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[series:4507#628] | ||||||
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(All episodes watched): Ok, this seems sort of novel--five groups of goofy girls, each with a unique 'angle' (one seems to believe in UFOs, another behaves in a very dignified upper-class manner) living together. A large cast to keep track of, but Young Wai-Wai (each member's name begins with the letter Y) looks to get the lion's share of attention. But by no means all of it--each episode seems to focus on a different group than the last one did. Seiji, a body builder, is the building's manager and tries to maintain a semblance of order. Episode one consists of brief introductions of the four subordinate groups and a wild tale about how Yayoi, Yomogi and Yuzu tried to keep secret the fact that they had broken an item that is precious to Seiji (who is the only major male character). The comedy struck me as modestly amusing; I hoped it would remain so, because this might be fun. According to ANN, for some reason episode two of this show had been cancelled, but there doesn't seem to be much of an ongoing plot so viewers might not even notice. Later on, episode two showed up mysteriously. In it, the girls of Young Wai-Wai get the notion that the visiting president of the US will be assassinated if they don't act. I don't recall any really big laughs, but one mistake leads to another and there is a cascade effect, which was amusing. Episode three finally came along around a month after I had watched the first one. This is a show which takes a lot of effort to watch. The dialogue is complex and the video has to be paused often to read it thoroughly. I simply don't 'get' some of the jokes because they are based on obscure Japanese cultural factors that I have never heard of. I was getting tired of episode three but then some LOL jokes came along--like the business with the fancy mattress. It seems that each episode contains one or two seriously LOL moments, though having to watch for 23 minutes to get to them sometimes seems an inefficient use of my time. Still, most comedy anime don't have any of these. In episode four a member of another act, the one composed of rich and dignified girls, discovers the joy of becoming an overnight internet celebrity. It was silly and amusing. In episode five a girl from a trio that pretend to be aliens (though one may not be pretending) finds herself trapped in a bizarre time loop. In number six Seiji goes on a trip after admonishing the girls to not let anything bad happen to the dormitory. At the end of several episodes you get the impression that this was all a 23 minute manzai act. Episode seven involves a visit by all of the girls to an old inn which seems to have a curse on it. In episode eight they try to perform a play based on the Cinderella story but must improvise a good deal. In episode nine one of the girls must convince her mother to let her continue training at Takako-so. Again, I wish this show was just a little funnier so that I had no doubts that I was putting my precious time to good use while watching. Episode ten seemed funny enough, though: two girls happen to have the same birthday, and are trying to tactfully make that known to the others in hopes of getting all sorts of food and presents. In episode 11 Seiji arranges a bizarre test of the girls endurance to see if they really deserve to compete in the upcoming Teppen. It made virtually no sense at all but was amusing nevertheless. One group is disqualified but gets a last chance to redeem itself in the final episode. I thought this concluding episode was rather fun and clever. Despite the extra effort that is needed to watch it, Teppen as a whole was a fun show which I will most likely rewatch some day. That, after all, must be the most sincere praise one can award to an anime. Last updated Thursday, October 20 2022. Created Saturday, July 09 2022. | ||||||||
