I first caught wind of Gokushufudou from an OPED about what were the author's favourite's/disappointments of 2021 anime. I noticed this one as a runner-up contender for best of late 2021 and I popped it on to my 'Watch later'.
After wrapping up Demon Lord is Reborn into Typical Nobody (sigh...), I began sitting through Gokushufudou.
I did have slight concerns about what other viewers mentioned about this series, particularly its animation, despite claims of having a phenomenal setting and cast. That didn't put me off at all, it only made me curious and over the next 2 evenings, I busted out all the episodes and now it's time for a review (first one by the way).
First of all, I would like to say that the production and cast teams for putting on an incredible display of performances, visuals and narratives deserves standing ovation, at the bare minimum.
As I gathered from the synopsis, it's not seinen, which atypical setting that the slice-of-life generally consists of. So, a good change of pace and setting.
That's what I would say if it wasn't for the myriad of content in this series to be completely refreshing and jam-packed with comedy, suspense and relatability.
Story: 9/10
Each episode contained microcosms of episodes, in skit fashion.
It didn't take more than the first minute to understand who Tatsu/Tacchan was and his personality. It wastes no time moving through the narrative to include every detail imaginable; too many pilot episodes are far too padded in their fickle attempt to world-build and introduce characters to the audience. That's why this first episode hit me and caught my attention. First impressions are important!
The bento scene is still very fresh in my mind at the time of writing; I watched the live action version as well! With each skit, they tend to stick to its true-and-tried format of a 3-act-play, with each act as being some sort of gag and a punchline; a notion of golden comedy is flipping something up over and seeing if it sticks to the mind of the viewer; Gokushufudou is largely successful in this manner. Pseudo-examples, dialogue of Tatsu and Masa involve "getting the white powder" (cocaine/heroine, usually) turns into buying flour in the next frame. Tatsu holding up a knife, musing to himself "this is it, I've got you now" transforms into slicing cuts of pork, all the while dressed for the occasion.
It's this concept of 'Haha tricked you. Baited!' that really carried me through each skit, each episode. I'm easily pleased.
I won't lie, I dipped a point off because I found the skits of Gin the cat to be just little skippable extras, and I don't like cats to be honest.
Art: 10/10
Picture a meadow with a shallow hill, let's put a tree on top and the glare of the sun behind. Sounds beautiful right? Okay, now some flowers grow around the tree, next you have a loving couple set up a picnic below the bough of the tree. Here comes a family with their hyper pet pooch, then a cyclist, they nearly crash into the dog. A wild squirrel appears and grabs an item of food and scurries back up the tree.
You now have a scene of chaos and a lack of clear focus, amidst the original beauty of it all. Anime as of late tries to lend itself towards intricate detail and filling in any proverbial white space. This is where Gokushufudou differs, massively.
"As long as you don't mind the stillness of the anime, it's a good watch." The stillness of the anime is its high selling point! Every moment, I can focus on the focus. It doesn't require too much of me to stay engaged with each passing frame. Maybe it's a boomer mentality but I feel all the necessary action is captured, the emotions are conveyed visually and all the chaff is non-existent. I won't refute that people's claims of it being a slideshow of the manga, it can definitely come across that way. However, in this day and age, this form of art is honestly rare and it was a joy to see something 'antique' in a way.
Character: 10/10
The viewer comes to see self-proclaimed 'househusband' Tatsu as a caring individual for his wife Miku, a complete juxtaposition to his old lifestyle as one of the most dangerous yakuza. He cannot shrug off his ruffian vocabulary or his naturally imposing demeanour, that being a core of his personality, yet despite being intimidating and misconceived as a threatening person to some, to others he has built good neighbourhood rapport and acquired the skills to survive the 'every day' life in his own style for his family. Miku's character is instantly relatable and likeable. She is the breadwinner for the household so she's very occupied with her job. She's not a central character (and doesn't need to be) yet she stands out with her strong willpower, impulsive love for Policure and reciprocal care for Tatsu. I find Masa to be a younger 'rookie' version of Tatsu, household skills notwithstanding however. He is memorable as much as his several appearances throughout the show. Other characters within Tatsu's circle I have not invested enough interest to care about them but the neighbourhood mothers and the active gang members is akin to a Venn diagram with Tatsu in its intersection. 2 complete separate communities converge because of one man, I find that to be impressive. Especially with the volleyball!
Sound: 9/10
Masterfully voiced by Kenjiro Tsuda, Tatsu is every bit of cool and commanding. There's no other VA I know that can pull off with at least equal or greater measure.
A surprising star-studded cast can be found here too. Shizuka Itou voicing Rindou Kobayashi in Food Wars was a voice I was enthralled by when I first heard her so I'm glad she was Miku's. Tomokazu Sugita (my all-time favourite) as Bob. Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as a cat that Gin encounters. Show Hayami => Bartender-san. Yoshimasa Hosoya will always be Reiner to me but here he is Torajiro. This list could go on but I'll stop my tangent there.
So despite this, the reason why I am dipping 1 point off from the score is purely on the basis of being a slice-of-life, I do not notice nor register any background noise or music. The only music I listen for and like is the OP. Other than that, I'm listening to the dialogue and exchanges and it's great.
Enjoyment: 10/10
This is where I conclude things here to say that I have not felt my time watching wasted on some menial build up, be teased with a climax and be let down by the denouement. Each frame has been carefully crafted with precision and focus. Comedy is subjective, as you might expect, yet with Gokushufudou, it was objectively organic. The 3-act-play skit format may force the tempo but the narrative was truly well-written that its delivery hit the mark, every time.
Ultimately, Gokushufudou cuts through stereotypical slice-of-life tropes as much as Tatsu cuts pork and veggies for Miku's lunch.
Despite knocking off 2 points, for a total of 48/50, I give it a passing grade of 10/10 overall. If you have a few hours of the day with nothing to do, you're all out of current airing anime to watch and your list is looking empty, I wholly recommend this not-so-run-of-the-mill series!
Thanks for reading.
