Didn’t watch The Little Lies We All Tell? Don’t worry; almost nobody did. Fall 2022 was a wild season full of ambitious series with complex stories and attention-grabbing animation. It’s no surprise that a late-entry gag series with a simple premise and middling visuals failed to garner an audience. As unsurprising as it is, it’s also a bit of a shame, because Little Lies was one of the most consistent delights each week for me.
In fairness, this was entirely unexpected for me as well. I saw Rikka, with her extremely youthful design, and assumed she was there to be sexualized. I heard that one of the girls was actually a boy in disguise, and assumed there would be transphobic and/or gender essentialist humor at his expense, or that he’d engage in predatory behavior that would be dismissed as “boys will be boys.” But then, none of that came to pass. Oh, there are acknowledgments of it—sometimes Rikka attracts unsavory attention from men and Tsuyoshi had a passing thought about “sexy surprises.” If anything, Little Lies is aware of sexist tropes and interested in actively subverting them. It’s hard to describe exactly how, since there’s no better way to ruin a joke than to describe it, and the punchlines thrive on doing what’s unexpected, so you’re going to just have to trust me on this.
One of the things that makes the comedy work so well is how balanced it is, all while rarely punching down. Comedy these days often either end up mean-spirited, whether intentionally like Asobi Asobase or It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia or unintentionally like… the majority of American sitcoms from the ‘90’s; or sugary-sweet and laser-focused on a comforting vibe. Both can be nice, but they tend to leave me craving more. Little Lies walks this line perfectly, featuring an ensemble that truly cares for one another but keeps just enough acidic observational comedy that it doesn’t turn into empty-headed fluff. It rarely punches down, even when it has the opportunity to.
The Little Lies We All Tell was the perfect anime to come home to after work. I could sit down, kick off my shoes, and enjoy it without having to think too hard, but I didn’t need to turn off my brain, either. If you missed it—and I don’t blame you if you did—how about you try watching it instead of picking up one of Winter 2023‘s many carbon-copy isekai?
archive.fo
