Tag: humour

Amagi Brilliant Park

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of the latest light novel series by the creator of Full Metal Panic!. Think Fumoffu more than the Second Raid, though.

Characters

Kanie, our protagonist, is an obnoxious narcissistic dick, and I’m sure that name is a coincidence. The late reveal of him being a former child actor explains it a bit, though.

Isuzu is a girl from his high school who invited him to the titular theme park. At gunpoint. (Where the heck does she pull those rifles from, anyway ?) Her having done plenty of “research” on him isn’t creepy at all, either.

Amagi Brilliant Park has seen better days. Most of the attractions are either dilapidated, lame, dangerous, or all of these at once. The staff are bored or at times even hostile to customers. A mascot is described as “a walking copyright infringement”. (It looks like Bonta-kun.) Honestly, the love hotel next door looks more fun and family-friendly.

Latifa, the park’s manager, eventually explains it all to Kanie : they want him to bring the park back to solvency. It’s not particularly clear yet why him in particular, although he’s been there when he was younger (cue disparate flashbacks of him meeting Latifa then), and he’s clearly by now more upset by the state the park’s in than by Isuzu forcing him to come here.

And then comes the actual twist : Isuzu’s regular assertions that Amagi is a place inhabited by magic creatures aren’t keyfabe. They’re really refugees from a magic world. (Which certainly explains why Latifa doesn’t seem to have aged a day in 10 years, or how Isuzu can pull those guns out from nowhere.) And they really don’t want to end on the street. So, help them, please ? Latifa’s even giving him a bit of magic as a goodwill gift.

Production Values

As you’d expect from Kyoto Animation, this is teaming with funny background events and attention to detail. Only them could make the park look this crappy in such an all-too-realistic way.

Overall Impression

The good news : the central joke is very well-executed. There’s something about Isuzu deadpanly reciting the attraction descriptions (in sharp contrast with their decrepitude) that just never stops being funny. The final reveal makes it even more hilarious.

It’s a fun premise, and I’m always up for work-coms. I’m thoroughly sold.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Fall 2014 – Page 4.

When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace (Inou-Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka de)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a series of comedy light novels.

Characters

Jurai, our male lead, is the most annoying member of the high school literature club. The neighbours are complaining all the time of the screaming over his chuunibyou antics. Seriously, could he give it a rest ? It’s not like he’s going to manifest actual super-powers… wait, what’s that thing in his hand ?

Six months later, the various members of the clubs have gotten the hang of their newfound superpowers (and are baffled as Andou keeps providing commentary to the camera). Of course, they provide semi-ironic contrast with their personalities :
– Tomoyo, the tomboy, got time-stop/modulation powers ;
– Hatoko, the wallflower, got summoning and manipulation of the major elements (water, fire, wind, etc.) ;
– Chifuyu, the unexplained elementary student, got broad “creation” powers (and if I got it right, her plushtoy allows her to teleport) ;
– Sayumi, the black-belt and wilful club president, got vague “healing” powers ;
– As for Jurai, he got the ability to summon a small ball of shadow… which everyone points out has no practical use whatsoever.

Mirei, the student council president, is snooping around ; everyone assumes she’s just investigating the noise complaints (which have gotten even worse now that they’re fooling around with their powers), but Jurai, as chuunibyou as ever, is convinced that she’s a spy trying to chart out their powers. Amazingly, he’s right !

I hope I’m not supposed to take the dude purportedly orchestrating Mirei’s actions from afar seriously, because darn does his hanging upside down from a tree make him look stupid.

Production Values

Don’t expect any of studio Trigger’s distinctiveness ; this is a very generic-looking anime indeed. But it’s decently done enough ; it sells the powers as impressive enough, and it’s got good comedic timing. (The music is particularly good at emphasizing and deflating Jurai’s chuunibyou rants.)
Surprisingly, the fanservice level is relatively tame.

Overall Impression

Hey, this is actually quite funny ! There’s quite some mileage to the joke of those bozos getting superpowers and carrying on their regular activities regardless. And it makes really good use of its obnoxious male lead to convey exposition. Since he’s the butt of most of the jokes, he’s way more bearable than you’d expect at first.

I wonder how long the joke can keep going without being bogged down by an actual plot (as it’s part of the premise that nothing is taken seriously), but for now it’s quite entertaining.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Fall 2014 – Page 4.

