English Dub Review: Africa Salaryman “Africa Corporate Drone”

 

 

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Welcome back to the extremely silly world of Africa Salaryman. Today, Big Cat goes on a diet. It’s crazy because he’s a carnivore and he needs meats and proteins to live. Eating salads and other vegetables wouldn’t just be hard for the big guy; it’d also be ridiculously dangerous to his health. But that doesn’t mean Toucan has to be a dick about it and eat crap in front of the poor, hungry lion. At least he and Lizard are polite enough to invite Big Cat on one of their runs. Too bad it’s the rainiest day in African history.

Later, the guys jump into NSFW territory and discuss their bathing habits. Big Cat hates that his daughter is getting older and she can no longer take baths with him. Not only that, she doesn’t want to take baths after him either. The lion thinks she no longer respects him, but in school she admits to her gorilla friend it’s really because his hair gets everywhere and clogs up the damn tub.

Lizard and Cat think Toucan is jealous because he doesn’t have a family, but actually he’s depressed because he hates wasting bath water on just himself. Even though the lady killer has a new girlfriend almost every week, they don’t want to bathe after him because they already know how dirty of a birdy he is.

Anyway, Cat and Lizard like to bust chops, so while they’re smoking around Toucan—who just quit—they suggest re-purposing his bathwater as a delicious bird broth. This appalls our avian brother, but he decides to make cabbage rolls in his used bath water, anyway. “Cabbage rolls, more like Garbage rolls, you disgusting bird!” his friends say, shocked that he took their prank seriously.

After somebody ate all those cabbage rolls—because, duh, the circle of life—President Turtle makes a surprise visit. He’s an ugly little turtle and he obviously doesn’t even lift, but somehow he’s the boss of bosses. This means even Big Cat has to do whatever the repugnant reptile says. This time, Turtle orders them to go to the jungle to capture an Unidentified Mysterious Animal known as the Mokele Mbembe.

Just like you and me, they have no idea what the hell this creature looks like. Luckily, a friendly Kappa (a hideous Japanese demon) helps them find it. But first they have to get her a date with a furry, red-eyed man who has patterned spikes all along his back. After being grossed out by their strange coupling, the gang is doubly grossed out when she points out the repulsive Mokele Mbembe.

Anyway, they bring the captured beast back to work, only to find out that he is an employee who escaped from the admin department. Wow, after all the trouble our middle-management friends went through to capture him, that was a little anticlimactic. Then again, admin work is pretty mind-numbing, so the Mokele Mbembe had a point.

 

Our Take

Okay, first off, why does Toucan need to run to stay healthy? Why doesn’t the idiot just fly? Maybe he does it to bond with Lizard. Aww! Suddenly I have a new appreciation for Toucan. Just kidding, he’s still terrible. The only reason he runs is because he saw a baboon on Bojack Horseman doing it and thought it looked “profound.” Yep, Toucan is a phony.

You know what else is weird? Toucan partakes in something called remote cohabitation. This means, in lieu of living with somebody, he talks to them on the phone while doing mundane house activities to simulate cohabitation. However, in Toucan’s case he does this with a number of women on a number of different phones—because he’s a sociopath. And because he’s so stupid, his remote cohabitants catch him in the act. I mean, come on! How hard is it to hide your adultery from a rabbit and a Northern hairy-nosed wombat? What a moron!

Speaking of which, how careless are you, Big Cat? Do me a favor and look at your mane. That’s super furry, right? Now think about how much hair that’ll leave in your tub when you bathe. After you visualize that, think about all the hair on your naked body. How can you possibly be surprised that your daughter doesn’t want to share a bathroom with you? Maybe a little man-scaping would help? Or, I don’t know; why not just clean up after yourself, you goofball?

Wait… Am I talking directly to the characters right now?

Anyway, this episode was a little better than the premiere, but I’m still not sold. The premise is a little silly and doesn’t have the gravitas of other animated programs featuring anthropomorphic animals. I did, however, enjoy when they embraced the weirdness of the jungle. The bit with the Kappa and her mate was definitely the episode’s finest moment.

Chalk it up to my particular sense of humor, but I really enjoyed how a lion, lizard, and bird were so repulsed by these outlandish-looking creatures. They live in a multi-species metropolis where they come across all sorts of beings, but this was too much? Hell, they were even familiar with the Kappa myth but still couldn’t wrap their heads around her.

Someday maybe they’ll realize that beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder. I’m Rod Sterling. Goodnight.