Tag: female harem

Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a series of light novels parodying dating sim clichés.

(Apparently the official nickname for the series is “Gaworare”, following the Haganai model of nonsensical abbreviations that avoid any of the title’s keywords.)

Characters

Souta, our male lead. He’s afflicted with the ability to see “flags” above people’s heads : death flags, friendship flags, love flags, etc. They notify him of these people’s potential futures ; he goes out of his way to break all of them. Now, that makes sense for death flags, but his self-inflicted solitude reeks of a martyr complex.

Nanami, a girl in his class (who happens to be part of the royal family of a poor kingdom, but she doesn’t like to talk about it), is our actual viewpoint character throughout the episode. Because she’s nosy as heck, she quickly notices his strange behaviour and demands explanations, which he eventually gives. She calls him on his bullshit for avoiding any kind of friendship or love, and obviously can’t stop being fascinated by the weirdo.

Akane, a very rich girl who wants to become friends with Souta, and won’t take no for an answer. Nice visual gag with the friendship flags who keep sprouting faster than he can break them. (Has Ai Kayano swallowed a helium tank for this role ? Because seriously.)

Given what we see in the OP and ED sequences, tons of other girls are going to throw themselves at him.

Production Values

Thoroughly average, although it does get some decent visual gags out of the “flag” concept.

Overall Impression

The obvious comparison point here is NouCome, another light novel adaptation that poked fun at dating sims. The good news is that it’s a lot less obnoxious, letting the characters some room to breathe, and taking a relatively deadpan approach to the premise. The bad news is that it isn’t that funny, and the characters can’t avoid the shallowness required by the plot.

It’s watchable and mildly funny, but it’s going to have to step up its game if it wants to keep me.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Spring 2014 – Page 6.

The Irregular at Magic High School (Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei)

(26 episodes)

What’s it about ?

The novelty is going to blow your mind : it’s the adaptation of a light novel centering on a high-school where students learn tech-assisted magic ! With an extensive female cast surrounding a special snowflake male protagonist !

Characters

Tatsuya, our main character. He’s got an actual personality, which is a plus. (Thank you, Yuuichi Nakamura, for conveying so much within so little dialogue.) He’s not constantly narrating his every thought at us, which is appreciated. Especially as he’s obviously got an agenda, and it’s to the show’s credit that it lets us piece it together progressively.

The idea here is that despite being a hard worker, he’s been consistently been put down by society. His parents would rather him aim lower. The Magic High School puts him among the second-rank students, and he should be lucky to even have been accepted. His answer has been to put up a front of accepting it, and overcompensate by training himself even harder in his strengths. Which are many : he’s an accomplished martial artist, and while he’s not that good at actual magic, he can achieve a lot through quick-witted analysis. But he’s careful not to let it show too much ; it’s too early to reveal his hand yet, so he’ll bide his time for now.

Miyuki, his younger sister, is a good contrast : she’s a genuine magical prodigy and thus gets to be a first-rank student, but she believes she doesn’t deserve any of it, and would rather HE get all the honours. I’m less thrilled by her worship going a bit too far, but he’s careful to keep it at a reasonable level : she’s his precious little sister and he enjoys the attention, but that’s it.

We meet a few classmates of Tatsuya’s : Mizuki the shy one, Erika the tomboy, and Leonhart the lecherous dude. With the last two being a bit hotheaded (and obviously at stage one of the tsundere romance), it’s no surprise that they don’t take kindly to the arrogance of the first-class students.

Mayumi, the Student Council President, breaks up the fight before it escalates too far. Interestingly, Tatsuya goes out of his way to downplay it as horseplay ; now’s not the moment to make waves. She’s not fooled, and is going to keep an eye on him.

Production Values

Budget ! The animation here is sumptuous, with very well-directed fight scenes. Tons of scenery porn too, and there’s many neat touches with the magic effects.

I’m not entirely sure what’s going on with the female uniforms (what are the colours supposed to be about ? Magic types ?), but they must be a PITA to animate and still look as good as this.

And of course, I’d be remiss not to mention the Taku Iwasaki soundtrack, which is as engaging as ever.

Overall Impression

It’s taken a long time, but finally I’ve found a wish-fulfilment light novel adaptation I’m actually enjoying watching. Oh, sure, it helps that it’s got impressive production values, a snazzy soundtrack, and some good world-building ; but the real success here is in building an actual protagonist, who looks like he actually wants to do stuff instead of just bumbling through life and having everything handed down to him. This isn’t a clueless nice guy ; he’s a calculating bastard who’s faking every and each of his social interactions.

I’m optimistic about this one, which is more than I could say going in.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Spring 2014 – Page 2.

