I love Netflix's diverse content spanning over multiple countries... I'm especially particular about their Japanese tv shows as they are very entertaining and give something different than the western shows they put on (I wish they gave these more coverage too...)
So this is a series about a famous painter and comedian Jimmy Onishi who apparently is as the title says "a true idiot" the show never makes it clear if he has a mental condition... But the character played in this show is a total natural idiot, they don't shy away from the fact. And it's in some way about the relationship with famous comedian Sanma Akashiya. Every episode starts with the real life Jimmy and Sanma talking about the memories and such, I think it gives it a personal and narrative frame... however this show gives me many many many frustrations.
First of all it's how the character of Jimmy is portrayed, I know it's mainly for laughs but somehow he's just really really really annoying, I couldn't stand watching the last three episodes because I felt that they mostly made conflicts which Jimmy made up due to his illogical reasoning and this made me quite irritated.
However it's not all laughs, there are plenty of drama moments as well... but these fall very flat, sometimes you get an impact from them but due to the character of Jimmy and how he is portrayed it makes it really really hard to feel compassionate about him, except for the parts of his childhood and when he gets called out as stupid but most of the drama that he (Jimmy) makes up is plain annoying, and made me want to skip it.
But this show has great moments, given by the supporting characters which lift up the show, like the comedy group that supports Jimmy or the character of Sanma. Also the female characters are good.
All in all it's an interesting show that you should watch if you want to know about the life of an acclaimed artist and his mentor- I felt like I learned something new as well, I didn't know about any of these people before as I thought it was going to be a comedy show. However it can be annoying and sometimes the humour and drama falls flat.
