Oct 27, 2025
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.)
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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