Mitsudomoe

I happened to notice I haven’t blogged anything current in a while. I’m sure most order online pills of you love Haruhi and Darker than Black as much as me (*Cough*), but maybe you’d actually like something a little more recent.

This is a series that has eluded words for far too long. Honestly, I’m a little out of my comfort zone here as this has none of the traditional pieces I usually throw at a page, but that’s probably a good thing. This show initially didn’t work for me at all. The first episode made me believe it would be a little clever with some crazy happenings, but nothing could prepare me for the development of the three girls as actual characters instead of the one dimensional images we were given at the beginning. They followed that first episode with the “bodily fluids episode” which left me more unsure about the direction of this series (though to be fair at that point they had made me laugh enough I knew I would keep watching).

I’m glad they had enough to keep me around, because it just got better after that. Perhaps some of you have noticed, but Mitsudomoe tends to follow certain patterns depending on the characters on screen. Each set of characters has a unique relationship dynamic that mirrors a particular brand of comedy.

Hitoha (my absolute favorite character of the series) constantly dwells in the land of misunderstanding with almost all of her relations. Whether it’s her classmate mistaking her for a girl who sees (and exorcises spirits), her other classmates who often mistake her for the little girl from “The Ring”, or her own teacher who mistakes her actions as hate for his beloved Gachi Rangers. Poor Hitoha just order cheap pharm can’t catch a break when she’s perhaps the gentlest soul in the entire cast. Like a certain youngest sister from another series produced by this team (Minami-ke) she also gets to be the straight man in other ridiculous situations. When Mitsuba is being prideful (which is always), or Futaba is being… well an idiot (which is also always), Hitoha is there to be the voice of reason and the punch line deliverer. Of course she can’t always be an outside observer as I’m sure she would wish to be. Sometimes she’s the only aware and rational person in a room, while other times she’s hiding under Yabecchi’s desk. A key part of her humor probably derives from Yabecchi’s pure inability to handle her.

Futaba is a loveable idiot. She always acts with her heart and trusts to easily; thankfully her superman like body and raw stupidity save her most of the time. She’s the gigantic heart that beats warmth into an awkward cast. She doesn’t have much of a dynamic with Hitoha, but her relationship with Mitsuba has driven more than a few arcs. Which happened first: Did Futaba’s reckless strength cause injury to Mitsuba, or did Mitsuba have it out for her younger sisters? I’ve got to think that Mitsuba had it out for her little sisters. It’s not that she particularly dislikes them (as demonstrated by the pencil case and her other dere moments), but she can’t deal with Futaba physically and Hitoha tramples all over her “Older Sister Pride”. It must be awfully tough when you want to be an older sister like Haruka, but end up like Mitsuba. Sometimes I think Mitsuba’s world domination complex is more of a plea for respect. Although Mitsuba has fooled herself into believing she’s an evil mastermind who would love to see Futaba suffer, she’s really kind at heart. She seems to be willing to do just about anything for her sisters and takes the responsibility of looking phentermine out for the idiot of the family very seriously. In other words: If harm is going to come to Futaba she’s going to do it.

Futaba’s brand of humor than perhaps closely resembles something like the three stooges. She does unintentional violence and she’s the foil for foiling all of Mitsuba’s plans.  Yabecchi can’t deal with her either, but I guess Yabecchi’s angle for humor is how overmatched he is (as a normal teacher) by the kids in his class (with special reference to our three sisters). Futuba also tends to act without thinking and has been known to do outrageous things by just being caught up in the moment. In a way most comedy shows need an idiot. Who else is going to do the things that no rational person would do? Part of the joy we derive from Futaba is seeing all of the semi-rational people getting caught up in the wake of her messes. Poor Shinya can’t catch a break when it comes to this angle. Futaba is so weird that she constant drags Shinya into situations that make him squirm. This is helped in no small part by his friend Chiba.

Last, but not least, would be Mitsuba. I’ve talked about her forms of comedy with a few of the other characters, but she’s probably closest to the old Roman canned character “the clever thief”. She always has the plan, but it always backfires when it comes to Futaba. Her pride always overcomes her better reasoning and drags her into completely embarrassing situations. Honestly, I find buy ampicilin her amazing. I don’t know how anyone could deal with that much embarrassment and still keep their Hubris. Perhaps her funniest moments though are when she’s actually trying to be a good Onee-chan (like in the recent Christmas episode when she dresses up as Santa as well to help poor stumbling Hitoha). No matter what it is you can rest easy in knowing that things aren’t going to work for Mitsuba.

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Out of all the characters I find Mitsuba’s plight to be the saddest though. She’s embarrassed by her father (which I find sad for both of them) and she’s constantly trying to compete with the rich girl though she’s poor herself. I’m not going to lie, part of me is crying at her interactions with her father and rival while another part of me laughs. Surprisingly enough Mitsuba is the most complex member of the cast. You never really know which Mitsuba you’re going to see on any given day. Is it going to be the malicious Mitsuba, or is it going to be the caring tsundere Mitsuba. I think it probably depends on which aspect of her character is needed by her sisters.

Hitoha also has the same social awkwardness that seems to go hand and hand with isolation by her peers. Normally this would be heartrending, but fortunately she has two sisters and a father who wouldn’t leave her alone even if she wanted them too. She also has blackmailed herself a friend in the form of Yabecchi.

All and all I think that’s what makes Mitsudomoe so good. They capture completely ridiculous characters but never make them more or less than human. I laugh and empathize with almost all of them(with the notable exceptions of the school nurse and possible Chiba). For the most part no one is cruel, and though they all have their (many) failing moments they get back up and retry again at life. If anything that seems to be the core of Mitsudomoe: You’re going to fail, you’re going to make a fool of yourself, but life is a lot of fun so get out there: All of the characters struggle with themselves and the world, but they never stop.

From a writing standpoint my biggest praise would have to be for those well captured relationship dynamics. They really thought out the roles and the forms of interactions and made the cast into an interesting social group. Instead of seeing awkward lonely heroes who have equally awkward dialogues we’re given awkward situations that have reasonable characters and dialogues. I have to admit though; I also have a fantastic love for the writer’s explosion into the absurd. Classical music playing as Futaba slides around in her swimsuit on the ice, a love triangle forming over a hamster, and panty soccer all point to one thing for me: Mitsudomoe is not creatively bankrupt! I REPEAT Mitsudomoe is not creatively bankrupt. I would like all of the blog writers out there who started out this season by saying it WAS creatively bankrupt to issue a formal apology to Mistudomoe, print out a copy of the original post, and stuff said printed out copy into their stomache. Yes, I would like them to eat their words. Mitsudomoe is a gold mine of creativity, and though it might not always work out, you know they’re always trying. The completely silent sketch with Mitsuba and Futaba trying to find a drum for a hot springs was genius. It was simple and effective and brought back nostalgic memories of when Looney Toons was good. If nothing else I’m always excited for each new episode and will often watch it before anything else. If you’re not watching this series I would suggest it as one of the highlights of the season. As long as the writers don’t start recycling sketch ideas this show should continue to be funny for a very long time.

That’s this YOCP’s opinion anyway ;)!