It’s time for a bit of body switching… and no, not with Hilda.
What They Say:
It’s time to start the Pudding-Pudding Exercises!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
After taking a bit of a break for the New Years holiday in which we got the Saiyuki parody, Beelzebub gets back to its main storyline for its fiftieth episode. A series that I certainly never had any expectations of making it this far or even half as far as it did. The series has definitely skewed its own ways in a lot of ways but it’s also played well to traditional comedy and shonen style elements, feeling far more “old school” than many other shows out there while still keeping things current and fun. Beelzebub isn’t above messing with its viewers in fun ways though, hence the situation where we are now after the last battle where Oga has found himself inside of Beel’s body. Something nobody else expected at first either, resulting in a real look of panic in everyone’s faces.
The happens when both of them are fully awake back at the house as Oga can’t stand being in such a tiny body and insists that he wears clothes, which are just far, far too adorable. And Beel, now in Oga’s body, is ready to strip so he can get back to his normal self. Which freaks everyone else, rightly so. And poor Hilda can’t stand the idea of serving Beel inside of Oga’s body as she continually refers to him as a sewer rat. It puts everyone into awkward positions, though it also goes with some less than fun plot points by having Beel in Oga’s body go to school. If there’s something you manage to figure out how to skip, it’s going to be that since pulling it off just isn’t going to work. The main positive to it is that we do get time with Hilda in the school girl uniform.
The silliness here does abound though when you get down to it, even if you’re like me and don’t care for the basic setup of sending him there. Furuichi is again in the position of just suffering through everything while Beel as Oga ends up getting involved in all sorts of fights and other silliness. And poor Oga stuck in Beel’s body just watches all of this and tries to do what he can to save his body from harm. Especially since the distance factor for the two is still in effect. Some of the funnier and more bizarre moments of the episode comes when Aoi gets into the mix though since Beel gloms onto her and she has to find a way to settle him down. And that goes into the bizarre pudding-pudding thing we got at the start of the episode that went on far too long. It’s silly and goofy and shows a different kind of Beel with how he expresses himself through Oga’s body.
In Summary:
Beelzebub has a good bit of fun when you get down to it with its fiftieth episode by having the body switch thing going on here and sending Beel to school in Oga’s body. While that plot point bothered the heck out of me, the episode does have a good deal of humor to it as Oga deals with being in Beel’s body, thankfully dressing him which made him even more comical than his usual naked self, while Beel takes on a different feel by being more expressive in different ways due to not having the pacifier and more capable hands and feet. There are plenty of moments that made me laugh here but also things that just feel like it’s dragged out in a bit too many predictable directions. It’s fun but missed some opportunities.
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.
1 thought on “Beelzebub Episode #50 Anime Review”