This week I’d like to talk about what I’d like to call “The completely disgusting comedy block”. They air right after each other, they’re only ten minutes long and I’d run out of time to talk about the other series this season if I did both of them in a separate post. First of all, Hen Zemi.
The TV-series of Hen Zemi is not as good as the OVA. At first I thought that, if this were to happen, it’d ruin the entire series, but surprisingly it’s still worth watching. It did lead to bizarre situations as the previous episode, which… was entirely censored because of how much nudity was in it. It wasn’t just filled with black screens: it seemed like the animators outright refused to draw any of the explicit stuff.
The biggest downside of the TV-series though is that the dialogue just isn’t as good. The characterization in the OVA was so detailed and dynamic that it really got under my skin. The TV-series mainly is about the antics of a bunch of perverts, nothing more, nothing less. Whereas the OVA would go into great detail about breast sizes, this show just keeps making small boob jokes. That kind of stuff.
The characterization still is good though, and surprisingly enjoyable considering how this is a fanservice show. This episode for example was quite down to earth and actually added quite a bit to the cast of characters. Especially that mother who just keeps interrupting was hilarious, especially with that smirk on her face. The dialogue still is based around people talking to each other, and for what it does, it does this well.
As for Yondemasuyo Azazel-san: I love Tsutomu Mizushima as a director, but he’s not perfect. He is undoubtedly the king of extreme comedy: His series always have the most extreme overreactions and a sense of energy that I haven’t been able to find somewhere else. The big danger is this turning into a gimmick, though. The best example of that are Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-Chan and Dai Mahou Touge: they’re both series that look like cute mahou shoujo, yet instead have a completely brutal and badass main character instead. The big problem with those two shows was that whey were only funny for one episode when they still had their shock value, and became completely tedious afterwards. That was my biggest fear for Azazel-San.
This fifth episode however showed that Azazel-San has enough material to remain hilarious. On top of taking comedic facial distortions to another level, it also has a lot of fun messing with demon summonings and uninspired episodic stories by subverting the hell out of them. The comedic timing in this episode in particular was excellent, but the jokes were also quite creative. I love how the ultimate weapon that any demon can have is simply violence
Apart from being ridiculously over the top I also love these small touches like Azazel continuously ranting and laughing in the background, or how the whole setting is based on something really risky (like how this episode showed what would happen when a summoning goes wrong).
Overall, this is a pretty nice season for comedies. There is nothing side splittingly funny, and yet there are quite a few inspired, well written and well paced series that are quite funny to watch. All of the series however lack something that really places them amongst the great comedies.
Rating: * (Good) (Hen Zemi) / ** (Excellent) (Azazel-San)
I love Azazel-san. The 2nd stalker episode where they all sat around the table being stupid, (the red dinousaur guy’s obsession with reproduction) was one of the funniest things I’ve seen all year. I too love how they can let the scene go on and have Azazel and Beel just being in their own little worlds or adding color commentary.