YoshiKyon

7/10

AniList: OVA / Movie

Oh boy. This was always going to be an interesting one to get to, in part because of what the show is, and in part because it came as a recommendation from thepokemandude, one of the most eccentric friends of mine in my Discord server, as part of my 12 shows for the year:

12 Anime in 12 Months:

These are listed in the order I thought I would enjoy them, from most likely to enjoy to least.

• Shinsekai yori
• Plastic Memories
• Vivy: Fluorite Eyes Song
• Kaiba
• Bloom Into You
• Princess Tutu
• Redline
• Monster
• Saint Onii-san
• Haikyu!!
• So I'm a Spider, So What
• In Another World With My Smartphone

For those who don't know, Saint☆Onii-san is the misadventures of Jesus and Buddha, vacationing in modern-day Japan while trying to keep their identities secret. The OVA is essentially just character introductions and a trailer for the movie, which is definitely the main show here. And while it certainly has its moments, a lot of the humour just fell kinda flat for me, but what it misses in comedy, it makes up for in slice-of-life.

Details, including some minor spoilers (as much as this can even have spoilers) below~

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For some context in all of this, I was brought up as a Christian (Catholic specifically) so it's likely that a lot of the jokes regarding Buddhism went over my head, but the Christian ones didn't. That said, I'm not really sure I would have missed any; most of the jokes fall flat not because of missing context, but pretty much the complete opposite. The things that play into the religious beliefs feel so basic, likely because they have to appeal to people who aren't familiar with those religions, that they're barely jokes to begin with. There are some that definitely got a few chuckles - Jesus being mistaken as an ex-con and saying he escaped after three days is brilliantly set up and executed - but a lot of it just passes by.

In a weird way, though, taking away the religious side of the show might have honestly improved it for me? The characters are fun, and there are a few other things that would need to be changed but, for the most part, this is just "two laid-back foreigners vacation in Japan" and it's a really relaxing watch for that part. I wouldn't say it excels at being comfy - I'd never consider this iyashikei - but it's definitely the aspect I enjoyed the most here. It's also worth noting that the parts of the humour and the slice-of-life that resonated with me the most are just the everyday character things; two people navigating an unfamiliar world and doing ordinary things like going shopping, going to amusement parks or celebrating important dates is fun to watch!

So it ends up as a chill show that's occasionally funny, and occasionally just a little awkward. The most frustrating part is that it's obvious when it's trying too hard to be funny, and it makes it feel worse to watch, especially when the subtle jokes mostly end up being the better ones! A bizarre concept in general, and the execution of it is even more bizarre, but it's decently fun, even if never exceptional.