Tag: humour

Sankarea

(12ish episodes)

What’s it about ?

Romantic comedy. With zombies.

Characters

Chihiro, our protagonist. Completely obsessed with zombies : he’s got an impressive DVD collection and tons of related toys and props. And yes, he has a zombie-girl fetish. His pet cat just died, so over the last few days he’s been scurrying off to a condemned building and trying experiments from some random book he found somewhere so as to raise it from the dead. Because (1) he was very fond of it, and (2) hey, zombie-cat ! He’s perfectly aware it probably won’t work, but one never knows…

Rea, the title character, a girl who coincidentally screams into a well nearby the same condemned building in order to vent her frustrations. She comes from the very rich Sanka family (they own the local girls’ high school), and finds herself crushed by the weight of expectations. After the two of them meet and become quick friends, she makes it clear she’s willing to run away from her life with him. He turns her down ; he’s only interested in zombie girls. Well, if that’s the only problem…

Rounding up the cast are Chihiro’s family (busy priest father, dead mother, deadpan little sister, friend-zoned cousin), and his few friends at school (including the token perverted best friend, who doesn’t stand out much next to the guy with a zombie-girl fetish). The OP hints we’re also going to see Rea’s family at some point.

Production Values

Wait, did Deen hire someone from SHAFT, or is this director even ANN has never heard of just a Shinbo fanboy ? Okay, this is nowhere near the craziness of the -monogatari series, but it does copiously pick from SHAFT’s usual bag of tricks : long shots, shots from above, close shots on body parts, editing used in a way that punctuates the dialogue, a good use of shading and shot framing to build atmosphere…

Well, whatever, I’m all for techniques that make the most of the medium to improve storytelling becoming more mainstream.

Overall Impression

Hey, this is actually quite good ! I like Chihiro and his sense of humour (Ryohei Kimura’s charisma strikes again), the two leads have chemistry, and the artful direction doesn’t hurt. The setup is intriguing, with a killer cliffhanger (What did Rea actually do ?) that makes you want to come back for more.

Did someone say that out of the four “My Girlfriend is a X” adaptation, one of them should be good ? Well, this seems to be the one.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2012 – Page 6.

Medaka Box

What’s it about ?

A super-ultra-awesome new student council president goes around “helping” people all over campus.

Characters

Medaka, the new student council president. She’s hyper-competent at everything. Since she wants to go around helping everyone, she’s set up a suggestion box. Hence the title.

Zenkichi, our point-of-view character, and Medaka’s childhood friend. He spends the whole episode ranting incoherently about her behaviour while she leads him around. You’ve guessed it, they’re a couple of tsundere in the now classic Kyon/Haruhi mold… except Kyon had charisma and a point.

Shiranui, a bizarre small girl who knows everything about everyone and is just plain weird. She’s the only character who’s actually fun to watch.

Production Values

You might have been interested in this show because GAINAX did it. But the Nadia/Evangelion/FLCL people are long gone. And the TTGL/Panty&Stocking crew just left too. So that leaves us… the director of He Is My Master.

And no budget whatsoever, from the look of it : this looks like crap.

Overall Impression

Oh, dear. This just doesn’t work. The dialogue is clunky (did NisiOisiN really contribute to the original manga ? Was he phoning it in, or is this adaptation just terrible ?), the jokes tired, and the lead characters annoying.

I’m giving it a second episode on the hope that some new supporting cast might improve matters (or at least make Zenkichi shut up a bit), but I’m not hopeful.

A big problem is that, despite her awesomeness, Medaka somehow manages to be bland. Her “I don’t care about being awesome, I just want to help everybody” philosophy isn’t particularly enthralling either, mostly because the show wants it to be a grand reveal despite being perfectly obvious from the start. (And the flower thing is just silly in its clumsiness. Or maybe it’s just the clunky dialogue bringing the whole scene down.)

