Binbougami Ga! – 04
Momiji has new tools and allies in her ongoing battle with the fortunate one, Ichiko!
Binbougami trudges along for its fourth installment of the series. Last week was a great change of pace for the series and allowed for it to build some characterization for Ichiko. With the introduction of a new supporting cast mate, I’m hoping some light can be shed on Momiji, whose been a mystery up to this point.
It’s raining dogs. No cats. There wasn’t enough in the budget for that.
This week Binbougami Ga! continues its streak of introducing new characters. Moumo is an old friend of Momiji, summoned to aid her in the battle against Ichiko’s fortune. Having a masochistic fetish for ropes, gags, whips, boiling water, iron maidens and a generally good beating, Moumo is an interesting dog god who’s fiercely loyal to his Goddess mistress. The BDSM angle feels fresh at first but quickly gets annoying. There is no nuance to his idiosyncratic tick. Our little Inugami seems to derive pleasure from just about anything. To draw humor from his personality, attention needs to bounced from the cuter aspects to his more carnal desires. Duality is the key to creating memorable comedic characters. But instead were seeing another one-dimensional throwaway much like our horny priest.
Eat your heart out Goku!
Most importantly, Moumo is a missed opportunity. Sure this was his first time on the stage, but his presence didn’t really teach us anything about Momiji. What we know is that their relationship goes back some time and that’s about it. There is nothing really unique to set their friendship apart other than the whose BDSM bit which is a pure comedic device. What should have been an exercise in advancing one of the female leads is instead the debut of a character that ends up being uninteresting at best.
Can you say no?
Moumo brings a weapon that the Binbougami’s arsenal was missing: cuteness. He uses his puppy charms to try and seduce Ichiko to take him into her home. While this plan seems to be fool proof, her fortune derails the tiny god time and time again. Unfortunately for most of the time they spend together, they’re not exactly interacting. During most of their exchanges, Ichiko is asleep, which effectively removes one personality from their scenes. Dialogue and scenes basically pan out as one-sided affairs. It’s a shame considering the interaction of the two could have reaped some great chemistry, hinted at the end of the episode.
Down in the dumps…
The series continues its painstaking efforts to try and instill Ichiko with some redeeming qualities. Yet again to calls upon Suwano to help uncover the heart his mistress must have. She spends the entire night at the dump to find the mementos of he substitute father. Seeing the silver-haired beauty diving through mountains of waste does drive the nail through the head that she cares about her former butler, it doesn’t really mean that much anymore. Binbougami Ga! has made this point repeatedly. We’ve heard you loud and clear. Yes Ichiko has had a lonely childhood. Yes it can be the explanation to why she’s so bitter. And yes we don’t really care. Last week the episode hit a home run on developing her. This week it returns to the same tepid form of storytelling.
Kinky?
Final Comments
I know I’ve had a lot of negative things to say this week but that doesn’t take away from the series’ strengths. It’s still funny as hell and is one of the more enjoyable programs in the summer lineup. Dragon Ball Z references never get old. But after the steps forward the series took last week it’s sad to see it digress back to its old habits. This anime is only slated for one cour and it’s already showing the signs of age. Reoccurring gags are feeling stale, writing is favoring the mundane side, and sometimes it feels as if the jokes are reaching for straws. What should be a show bursting with ideas, it’s already giving the impressions it’s running out at the tank.
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POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
This anime sure loves to pull out references, especially the DBZ references. I even noticed Momoji wearing the Princess Mononoke mask while Momou was transforming and there was the Spear of Longinus From Evangelion. And it clearly doesn’t take itself seriously seeing that teddy bear reminded her of her vow to deal with Sakura personally and knows that it is in a show. It even mentioned that she said it in episode 2.
The priest was out of nowhere with a video camera. That was simply epic. His best quote: ”WHERE’S THE PERVERT?!”. This episode was hilarious more than last one mainly due to the dog being extremely funny. His best quote: ”FUCK MY LIFE!!”. I knew Momou’s voice sounded familiar. He’s voiced by Hiro Shimono. It looks like he’s playing perverts this season because he also plays Ryōsuke Kaga from Dakara Boku wa, H ga Dekinai.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
Since this is a comedy/gag show and not a character-driven anime, it doesn’t really bother me that there’s little character development as long as it keeps delivering the laughs and that it does. I think they can get more humor out of Moumo so I want him to stick around and I’m sure he will. The priest, though, they can drop. I haven’t found him to be very funny and in this episode he wasn’t funny at all.
Binbougami is at its best when Ichiko and Momiji are fighting one another directly and hurling insults. Hopefully it will return to that.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
Ah, to add to the above. The problem with Ichiko and Momiji undergoing character development is the risk that we’ll end up with a saccharin ending that doesn’t fit the tone of the rest of the show. Of course, it is possible that such an ending would be avoided, but I’m not very confident that that would happen.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
The priest is definitely useless. I can’t see any reason for him still hanging around, and I don’t really see what he can even bring to the rest of the show.
I said after ep. 3 that I liked the slower pace, and I still do. I thought the first two were a bit too frenetic, and the major warring really got unlikable for me. I still liked this one, and I actually like the characterization of Ichiko, as I prefer protagonists that aren’t necessarily just bad. I’d still like more of Momiji, but don’t really want a return to the all-out fighting.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
I want a shiba inu.
POWUH: Beginner (20-35) with 28 comments
Huh. Guess I disagree. The series has been good and a constant laugh track for me so far…except ep 2, I didn’t find it quite so funny. Episode 3 & 4 have basically come close to the first episode and how I expected the series to be. In the end, I guess I’m interested in the small moments of drama more than others.