What’s the show? Last Period: the journey to the end of the despair, Episode 4 & 5.
I must admit, when you did that blog about what show’s you were continuing to review I was surprised to see you’d keep talking about this show! I’m nothing if not belligerent when it comes to talking-up shows I feel are being unfairly criticised by certain websites…
You mean MAL? *spits*
Easy now. So you’re going to keep reviewing this show out of spite toward it’s haters? Pretty much!
How very mature of you. So what happens in these episodes? Well at the end of Episode 3, Haru received a lottery ticket as reward for completing the haunted house quest and in a nice bit of continuity this episode is about him winning the lottery. And it’s a lot of money. Like the equivalent of hundreds of billions of dollars!
Wow, and how long ’til it’s all gone. Well yes, obviously this being a silly comedy it’s going to adhere to the tried and true sitcom-esque formula of them blowing their money on increasingly ludicrous things. Or rather Gajeru and Liza do that, whereas Haru gets quickly disillusioned by how lazy and indulgent his colleagues become when influenced by money and so the gang breaks up—Haru returning to adventuring, while the other two basically destroy the city trying to one-up each other. By the end of Episode 4 things are more or less back to the way they were at the start with the exception that Haru has saved most of his riches for a rainy day.
Expected result. Yeah, but I did enjoy how quick Gajeru and Liza become absolute assholes because of having money, I mean it’s not smart, but it’s still funny.
And Episode 5? The plot returns to mocking its originally intended target, namely gacha mobile games. With his newfound wealth Haru decides it makes sense to try and pull for some five star character drops, because it will aid in his desire to help other people! So he trades all of his money in for ‘premium currency’ and tries his luck at getting something other than 1 star scrubs. It doesn’t go well.
No luck? In a series of hilarious montage/quick cuts we watch as Haru succumbs to something the show calls ‘The Swamp’, namely finding one’s self constantly spending money in the vain hope of getting that powerful five-star character drop. Only he doesn’t, it’s nothing but one-star trash-teir pulls, until finally… he gets a two-star…
I guess I can see the comedy in that. Even if I have no idea what you’re talking about! True, a passing familiarity with these kind of mobile games is essential to any kind of enjoyment of the comedy here, but I haven’t even touched on the funniest part of the episode. The whole thing is framed in the guise of a Japanese panel show where a bunch of characters are watching and commentating on this as a cautionary documentary on the dangers of rampant capitalism and the traps of gacha games.
I feel like we’re going into deep parody that not a lot of people in the west might get. It’s still very tongue-in-cheek but it’s also pitch perfect parody of these types of Japanese light-entertainment programs that you see everywhere on Japanese television. The only thing that would have made it funnier would be if these segments were live action—but that’s probably asking a lot.
Right. A parody in a parody, huh? Parody-ception? Sure, something like that. Also Wiseman (the Team Rocket-style “bad guys”) continue to be the best thing about this show. “WI—ZUMA—NN… Wiseman!”
So obviously you really like this show, anything else you want to say? This show doesn’t deserve it’s low MAL *spits* score, but then again, comedy is kind of hard to quantify at the best of times. I’m not pretending like this is some revelatory experience, or even that great of a show, but it’s just fun and I hate that something that’s so inoffensive and good-spirited and silly is copping such a negative wrap. But I guess that’s the way things are these days. I’ll keep watching and reviewing all the same.
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