But the most problematic part of the show is Zenkichi, the Kyon wannabe. Yes, Medaka is completely unlike Haruhi because she doesn’t abuse him and is perfectly open about why she keeps him around. She’s no tsundere, whatever he claims. THAT’s what makes his attitude so annoying. It feels to me that the only reason he’s so hostile in this first episode is to provide artificial conflict, which is just poor writing all around. He’s been around her since childhood, he shouldn’t need a grand reveal about her outlook in life at this point.

Also, the show spends far too much time on him telling us how awesome she is, instead of, you know, showing us her being awesome (which are the moments that do work).

I’ve heard that the manga gets way better down the line, after a genre change or two. Then, they really should have skipped those terrible first few dozen chapters (or skipped through them, only including the actually relevant parts for the future). Because at this rate, it’s hard to imagine this anime adaptation even getting to the good parts…

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2012 – Page 5.

Shibainuko-san

(?? 2-minute episodes)

What’s it about ?

A middle-schooler who looks like a dog. Adaptation of a 4-panel gag manga (if you couldn’t tell by the one-joke premise).

Characters

Shibainuko-san, the middle-schooler who looks like a dog. She’s a bit clumsy.

Chako, our straight-(wo)man narrator girl. She’s there to explain the jokes and be befuddled by the whole situation.

Napolin, their dumb classmate. She’s dumb.

Production Values

This also comes courtesy of eyebleed-o-vision, but it’s obvious there’s no real budget here. Heck, I said it was 2-minute-long, but if you remove the opening song, the advertisement for the Recorder & Randsell DVD, and the announcement about the producers filling time with random internet fanart, there’s less than a minute of actual content here.

Overall Impression

Oh, look, it’s another of those unfunny one-joke no-budget shorts. Disregard with prejudice.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2012 – Page 2.

A Summer-colored Miracle (Natsuiro Kiseki)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Er, I’m not quite sure yet, even after having seen the first episode. The big selling point is that the voice-actresses of the four main characters make up the Sphere idol group, but that doesn’t make a story. There are some hints that those four middle-schoolers may be on the way to become idol singers, but it’s way too early to be sure that’s the direction the series is going for.

Characters

Saki [Ayahi Takagaki], the well-bred one. She’s scheduled to be moving away to Tokyo in a matter of days, but didn’t feel like warning her three best friends beforehand. She’s quite a handful.

Natsumi [Minako Kotobuki], the hot-blooded one. She’s rightfully annoyed that Saki, her partner in the tennis club, has just dropped all their plans, and spends the whole episode nursing a grudge.

Yuka [Haruka Tomatsu], the airhead. She’s obsessed about some washed-out idol group, a running gag that fails to be funny however many time the episode comes back to it. Obviously she’s worried about her friend-group collapsing, so she seeks the help of…

Rinko [Aki Toyosaki], the quiet one. Who’s a priestess in training at the local temple. She contrives to gather the four at a wishing stone hidden behind said temple. The thing seems to have worked in the past (they won a singing contest a few years ago), although that’s hardly tangible evidence given the low level of competition.

What is actual tangible evidence is that they somehow manage to fly up the sky after inadvertently all wishing for it. Wait, what ?

Production Values

I saw this through the eyebleed-o-vision webcasted preview, so it’s hard to tell the level of scenery porn yet. It’s alright, I guess.

Overall Impression

I’m not quite sure what to think of this yet, especially as I have no clue where it’s going. Obviously it’s a Sphere vehicle, but those are a decent bunch of voice-actresses, and they seem to have gone out of their way to avoid their usual pigeonholes.

Okay, I’ll admit I’m curious.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2012 – Page 2.

Space Brothers (Uchuu Kyoudai)

(?? episodes – some sources say 48+)

What’s it about ?

In 2006, two young brothers vowed to become astronauts after seeing an UFO. Flash-forward to 2025…

(Adapted from an award-winning manga.)

Characters

Hibito, the younger brother (29). He did become an astronaut, and is part of an international effort to set up a viable colony on the Moon (as a tryout before they go to Mars). He’s the successful one, then, and thus a bit boring. Fortunately, the series isn’t really about him so far.

