Momoka returns as she’s now been scouted to make an attempt at voice acting!
What They Say:
Momoka has come to the Sket-dan for help. It turns out that she’s been asked to audition for a voice role in an anime after being discovered during her performance at the preschool puppet show. Switch leaps at the opportunity to start her harsh training in the way of anime!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Anime characters getting into the voice acting business isn’t anything new when it comes to the world of anime and Sket Dance is hitting up this storyline pretty early in its run. It also provides for a callback character as Momoka, the young woman from the puppeteering episode, is the one that has been scouted for auditions because of the work she did in that particular job. So with this challenge ahead of her, Momoka has decided to go back to the people that have helped her the most by asking them for helping in getting ready for it. Not surprisingly, Switch is completely behind this idea and is intent on showing her everything she needs to know from his wide range of anime knowledge and massive DVD collection.
As Switch goes through the training, he shows them a couple of shows and it’s comical to see how it plays out because they invariably are kids shows but are shows that Bossun and Himeko consider to be very inappropriate for children. Switch’s justifications are equally comical, always saying that they focus on the battles and are meant for the kids but with fanservice and kinkiness thrown in to appeal to the adults, things that kids wouldn’t get anyway, just makes you laugh. Momoka tries hard at all of this and there’s even a cute little Sailor Moon reference that has to make you smile. Momoka’s earnestness for the audition is fun to watch and seeing her in the actual audition leads to an awkward moment where the staff member is rather perverted himself as you see his larger goal. There’s even a great Nabeshin reference thrown into this that will make you grin.
The second half brings in another story that has one of the teachers coming to the Sket Club as he wants to start a club himself based on the game Genesis and needs to get three members for it so that it can be approved, even if they’re temporary members. This means they get to experience the game that he’s come up with first and you know you’re in for trouble when it has them wearing flippers and carrying butterfly catchers with spikes attached to the end of it. This episode has some cute and silly action to it in a way as they play out the game and try to understand things, especially the overly complicated and seemingly contradictory rules, but it all comes across as rather weak and uninteresting overall, especially after the fun of the first half.
In Summary:
When Sket Club works the double story format for an episode, it can be a mixed bag with what you get and it’s generally been that you’ll like one but the other is weak. That’s unfortunately true here as the first one was a lot of fun and I wouldn’t have minded seeing other aspects of it explored in the second half. Momoka’s minor troubles as a voice actress could have had a little more to work with for the club. The second storyline is definitely weaker and certainly much more fluffy as it deals with a teacher trying to make a crazy club, but it’s wackiness is certainly a part of its charm as well as you see what the club will go through in order to help someone out. The show is fun, but it’s one where expectations are again meant to be kept a bit light as it’s mostly good natured fluff with a little angst and drama to it.
Grade: B-
Simulcast By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
