What They Say:
Miss Monochrome wakes up in her 4.5 tatami-mat apartment, suddenly wonders what would happen if she flipped the positive and negative ends of her battery, and decides to test it out…
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With a series like Miss Monochrome you basically have to ride the ups and downs. Though I’m not exactly enamored by it there are more than enough amusing moments to be able to enjoy the show. When you get one that goes a long way for a couple of gags, like the last episode, it can be a bit more problematic. But sometimes a straightforward focus without trying to deal with the bigger story can work in the shows favor. Such is the case here where we get Monochrome wondering would it would be like to flip the ends of her battery. It’s that kind of natural child curiosity that can lead to quite the amusing education.
Having her flip genders to become Mister Monochrome by flipping the batter is exactly what the show needed to have some fun with it. Monochrome’s own reactions are hilarious as she doesn’t want to be seen and is just plainly embarrassed by everything. Of course, all the girls that come into the convenience story are set aflutter over him and that leads to the show that she’s scheduled to be on where it draws in a huge female audience that’s just in love with how adorable she is. What really makes it all so much fun is that she shows so much more emotion in this form than we usually get out of her, especially in expressiveness through the shyness, that she becomes the epitome of a moe character. It’s all confusing to Maneo as well, though he certainly rides it to some sales and events to keep the “gravy train” running.
In Summary:
After two season of the show, Miss Monochrome does something quite different here and it works really well in giving us something engaging and funny to watch. The change to this form for the bulk of the episode works great in shaking up the dynamic, though I wish more supporting characters were involved beyond Maneo just to get more reaction shots. It’s all played very well and was probably one of the best episodes so far this year.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.