Mutta, the older brother (32), is our actual protagonist. He didn’t become an astronaut, instead making a career in designing cars. Which has just collapsed after he headbutted his supervisor for badmouthing Hibito. He’s having a bit of a midlife crisis, to put it mildly, especially as he’s now basically blacklisted from the automobile industry. It’s time for a drastic career change…

We also see their parents, who do let Mutta stay in, but will only let him wallow in self-pity for so long.

Production Values

Perfectly alright. This seems well-documented (NASA is mentioned in the credits) and the near-future feels real enough.

Overall Impression

Hard SF ? The token series with actual adult protagonists ? There’s no way I’ll skip this.

It helps that it’s actually quite good. Sure, the characters aren’t quite well rounded yet, but I’m willing to give it time ; and Hiroaki Hirata nails once again the dude going through mid-life crisis. And it looks like we’re going to see the realistic process of being selected as an astronaut, which was fascinating when Planetes did it.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2012 – Page 2.

Carried by the Wind: Tsukikage Ran

(13 episodes, 2000)

My previous exposure

Suggested in this very thread.

What’s it about ?

Ran Tsukikage is a drifter that everyone she meets thinks is a samurai. (And she does have the skill : if she starts fighting you, you WILL lose, often in a matter of seconds.) She’s a woman of few words who rarely gives a toss about anything around her, except when sake’s involved ; in which case she’ll start rambling incoherently like a mean drunk.

Her sidekick is Meow, a very talkative martial artist who stumbled onto Ran in the first episode and stuck with her ever since. Let’s be frank, Meow is a bit stupid and gullible, which often provides the hook to involve the duo with whatever the plot of the week is. (This is a very episodic series.)

Mostly, they aimlessly roam the Edo-period Japanese countryside while getting on each other’s nerves. And the audience’s, too.

What did I think of it ?

Well, this could have gone better. While I don’t have a problem against our protagonists’ double act in theory, in practice it can get quite irritating very quickly (especially if Meow starts shouting a bit too much). While most of the time their antics reach the level of “mildly funny”, they rarely rise about it, and sometimes go down to “bloody annoying”.

It doesn’t help that I’m pretty sure I’ve already watched half of these plots, with much better execution, over in Samurai Champloo. Sure, that’s no fault of this show, but the comparison is unavoidable. Here, the directing is pedestrian, most of the characters are one-dimensional (special mention to the generic bad guys, who couldn’t sound more B-movie evil if they tried), and the strict episodic format prevents from attaining any kind of depth.

As it is, the series is cute for a few episodes, after which watching it became a bit of a chore. (I think I lost most of my goodwill with the “Meow finds a baby” episode and its questionable gender politics. And the less said about the “idiot blonde foreigner” episode, the better.) Not that it’s bad, but it just wasn’t funny enough to really be worth the time.

via [LTTP/WIW] Various anime from the 00s and beyond – Page 11.

Gokujyo.

(6-minutes episodes)

What’s it about ?

Raunchy “comedy” set in girls’ high school.

This series became infamous when the network refused to air the first episode ; the producers also pulled the third one off the air due to “self-restraint”. Quite frankly, it sounds more and more like a publicity stunt.

Characters

Aya, our protagonist. Self-centered, rude, abusive to her “friends”, and often downright stupid, she has no redeeming features whatsoever. (Well, unless you’re into huge, fake-looking melons.) Most of the series revolves around her histrionics.

Konatsu, Aya’s best friend chewtoy. Innocent and pitiful, she makes for an easy target.

A few other characters show up, such as their bland third friend, the resident pervert, Aya’s delinquent sisters…

Production Values

Not very good, but hey, it’s a comedy, it doesn’t matter. I do like a bit how Aya’s face constantly changes artstyles depending on her mood.