Dragonar Academy (Seikoku no Dragonar)

(12ish episodes ?)

What’s it about ?

As the title implies, this adapts a light novel about an academy in fantasy-land where the students train with their dragon familiars.

Characters

Ash, our protagonist. Wait, how many origin stories does this guy need ? There’s an opening prologue where as a kid he helped a girl (his sister ?) do something in an ominous location, and lost his arm for it ; leading to a dragon restoring his arm out of pity and giving it some cool tattoos. That’s fine. And then there’s a modern scene of him getting raped by a succubus-like woman that I really doubt is truly a nightmare. And then there’s this episode’s events, where he finally gets a familiar. That’s a bit overkill. Anyway, he’s got a generic Nice Guy personality, aside whenever someone badmouths his familiar (or lack of any), which makes him flip out. Obviously, he’s got a terrible reputation as a troublemaker.

Raymond, his perverted best friend. Aside from being an endless supply of exposition and gossip, his core purpose so far is to lend out his familiar to Ash, who’s one of the rare few people who can actually use others’. Of course he is.

Silvia, a princess from a neighbour country, with an attitude to match. She seems even more hated than Ash, which is saying something. They quickly start bickering over nothing, leading to a challenge to outmatch each other at the next dragon-riding race. Which he loses conclusively, but he’s had enough fun helping her out against bullies that he doesn’t mind.

Milgauss, an agent from the enemy country nearby (Ash : “wait, isn’t there a ceasefire ?”), who’s investigating some random relic when Ash inadvertently crosses his path. After gloating for a bit, he orders his teenage ninja girl to get rid of the witness. She’s not very good at it, to the point that Ash actually prevents her from falling down a ravine… only for him to stumble down in her place. Oops.

Story’s not over, though : that’s the moment his familiar chooses to finally manifest. Except it’s some girl instead of a dragon.

Production Values

Perfectly adequate, and it’s got some decent designs for the dragons, but it’s all functional rather than imaginative.

Overall Impression

Oh dear gods, the script. In better hands, this might have worked ; but the dialogue and narration are so consistently awful that it drags the whole show down as a result. The worldbuilding is marred by cumbersome exposition that buries everything else down. It’s not helped by trite jargon that merely sounds pretentious. And it’s just impossible to take seriously this protagonist who has to rediscover every aspect of his daily life all the time.

I’m not the audience for this kind of wish-fulfilment light novels anyway, but the level of writing in this adaptation is so terrible that there’s no chance I’ll bother with watching a second episode.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Spring 2014 – Page 2.

Nisekoi (“False Love”)

(26ish episodes)

What’s it about ?

High school romantic comedy. (Adapted from a manga series.)

Characters

Raku, our male lead, wants to become a honest and productive member of society. That’s a bit hard when he’s the heir of a yakuza gang and there are dozens of henchmen expecting him to succeed his crimelord of a father. (For now, those are family-friendly mobsters whose only visible mischiefs are feuds with other gangs, but that may change later on.) They do respect his wishes for the time being, but they sure hope he’s gonna change his mind.

Kosaki, the nice girl in his class. It’s heavily hinted that she owns the key to the locket he exchanged with his childhood love 10 years ago, and she’s been testing waters in attempts to confirm that… but actually, that’s so obvious I’m expecting some kind of swerve.

Chitoge, the new half-American transfer student. It’s antipathy at first sight ; it doesn’t help that she has a terrible personality and accidentally stepped onto his face while jumping the wall into the school. They do mellow a bit after a while (an evolution nicely underlined by chapter titles progressively shifting from calling her “Monkey Girl” to her actual first name). On the other hand, they’re both taken aghast when their respective fathers order them to (at least pretend to) be lovers for three years, in order to broker peace between the two gangs. Hence the title.

Production Values

It’s impossible to forget Akiyuki Shinbo & studio SHAFT are at the helm here : weird angles for shots, editing used as punctuation, text hidden in the background, the trademark head tilts, some great use of colour… heck, even Kouki Uchiyama often sounds like he’s doing a Hiroshi Kamiya impression.

It helps that the show has enough budget to animate lavishly the rare actions sequences. Nice music, too.

Overall Impression

Let’s not mince words : this series’ key selling point is the presentation. The plot and characters are serviceable, and there are some good jokes, but it’d be instantly forgettable in lesser hands. I’ve seen an interview of the manga creator being delighted that SHAFT would adapt his series, and I can believe it. This is way better than it deserves, if the series is as pedestrian as a quick browse through a few pages lets me think.

