Mitsudomoe is probably something you won't expect to like at first. The fine line, low brow comedy of mixing pre-pubescent children with adult themes and sexual humour is more than enough to repel even the most liberal-minded viewer. Granted there are awkward moments aplenty but on the whole Mitsudomoe manages to balance itself reasonably well. Even if most of the jokes do not aim higher than the gutter.
What Mitsudomoe does highlight wonderfully is a core fact of life - kids DO know about sex. They do make tasteless sex jokes, they do lie about their knowledge amongst their peers and they do express sexual curiosity, albeit very naive. One problem I do have with this premise is that it has the potential to be pioneering, considering that the primary cast are female, thereby acknowledging a basic truth - boys and girls are equally inquisitive and yet it agonizingly falls back in line with the objectification of women under the male gaze motif. Even more disappointingly, its the young girls themselves that are preoccupied with the female physic - Hitoha regularly reads porn in class while Futaba has a vivid and disturbing obsession with breasts. Sequentially its hard not to feel a little cheated.
That being said, once Mitsudomoe steps away from the wearisome and repetitive boobies and panties gags, there is a thoroughly entertaining slice of life show. The idealistic, new teacher Yabechi, is faced with three triplet troublemakers, the Marui sisters; Mitsuba the mean spirited and slightly sadistic elder sibling, Futaba, the deranged, freakishly strong and freakishly destructive middle child and Hitoha, the quiet, socially outcasted loner, simply dubbed youngest-san. Not to mention a diverse and well developed supporting cast of classmates. Farcical circumstances are principally derived from misunderstandings between these characters, of which can be quite witty and imaginative, when the writers put their minds to it!
Overall, Mitsudomoe is a decent effort, it does demonstrate a varied range of comedy styles, vulgar double-entendres and innuendos aside, there is enough well constructed humour to prevent this show from falling precariously into realms of smut. Yet what this show needs, what I'm confident it is capable of, is to really refine itself, so that clumsy boob gags do not become relied upon to provide a laugh. However, Mitsudomoe does improve as the show goes on, which is good because it does need time to grow on the audience.
Rating: 6/10
No comments:
Post a Comment