Hiroaki Mizusaki does not like simple things. By embarking on the writing of Miss Kuroitsu from the Monster Development Department, he tackles the hyper referenced and hyper competitive world of superheroes. However, to survive in a plethoric production, he chooses an angle of attack never seen before. Mix the spirit of The Office and that of the super-sentai mixed with North American comics. Tempting on paper, his proposal seduced us from the first episode. It is clear that the sequel has not lost quality and continues to delight us.
An almost ordinary employee
Miss Kuroitsu has all the appearances of a model employee. Involved, serious, competent, she devotes herself body and soul in her design office. Nothing can differentiate her from other working women in Japan, except for one detail. She works for Agastia one of the main supervillain companies in the land of the rising sun. Her days, she devotes them to designing monsters capable of defeating Japanese heroes Her self-sacrifice is put to the test every day. Supervillain companies actually operate like classic businesses. Each project must respect a budget. Each creature must be approved by "x" offices. Forgetting any paper means delay and postponement. And it would still be simple if it were not necessary to juggle with the unrealistic visions of their leader, internal tensions and the fight against other crime societies. What if the real enemy was bureaucracy?
Miss Kuroitsu from the Monster Development Department: Crime Doesn't Pay Anymore
Hiroaki during these first six episodes deepens the brilliant idea of his project. Why do supervillains always lose? Yet they have the resources, the desire, the ambition, the inventiveness. The reason: they are plagued by a red tape. It is this premise that the series develops happily. Each episode digs into this concept bordering on the absurd, but always treated with the necessary seriousness. An example. When the team has to obtain the necessary certificates, it is forced to go all over Japan to meet with the company's executives. But they are hidden in landmarks that are difficult to access and very impractical. A waste of time that leads Agastia has definitely turned the page of paper and moved to dematerialized. Each episode accumulates narrative and visual audacity while relying on a wonderful knowledge of the superheroic universe. How to explain the sometimes exotic visual of monsters? Budget restriction. Do supervillains have hobbies, passions? The answer is yes, but it is difficult to reconcile them with their status. What do we do with monsters during their break time? We find them a part-time job obviously. How do supervillains recruit their rank-and-file soldiers? By calling on temporary workers of course !! And this is just a sample of the brilliant ideas developed during the 26 minutes of each episode. This makes it possible to reverse the gaze of the spectator who comes to take pity on these servants of crime.
Towards infinity and beyond
The nitchiest of ideas of the scriptwriter is based on an animation, a drawing of very high quality. The animation first is very dynamic both for the office scenes and for the action phases. The facial expressions of the office team are funny playing on the permanent gap between their work and their very professional attitude. Similarly, Miss Kuroitsu from the Monster Development Department plays thoroughly on the staging of supervillains. She takes up classical movements (dark look, the way of walking) that she will defuse by adding mimics worthy of shonen (the drop of sweat, the blush). The spectator thus finds himself constantly and for his greatest happiness disconcerted in front of sequences that appeal to a known imagination, but which are systematically reconstructed towards the absurd. Drawing contributes enormously to this perpetual shift. For the oldest, we find the totally crazy universe of Full Metal Panic Fumoffu. The series illuminates indeed shimmering colors. Depending on the heroes and their nemesis, she uses a whole range of tone. Pastel facing the magical girls, gold in the case of fantastic animals, metallic hues at the time of confrontations with Blader. This graphic dares everything. He assumes all the absurd seriousness of the proposal. It iconizes creatures with absolutely aberrant designs. It also expands the entire superhero universe with a luxury of detail and diversity for the costumes.
Miss Kuroitsu from the Monster Development Department: superheroes I love you
We must not misunderstand the deep meaning of this work. Because behind, the humor, its author hides a true declaration of love to this universe. He first masters the codes. And this from the rolling title of each episode. Take a break to appreciate all the funny of this prose. These codes irradiate throughout the series whether by references (Japanese, American), fights, names. We are in front of a series that does not make fun of its subject. She makes people laugh with her subject by treating it from an offbeat and paradoxically very logical point of view. This extremely serious treatment therefore explains the public's support for what is proposed to it. He is not facing losers. He discovers employees who face the same difficulties as their normal counterparts. It's the world around them that's ridiculous. This immense empathy for this subject, Miss Kuroitsu from the Monster Development Department betrays it at the end of each episode. Indeed, the author pays tribute to Japanese cosplayers who inspired him. A way to celebrate a universal culture. After six episodes, Miss Kuroitsu from the Monster Development Department confirmed its full potential. This funny, well-animated work, very well written, is the big surprise of this beginning of the year 2022. Kudos to crunchyroll for getting their hands on this nugget.