Ilycied's Anime Blog: Outbreak Company 04

Here Comes A New Challenger!

A refreshing (and perhaps necessary) comedic respite from the tense drama of previous episodes.

This episode clearly focused on comedy, which means putting themes of drama and social inequality on the back-burner and going full blast on the gags.

However, it was clear from the get-go that the comedy was fairly niche - casual anime fans will be bored, watching references and jokes fly over their heads. Being taught about zettai ryouiki and otokonoko? I don't remember learning anything like that in school. Then again, I don't remember learning anything in school. Funnily enough, while zettai ryouiki is pretty damn common in anime, with characters like Taiga (Toradora!), Nagi (Hayate no Gotoku) and Rin (Fate series), just to name a few, but the otokonoko is a pretty rare occurence in anime - I guess it's just too funky and niche to be frequently mainstream, though I see a lot of manga with it. Galius blushing was probably one of the best gags from this episode, it really came out of nowhere - probably making Minori ecstatic.

Not that there wasn't any progress on other fronts. Petrarca's redemption was fairly important - her claim to fame this episode was her newly found progressive view when it comes to racial discrimination, bringing our beloved Myuseru to tears. Of course, I can't help but wonder if Petrarca's really made any progress - it sounds more or less like she's a grown into a full-fledged member of Shinichi's harem and sees Myuseru on equal footing in that regard.

Of all characters, Shinichi probably took the show this episode (unfortunately Myuseru was predisposed and hospitalized). Shinchi pulled out the stops, trying to justify the addition of Erubia to his harem, drawing on his extensive anime/manga knowledge to bullshit and convince Petrarca and even Galious. And that's not all. Opening a school full of impressionable youngsters (although some "10 year olds" looked suspect...) and teaching them lessons like that? What a badass.

And of course, last (but not least) we have our mandatory fan-service appeal of the week - a casually sexy tanned wolf-girl. Our new harem king adds another to his harem. She may not be able to lie, but she's a welcome addition to the cast. I look forward to what new drawings she'll come up with.