Sounan Desu Ka? Review

Title: Sounan Desu Ka?
Length: 12 x 12 minute episodes
Genre: Comedy, edutainment
Year of release: 2019

Ever wondered how a sketch show might look like with Bear Grylls as an anime girl? If that’s the itch you’re looking to scratch, look no further: that bizarre prompt is fulfillingly handled in this odd little show. I’ll be honest with you fans of survival against the odds – this is a laid back survival show where the threat is minimal. It’s just a few girls hanging out on an island, using nature to get by. And very little more.

The show delves into the ridiculous history of Homare, and how this fairly ordinary looking school girl ended up being a survival encyclopaedia. I’ll break it to you since it’s no secret: her father took her on a lot of survival themed trips as a kid, showing her the wilderness and real life experience in surviving those perils. Whether it adds up is neither here-nor-there, because what the show does to is serve a batch of school girls a difficult scenario and have Homare exposition and reenact the optimal (and slightly weirdly sexualised) survival strategy. This includes some really bizarre situations, such as filtering water through socks or trying to catch a rabbit. Does Homare seem like a realistic character? No, her groundedness feels almost ridiculous, but the show harnesses her weirdness well.

Sadly, most of the a-Ha! moments are punctuated by a trio of straight-men gawking at Homare’s unconventional and classically undignified side. There’s a few gimmicks going round, like the one with the glasses, the posh one… the… other one. Okay, so they’re not very well developed and only serve to bounce off of Homare, but they seldom do that in ways that aren’t shouting, squealing and impeding the whole survival operation. Homare’s been getting half-naked since episode 1, girls; the camera isn’t even leering anymore, so why are you still so shocked about it? There’s a couple of moments the crew get for progression, such as when they have to butcher a rabbit, but on the whole they barely adapt to the situation.

Still, Sounan Desu Ka? was a decent weekly watch that never outstayed its welcome. The silliness of survival is portrayed well enough, when not relying on the straight-man trio. Is there some interesting information here? Possibly, but the show doesn’t make enduring the wilderness and the beauty of outdoors that infectious, so these are hardly lessons Sounan Desu Ka? is making relevant.