Tag: half-episodes

THERMÆ ROMÆ

(6 13-minute episodes, aired two at a time to fill Black Rock Shooter‘s noitaminA timeslot until February)

What’s it about ?

A 2nd-century Roman architect marvelling about Japanese public baths.

Characters

Lucius, our protagonist, is a traditionalist architect who has a bit of a crisis of faith after falling out of favour, somehow ends up in modern Japan (or maybe is it a dream ?), and brings back some revolutionary ideas to design better public baths.

He gets a token friend as a soundboard for exposition, but mostly he monologues endlessly.

Production Values

This seems to have no budget whatsoever. The animation is beyond crude, frankly ; most web-broadcasted shorts I’ve watched over the last couple of years look better than this.

There are random oddities at times (non-standard character designs, including a cyborg dude in ancient Rome for some reason) that are probably just there for effect, although I’m not sure what the expected effect is (“funny” anachronisms ?).

Overall Impression

Uh. I’ve watched the first episode twice, just to be sure I hadn’t missed something. But no, I just can’t find the joke funny. I think I can see what they were going for, (and commend its makers for doing something so different from usual anime fare) but it just doesn’t work for me.

It doesn’t help that we basically get an (inexplicably blonde) foreigner who’s rude, racist and backwards-minded (ahah, Romans had slaves) discovering the awesomeness of Japan. Er…

Yeah, I think I’ll give this timeslot a pass until February.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2012 – Page 8.

Yondemasu yo, Azazel-san

(?? half-length episodes)

What’s it about ?

A detective agency routinely summons a demon to solve their clients’ problems. But since he never stops long enough to hear his orders, hilarity ensues.

Characters

Azazel, the titular demon. A rude womanizer… who’s less than two feet tall. He would really like to get out of this contract, but he’s consistently outwitted by…

Akutabe, the head of the detective agency who summoned Azazel. A complete jerk, but he’s so marvellously deadpan !

Sakuma, Akutabe’s part-time assistant. Our point-of-view character, as Akutabe judges she’s just got enough experience to learn how the agency really works. She spends most of the episode bemused by the whole thing, but then you’d be too.

Our client of the week is a classic ugly cheated wife. The various “solutions” offered to her problems get more and more bizarre as the episode goes.

Production Values

Low but adequate, I guess. It does the job.

Overall Impression

This is very low-brow humour indeed, but it works. It’s got very good comedic timing, the character play well off each other, and I liked the punchline. Stupid but fun.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2011 – Page 8.

Abnormal Physiology Seminar (Hen Zemi)

(13 half-length episodes)

What’s it about ?

Slice of life about very special college course where the students hand reports about their fetishistic experiments.

Characters

Matsutaka, our somewhat prude-ish heroine, who isn’t enthusiastic at all about this course. If you’re wondering why she’s attending, that’s because it’s a way to get closer to…

Komugi, who looks and acts like a nice guy but is actually quite an irritating jerk under the deadpan façade (but since he’s voiced by Akira Ishida, you can’t quite bring yourself to hate him…). Totally unashamed about his fetishes and what the Hen Zemi does.

Pr Meshiya, the teacher/researcher in charge of the Hen Zemi. A complete creep, and one wonders how he gets away with this with the faculty.

Mizukoshi, the nymphomaniac best student. She’s into really extreme stuff (seriously, her report in this episode ? Ewwww !). Beware her slobber whenever someone talks dirty in front of her.

We get to see a few more students attending the course : the peeping tom who camps with his camera under the stairs, the ecchi manga artist and his innocent-looking sadistic girlfriend…

Production Values

Adequate. I actually quite like the stylized artstyle : it gives everyone (apart from the teacher) a look of complete innocence that contrasts very well with what they’re talking about.

Overall Impression

Quite fun, actually. I appreciate the directness of the approach, and thankfully all the people involved are consenting adults (Matsutaka can quit whenever she wants…). There’s quite a lot of mileage in the sheer weirdness of those fetishes.

But it clearly won’t be to everyone’s tastes. Some of the fetishes described here are bound to squick you out. Also, and that’s a bit more problematic, not all of the jokes are that funny. Moreover, I worry that the short format won’t give the series the time to properly gel. Still, if you have any interest in the subject matter, it mostly works.

There’s been a couple of OVA out ; they seem to have been some sort of pilot or something. It’s basically more of the same, but they aren’t necessary at all to understand this first episode (which introduces all the key players properly).

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2011 – Page 7.

