Shelf Life

Murders She Wrote

There's definitely a skill involved in making nonsensical, goofy comedies, and Paniponi Dash has it in surplus. Another ex-ADV title, this madcap (and a little bit exhausting) comedy takes spontaneity to new heights. It is the epitome of randomness. In the first two minutes, we see aliens, a Planet of the Apes reference, and we're introduced to the main character, an 11-year-old MIT graduate named Rebecca “Becky” Miyamoto who will be taking over as the new homeroom teacher because “the last homeroom teacher [expletive] quit." There's also a creepy-looking, yet strangely cute talking rabbit character, a cat idol that lives in vending machines, and boom mikes and overhead cameras lurking in the classroom.

That's pretty much it, really. The show doesn't really change much stylistically after that point. It's just one five-second joke after another, and it manages to barrel its way through an entire series without losing steam once. Of course, it does get a little exhausting, as I wrote before. There's only so many wacky gags you can take before you've laughed yourself stupid, but each episode is so unique that you can always pop in a random disc and still be guaranteed chuckles. It's also great for parties, in the rare case you ever find yourself in a situation where everyone is begging for you to show them some anime. The references are pan-cultural enough that they can appeal to everyone, and each episode can be watched by itself with almost zero prior knowledge of the characters.

One thing to note is that while the animation is incredibly low budget, and pretty bad by most standards, the series uses this to its full advantage. Because the show relies so heavily on visual gags, it gets away with keeping most of the scenes static, and only moving a few quadrants of the screen at a time. For instance, an entire sequence could just be a shot of kids staring at the chalkboard, with one character making crazy faces in the forefront. Heck, a quarter of the time, the jokes just involve having different chalk drawings on the blackboard. Kudos for making the most out of a small budget, I say.

The biggest bummer about this release though, is the lack of the ADV Vidnotes that were on the first release of this series. When the license transferred hands, I guess that was one of the casualties, and it's a huge bummer. The Vidnotes were these VH1-style pop-ups that provided information on all the gags and references in every episode, and it's a huge shame that Funimation couldn't have at least included liner notes. It's still a funny show, though, so seriously, give it a shot. Even if you don't die laughing like I did, maybe you'll at least crack a couple of smiles.[TOP]

Rounding out this week is the last half of School Rumble season two, a series that really gets better every episode. The back of the box claims, “we still have no idea what's really going on with this show, beyond the fact that the weirdness is piling up,” but I don't buy that at all. That might have been a pretty decent description of the first season, which really was just a rat's nest of weirdness, but this season has really surpassed my expectations.

While the first season was largely just character-driven gags, this season has really allowed viewers to get to know the characters, something that's continued in these episodes. Instead of just playing the love triangles for comic relief, they're actually a viable source of drama. Luckily though, things never get too serious, and it keeps things light and fun. These episodes also put a lot more focus on Harima, his ambitions as a manga artist, and his growing relationship with the various girls who have a crush on him. As the series progresses, he's also slowly transforming into a bishie character, which I'm sure not a lot of female viewers would have anticipated at the start.

As far as the “weirdness” goes, this show has done a good job of balancing a storyline, and straight gags. It takes metaphors to a very literal level, and it's hilarious when they're executed properly. One example is Harima's editor-in-chief. He's drawn as a towering giant, 100 times the size of a normal man, but no one around him seems to notice his size—they just simply cower in fear. In the following episode, Harima tries to confess to Tenma, but walks into the wrong room. The result of his actions chills him so much, he's seeing possessed people. It's a great way to fish for laughs, while still allowing for the story to flow interrupted.

I don't want to keep harping on how much better the second season is compared to the first, but for everyone who was turned off by the first few episodes they saw of the original, it's worth giving this season a shot. I, too, kind of grumbled about how meaningless the show seemed to be, but these last two boxsets have really turned me around.[TOP]