What They Say:
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The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
As the series nears its end, I’m still pretty shocked that I’ve made it this far and that I’m actually enjoying it for the most part. It had one of the more uneven starts for a comedy but it managed to win me over rather well as I saw more of it and it found its groove, which reinforces my mindset of sticking with a show for more than just a single episode when trying it out. The overall structure of the show works in its favor and definitely leaves me enjoying it, but those early episodes went in a more traditional way so it felt like it was running a gag into the ground quickly on top of the unusual nature of the characters and situations it had to introduce.
With this episode, Valentino has been arrested and because of his nature, they’ve skipped the trial entirely and just sent him directly to prison. Part of this is because he is, well, a goat. And that kind of reduces some of his rights. The prison, which has been removed from all maps of course, is comical in that it’s populated with robot guards that are essentially hot water dispensers who remind him he has no rights. But we also see a wide variety of other animals in there in human form which is amusing. Valentino gets to make a friend in there with the seemingly only human, Akiyoshi, and there’s some mysteries with him. The array of other prisoners is intriguing and the way Valentino and Akiyoshi bond is pretty nicely done. It has a lot of humor overall but also a serious side that’s more engaging than one might expect as we see the two together, but also the eventual breakout attempt and the reveal of who Akiyoshi really is.
Once we get Soumei and the gang there, Akiyoshi turns into a whole other person since he’s finally with the people that he knew all this time before ending up in the prison. Being Soumei’s vessel for so long, we get the revelation that he’s there on purpose trying to find Soumei’s real body. The group as a whole shifts gears to find Valentino and that has its quirks, especially with Lorenzo being so intense over his efforts. The whole thing turns into a good bit of prison fun as it progresses, especially when it’s goat versus koala, but it also deals with the truth of Akiyoshi with what he really is, something that really impacts Valentino because of what they shared. Getting a bit more of Soumei’s past in this way, with a quirk, definitely proved to be a lot of fun.
In Summary:
Cuticle Detective Inaba ends up taking pretty much the entire cast out of the picture for much of the episode outside of Valentino. Giving him a prison episode to deal with, there’s a lot to like with how he survives on the inside, makes a friend and copes with the intensity of being in a prison of this nature. There’s plenty of fun gags related to prison life and the difficulty in dealing with it as a goat, but it also adds a bit more background material as well when Soumei and the gang arrive to break him out. Add in the small bits with how Hiroshi is not coping well to one of the big motivations in his life not being around anymore and there’s definitely an enjoyable episode here.
Grade: B
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.