Gugure! Kokkuri-san

(12ish episodes ?)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a comedy 4-panel manga.

Characters

Have you heard of Kokkuri-san ? It’s a bit like Oui-ja, except you invoke a fox spirit to guide your hand. You’re not supposed to do it alone, though, as he may come haunting you. And would you really want that ?

Kohina, the girl who summoned him thus, completely baffles him. Normally it’s not him who’s supposed to be the straight man, right ? Why is she so weird ? How come she lives alone, having interiorized she’s just a doll and thus it’s no biggie if she has no friends ? How does a girl live on a diet of only junk-food cup-noodles ? As much as she’d like him to please go away and leave her to her fate, he just can’t let her keep going like that. Only a asshole would do that, and he’s a thoroughly decent human being spirit. But the cohabitation isn’t going to be easy…

Throughout the episode, we get cameos of characters bound to join the cast sooner or later : a dog spirit, and a dude who looks like a priest.

Production Values

Fine for a gag show. The biggest oddity here is how Kohina is drawn (and it’s somewhat inconsistent), but then that contributes to the joke that there’s something deeply wrong with her.

Overall Impression

On the one hand, this is often very funny indeed. The dynamic between the two main characters works, and they’ve got good comedic timing between them. It’s a good joke. But on the other hand, how long can you keep it up ? The episode was already showing signs of fatigue at points, and there’s only so much mileage you can get out of it. Presumably that’s why more characters are due to be introduced very soon, but they’ll be tricky to add without ruining this dynamic.

Oh, well, that’s a worry for later episodes. I’m willing to at least watch a couple more episodes to see how they deal with it.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Fall 2014 – Page 3.

Magic Kaitou 1412

(24 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Spin-off of Detective Conan about a kid Gentleman Thief. This already got a few TV movies over the years, but here it seems we’re getting a fresh start from the ground up.

Characters

Kaito, our protagonist, is your average lecherous high-schooler… scratch that, he’s an incredible illusionist who constantly enacts pranks and can still solve complex math problems (as well as look up the teacher’s panties) in the middle of them. One of his signature tricks involves putting on a fake head as he’s standing upside down, and his others are similarly impossible-looking.

Aoko, his long-suffering childhood friend and neighbour, isn’t a slouch in the smarts department either, and she would very much like him to cut the crap. Her father happens to be the kind of caricaturally incompetent police inspector you often see in those series. Kaitou often eats out at their home, as his mother is always on the move (sometimes abroad), and his father…

Well, his father was a stunt artist who “died” 8 years ago in an “accident”. But he was really “Kaito Kid”, a genius Gentleman Thief who also stopped making waves 8 years ago (for obvious reasons). Kaito’s just learned about his legacy, just as a Kaito Kid copycat has started showing up. Obviously, he’s going to investigate the fake and retake his legacy ! (And also follow up on the hints that Dad was murdered.) And as it turns out, Kaito Kid was Aoko’s father’s white whale…

Production Values

Perfectly okay, although there’s no way to make Kaito’s stunts look even remotely credible. The show does try its best, though.

Taku Iwasaki produces the score, and while it’s less wild than most of his recent production, it’s still very good.

Overall Impression

On the one hand, this is a deeply silly show. (Why the heck would Kaito’s dad choose such a revealing stagename ?) And Kaito’s panty-watching antics are quite aggrievating indeed for anyone above the age of 12.

… Still, it does have its charm ; it starts finding its feet towards the second half as the plot kicks in and Kaito gets to be something other than a jerk. And, well, I’m a sucker for mysteries, which are rather thin on the ground in anime ; together with Iwasaki on board, there’s a good chance I’m going to stick with this.

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

The Electric Town’s Bookstore (Denkigai no Honya-san)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a comedy manga depicting the daily life at a doujinshi bookstore. The episode itself is split between two main skits.

Characters

Umio, our generic male lead, mostly there as a straight man and for most of the girls to fall over. Supposedly he’s the naive newcomer, but that doesn’t come off very strongly. Mostly that’s because half his role is stolen by…

Hio-tan, his bubbly senior, and de facto female lead. More than a bit clumsy and shy, she still ends up in the straight woman role somehow a lot of the time.

