(13 episodes)
What’s it about ?
Oh, it’s our old pal Jun Maeda of Key, once again collaborating with studio PA Works to produce something that’s not an adaptation of his visual novels ! And we’re clearly closer to Angel Beats territory than the likes of Clannad, as it’s all about the madcap comedy and looks very unlikely to go too much into melodramatic tragedy.
Characters
Yuu, our protagonist, has got a limited but surprisingly useful superpower : he can possess the body of anyone in his line of sight (with his own body slunking down in the meantime) for a maximum of 5 minutes seconds. He takes advantage of it to cheat at exams, get into the best high school of the country, and woo the prettiest girl there. He barely has the self-control to avoid mwahahah-ing all over the place. He’s a despicable sleazeball, but quite an entertaining one.
Nao is the student council president from another school altogether who gathers enough evidence to blackmail him into transfering there. (Her own “invisible to one person” power makes it rather easy.) She’s made a personal mission to gather all the super-powered teenagers causing mischief, and enrols Yuu into her crusade. His power should make it quite useful indeed.
Takajou, the stern vice-president, has harnessed his own limited teleportation powers to become quite good in a fight, so it’s not like Yuu can escape.
To complete the humiliation, Yumi, the pretty girl he had wooed, makes it pretty clear she has no wish to pursue him halfway through the country if he can’t give an explanation, and dumps him.
The one person who is happy about the sudden transfer is Ayu, Yuu’s younger sister, who’s excited about getting into a new school too. To his great displeasure, she hits it off immediately with Nao.
Production Values
Very nice indeed ; you can always rely on studio PA Works to provide scenery porn and an impressive attention to detail with body language. Given Yuu’s power, the latter is key to selling the jokes.
Overall Impression
I always approach Maeda’s works with trepidation, as his penchant towards contrived melodrama can be a bit tiring. So I was quite glad to see this seems to be nearly entirely drama-free, instead focusing on his other strength : very well-timed absurdist comedy. This is filled with laugh-out-loud moments, and I’ve enjoyed it from start to finish.
If it can sustain this level of energy for the whole season, then this could be one of the funniest shows of Summer.
