Review: Gēmusetto: Death Beat(s) “Episode One: Asus4”; “Episode Two: A# Minor”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Makasu awakens in the afterlife after burning up in the sun during his betrayal by the God of Tennis who was actually the Incan Sun God Inti. Everybody got that? There, he meets a chaotic creature made up of fingers who is naturally named Dr. Legs. She(?) explains that Makasu’s exploits of defeating gods in various sports has started merging the various afterlifes together, and to stop this, they must journey to the Center of All Death in order to make things right. But before he gets there, he’ll need to face more gods who are out to get him, this time fighting music-based opponents with his musical robot battle Amphibian, Keith, who he previously did not get along with. His first opponent is the Egyptian Goddess of the Law, who turns out to also being helped by Charon, the guide of the River Styx. Makasu uses the memory of crushing on a policeman who scolded him for stealing a rich lady’s dog to defeat them, then continuing on his quest. Little does he know that an old rival has emerged in the afterlife and is about to close in.

OUR TAKE

Gēmusetto Machu Pichu was Adult Swim’s April Fool’s Day prank for 2019, where they played the entire first season with little to no announcement, much to the befuddlement and amusement of everyone watching. This living shitpost of a series is only the latest in Adult Swim’s many affectionate parodies of the weirdness in anime, though Machu Pichu seemed unique in just how INTO its weirdness it could get. It felt, at least to me, like it was made by someone who clearly watched and paid attention to anime enough to make this giant parody of it, as the sheer insanity of the idea revolving around some weird twenty something going around the world and fighting gods in sports is actually not that bad an idea, it’s just that the way it’s going about it here is incredibly insane in both style and execution. And honestly, I hadn’t finished that first season up until this week when I was getting ready for this new one, mainly because the erratic and random style of that first season makes it VERY hard to concentrate, likely on purpose. Still, it’s ability to be so freeform in its madness made it a really unique viewing experience to see.

Keeping that in mind, there are a lot of noticeable differences between Machu Pichu and this new season, Death Beat(s), and I’m not just talking about the switch to being about music instead of tennis or switching out most of the characters with ones in very similar roles. There’s a much more consistent art style to things, which I think works both for and against the series. Machu Pichu’s ability to work back and forth in its weird makeshift art style was both a strength and bit of a curse for it, and that freedom is lost a bit when keeping that art within a certain style. But that does mean it’s at least easier to see what the hell is going on and not feel like your eyes are bleeding from trying to comprehend the insanity. We’re also changing from doing 45 to 33 minute episodes of Machu Pichu to just 11 minute episodes for Death Beat(s), though the way that they’re airing like most newer Adult Swim animated comedies does feel like this is a 22 minute thing that’s just airing for half as many weeks. Still, cutting down the time will both keep the series from going as insane as it used to, but will force the story to be more compact. As for the new cast and premise, well, that we can touch on next time.