Health and Physical Eduction for 30-year-olds (30-sai no Hoken Taiiku)

(13-minute-long episodes)

What’s it about ?

A thirty-year-old virgin gets visited by an annoying sex god who’ll educate him so that he can finally pop his cherry.

Characters

Imagawa, our male lead, exactly as pathetic as you’d expect (and voiced by Hiro Shimono, of course). The kind who borrows the 600,000-yen blow-up doll from one of his co-workers. Very annoyed by the sex god’s intrusion : he’d like to take his time, thanks (but then that’s his whole problem…).

Daigorou, the sex god. Very, very annoying, and impossible to get rid of. He can only go away when his mission’s accomplished ; to his credit, he does offer Imagawa the easy way out to get done with it (but Imagawa doesn’t want to even think about it).

Andou, the female lead, barely makes an appearance in this first episode, but the OP & ED suggest she’s getting a pair of sex gods too.

Production Values

Dire. It doesn’t help that there’s some very heavy censorship that hides anything vaguely risqué (we don’t even see one bit of the blow-up doll) and blips through half of the dialogue.

Overall Impression

I didn’t think it was possible : this is making me long for B Gata H Kei. There’s an art to the raunchy, ecchi comedy with protagonists raring to get it on, and this series completely fails at it. It’s not funny, and the heavy censorship kinda defeats the point.

Since this reportedly adapts a PhysEd book, it does sneak in some helpful tips (Wash it appropriately to get rid of bacteria ! Don’t squeeze too much on them !), but they’re drowned by the tedious attempts at whimsical humour by walking clichés calling themselves characters.

Avoid.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2011 – Page 6.

Tamayura OVA

(4 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Basically, this is a slice-of-life series about a girl obsessed with photography and her friends, in a rural village.

Characters

Fu, our main character, is a quiet clumsy airhead. She got her love for photography from her father, who died 5 years ago.

Kaoru, her best friend. Like nearly every character voiced by Kana Asumi, she’s cheerful and slightly snarky.

Norie, our setting’s Tomo. Energetic, annoying, and unhealthy fond of Fu’s younger brother.

Maon, who spends more time whistling than talking.

Plus various other supporting characters (Fu’s family, Kaoru’s embarrassing older sister, etc.)

Production Values

It’s an OVA that revolves around scenery porn. Of course it looks good.

Overall Impression

Dull. While I was half-joking about falling asleep while watching Starry Sky, here it was a real struggle to stay awake. Which really shouldn’t happen for 4 15-minute episodes.

Understand, I actually enjoy the slice of life genre. I liked K-On!, Lucky Star, Azumanga Daioh… I’m currently watching and enjoying Potemayo, for –‘s sake ! But there seems to be a subset of the genre that immediately puts me to sleep, and this is such an instance. (Other example : Hidamari Sketch.)

It’s not even that nothing happens : there’s a neat throughline around Fu’s obsession and how it allows her to connect with her late father. But… the pacing is glacial, the characters are barely developed at all, and the jokes aren’t that funny. When the series goes for emotion, it does feel genuine, but those moments are few and far between.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2010-2011 – Page 3.

Starry Sky

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Reverse harem setup : formerly exclusively male academy is now co-ed, although there’s only one female student right now. Each episode focuses on a different male student, with a parallel to the zodiac constellations (although they’ve introduced a 13rd one for some reason). Apparently this school only teaches astronomy- or astrology-related fields.

Characters :

Tsukiko Yahisa, our female lead. Nearly no screentime so far.

Yoh Tomoe, Capricorn. This is a pseudonym : his actual name’s Henri Samuel Jean Aimee (sic). Half-French, choosing to go back to Japan in order to find a girl he fell in love with a decade ago. His parents approve (it’s implied his father did something similar way back when).

There are other various classmates, including a very enthusiastic Mr Exposition, but none of them got any names yet.

Production Values :

Low. It’s a net anime, and the animation is quite minimal (not to the degree of Nyaruani, though). It doesn’t look particularly good, but this could be my personal distaste for standard shojo character designs. Also, the episodes are only 11-minute-long.

Overall Impression :

Dull, dull, dull. There’s no real conflict yet, and the plot barely gets started at all. I can’t sympathize with Capricorn-guy, and the girl is a non-entity so far. Frankly, I doubt I’d manage to watch another episode without falling asleep.

But then, I clearly don’t care for the genre ; if you’re more into it than me, you could find some value to this show (it’s got a pretty impressive voice cast, for example).

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2010-2011.