Review: Ballmastrz: 9009 “Shameful Disease of Yackety Yack! Don’t Talk Back! Be Silenced Forever!”

 

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Out of all of the members of the Leptons, Gaz Digzy may be the most accomplished at the nuances of “The Game,” but she’s also by far the most reckless and self-destructive member on the team. This behavior tends to cause problems of various severities for Gaz, but in “Shameful Disease of Yackety Yack! Don’t Talk Back! Be Silenced Forever!” she’s stuck with a check that she struggles to cash. A wild night on the town doesn’t just saddle Gaz with a debilitating sexually transmitted disease, but it develops its own infectious personality that makes the virus become a pain in Gaz’s side, both figuratively and literally. Even though Gaz is put out by this new addition to her life, the Leptons are oddly charmed by the growth. In spite of the thing’s popularity, the Leptons set out to find a cure for Gaz before matters become even more severe, the STD intensifies, and she’s rendered mute by the aberration. Sounds like it’s just another crazy day at the races for those lovable Leptons!

 

Our Take:

A tactic that Adult Swim has frequently turned to with its programming is to offer up double doses of episodes every week. In a culture that’s become increasingly binge-focused with how we consume content, there’s a degree of gluttonous satisfaction to this approach. While it’s unfortunate that it means that an entire season of something like Ballmastrz: 9009 can be over and done with in what’s basically a month, this strategy does allow more of Ballmastrz’s range to get shown off.

A show like Ballmastrz: 9009 is really like a dozen different shows blended into one. As a result, it’s really unclear what you’re going to get in any given episode. Sure, it’s a show that revolves around an insane intergalactic sport and wears its anime inspiration on its sleeve, but due to the show’s diverse cast and sensibilities, it’s really a jack of all trades in terms of its narrative. This means that hating one episode of Ballmastrz doesn’t mean that you’ll hate the next one and this programming strategy takes advantage of this. On its own, “Shameful Disease of Yackety Yack! Don’t Talk Back! Be Silenced Forever!” is a strong entry in the Ballmastrz canon, but it becomes even better when it’s paired with the season premiere because it allows a grander representation of what Ballmastrz really is to be seen.

A lot of the first season of Ballmastrz: 9009 was preoccupied with showing the Leptons in action and really letting audiences see as much of this absurd sport as possible. “Shameful Disease of Yackety Yack!” doesn’t keep “The Game” out of the picture, but if the first few episodes of this season are any indication of the season as a whole than it looks like insane sports antics may take a backseat to character development and more personal stories this year. This feels like a step in the right direction for the show’s sophomore season and because the whole aesthetic of the show is so out of control a lack of sports hardly means that the look or style of the series slows down at all. It just allows all of these weirdoes to become increasingly less of caricatures, which is a nice relief for a sports-driven anime that’s titled Ballmastrz: 9009.  

It’s Gaz’s character that gets to be put under the microscope in “Shameful Disease of Yackety Yack!” and even the premiere also had her at its center, this is a very different kind of story that feels like the series’ gross ode to David Cronenberg, or more appropriately, the body horror elements of Akira. Gaz’s reckless actions result in her forming a new “sidekick” of sorts, that pushes disgusting venereal diseases to new unpleasant levels. Both Tales From the Crypt and The X-Files do episodes about evil tattoos that have lives of their own, but Ballmastrz goes even further with that general premise when Gaz’s new STD becomes prehensile—but more importantly, incredibly sassy.

Gaz doesn’t just suffer from any STD, but rather a particularly annoying strain that’s more colloquially known as, “The Blab.” Rachel Dratch gleefully voices “The Blab” and brings to it the eye-rolling energy of a bad ‘80s stand-up comedian, complete with its own laugh track. All of this is so weird and moves forward with such ferocity that there’s not even enough time to decide if you want to laugh or be disgusted by this oddity, which is the same dilemma that plagues the members of the Leptons. Dratch’s performance as “The Blab” is very entertaining and it’s just annoying enough that it’s still amusing without actually turning into an overbearing nuisance.

Gaz’s infection comes at the worst time possible since she’s poised to make an appearance on Obah (think Space Oprah), the galaxy’s biggest talk show. What initially seemed like a slam dunk PR opportunity for the Leptons is now a source of worry for the team as they wonder if Gaz will be able to properly promote them or if her annoying passenger will steal the show and derail their big moment. It’s not long until Crayzar explains that the cure for “The Blab” lies in a rare root that’s situated at the top of a dangerous mountain. Ballmastrz continues to delightfully lean into its anime inspirations and the mission at the mountain feels like it’s pulled right from out of Yu Yu Hakusho with the character designs present for the powerful fighters who are tasked to guard the important root. The episode has fun with how it breezes past what’s easily the most interesting and exciting part of the story as if it’s nothing. This is mildly frustrating, but that’s exactly the point of this gag, which lands very well.

The conclusion to all of this is rather easy, but “Shameful Disease of Yackety Yack!” has some fun with how it goes against the grain and fails to see the much better and more obvious plan that’s right in their faces. It makes the success of their flimsy sock puppet plan more palpable and this is still just an eleven-minute program. Every episode can’t feature a comprehensive and intricate conclusion. “Shameful Disease of Yackety Yack” goes out on a silly note, which is really all that’s needed of this story. On top of that, there is still a mild lesson about responsibility that plays out in this episode in unexpected ways, too.

When it comes to the animation, “Shameful Disease of Yackety Yack!” is consistently a pleasure to look at, but there are a few sequences that really go above and beyond. Flypp’s entire breakdown of Gaz’s news STD flips through about five different animation styles alone, including a fun riff on emojis. The abject horror that’s conveyed on everyone’s faces when Gaz’s STD first rears its ugly head are also incredible windows into repulsion. This show has the capacity to go into “ultra high-definition” with the minutiae of its animation and it takes advantage of that with the mutant baby head that grows out of Gaz.

Ace and Babyball’s Ballmastr siege upon the mountain and its many threats is easily the most attractive part of the episode. “Shameful Disease of Yackety Yack!” teases the audience by only offering a taste of this amazing display of ass-kickery, but what’s seen still satisfies. As impressive as everything is with Gaz’s “tumor,” even stationary moments where no one is doing anything are still able to captivate and sparkle with beautiful artistry due to the shining rainbow aesthetics that light up the sports stadium. So many moments of this episode feel like you’ve taken a wrong turn onto a Rainbow Road course from Mario Kart.

“Shameful Disease of Yackety Yack! Don’t Talk Back! Be Silenced Forever!” is another very strong installment of Ballmastrz: 9009 that proves that it’s one of the most unique programs on Adult Swim, if not all of television. Ballmastrz: 9009 always brings something different and genuinely unexpected to the table, whether it’s in relation to the show’s animation or storytelling. This episode is already weirder than anything that was done in the show’s first season and a Ballmastrz that is willing to get even crazier and potentially alienate its audience with how far it goes in the process is exactly what this show needs.