think about the castle of dr. weird on a hilltop lit by a background of lightning. it's a convention used to the point of cliché, but the sequence becomes funny when it surprisingly deviates from the tired convention to the other extreme and becomes 'random'. repetition only reinforces the humor as each episode stays just as random. the humor is dependent on your jadedness at the conventions. when cinema is exported, immediately, a cult forms around all material from a geographical location, mainstream and cult films alike. this is because viewing anything from another visual/narrative tradition is already fresh.
in the first episodes, super milk chan is constructed the same way only it is random to a different tradition of clichés. far from jaded, the irony is a stretch for foreign audiences. plus it felt like they had limited material so they paced it really really slowly with silence as filler as it tries to bully you into a cold laugh.
so just as i was ready to write this show off, it changes significantly in later episodes. all of a sudden the visual style went from flash movie-like to hand drawn, nodding at its roots. more importantly, the humor got a lot drier and became situation based. it's like somebody turned the light on and finally got it. instead of just referencing culture, the show finally becomes it and writes with contemporary abandon. it finally had timing: in its curt, clean cuts where appropriate with no wasted pauses, furthermore, they wisely axed the derivative sitcom device of framing with repeating situations (e.g. dr. eyepatch and tetsuko, landlord visitations, the president acting consistently within a set personality, etc.) the writers took a 180 and showed complete conviction. i doubt it's an accident that the show blatantly references dr. slump (visual example: helicopter in the middle of the screen; thematic example: inventor/ technology juxtaposed with lewd and/or toilet humour,) and i believe it has the possibility of becoming just as good at this point. we'll see as the season progresses.
in the first episodes, super milk chan is constructed the same way only it is random to a different tradition of clichés. far from jaded, the irony is a stretch for foreign audiences. plus it felt like they had limited material so they paced it really really slowly with silence as filler as it tries to bully you into a cold laugh.
so just as i was ready to write this show off, it changes significantly in later episodes. all of a sudden the visual style went from flash movie-like to hand drawn, nodding at its roots. more importantly, the humor got a lot drier and became situation based. it's like somebody turned the light on and finally got it. instead of just referencing culture, the show finally becomes it and writes with contemporary abandon. it finally had timing: in its curt, clean cuts where appropriate with no wasted pauses, furthermore, they wisely axed the derivative sitcom device of framing with repeating situations (e.g. dr. eyepatch and tetsuko, landlord visitations, the president acting consistently within a set personality, etc.) the writers took a 180 and showed complete conviction. i doubt it's an accident that the show blatantly references dr. slump (visual example: helicopter in the middle of the screen; thematic example: inventor/ technology juxtaposed with lewd and/or toilet humour,) and i believe it has the possibility of becoming just as good at this point. we'll see as the season progresses.