Binbougami Ga! – 06
The trail of tears begins…
Last time I mentioned a melodramatic cesspool. In honor of the Olympics we dive in headfirst! While week in and week out I’ve been asking the show to not be afraid of depth, this week it’s gone overboard. Adding a layer of development shouldn’t hurt the comedic elements of the show unless it’s done incorrectly. But this episode instead of a handful of laughs, we get a cup full of tears. Thanks but no thanks Binbougami Ga!
The mission has been set though: this series aims to pull at our heart strings and tickle our funny bone. But when you have scenes of five people crying in an exaggerated manner it’s difficult to empathize. Ridiculousness is one of this show’s strengths but when tackling more delicate topics such as kinship, there needs to be a bit more subtlety. Drama should be an accent to the ludicrous happenings on screens, not the elephant in the room.
Tears…
We faced this problem before in Episode 1, though not to such a great extent, where the writers were hell bent on giving Ichiko some redeeming qualities. Those threads are finally tied together this week with Ichiko’s realization that she wants to have a family much like Teika. These twenty-four minutes could be redeemed if that catharsis helped add some nuance to the main female lead for the remaining half of its run but any growth is thrown out in the last few minutes.
Her stark realization becomes somewhat of a petty fact to the character herself. Her feelings of debt towards Keita and the kindness he showed to her younger self are reversed in mere moments. It left me feeling a strange emptiness in the pit of my soul. Why did this episode even happen?
More tears…
Surprisingly horny priest and Moumo play doctor and help resuscitate the ongoings with their buddy humor. Their attempts to lift Ichiko’s melancholy are fun scenes that hoist the somber atmosphere. I like having the two in smaller doses as they interact with the rest of the cast. Anymore and I usually tire of them quickly.
And more tears…
Luckily we finally get some progress on Momiji’s side of the story. Her boss is light a fire ‘neath her ass giving her the low down. If our Binbougami doesn’t produce results soon, a replacement will be sent. While Momiji has been in the backseat for the past few outings it will be fun to see her back in the drivers seat soon.
Did I mention there were tears?
Maybe Binbougami Ga! is suffering an identity crisis. There is so much that the show wants to accomplish, but at the risk of diluting its personality. The elements present are fighting for room in the space of a single cour. In the end, I am rooting for this series to be a win.
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POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
The episodes are actually getting better. Maybe they haven’t run out of ideas yet. But they sure are high on the DBZ references like the priest re-enacting Nappa being killed by Vegeta.
Ichiko, though incredibly spoiled and arrogant is just awesome. Her reluctance towards people brings new meaning to the word “tsundere”.