Most of the staff are only known by nicknames. Of particular note so far :
– Sensei, who’s always sleepy because she spends her nights drawing ; doujinshi ;
– the Director, named thus not because he’s in charge (although he is) but because he’s always filming stuff and being a bit creepy and manipulative ;
– Sommelier, the tall quiet dude who has the amazing talent of finding the manga best suited to any customer

Also guest-starring in the first half : an inspector from the Youth Office, making sure regulations about selling porn are followed to the letter ; her stealing every scene she’s in is yet more proof that Yuu Kobayashi is one of the funniest comedy voice-actresses currently active.

Production Values

It’s bright and shiny, but nothing to write home about aside from that. The title sequences are particularly cheap-looking. Still, it sells the jokes, and that’s what matters.

The episode was so tame that the next-episode preview promising tons of fanservice MUST be a joke. At least, I hope it is.

Overall Impression

A fun work-com with a geeky main topic ? I was all game for it, but unfortunately it’s average at best. Most of those jokes have been done better elsewhere, the characters aren’t charming enough to carry the show, and there are definite pacing issues.

The bottom line is that I don’t find it funny enough to be worth my time. Given how busy Thursdays always are, I’m giving it a pass.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Fall 2014.

Summer 2014 capsules

But before all that, a few words about Sword Art Online II : well, so far, it’s not doing a bad job of not rubbing me the wrong way, like Alfheim Online did. The writing is still pretty poor (go, go, tepid exposition !), but the setup of bringing in Kirito to investigate a bizarre murder spree in a new game setting is a decent one. (Also, anything that marginalizes the absence of chemistry he’s got with Asuna is welcome.) I might still watch this after all.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2014 – Page 3.

A couple of shorts before moving on to the full Monday shows…

Mobile Suit Gundam-san is yet another of those comedy SD skits Sunrise puts out occasionally. (This one adapted from a 4-panel gag manga.) It starts off by an Austin Powers-style naked dance by Char, which should give you an idea of the high level of humour we’re dealing with here. It’s mildly funny, but nothing to go out of your way for.

Secret Princess Himegoto adapts a manga about a pretty boy being blackmailed into crossdressing by the student council. It’s got a main character called Unko (“Poop”). That kinda sums up my opinion of it.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2014 – Page 4.

So, Persona 4 The Golden Animation. I reviewed the original series back in 2011 ; this is a weird spin-off that adapts an updated rerelease of the game.

The selling point here, apparently, is a new character being added to the main cast, Marie. The script thus chooses wisely to fast-forward through a very bare bones version of the plot (skipping all the business related to Konishi), so that Marie can get 5 minutes or so of screentime after the end credits. To say that her introduction feels very forced an unnatural is an understatement ; she’s just dropped in without any explanation by the gamemaster. The core problem here is that this series is at its best with deadpan weirdness, and Marie’s way too melodramatic to fit in. So, well, it doesn’t quite work.

(By the way, the whole thing seems to have been reanimated from scratch, with a somewhat higher budget ; every single scene is slightly different from the previous series.)

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2014 – Page 5.

Black Butler – Book of Circus spends its first episode re-establishing the premise with a “Day in the Life of Sebastian Michaelis”… Not that there’s anything wrong with that, as it’s a charming setup, and the script does get to play a bit with clever ellipses. I’ve got no clue where this would fit in continuity, but it’s not like this franchise ever sweats this kind of fine detail.

Anyway, this is good fun, and I’m glad it’s back.

(Also, no Grell whatsover for now, which is a definite plus in my book.)

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2014 – Page 5.

Hey, someone finally fansubbed the first episode of Franā™„cesca : Girls Be Ambitious, more than a week after it aired !

… Having had a look at it, I can easily see why nobody bothered to do it for so long.

The high concept is that this is a series of 11-minute episodes built around a recently-created mascot character for Hokkaido, the titular Francesca. Who happens to be some sort of undead idol or something. But she barely shows up at the end of the first episode ; in practice, it mainly features the head of the anti-undead Hokkaido forces (of course a cute sassy girl) investigating killing the shit out of a recent surge of zombies rising from the ground. Also, tons of jokes that probably make sense to people who know of Hokkaido’s culture, but are completely impenetrable to me.

