Dust Watched: Orenchi no Furo Jijou
Genres: Comedy, SoL, Yaoi(-ish) // 13 episodes
Tfw gay fish people decide the best place to get drunk is your bathtub.
“Orenchi no Furo Jijou” is based off of a 4-koma manga and fittingly has 4 minute long episodes. The setting is quite simple: Tatsumi finds a merman washed up on the beach, Wakasa, and decides to bring him home so he can stay in his bathtub. With Wakasa’s other fishy friends occasionally dropping in, the episodes are mostly slapstick comedy, with each giving us a fun and quirky scenario.
The style of comedy is nice; instead of relying on a punchline at the end of the episode, the joke is stretched out over the whole 4 minutes. It’s more “grin worthy” kind of comedy than an “audible laugh” kinda one.
The characters do what they need to do and have perfect chemistry for the jokes; with Tatsumi’s deadpan but kind personality contrasting Wakasa’s more sensitive and dramatic one. Wakasa’s friends were also always a fun addition to the episodes they appeared in.
The only character that I quite hated, more for how she was used than anything, was Tatsumi’s little sister who was made into the typical “I love my big brother and wanna marry him~~~” nonsense that people who obviously don’t have siblings can come up with. The episodes being so short means that I didn’t have to be assaulted by this gag too much but it’s basically the only stain on this show.
The episodes switch between normal “realistic” anime style and chibi style. The key frames actually looked... really good?
Honestly, for what this anime is, the sound department went hard. The short little OP is a banger and the entire VA cast is veterans.
This whole anime can be watched in one sitting if you’re bored and just one something bite-sized and entertaining. A few cringey moments but otherwise a good chuckle.