Hyouge Mono – 09

OMG WTF!?

This show is brilliant. Utterly brilliant. But… what?! And don’t get me wrong: this episode was the best one of Hyouge Mono so far, but… what!?

Just to be sure, I watched the preview for the next episode… but that was even crazier. Okay. That took me completely by surprise. This show just proved that it’s even better than I first thought. In this post I will be really vague on what exactly happened for the sake of spoilers. In any case though, next week’s episode promises to be even better, so I’ll probably have to end up talking about what the hell happened here there.

In the meantime though: the build-up throughout this episode was exquisite. It just so subtly brought the different characters alive, only to switch to the completely un-subtle quirks of the different characters. I just love how Oda Nobunaga just keeps bringing in these exotic products. The elephant in this episode again was hysterical. Rarely do I get to see an evil overlord who is this enjoyable to watch.

The way in which he uses his powers to always get what he wants and makes everyone scared of him: it’s just brilliantly done. The way in which he announces his plans to conquer the entire world: you’d almost believe that he’s actually capable of doing it. On top of that, Furuta Sasuke was also amazing to watch as usual. Usually the quirkiest characters of the cast don’t end up as the main characters, but he is one example who wonderfully defies that trend.

And really: everyone had the most wonderful facial expressions in this episode. Heck, this series has by far the most details in the drawings of its faces than any other series I’ve seen this year. Heck, it feels like ages since a show came along that had facial expressions that are this detailed. Sure, the animation of this series is obviously limited, but this is one heck of a way to make up for it!
Rating: *** (Awesome)