I’ve always understood why people loved Pop Team Epic, but I never really “got it.” It was too loud and too frenetic. I don’t like things that seem to be shouting at me all the time with excessive energy — this is why I don’t really get into many YouTubers. While I could recognize its quality on a technical level, and even read along with SakugaBlog posts on its animation, I didn’t watch an episode past the premiere.
By contrast, when Kamikaze Douga and Space Neko Company reunited for Gal & Dino, I was immediately hooked by Tomoe Nakano’s opening animation. Half I Spy picture hunt, half fashion photography photoshoot, Nakano’s opening sequence finds creative ways to incorporate Dino in everyday objects using drawn animation and mixed media. It was visibly reminiscent of Pop Team Epic, but the tone was completely different. Rather than a litany of fast-paced esoteric jokes, it was more laid back and chill (but no less esoteric).
The moment I truly fell in love with Gal & Dino was in the series’ second episode, where the titular gal invites her friend over to meet the dino and prove that he is, in fact, a real dinosaur. Dino stares at them with his typical open-mouth smile and bugged eyes before turning that same attention back to a television program. They start taking Instagram photos with Dino but end up sucked into the television rerun he’s watching for the rest of that day — as shown by how the lighting changes behind them in the window. It was slow, it was kind of dumb, but it was oddly relaxing. I loved it. This was followed by a Dino YouTube (Dino Channel) sketch where he tries to figure out what a toothbrush is.
Gal & Dino isn’t the type of thing to inspire loud belly laughs or dramatic reactions like Pop Team Epic. It’s more of a slow smile that stretches across your face as you watch something kind of stupid and also oddly affecting at times. Similar to Pop Team Epic, if a joke doesn’t hit, Gal & Dino quickly moves on to the next thing, revisiting or continuing jokes in future installments when it wants to, all while exploring different mediums and animation styles.
Sometimes I don’t need something to make sense. Sometimes I just want to watch this random woman’s dinosaur roommate kick her ex-boyfriend’s ass in Old Maid and smile.