English Dub Review: Sonny Boy “Laughing Dog”

 

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Yamabiko recounts the events that led up to him becoming a dog. He was wandering and managed to come to a “this” world with people living happily. They were led by a girl named Kodama. She had amazing power and was very kind. Eventually, a plague came upon everyone and all Yamabiko could do was watch.

Our Take:

I probably shouldn’t have decided to eat while watching this episode. The plague of crystals that covers everyone’s body can leave them looking pretty disgusting and it didn’t make for a good lunchtime let me tell you. The story of this episode was excellent even if there were a few weak points.

With each passing episode, this show feels more and more existential. Like everything that is happening is in someone’s head. One of my biggest issues with this episode is that the “explanation” we got for why Yamabiko became a dog wasn’t really one at all. He wanted to be loyal to Kodama and the next second he was a dog. I guess that is a better explanation than a lot of the rest of the show but it was still just a little bit odd. I like the meaning and symbolism behind it. Dogs are some of the most loyal creatures on the planet and since he wanted to have unwavering loyalty to Kodama that is what he turned into.

The reason behind the plague was also a bit hard to follow. Something about it being its own “this” world, and was somehow brought by this guy named War. I feel like with a name like that we will have to hear something from him a little later. Speaking of him and Kodama. They were voiced by Robert McCollum and Jill Harris respectively. I like them both and hope we get to see more from them in this show cause I also liked their characters. War is more likely to show up again than Kodama, while it’s not outright stated she died she wasn’t doing too well the last time we see her.

Sonny Boy continues to confuse and enamor me. This was probably the most “normal” episode and I feel that’s really saying something. It felt very human and you could really relate to Yamabiko’s feelings. I still don’t grasp most of what’s going on but does look like there is some sort of overarching plot starting to form. While Yamabiko was recounting his tale everyone was traveling to meet up with Nozomi. Which apparently time was moving differently for her so that could be an issue with things moving forward. No idea what they were traveling to do but it’s probably important.