Mr. Osomatsu (おそ松さん) is the 25 episode return of the long running gag manga series Osomatsu-kun by Akatsuka Fujio. The series aired between 2015 and 2016.
Osomatsu-kun is a comedy manga from the 60's that focused on unlikely sextuplets and their mischief. The brothers; Osomatsu, Jyushimatsu, Ichimatsu, Choromatsu, Karamatsu and Todomatsu, interact with other kids and people in their area in disruptive and underhanded ways. The manga saw a 1960's anime and another anime in the late 1980's.
The Matsuno sextuplets are portrayed in the new series as adults; lazy, perverted, hopeless NEET adults. They spend their days screwing off in their house basking in the freedom of being cared for by their aging parents. All of the primary supporting characters from the original series' appear in the new series, supporting similar roles to those they help in the past. There is no general direction through out the series. Each episode is comprised of vignettes that are generally unrelated. The first episode was a troll episode as well. Featuring current artistic and character design styles and poking fun at every major anime brand currently. In the second episode and the majority of the rest the artwork 'regresses' to a more simplistic style indicative of the earlier versions.
This is a prime example of idiotic, tongue-in-cheek, regressive humor that is the hallmark of gag comedy. The show was about pushing boundaries of decency and public acceptance. But the most controversial episode was the first one in which it laid waste to many of the top anime franchises now as it lambasted them to the point of ripping them off. Enough financial threat was aimed at TV Tokyo that they eliminated the first episode from further broadcast and purged it from the video releases. Once the dust settled though it did seem that the most outrageous attacks leveled by the show lessened, much to my disappointment.
The artwork is classical in design and fits with the series origins very well. The Matsuno brothers all look like someone from Garfield. It was refreshing to have a less stylized, simplistically animated series. It was massively refreshing to have a gag anime arrive that has taken Japan by storm, reinvigorating interest in this classic series. Yet this isn't everyone's cup of tea in the West, where comedy and anime are viewed differently than in Japan. For me the series filled a niche I enjoy and even though there were some bad episodes and bad segments, particularly the ones focusing on Iyami, the series overall was a joy to watch and lose some brain cells to.
Its success and popularity has been astounding, a testament to the staying power of anime aimed at general audiences instead of filling niche otaku genre's. It has even seen some decent exposure and interest in the west as well. This will not be the last we see of these adult iterations and expect a video release in North America too. This may raise enough interest in at least the 80's version to resurrect it for Western audiences.
The series is currently available for streaming on Crunchyroll.
Osomatsu-kun is a comedy manga from the 60's that focused on unlikely sextuplets and their mischief. The brothers; Osomatsu, Jyushimatsu, Ichimatsu, Choromatsu, Karamatsu and Todomatsu, interact with other kids and people in their area in disruptive and underhanded ways. The manga saw a 1960's anime and another anime in the late 1980's.
The Matsuno sextuplets are portrayed in the new series as adults; lazy, perverted, hopeless NEET adults. They spend their days screwing off in their house basking in the freedom of being cared for by their aging parents. All of the primary supporting characters from the original series' appear in the new series, supporting similar roles to those they help in the past. There is no general direction through out the series. Each episode is comprised of vignettes that are generally unrelated. The first episode was a troll episode as well. Featuring current artistic and character design styles and poking fun at every major anime brand currently. In the second episode and the majority of the rest the artwork 'regresses' to a more simplistic style indicative of the earlier versions.
This is a prime example of idiotic, tongue-in-cheek, regressive humor that is the hallmark of gag comedy. The show was about pushing boundaries of decency and public acceptance. But the most controversial episode was the first one in which it laid waste to many of the top anime franchises now as it lambasted them to the point of ripping them off. Enough financial threat was aimed at TV Tokyo that they eliminated the first episode from further broadcast and purged it from the video releases. Once the dust settled though it did seem that the most outrageous attacks leveled by the show lessened, much to my disappointment.
The artwork is classical in design and fits with the series origins very well. The Matsuno brothers all look like someone from Garfield. It was refreshing to have a less stylized, simplistically animated series. It was massively refreshing to have a gag anime arrive that has taken Japan by storm, reinvigorating interest in this classic series. Yet this isn't everyone's cup of tea in the West, where comedy and anime are viewed differently than in Japan. For me the series filled a niche I enjoy and even though there were some bad episodes and bad segments, particularly the ones focusing on Iyami, the series overall was a joy to watch and lose some brain cells to.
Its success and popularity has been astounding, a testament to the staying power of anime aimed at general audiences instead of filling niche otaku genre's. It has even seen some decent exposure and interest in the west as well. This will not be the last we see of these adult iterations and expect a video release in North America too. This may raise enough interest in at least the 80's version to resurrect it for Western audiences.
The series is currently available for streaming on Crunchyroll.
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