But while this is certainly a great-looking (and -sounding) anime series, it doesn’t really add up to anything. It’s still a generic romantic comedy with a formulaic hook. It’s not like, say, Sankarea, whose impressive execution added tons of atmosphere and edge. We’re firmly into well-trodden territory here.

But hey, I’m such a Shinbo fanboy I’ve watched through aggressively terrible SHAFT series (hello, Maria+Holic !) ; there’s no way I’m skipping this. After all, it’s perfectly okay.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2014 – Page 5.

My Mental Multiple-Choice Power Is Completely Ruining My School Romantic Comedy (Ore no Nounai Sentakushi ga, Gakuen Love Comedy wo Zenryoku de Jama Shiteiru)

(10 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a light novel series taking the piss out of dating sims.
(I believe the official nickname is “NouKome”.)

Trigger warning : there are some actual jokes in this. Do not drink while watching.

Characters

Kanade, our generic high-school protagonist, is afflicted with a very bizarre condition : he’ll randomly have seizures where multiple choices appear in front of him. (1) The choices are framed by over-the-top dramatic music and narrated by Jouji Nakata. (2) He MUST choose to avoid the pain. (3) The choices are most often between two equally silly and embarassing things.

Yukihira, the girl sitting behind him in class, is one of the few classmates of his that don’t recoil as soon as he freezes, about to be doing something very stupid. That’s mostly because she’s a complete troll, and finds him entertaining.

Ouka is another of those few people he’s on speaking terms with. Mostly because she’s always ridiculously cheerful and doesn’t seem to care about his antics. As the daughter of the CEO of some vast conglomerate, she’s always smuggling in various samples for her classmates to try out. Today’s batch includes blue pills for middle-aged women (why are you even bringing this to high school ?), an actual money-making machine (which looks even more illegal than improbable), and some bug-shaped candies (ingredient list not disclosed).

Most classmates refer to them as part of the “Reject Five”, which implies there are two more oddballs yet to be introduced (they show up in the OP/ED sequences).

Their pint-sized teacher knows about Kanade’s condition, but still takes every opportunity to troll him.

One more thing : those multiple choices aren’t delusions. When Kanade chooses that “a pretty girl falls out of the sky” (instead of “my fat neighbour falls out of the sky”), then you can be damn sure a pretty girl is going to fall out of the sky (and onto him), physics be damned.

Production Values

While this doesn’t have that much of a budget, there’s some flair in the direction, and it looks good enough to sell the jokes. I especially love Yukihira’s body language, as half her shtick wouldn’t work otherwise.

The fanservice is more than mild, as you’d expect from this kind of thing. Still nowhere too outrageous, and the OP sequence where all the female cast do backflips without actually showing anything has to be seen to be believed.

Overall Impression

What. The. Fuck. Was. That.

If the premise isn’t bizarre enough for you, then the early 4-minute TV reportage showing a montage of people endorsing the value of choice will probably do the job. (I was sold at “[famous Japanese historical figure] could have (1) assassinated [other famous Japanese historical figure] or (2) rolled around with a dolphin. He chose the first option, and history was made.”)

I haven’t laughed this hard while watching an anime series for a good long while. Some of the jokes will make you cringe, not all of them land, but there’s such a rapid-fire string of them that it doesn’t matter. Random absurdity with good comedic timing : it just works.

There’s always the risk it may run out of steam before ending, but so far, so good.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Fall 2013 – Page 13.

Arpeggio of Blue Steel : Ars Nova (Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio: Ars Nova)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Sentient warships !

Characters

Gunzou Chihaya, our protagonist. Two years ago, he was a moody naval officer in training : the seas have been conquered by the mysterious “Fleet of Fog”, which showed out of nowhere and completely broke communications between nations ; so his future career is looking kinda pointless (it’s not like humanity looks like it has any hope of turning the tide). Also, his dad was a famous captain who got KIA (although there are some nasty rumours of him defecting), which earned him a fast track to the elite naval officer class. Which is how he got to see…

Iona, aka I-401, a Fog submarine “captured” by Japan 7 years ago ; they were kinda hoping to study it, but they haven’t made much progress since. When Gunzou touches her, she reacts and manifests her girl-shaped avatar ; she explains that her only purpose is to find him, and obey his orders. So, off they go, now labeled traitors by both sides.

Some of Gunzou’s oddball classmates (the masked dude, the guy who behaves like a delinquant, and so on) have somehow joined his crew at some point after the flashback. They’re acting as mercenaries for various human factions.

The current-day plot involves our heroes protecting a Japanese base while it launches a secret weapon towards America. This isn’t a hostile manoeuvre : Japan doesn’t have the resources to mass-replicate it, and sends it that way to America in the hope the Fleet of Fog can’t intercept it. The plan fails : the rocket is destroyed halway through its trip. So it’s time for plan B : give another copy to our heroes, and have them deliver it to America. If anyone can cross the seas and survive to tell the tale, it’s them.

