Source: Wikipedia
“Laughing Shino”
“A man named Moshino Kagetsu Fuuta stands to lose all his inheritance if he laughs during his father’s funeral. Knowing that all his relatives will try to make him laugh to keep the inheritance to themselves, he hires Konoha ninjas to attend the funeral in his place. The village chooses to send the ever-serious Shino Aburame, with Naruto Uzumaki backing him up. However, before the funeral begins, Shino is poisoned by a drug that causes him to laugh uncontrollably. Naruto attends the funeral and learns that the man’s father, who is alive, planned it to teach his family to value happiness and humour over money. Naruto realises that Shino had told jokes while disguised as the man’s father, but Shino demands that he keep that a secret.”
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Analysis
Comedy is present throughout the episode, and towards the end, it leaves a valuable lesson: happiness has nothing to do with wealth; it’s about the people and the mindset we place on ourselves.
The episode starts with Shino and Naruto going on a mission to Moteoshi Village. Shino oversees the mission, and both are assigned as security details for the village. Along the way, they met a strange old woman hiding her face, and they asked her for directions. After she gave them directions, she said something weird. Creepy music plays in the background when the old woman says, “Moteoshi is a place where even the dead laugh; if you start laughing too, you’re finished.” From the outset, an exposition is provided that offers a hint of background information about the plot, helping readers understand what to expect from the narrative. So far, judging from her words, Shino and Naruto are going to face some obstacles when they arrive at the village.
A man named Moshino Kagetsu Fuuta stands to lose all his inheritance if he laughs during his father’s funeral. When they arrived at Fuuta Kagetsu’s place, he showed Naruto and Shino the final will his father wrote before he “supposedly” died. Shino reads the will, which states that “In the event of my death, my elder son Fuuta shall inherit the entire Kagetsu family estate. However, if my son Fuuta, the chief, laughs more than he should at my funeral, he forfeits all his rights, and the estate will be divided among the other members of the family.”
Knowing that all his relatives will try to make him laugh to keep the inheritance to themselves, he hires Konoha ninjas to attend the funeral in his place. The village chooses to send the ever-serious Shino Aburame, with Naruto Uzumaki backing him up. The final will also state that Fuuta is allowed to have a substitute take his place as chief mourner; hence, Shino was perfect for the job because he never laughs.
However, before the funeral begins, Shino is poisoned by a drug that causes him to laugh uncontrollably. While they were having lunch made by Fuuta’s sister, Mai, Shino decided to eat first because he suspected that the food might be poisoned. Moreover, since the parasitic insects within him will break down any poisons before they can cause any serious damage, Shino eats first. However, the poison got to the insects as well, causing them to laugh uncontrollably, which caused Shino to laugh uncontrollably as well. Therefore, Shino couldn’t stand in as the chief mourner, and Naruto had to take his place instead as the chief mourner. The laughing drug was so intoxicating to the extent that Shino laughed the whole night.
Naruto attends the funeral and learns that the man’s father, who is alive, planned it to teach his family to value happiness and humour over money. On the day of the funeral, Fuuta’s big sister, Tsukiko, arrived. Fuuta informed Naruto that she is married to a rich family from another village, but she is greedy to get her father’s estate. Therefore, she is going to try to find ways to make Naruto laugh.
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Comedy is present when there are tactics used to make Naruto laugh.
A priest arrived at the funeral with three hair strands holding on for dear life on his bald head. With each movement, each of the hair strands fell off until the priest was left with his bald head. Naruto lost it when he bent backwards to point his head outside so that he could laugh. Luckily, Shino suppressed the sound of his laughter with his parasitic insects, which caused a wind to blow the barrels instead.
When a man in a suit kneeled on the ground to pay his respects, his pants ripped off, leaving a huge hole. Naruto was able to suppress his laugh, even though he wanted to laugh.
Another man in a suit came to pay his respects, and he got close to Naruto. When he sneezed, a flower came out of one of his nostrils. Naruto almost laughed, but he managed to suppress it.
A man with an afro is dancing funny while the priest sings terribly, but Naruto manages to suppress his laughter.