As far as promotional vehicles from tourism boards go, this one at least has the merit of originality. But that’s pretty much it ; it looks badly-animated (is this Flash-based ?), and at its core it’s comedy where I don’t get most of the jokes. (Which don’t look that funny, anyway.)

I’ll pass.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2014 – Page 8.

Nobunaga Concerto

(12ish episodes ?)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of yet another manga where a random Japanese teenager travels to the past and switches places with Nobunaga Oda.

Characters

Saburou, our lead character. Not very bright, shallow, terrible at Japanese history (he vaguely remembers about this Nobunaga dude) : the perfect protagonist for this kind of story ! How he travels to the past is refreshingly unexplained (it just happens suddenly).

Nobunaga himself happens to be passing by, on the run from servants who want him to stay at home. Hey, random weird lookalike, want to take my place for a while ? I’ll give you this cool sword. Saburou’s all “hey, cool sword” (after a bit of “where’s the camera filming this, anyway ?”), but quickly realizes that Nobunaga’s early life was a bit prison-like, and wants to go home.

Kichou, Nobunaga’s wife. “Wait, he had a wife ? She’s cute !” And so Saburou decides to stay around a bit more. She’s all too happy from the attention, after him seemingly having forgotten all about her. (“I know it was an arranged marriage, but still…”)

Nobunaga’s servants are baffled by their master’s bizarre new behaviour, despite his renewed healthiness. Has he lost his mind ? One of them lets himself be convinced it’s better to just kill him off, but Saburou somehow manages to deflect this. And hey, he can’t die now ; this would totally wreck history and stuff ; after all, Nobunaga’s supposed to conquer Japan or something. The servants then marvel at their master’s “hidden ambitions”.

Noboyuki, Nobunaga’s younger brother, sees the occasion as his chance to get rid of him. After manipulating that servant failed, he tries something against Kichou… but it doesn’t work out ; he winds up being sent off to an asylum for his trouble.

From now on, Saburou is taking this a bit more seriously. He’s started reading his history book (although it’s way too imprecise to be of much use). Anyway, he’s going to try his best ; Nobunaga totally conquered Japan and lived happily after, right ? (Ahah, no. We even had the history lesson at the episode’s beginning reminding us how it’s supposed to end ; Saburou didn’t pay attention, as usual.)

Production Values

Cell-shaded CG characters everywhere ! You ever love it or hate it ; I think it works quite well, giving the anime a bit of an “historical painting come to life” look. It helps that the CG backgrounds are gorgeous. And there are some nifty stylistic touches here and there.

Overall Impression

For a premise so well-trodden, this is a surprising breath of fresh air. Part of it is that it’s played entirely straight by most characters, with the comedy resulting from the clash of cultures. But the real selling point here is the sheer charm of Mamoru Miyano’s performance, perfectly convincing as this little git way out of his depth. It’s impressive how you end up rooting for a character so punchable.

It’s fun, it’s charming, and it looks great. I didn’t expect to enjoy this at all, but it turns out I did. I’m in.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2014 – Page 8.

Invaders of the Rokujyouma?! (Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!?)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a supernatural romantic comedy light novel series.

Characters

Koutarou, our male lead, wants nothing more than starting a generic high school life. Sure, Mom is gone, and Dad is always away trying to earn some dough, but he’s not going to let that get him down. He’s got the mandatory perverted best friend, a budding relationship with the president of the knitting club, and is on good terms with his new houselady. (Who happens to be his own age.) He can’t believe his luck on this place being so cheap.

Sanae, the ghost girl haunting the room, might be part of the reason why. Anyway, she doesn’t want to share, so will he please go away ? (Koutarou starts rummaging through his stuff for religious charms.)

Yurika, the inept magical girl who crashes in the middle of their battle to warn them that there’s dangerous amounts of magical energy here, so they need to evacuate immediately. Er, please ?

Kiriha, the envoy from an underground race who just so happens to emerge into this room, and wants to use it as her base to CONQUER THE WORLD !

Theiamillia, a princess from an alien race who wields Nanoha-like magitek devices, and seems able to summon just as much firepower. Fortunately she comes with a supervisor in tow, immediately chiding her on the fact that destroying the planet would go against her mission of making its people submit to her will.

I’m surprised the walls are still standing by the end of the episode.

Production Values

Well, it seems studio Silver Link have finally surrendered and are now making anime that look just like everything else. Oh, well. It still looks quite good, with good effects for the battle sequences.

