This segment covers episodes 5 and 6 of My Ribdiculous Reincarnation, which collectively offer a quartet of new reincarnations, some additional interstitial shenanigans, references to a couple of earlier reincarnations, and some additional hints of a bigger picture that may or may not ever impact the story.
The reincarnations in these two episodes are summarized below:
| Episode | Reincarnated as. . . | Animation Style | Producer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | String tying a secret ninja scroll | Paper cut-outs | Hoji Tsuchiya |
| 5 | The awkward feeling of a single man in the background when a couple is kissing in front of him | Rotoscoping over colored pencil backgrounds? | isai, inc. |
| 6 | A banana that makes happy couples explode | Jojo-esque | Maria Tokareva |
| 6 | A descendant of the World Tree at war with beavers | Stop-motion | Biogon Pictures |
And here are visual samples, in order:
As you may have noticed, three of the four producers in these two episodes also did segments for earlier episodes, suggesting that there’s going to be a regular rotation rather than a different producer each time. The one newcomer, Hoji Tsuchiya, is making his anime debut here, but he has a portfolio of paper cut-out animation spanning a couple of decades.
Naturally, all of these segments eventually go awry at least in part because of the actions and/or special powers of the protagonist. They also all feature some degree of utterly absurdity, such as a castanet-focused soloist “battle of the bands” between the Hero and Demon King, a DDR battle between a walking tree and the Beaver King, or a comedy duel between the Hero and Demon King. (An interesting recurring but not pervasive theme here is the “Demon King” not starting out that way but becoming that via social isolation – self-imposed in some cases.) Some are more effective than others; of this set, the one with the castanets was definitely the funniest. (It also featured gekiga artwork and “explosion hair” as running gags.)
The interstitial parts weren’t lacking in these episodes, either, whether it’s the karaoke singing (shown in the opening screen shot), , Goddess’s somewhat cruel means for achieving weight loss, or Goddess looking quite adorable in a mysteriously gifted kimono (see below). These bits also revisit a couple of previously-appearing characters; Tanaka, the top hat-wearing guy from the clock tower segment (episode 3) reappears a couple of times in different settings, apparently looking for a lost lover, and the Demon King from the locked treasure chest segment (episode 4) is confirmed to have reincarnated as the fish who taught the protagonist as a hermit crab back in episode 2. The latter bit suggests a time-bendy aspect to all this reincarnation stuff, and I’d really like to know what kind of email or messaging account is allowing them to keep in contact. Some further indications are also dropped that other gods are paying attention to what Goddess (or perhaps the protagonist?) is up to, and apparently Goddess is an outsider among her peers; with her attitude about things, that’s not hard to understand.
Will all these hints of a bigger picture ever amount to anything? Does it even matter? While these episodes may not be quite as sharp as the first couple, this is still a plenty entertaining odyssey if you don’t mind the varying animation styles.
Episode 5 and 6 Rating: B
USA Anime 