Ah, the fun of the New Years episode….
What They Say:
Yamanobe-sensei is back, and this time he’s brought a vintage game console for Switch to repair. The Sket-dan ends up getting hooked on the one game he owns for it, but something smells fishy about it…
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
After teasing us with a potentially dull and uninteresting New Years episode, something that most shows tend to do that run like this and want to just have fun with the holiday by doing nothing significant, Sket Dance plays the self awareness card and shifts gears after the opening sequence to do something different. Especially since in the realm of the show itself, it’s still the fall and not New Years, so they can get back to doing what they normally do without any problems. And the story this time around brings Yamanobe back into play, which is a mixed blessing since he’s a bit of an annoying character but has some fun when it comes to the games.
What he’s doing this time is a bit unusual in that he’s come to the Sket Club with a request to fix his vintage gaming console, something that Switch should be ideal for. While that provides the setup, the main fun involves the games themselves, which includes a special game that Yamanobe has called Super Mariko which, obviously, does huge parodies of Super Mario Bros with all sorts of amusing in-jokes. With the Sket Club members playing the game, it goes through the whole range of gags that parody the original game and gaming in general, especially the hilarious controller that has far more buttons on it than any other controller and some other really amusing custom “enhancements.”
Because of the nature of the episode, it’s pretty much just a series of amusing gags related to videogames as all three of them go through the motions of playing the game, though Switch has more natural aptitude for it. With Yamanobe having installed so many different customizations to it, it’s pretty fun to watch just how weird it gets (it almost goes in hentai directions at one point) while also showing off the game itself with its very old school graphics and game play. It’s definitely a one-trick pony kind of episode, but it works well as we see Yamanobe’s version of Super Mariko and the kinds of things he comes up with for it. It also works nicely to show the gang all back together and just having fun and doing something silly and pointless yet putting their all into it as they always do.
In Summary:
Sket Dance definitely has some good bits to this episode that kicks off the new year as it works through the video game world in just the right manner. Going back to the original classic that is Super Mario Brothers and re-tweaking it in this new way with all sorts of comical additions and changes hits the right notes, especially for anime fans. Putting the Sket Club members in the position of playing the game, getting frustrated by the game and ultimately hooked on the game works well too. It keeps the show simple and fun at a time when people aren’t exactly around and it’s definitely better than most traditional New Years episodes that end up doing the familiar and bland and banal. It’s not a high mark of the series, but it’s definitely fun.
Grade: B-
Readers Rating: [ratings]
Streamed 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.
This is the only Yamanobe episode I liked in the whole series since I loved video games in my childhood.