“BAD CATS”
What They Say:
“Long time no see, but these weirdos are back!” For the first time in 15 years, Gag Manga Biyori returns to screens with a new anime! A quirky cast of characters, including Shotoku Taishi, Matsuo Basho, and Usami-chan, will be dragged into creator Kousuke Masuda’s unique world of surreal gags. Check out the exciting adventures of these crazy characters in every episode!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The focus of this episode is on a group of thieves who have pulled off a job that involved kidnapping a woman named Naoko. That has the “Bad Cats” group that she’s a member of doing their best to save her, which is made easier because this “feisty cat” of a woman has a massive tracking device on the back of her neck. It’s just ridiculsouly absurd and barely makes sense even in the confines of the series, but the backstory for it is stupidly comical enough you run with it. And the way the bad guys just go along with it, even as she suggests that it’s just an oversized tag you find on shirts before they’re sold. Everything about it just goes from bad to worse in how it’s handled as the Bad Cats even have a radio within it and speak through it so that the bad guys can hear them. And even then, they’re not entirely sure it’s a bad thing. I get the humor and intent, but so much of it just falls flat for me.
In Summary:
Dumb people doing dumb things is a staple of this series so this is pretty on par for the project. It’s not bad and I get the kind of humor because there was a time when it clicked more for me, but it’s either the execution or just something about the show where it’s really hit or miss. It’s amusingly dumb at times but mostly I just found myself rolling my eyes more than anything else. I can definitely enjoy the Bad Cats trio more than a lot of the other stories we’ve had, however.
Grade: C-
Streamed By: Prime Video