The episode ends with a preview of some of the major Fog ships (and their avatars) our heroes are going to face. I note that we haven’t seen yet any clue as to who actually controls the Fleet of Fog. (Aliens ? A secret human conspiracy ? Who knows ?)

Production Values

Lots of CG animation ; actually, it looks a lot like even the characters are heavily cell-shaded CG models. It actually looks quite good… most of the time. (There are a few ugly shots indeed.)

Overall Impression

Well, this is certainly an intriguing premise. I’m not quite sold, though : the main cast are clichés without much personality so far, and I’m not sure yet whether the girl-ship thing is too stupid even for me. There are some definite pacing problems, too.

But hey, I’ve given a second episode to worse shows than this. Let’s give it a bit of a chance.

White Album 2

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a dating sim, because there must be at least one each season.

Don’t let the title fool you : this is a free-standing series, nearly completely unrelated to the 2009 White Album anime or the game it spawned from (aside from a few token elements making it clear they’re set in the same universe).

Characters

Kitahara, our high-school protagonist. Last remaining member of the Light Music Club, after the diva vocalist quit in a huff and the other members just stopped coming. Being the backup guitarist, he was content with just practicing separate from everyone else, but he’s ready to call it a day. While he does have a bit more personality than his ilk, that’s mostly because he’s a sanctimonous git. His “friends” keep him around because he does help around and gets stuff done, but I don’t get the impression anyone’s really close to him.

Ogiso has been the winner of the School Idol Contest for the last two years, but frankly she never wanted to participate, and this time around she finally finds the nerve to tell the SIC Committee about it. Having no clue how to deal with her (losing her would put a crimp on the Contest’s appeal), they call on Kitahara, who’s not even a member anymore this year, but has enough presence that you can understand why she mistakes him for the Committee Chairman. Anyway, to everyone’s consternation, he lets her go.

Our third main character is the mysterious piano player who’s playing together with Kitahara despite being in the next room. It’s perfectly obvious to the viewer that she’s the dark-haired girl who’s always sleeping in his class, but he doesn’t know that. Anyway, one day someone on the roof joins in, singing the song they’re playing… and of course it’s Ogiso.

There’d be a lot more suspense about where this is going if the first episode didn’t open with a flash-forward showing the three of them performing at the School Fair (with dark-hair playing the bass, for some reason), and having an awkward love triangle.

Production Values

Well, they’re certainly not trying to disguise this story’s origins, what with the numerous shots in classic VN perspective. Perfectly alright, though, and it does have some decent music. No OP/ED sequences at all.

Overall Impression

This certainly won’t rock your world. Everything about it is generic and instantly forgettable. It’s mildly pleasant to watch, but that’s it.

I’m not sure I’ll bother with another episode.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Fall 2013 – Page 7.

Outbreak Company

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

The ultimate otaku-pandering fantasy.

Characters

Shinichi, our protagonist, is your stereotypical otaku, including all the nastier aspects (the lewd proclivities lurking behind the Nice Guy façade, the lolicon tastes, the tendacy to spout cliché quotes, the inability to have normal social interactions for more than a token amount of time…). One day, he finds an ad for an otaku-targeted job, including a 200-step otaku-culture quizz, and can’t believe his luck.

Mr Matoba, the interviewer, is all sugar but quite evasive about what the job actually is about. Well, at least until he drugs Shinichi’s coffee and has him transported to a high-fantasy world. Which the JSDF has found recently and is trying to establish good relations with. This includes setting up an otaku-culture export company, as apparently that’s what the locals are most interested in. Unfortunately, somehow previous attempts by government representatives have failed, which is where Shinichi comes in : he’s to be the new manager of this company.

Myusel, the half-elf maid, is one of the perks of the job. She fits just about every stereotype you’d expect : submissive, shy, a bit clumsy… Frankly, it’s all a bit awkward.

Koganuma is a deadpan JSDF soldier who’s there to make sure he doesn’t get into too much trouble, and provide some more exposition. (Include the fact she’s a F-cup.)

Eldant III, ruler of the kingdom, summons our protagonist the very next day, which is frankly a bit too early in his acclimatisation process. So of course he immediately perpetrates the blunder of calling her a “little girl” to her face. She’ll have you know she’s 16, for starters. (Also, there are hundreds of her knights in the room. Oops.)

Production Values

Perfectly okay. The character designs (as well as the setting as a whole) is more than a bit on the generic side, but then that’s the point.

