Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. You all doing alright today? I’m personally feeling quite fine, as I’ve got the weekend right in front of me and a fresh episode of Ganso Tensai Bakabon on the plate. Charming in its comedy and absolutely jaw dropping in its art design, Bakabon is one of the strangest artifacts of ‘70s anime I’ve come across, overflowing with a level of main staff talent that basically any anime would kill for.

Thirty-odd episodes plus an opening directing by Osamu Dezaki. Art direction by the incomparable Shichiro Kobayashi. Countless other positions filled by key, lasting associates of Oshii, Dezaki, and Studio Ghibli. The more you dig into the show’s staff listing, the more you come across figures like, say, Kazuo Oga, an art designer who’s contributed background art to basically every Ghibli film. Bakabon’s credentials are preposterously impressive, boasting luminaries who’ve elevated decades of the medium’s best productions, and all of them here dedicated to the rambling adventures of a little goblin man and his accommodating family. It’s basically ‘70s Nichijou, making it almost impossible not to love. Let’s see what our gremlin father gets up to next!

Episode 4

“As The Leaves Fall So Does His Hair!” Just an unending string of injustices and disappointments for our dear Papa

I like the musicality of this opening sequence here. The first two establishing shots are each accompanied by a xylophone trill, and then the subsequent active melody is timed to the steps of Bakabon and Papa. A close integration between musical scores and on-screen cues is a mainstay of animated comedies; timing is essential in comedies, animation provides a unique opportunity to manage visual timing, and matching music naturally elevates this synchronicity of visual form and dramatic intent

A neat trick as Papa notices some tasty persimmons beside the road, and that musical track is actually played in reverse to mimic the characters’ reverse walk. A joke built entirely out of that fusion of music and animation timing

Incidentally, this is the first episode since the premiere that’s personally directed by Dezaki, so I’m looking forward to some interesting layouts ahead

That said, now that I can place this work in the context of his overall catalog, it’s Shichiro Kobayashi’s influence that’s the most undeniable. Kobayashi applies this style of thin, partially lined backgrounds matched with splashes of pastel color to most of his works – it’s clearly comparable to Revolutionary Girl Utena and Simoun, two shows where he also served as art director

Papa immediately attempts to enlist his son in stealing persimmons, summoning the persimmons’ owner from around the fence

An argument then ensues when Papa latches on to “taking things is wrong,” and revels in illustrating all the things you can “take” (a seat, a picture, etc) that aren’t actually theft. One of this show’s best tricks is how quickly its secondary characters tend to get roped into Papa’s wavelength – like here, where Papa draws a cup of tea on the wall, and successfully prompts this stranger to take a seat for tea

“We already got hit, so it’s fine to take them.” I’m sorry Papa, it turns out double jeopardy doesn’t actually work that way

Another of this show’s greatest strengths is Masashi Amenomori’s performance as Papa. He’s the perfect vocal articulation of Papa’s deadpan seriousness, absolutely selling the comedy of moments like Papa going “pardon for the intrusion, pardon for the intrusion” as he rifles through his wife’s drawers

Papa retrieves a mirror to “counter” his opponent’s mirror security, somehow

We’re already getting some inventive layouts this episode, like this amusing sequence of Papa and his neighbor yelling at each other through the reflections in their mirrors. A much more dynamic and inherently whimsical approach than just putting them in a flat shot together

Yeah, tons of unique layouts framing the action from distinct perspectives – Papa cutting this paper relayed from the other side of the paper, Mama calling up the stairs in this angled shot

Papa apparently interpreted “can’t do much about the crows stealing my persimmons” as a call to construct his own crow costume

This costume prompts a delightful sequence of Papa racing across the town’s rooftops, his persimmon-stealing quest apparently forgotten. This show’s slapstick-to-slice of life ratio generally trends pretty heavily towards slapstick, but this world is so inviting that every dalliance in the other direction is a gift

Interesting how the sound design seems particularly purposeful in this episode – every character is gaining a signature noise like Papa’s costumed “caw, caw,” and most of the scenes are matching the background melody to the movement of the characters. In this sequence of raking leaves, the music is actually framed as a battle between Papa’s leaf-sweeping song and the musical counterpoint of more leaves falling upon him

Papa attempts to seduce the tree into no longer shedding leaves, with limited results

Another terrific layout as a monk drags Papa into the temple grounds, with the wild distortion of perspective emphasizing the monk’s presence and anger

Papa discovers a man whose hair falls out whenever he’s stressed or startled, and defoliates him completely within half a minute

Yeah, the sound design is just crazy this episode. Papa’s efforts to knock all the leaves off this tree are accompanied by a wild cacophony of sound effects, which are then contrasted against a nervous flute melody matched to this stress-avoiding man’s movements and affectation

And having ruined another man’s life, Papa happily flitters off in his crow costume. Another successful adventure!

“Swindler Stargazing!”

We open on hands carefully assembling a telescope, assuring me that we’re hanging out with Bakabon’s sister. Neither Bakabon nor his Papa could ever hope to successfully build such a delicate device

Papa is briefly terrified by this violent-looking device, then immediately rushes off with it once he’s informed what it’s for

In spite of the translators’ best efforts, they cannot make sense of whatever pun led Papa to believe this telescope is designed for looking at pickled plums

“You can’t see stars during the day, you know.” “If you can’t see them during the day, it’s only going to be harder at night!” Alright, that one got me. God, Papa is such a delightful, specific, and utterly confident kind of stupid – him regaling us with his anti-knowledge is always a treat

Another perfectly Papa joke, as he locates one of the townsfolk via telescope, then gets angry that the man he’s watching doesn’t return his greeting

Papa plummets from the second story balcony down next to his wife in the garden, who is predictably unbothered by this presumably regular occurrence

For his next surveillance trick, Papa uses the telescope to spy a robbery in progress

“Since I thought you’d fall again, I put down a futon.” Papa does not deserve this woman

“Are you trying to make fun of me?” “Just helping a person in need.” I’m always happy to see Mama’s sarcastic edge sneak in, emphasizing how she actually finds Papa’s antics as amusing as everyone else

Another one of those ambitious cuts of movement out of depth as Papa and the cops chase this robber. Just a couple seconds of animation, but sequences like this are never easy (and thus almost never come up in modern anime, where you tend to either have a bravura animator showcase or total stillness)

And what’s this? Papa actually helped catch the thief!? Will wonders never cease

And Done

Oh Papa, when will you ever learn. Well, considering this franchise’s enduring popularity and many revivals, I’d say the odds are on Never, and we’re all the luckier for it. This episode’s first segment was just as visually distinctive as I was hoping from Dezaki’s return, fusing Kobayashi’s reliably excellent art design with a wide variety of distinctive layouts, and also making use of sound design in all sorts of creative ways. The second was a little more reserved in its visual design, but made up for that with its plethora of delightfully groan-worthy puns and dad jokes. Ganso Tensai Bakabon remains an eminently cozy and enjoyable production.

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