – Source

Lastly, the sound aspect is great. Sound effects and background music fit well with their respective scenes, but only some of the background music are memorable to me, especially Karamatsu’s theme. It plays whenever Karamatsu’s trying to be cool in order to get girls to like him, only to fail miserably. The theme still manages to make me chuckle whenever it plays. The anime’s opening songs (all performed by AOP) and ending songs (performed by various singers featuring the vocals from the seiyuus) are incredibly catchy too. The opening songs have eccentric mix of denpa and traditional Japanese music vibes while the ending songs have disco-pop vibes. They’re stuck in my head since my first time listening to them, which is a good thing for me! ;P

All of the openings are so vibrant and colourful! – Source

In conclusion, I highly recommend you guys to watch this anime!!! It still remains as my no. 1 best anime because of its brilliant writing of comedy and hilarious depiction of the daily lives of the sextuplets. Plus, the anime’s season 3 will be released soon in October, I can’t wait to see the sextuplets on screen again!! Make sure to check out the new season if you can! Please like, reblog and comment after reading this! See you guys in my next post, bye~!

Thank you so much for reading! – Source