Osomatsu-san 4th Season

Being a die hard Osomatsu-san loyalist since the first season, it's not exactly the best series I ever watch (honestly none of them will ever beat the first season) and I have to admit there are a few times I got bored midway, but it didn't usually take away my overall enjoyment. The sextuplets are the true charm of the anime and the intense, whimsical dynamics between the brothers are the only reason I keep on continuing with this series.

But this season genuinely lacks all of that, everything that makes up the anime Osomatsu-san. Their biggest mistake is the attempt to remove all sorts of ... dirty jokes, which is already a terrible move when it's such a staple part of the series. Yet, they couldn't even bother to make the humour works. Some of the jokes take too long to land, I assume some others are based on inside joke within the local culture or referenced to the old anime, which maybe is fine on its own but that unfortunately didn't succeed in the overall enjoyment.

It seems like they're going for a more wholesome approach, sometimes even dramatic, and it comes to the point where the characters become so mispresented I didn't even know if I'm watching the same show anymore. It's not the first time Osomatsu-san has ever done this, but those stories, like the Jyushimatsu-Homura episode for example are usually there to add occasional character depth, as in "wow, this is actually quite unexpected for this character", but doing this for a whole season is different. The closest I even feel a little sad in the anime was episode 12, but that's just because there seems to be a mini attempt at touching real world issues when Chibita aspired to feed his udon to poorer children too. Though with how all the characters were written besides maybe Osomatsu, it's honestly a bit bothersome still.

I'm definitely going to be conspirational here but there seems to be a noticeable budget constraints as well.? The sextuplets wearing the same basic blank shirt as their main design this season is already a turn off for me, if they still act like their character traits I could at least tell the difference between who is who. There were a few scenes with a lack of different shots, hence making some of the jokes also taking too long to land. The ones that actually made me laugh had a noticeably better animations as well, adding that with them only making 13 episodes this season. People often talk about the strange 3D model in both opening and ending too, which I do agree, but ironically this is also probably the most unhinged opening of Osomatsu-san, with a bunch of boobs and butts shots shoving up to your face which is such a contrast for the episodes. All that I'm aware of is they changed the director for this season. There seems to be so many red flags here, I'm curious if there were more issues behind the scene that are yet to be exposed.

This is the weakest season, the characters lose their distintive personalities and the uninspected sentimental part and the gags are gone and now is a single story all the chapter, it make it look slow and without fun.
is like youre whatching a reboot and not anothe season of a anime that used to be really fun
is really a season you can miss but was shocked me the most was that chapter 12 announced a next chapter and then it never came, the season ended and a new one started, is the anime technically still going?? i don't know, but is not like we are missing ... much

TLDR: Strangely boring, soulless, and unfunny.

I'm really not averse to the idea of switching things up, especially this far into a show's runtime. But there comes a point where as a writer, you need to ask yourself what makes your show unique? What makes it successful, and what is your audience looking for? Mainly: how can you change things without disrupting the core of the experience?

As a longtime fan of Osomatsu-san, I was very disappointed by season 4, primarily because it did just that. Season 4 of Osomatsu-san is just not Osomatsu-san anymore.

The first two seasons did a great job of balancing their characters with ... (sometimes cringey) slapstick comedy. But it recognized itself as a comedy. Some of my favorite moments were actually those where the show became strangely serious, because it allowed for greater characterization while also adding to the comedy after the fact, jarring us with the reality that we're just moving on to the funny stuff again. (Some people might call this "undermining," but it was funny to me, at least.) I wasn't so much of a fan of the 3rd season, because I thought the Rice Balls were crazy unfunny and got way too much screen time, but I could at least see the intent behind it.

But for some reason, now during the 4th season, they just swung so hard in the opposite direction for seemingly no reason at all. I don't hate the slice of life format, but there are plenty of comedies that can do that and still be funny (Nichijou, Saint Oniisan for something a little less crazy). And you can tell they tried, at some points, but even the more successful episodes feel like they were just loosely rehashing old bits. (The crew cut episode, for example.) Worst of all, though, was them stripping the character out of every single character. Surely, they have to know that seeing the brothers' different personalities is the main appeal of the show? Seeing how it causes them to butt heads, or how it makes people not related to them hate them...But they're all just diluted versions of their original selves now. Karamatsu literally does and says nothing (he's not cringe anymore), Choromatsu is less of a loser--Jyushimatsu is even keeping his mouth closed! Also, it feels like everyone likes the brothers? Aren't they weird virgin NEETS who are usually selfish and terrible to everyone around them? This applies to the secondary characters too. Totoko is a generic cute girl with zero anger issues, and I don't even remember enough moments with the other characters to even try and describe them. It's such an odd shift that for the first episode or two, I was seriously waiting for the reveal of, "oh haha got you! This isn't a legit/serious anime!" Either way, it genuinely feels like they took everything unique from the show and tossed it out just because. Not liking a single bit or character is one thing, but I never thought I'd watch this show and be genuinely bored with everything going on.

In all fairness, as of writing this review, I've only seen 12/13 episodes (given that the thirteenth is indefinitely delayed...). The last episode, which is totally still coming out, could be the best and save the whole season!1!!11! Jokes aside, I will watch episode 13, but there's no undoing the damage that's been done. Unfortunately, I have to say: if you're starting Oso-san for the first time, just watch the first two seasons and drop it. It's not worth seeing the rest. (And you'll be spared some horrendous MMD-tier 3D animation lol.)