It’s obviously very fanservice-y, what with Aya constantly spilling out of her blouse or spending most of the first episode without panties on… But it does feel like the creators are just baiting the censors in a bid for controversy. (The next two episodes are way tamer, aside from a gratuitous short scene of Aya and Konatsu’s butts at one point in the third.)

Overall Impression

Oh, dear. A comedy series that ain’t funny. What’s more to say ?

Well, that may be overstating it a bit : there are a few jokes that do work. The problem is that the show proceeds to drive every one of them into the ground with no subtlety whatsoever. Also, while Aya could work in small doses, a whole show about her (even in 6-minute shorts) just makes her unbearable. I get that we’re supposed to hate her, but there’s too much of her here.

Also, the censor-baiting got on my nerves after a while. Especially when it became clear that the show was way more comfortable recycling Azumanga Daioh’s hiccup skit. It just feels forced.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2012 – Page 12.

Rec.

(10 12-minute episodes, 2006)

My previous exposure

None, beyond the notion that this is an early Studio SHAFT show, and I thought I should watch more of those.

(Also, I needed some counter-programming for Mushishi.)

What’s it about ?

A junior advertising worker drone starts housing a rookie voice-actress after her flat burns down. One thing leads to another, although their relationship is quite rocky indeed.

It doesn’t help that she then gets hired on his next project (not that he had any role in the decision), and she prefers to keep their relationship hidden so that the conflict of interests isn’t too obvious. Awkwardness ensues.

What did I think of it ?

I only noticed it too late : Shinbo didn’t direct this. So, none of his usual quirks are present, and this is a bog-standard romantic comedy with no creativity whatsoever in the photography. Oops.

Still, does it work on that level ? Well, just barely. The plot doesn’t go anywhere interesting in the very short running length, the characters don’t have much maturity or personality, and the supporting cast remain caricatures. There’s a semi-interesting plotline about the female lead’s career that feels more genuine than most depictions of the voice-acting business, but nothing to go out of your way for.

It doesn’t help that the format actively works against the story. The 12-minute length is a brutal mistress, and it’s obvious the story has been arbitrarily cut in pieces to fit it. (The first episode doesn’t even manage to establish the premise !) Also annoying are the random scene transitions every three minutes or so that are so jarring they took me out of the show.

I won’t say it was painful to watch, but there’s very little to recommend here.

via [LTTP/WIW] Various anime from the 00s and beyond – Page 9.

Winter 2012 capsules

Some quick notes :

Amagami SS Plus basically resumes where it left off : each of the 6 main girls gets 2 more episodes set after their original arcs. We start off with Ayatsuji (the verbally-abusive class president). Frankly, at first it’s more than a bit self-indulgent (a perverted bath scene that turns out to be the MC’s erotic dream ? Seriously ?), but it does pick up after that, and the new plot is actually a lot of fun. Got me worried for a while, though.

I’d gotten the impression that Nisemonogatari would star the Araragi sisters, but that’s only in the loosest sense of the term ; this is really a straight sequel to Bakemonogatari, with new arcs focusing on said sisters. Well, “focusing” may be too strong a word ; the arc is titled after Karen, and she doesn’t even show up this episode (while Tsukihi gets less than 5 minutes). The bulk of the episode is devoted to an extended prologue that I fail to see what it’s got to do with anything, and a long talk between Araragi and Mayoi that often makes me uncomfortable whenever he’s making a joking pass at molesting her.

Don’t get me wrong : the direction is still as impressive as ever, and the dialogue is on fire ; but this isn’t quite gelling together yet. (But then, I’ve never been that impressed by Bakemonogatari ; it’s good, but there are huge chunks that leave me cold.)

And maybe I should say a few words about Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki, a series of 3-minute shorts where a round cat gets adopted by a family. I’m getting the impression those shorts aren’t for me, because there’s barely any meat there ; although this one gets point for being faster-paced than most and managing to get in quite a few jokes. But that’s a few chuckles at best, and I’m not going to bother with any more of it.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2012 – Page 4.

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.