And of course, notable amounts of fanservice.

Overall Impression

Okay, I have to admit, the joke is pretty funny, as more and more ludicrous invaders keep barging in and making the previous ones go lulwat. (The next episode’s title suggests that even more are due to come, but they’re not on promotional materials.) But once you’ve introduced such a premise, what do you do with it ? Now that a non-aggression pact has been signed, we’re already back to a more conventional harem romantic comedy setup, and that’s not really promising.

I’ll go with my gut instinct and give it a pass. We’ve got better comedies airing this season.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2014 – Page 5.

Love Stage!!

(10 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a yaoi romantic comedy manga.

Characters

Izumi, our main character, is drifting through college. He’s got delusions of becoming a manga artist, but his art’s worse than mine. He’s basically just an otaku, fanboying over this one magical girl series.

His parents would very much like him to follow in the family business, i.e. show business. Mom’s still acting, while Dad has moved on to running a talent agency. (Bro is fronting a famous rock band.) But Izumi just won’t have any of this. He just feels too awkward on set.

A decade or so ago, Izumi did act in a wedding agency’s commercial with his parents ; he was a last-minute replacement for the child actress catching the bouquet. (Yes, actress. Izumi looks so feminine that it wasn’t hard to wing it.)

Ryouma, who was the boy playing opposite Izumi in that commercial, is very interested in the wedding agency’s project of making a sequel. His one condition is reuniting the whole original cast. The parents are delighted, as he’s now a very famous actor/model. Izumi’s way less enthusiastic, but they eventually managed to bribe it into participating.

Sagara, the uptight manager, is one of the few people on set who knows Izumi’s not a girl (the others being his personal makeup/costuming squad, who’ve been sworn to secrecy). You can see him obviously having little patience for Izumi’s apathy, but damn it this is his job and he’s going to do it well. What he didn’t anticipate : somebody changing the script at the last moment to include a kiss between Ryouma and Izumi. Uh oh…

Production Values

Not very good ; the standard yaoi character designs are rather ugly.

Overall Impression

Well, it’s yaoi. I was all prepared to write it off as “not my thing”, especially as it looks rather shabby.

… And then the jokes start hitting a homerun, and it turns out I’m actually enjoying this quite a lot. This is fun. That the premises seems devoid of the rape subtext so endemic to the genre is a big plus, but it’s just got charm. Izumi’s parents are ridiculously entertaining, the little pokes at show business are quite funny, and the whole thing is quite well scripted overall, with good comedic timing.

I’m surprised to say this has a good chance of staying on my watchlist.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2014 – Page 5.

Magimoji Rurumo

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of an ecchi comedy manga series.

Characters

Shibaki, our generic high school protagonist… no, scratch that, he’s a complete pervert. His terrible reputation at school might be slightly overstated (he does have moments of white-knighting, or just plain misunderstandings), but let’s be frank : he’s a horndog.

Rurumo, a deadpan witch who shows out of nowhere to claim his life. Well, not exactly out of nowhere ; he did make a half-assed summoning ritual with the occult club earlier that day, but had not clue it would actually work. (The show loves to put explanatory flashbacks like this just a bit too late, which makes him look like he has a two-minute attention span.) Anyway, they eventually find a loophole to avoid such unpleasantness… Except she comes back a few months later.

Chiro, her cat familiar, eventually explains the score in private to Shibaki. Rurumo has been demoted for her previous failure and needs to recomplete her training, which takes the form of single-use magic coupons Shibaki can use to direct her. (She can’t do magic of her own initiative anymore.) What she doesn’t know is that those coupons are tied to Shibaki’s life : once they’re all gone, he’s toast…

Production Values

About average, with just about as much focus on fanservice as you’d expect.

Overall Impression

Well, that was unpleasant. The jokes are mildly funny, but there’s an overall sadistic atmosphere that leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Sure, a lot of comedy in general revolves around terrible stuff happening to people who don’t (or do) deserve it, but this show pushes it too far into gratuitously malicious territory. It’s all the worse when it tries to make a bid for audience sympathy at the end with the dramatic twist : it doesn’t work, as the protagonist is too much of a jerk for me to care.

There are much better comedies this season ; I have no time to bother with this one.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2014 – Page 5.