2018 has staggered to a close, and pushed newborn 2019 straight out into the traffic in its rush. We live in a confusing time. Amidst political discord threatening upheaval of democratic values around the globe and impending environmental doom, it’s hard to say what the new year will bring. But remember, there is good in this world, and that good is a thing called yaoi.
Papa Datte, Shitai(パパだって、したい) is our first contender, rolling in for the 2019 winter season and debuting its first episode this week.
Episode 9: Don’t Think, Feel So Good! | ドントスィンクフェールソーグッド！
The protagonist’s awesome Engrish catchphrase gets title cred this episode, which is a nice way to jetpack back into the actual plot of the series after a slogging through slew of character filler.
Pictured: a literal double-decker. Fuck yeah, jetpacks!
In a formulaic continuation of spending entire episodes delving into a specific agent’s irrelevant backstory, Maxine (“Max”), aka “Boxer” is up next, and by extension, her partner Yuri, aka “Robot.” On one hand, a platitude-drenched, cliche-driven slog of a twenty minutes. On the other hand… biker lesbians.
Episode 6: Up Close and Personal! 24 Hours with the Lisvalletta Police!
After the mad plot juncture of last episode, we are setting Esperanza aside for a brief recess, but it’s not quite filler, either. Double Decker delivers its staple amenities: narrative subversion, Doug’s raging coolness, and Kirill getting figuratively slapped around just slightly more than he deserves.
Meta alert, the meme is self-aware – oh wait, nevermind.
After four episodes of Seven-Oh world-building, cheeky detective trope subversion, and establishing character dynamics (suppositioned with the narrator practically admitting that certain characters are trolls), we are finally ready to break out The Actual Plot. Double Decker! is going in for the kill with explosions, confetti, gruesome murder and a narrator who doesn’t believe in Kirill even half as much as I do.
If episode 3 sagged a little under the weight of its lackadaisical plot and character development, episode 4 shrugs that burden right off its shoulders, pops the pin of a grenade and jumps gloriously into action.
Part of this could be is that Doug and Kirill are stagnant until we a) learn more about Doug and b) Kirill is able to either advance the plot or personally level up, and the story doesn’t seem to be willing to budge on either point yet. So the best course of action is to swap MCs, ramp up the personalities of its side characters, throw in a few minors twists, and dial the comedy to an eleven.
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for Derick Deana del Rio!
When I started this blog, one of the anime I wanted to rewatch and critically assign gay points to was Tiger and Bunny. Before I could get around to it, Double Decker came crashing majestically into view. By the same studio and rumored to be set in the same universe, Double Decker is a spiritual successor, if not literal sequel, to the colorful, cartoonish crime-and-cape comedy and a hot tip says this time, it’s gay. Um, gayer.
So crank up the jazz and grab your donuts because we are going full frontal buddy-cop. Move over, vigilante superheroes, because we bought these gainfully employed protagonists with our own damn tax money. Meet Kirill, the aspiring hero whom no one, not even the narrator, takes seriously, and Doug, the standoffish hyper-intelligent veteran detective who misses the killshot in the first three minutes of the show. Add a sparkling posse of lady detectives, at least some of whom are possibly lesbians and-
Wait, are we shooting for both BL and GL here? Aw man, this really is a double-decker!
Gay Anime Symposium 