Some mourners even resorted to removing their clothes and only wearing underwear, but Naruto suppressed his laughter.
Tsukiko’s husband removed his shirt to show a painted clown. This time, Naruto was about to lose it. Moreover, to add fuel to the fire, his wife, Tsukiko, showed Naruto his bald head, which had a terrible drawing of a person. This time, Naruto was about to laugh uncontrollably until the young father, who was supposed to be dead, appeared before the mourners.
The points above show that love for money is dangerous since these mourners were willing to embarrass themselves just to get the inheritance. If the young father who was supposed to be dead didn’t arrive, who knows what other lengths they would go to just to get the inheritance? This is humorous, which leaves the audience entertained.
Anyway, before looking at the arrival of the young father, it’s important to note that it is Shino disguised as the dead father when he was young. So, while Shino was out in the woods, he came across the old woman he and Naruto had met earlier talking to Mai, Fuuta’s sister. It turns out the old woman was the deceased father, who was alive. He and his daughter came up with this scheme to bring everyone together so that he could teach them that money isn’t everything. Moreover, while conversing with Shino in the woods, he said he was planning to drug everyone with the laughing drug if no one laughed at the funeral. Therefore, Shino convinced him that this wouldn’t work because drugging would only leave them in agony. So, the “deceased father,” or Shino, came up with the idea that Shino should disguise himself as the “deceased father” when he was young and use his insects to disguise them as Mai, Fuuta, and Tsukiko when they were kids. Now that you understand that the young father is Shino, let’s go back to the storyline.
So, after Tsukiko and her husband attempt to make Naruto laugh, the young father appears with the kids: Mai, Fuuta, and Tsukiko. So, when Shino, disguised as the young father, started to sing idiotic songs to his kids, everyone, including the adult Fuuta and adult Tsukiko, laughed. Ironically, Shino was behaving like this even though he never laughs. It is so weird watching him behave like this, even though it’s a disguise, which heightens the sense of comedy in this episode. Moreover, when the old grandma, who was the “deceased father,” appeared with his daughter, Mai, that’s when he revealed his identity, and Shino also revealed his identity to all the mourners. This is a situational irony where what happened, which is the supposed young father dancing, is the opposite of what was expected, which is the real “deceased father” arriving with his daughter, Mai.
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The “deceased” father explains why he deceived his family.
Inspirational music plays in the background when he tells everyone that he came up with the scheme to fake his death with the help of Mai. He said he also knew that he could only bring everyone together if he faked his funeral. Moreover, he said he wanted to remind them of something important. For instance, he began by saying, “To remind you of what we used to be like before our lands made us rich. We were poor then, but how loudly we used to laugh. Once we learned how valuable the herbs that grew on our mountains were, everything changed. There was no more laughter, only cries of money, money, more money! None of us ever really smiled again after that. I wanted to remind the family of what we had forgotten and what was important. I wanted to see a smile on our faces again. I knew that if I wrote that ridiculous will, everyone would go crazy trying to make Fuuta laugh, and perhaps the forced laughter would turn into real laughter and real joy. Happiness has nothing to do with wealth; it’s about being a family, laughing, caring, and laughing!”
After they heard their father’s words, Fuuta and Tsukiko had a change of heart, and everyone laughed after Tsukiko tried to sing the idiotic song, except Shino, of course, who was back to normal.
Naruto realises that Shino had told jokes while disguised as the man’s father, but Shino demands that he keep that a secret.
When Naruto asks Shino if it was he singing idiotic songs while disguised as the young “deceased” father, Shino grabs his collar, and we see a dialogue between them:
Shino: Not a word; it never happened, understand?
Naruto (scared a bit): Right, never happened, got it.
Shino let go of Naruto’s collar, loosening his grip on his neck, and said to him:
Shino: Good
As Shino walked away, Naruto said to him sarcastically:
Naruto (sarcastic): Shino, man, you are a joy to work with, you know that?
This concludes the episode as it highlights the message that not everything is about money; if one lives their life just chasing money, they will never be satisfied. Moreover, it is baffling that Shino wants to hide a secret that he can be fun, but then he wants everyone to know him as a serious and focused Shinobi.
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and then Add to home screen.