天下制覇

Don't mention all the anal penetration don't mention all the anal penetration don't mention all the anal penetration…

Impressions:

So, about all those segments where things forcibly rip things from anuses. Japanese culture, eh?

*ahem*

As disturbing as those sequences look in screenshot form, they're moreso in animation, and I get the sense that Ikuhara (famed crazy person director) is playing a bit of chicken in weird spectacle. They involve the kappa thing causing the boys… the like, 12 year old boys… to orgasm-explode their clothes off, whereupon it then swallows them and does a little sex dance where it feels itself up before pooping them out, now covered in goo. And what looks like a fight later? That's actually a dance number ending with the monster on its hands and knees, begging mercy because they splashed it with some water, so they launch themselves into its anus, complete with close-ups of being stuck head first in its colon, while it moans in 'agony'. They then pose nakedly (again, 12 year olds) through a fairly typical Ikuhara surreality wrapup sequence. One of these kids is also a transexual web idol, so there's also that.

On the other hand, sexualized violent penetration in a socially taboo pairing is pretty run of the mill for an Ikuhara show, but it's usually heart/chest focused. If you're looking to check off boxes for an Ikuhara show or are playing a hardcore drinking game, this one's going to easily give you a bingo or alcohol poisoning, respectively. And yet, somehow more opaque than his last few outings. Oh, sure, it's going to be about growing up and exploring nonstandard sexuality, because every goddamned Ikuhara thing is, but I'm not sure I can pierce the veil of what else is supposed to be going on here since the first half is mostly gag slapstick and narrative in the second half goes completely off the rails as the butt stuff takes over, which is to say that it lacks the stronger character and story drives that something like Penguindrum had. Also, probably the last time you'll hear me say something positive about Penguindrum.

It's fairly typical Ikuhara animation spectacle, and that in itself is something that I can understand appreciating. It'd be nice if every director had his flair for visuals. It's just everything else that never agrees with me, particularly the convoluted nonsense plots and chronic messiah-complex characters, and I don't see too many signs that this is going to be any different. I'm not sure I could tell you what direction it's going in either though since the 'plot' parts of the episode were kind of… distracting with all the rectal explosions. Early screenings of the first few episodes do seem to indicate that it'll be in a Grand Guignol direction though.