Overall Impression

I’m conflicted about this one. On the one hand, it does have a good central joke at its center, and makes a good job of following through on it. It’s a very silly premise, but there’s certainly been some thought applied to make it work ; Matoba & Koganuma make it clear that this is a dangerous situation that could go wrong horribly quickly. They’re taking it very seriously, and humouring Shinichi’s quirks when they’re inoffensive enough. It’s relatively well-paced, and it’s got some good jokes.

On the other hand, this is still a massive bit of otaku-pandering, with a very annoying main character. (It could do without Myusel, too.) It kinda rubs me the wrong way, to be honest.

There’s a good chance I’ll give up on this very quickly.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Fall 2013 – Page 6.

Strike the Blood

(24 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Urban fantasy, set in a man-made island city in the middle of the Pacific, built as a refuge for vampires, half-demons and various other nearly extinct supernatural species.

Characters

Kojou, our protagonist. Up until three months ago, he was just a normal high-schooler ; now he’s “The Fourth Progenitor”, a super-powerful vampire. He’d rather do without that, mind you ; the random brutal cravings for blood are quite annoying, and he’d rather live just a normal life.

The previous Fourth Progenitor only appears in thoroughly unclear flashbacks ; the only thing he can clearly remember is that she gave her powers (and then faded away) without him providing much consent.

Yukina, a middle-schooler in the same school complex who just transferred in ; she’s very obviously stalking him. After the token confrontation, we learn that she’s a reasonably powerful mage from some governmental agency, who consider Kojou as about equal to a nuke and sent her to investigate him. She does eventually agree he’s a decent guy ; she’s still going to keep close to him forever, just in case.

There’s a couple of asshole thugs (whose predator behaviour border on paedophilia) who serve as our cannon fodder of the week. Presumably they get taken out in the stinger by the small kid and her bodyguard who look like serious business.

(Kojou has a couple of “normal” friends, but I have doubts we’re going to see much of them from now on. Instead, the OP sequence playing at the end shows off many other girls.)

Production Values

There’s some good directing at work here, especially with the creative use of colour and degenerative artefacts to provide atmosphere (as you’d expect from a Silver Link co-production). Nice score, too.

It’s a shame it has to be applied to a script that requires Yukina’s panties to be showed off repeatedly over the course of the episode.

Overall Impression

Oh, dear. There are some semi-interesting ideas here, as well as a protagonist with more personality than the usual bland everyman, and a strong build up to the atmosphere. But it’s wasted on a script that constantly undercuts itself with very annoying “fanservice” events and generic romantic comedy hijinks. I really get the impression that even the director doesn’t have much interest in those elements, and only includes them as some obligation to the producers and the source material (a series of light novels, of course). It’s all very perfunctory, and would be a much stronger show if omitted.

I fear another Index : some decent worldbuilding and characters ruined by contrived and joyless irritants. I’m giving it at least another episode to see whether it cuts down on the crap, but I’m not too hopeful.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Fall 2013 – Page 6.

I couldn’t become a hero, so I reluctantly decided to get a job (Yuusha ni Narenakatta Ore wa Shibushibu Shuushoku wo Ketsui Shimashita)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Oh, a Devil is a Part-Timer clone !

Characters

Raul, our protagonist. He used to be the swordsman leader of a team of wannabe heroes on their way to defeat the forces of evil… but then the Demon Lord got beaten by someone else, the country cancelled their whole hero project because of budget cuts (it’s not like they needed it anymore), and thus he had to find a new career in retail. It’s not quite working out, despite his best efforts.

Nova’s boobs and crotch assist him (clumsily) in his job. I’m not quite sure whether they’re the same characters as the boobs and crotch of the other fighter on his team in the prologue, but the camera spends as much attention on them.

Firo is an antagonistic kid who shows up one day and demands to be hired (and, being homeless, a place to stay). Despite being the heir of the Demon Lord. Incredibly, the manager accepts, to Raul’s bemusement. Cue the usual “fish out of water” jokes. Eventually Raul and Firo find some common ground, what with being relics of a war nobody cares for anymore ; by the episode’s end, they’re more or less friends. (Also, you can see the “twist” coming from a mile away.)

Production Values

It’s almost rythmical : Boobs, crotch, ass. Boobs, crotch, ass. Repeat ad nauseum. Otherwise, it’s just about average-looking.

Overall Impression

There are glimmers of an interesting premise here ; unfortunately, I’ve already seen much of these ideas explored much better in The Devil is a Part-timer. So what we’re left with is a cut-price version of that show, with much more fanservice, less interesting characters, and less clever writing.

I won’t bother with this one.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Fall 2013 – Page 6.