Tag: humour

La Bonne Vie (Jinsei)

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a comedy light novel series.

Characters

Yuuki, our generic highschool student male lead. He’s been tasked by his cousin (who’s the president of the Second Newspaper Club) to shepherd the life advice columnists. Which mostly means he has to play the straight man to those bozos.

Rino, the science specialist, is an arrogant and socially awkward nerd whose idea of casual conversation involves advanced scientific topics that leave everyone else baffled. Also, she’s obviously being pushed by the other characters to become Yuuki’s love interest ; she’s not entirely uninterested, but it’s going to be a long road.

Fumi, the humanities specialist, is a nice girl who tries desperately to accommodate everyone, however absurd that may be. Also, big jugs.

Ikumi, the sports specialist, is athletically superhuman, but rarely bothers to consult her brain before acting.

The format involves Yuuki reading aloud letters from other students (3 this episode), and the four of them brainstorming an answer to publish ; since the three specialists have wildly different opinions and agendas and keep going on completely unrelated tangents, the final result is usually utterly chaotic.

Production Values

Decent, although the shine in Yuuki’s hair is really distracting.

Also, there’s a completely gratuitous wet T-shirt scene, and some breast fondling.

Overall Impression

Oh, dear. This is a gag show that just isn’t funny. Most of the jokes are too laborious or over-extended to work, when they’re not completely impenetrable. It doesn’t help that a lot of them rely on walls of text that probably worked better in the source medium. Moreover, the format is already starting to get repetitive.

Well, they can’t all be winners. Having two good comedy shows this season (three if you count Barakamon) is already pretty good.

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

Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun (Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a shoujo 4-panel web-manga lampooning the romantic shoujo clichés.

Characters

Chiyo, our point-of-view character. She’s madly in love with this tall, good-looking dude in her class. And she’s about to make her confession. Except she bungles it, and ends up as his assistant.

You see, Nozaki-kun, under the nom-de-plume “Sakiko Yumeno” (which sounds like a young woman, and certainly not a dude being voiced by Yuuichi Nakamura in full deadpan mode), is a popular shoujo manga artist published in the “Monthly Girls” magazine. It’s not like he’s particularly passionate about it (the man seems to have no romance whatsoever in his life), it’s just that he’s very good at it. Cue cynical examination of various tropes of the shoujo romance genre ; the “let’s ride together on a bicycle” staple gets a particularly thorough beating this episode.

The OP sequence hints that there will be more supporting cast added up shortly ; one of them shows up just after the ED credits.

Production Values

Bouncy and colourful ; it’s got good comedic timing, and that’s what matters.

Overall Impression

This is mostly quite funny indeed. I say “mostly”, because Chiyo’s romantic moments don’t quite work until the show starts undercutting them swiftly. And, well, not all jokes land ; that’s par for the course for this kind of series. But it’s rapid-fire enough that you never get bored of it.

If you think shoujo romance is a genre that can get stale, then this is the perfect antidote. (It may make you incapable of ever reading any other such show with a straight face, but that’s the sign of a job well done.)

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

Futsuu no Joshikousei ga (Locodol) Yattemita. (“Ordinary Schoolgirls Tried to Be Local Idols”)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a 4-panel gag manga about… well, you know how some recent anime series feel like they’re a collaboration with some town’s tourism board ? Well, it’s about this kind of thing.

Characters

Nanako, our protagonist, is an ordinary high school girl : she has a generic circle of friends, nags her mother for pocket money, and wonders whether she should join a club. Her gi character quirk is that she’s a bit of a perfectionist : once she commits to something, she wants to do it properly.

Her uncle is a civil servant in a town with no attractive feature whatsoever, and badly bleeding inhabitants to its neighbours. He tries his best to counter the tide, though ; his latest idea : “Locodol”, i.e. local idols. He ropes his niece into putting a show at the newly refurbished swimming-pool. Chaotic disaster ensues.

Fortunately, Yukari, the other girl he hired, has an actual clue on how to do this, and manages to salvage the situation. She and Nanako quickly become friends ; why not keep doing this ?

Production Values

Perfectly okay. Bright and shiny, as you’d expect this to be.

Overall Impression

There’s an interesting idea at the core of this : some towns are desperate to attract (or at least retain) young adults, and seizing on any fad for this purpose. This bleak reality gives an edge to an otherwise very fluffy gag series. Actually, I was kinda surprised Uncle’s plan somehow worked out, as it feels slightly undeserved.

But hey, this is funny. That’s a decent start for a comedy. Can it keep up among the deluge of Thursday shows ? We’ll see. I’m willing to give it a bit of rope.

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

Survival Game Club! (Sabagebu!)

(12ish episodes)

What’s it about ?

The title says it all, really ; it’s an adaptation of a comedy shoujo manga.

Characters

Momoka, our protagonist. She’s just transferred into a new girls-only high-school for the billionth time (because of her dad’s professional obligations), and she’s going through the motions yet again : act nice towards everybody and not make waves. That’s not her real personality (she’s cynical, impulsive and vindictive), but it’s less trouble that way. She certainly doesn’t want to make any actual friends or join a club, because what’s the point if she moves around again in a few months ? Unfortunately, she randomly stumble into…

Miou, the president of the Survival Game Club, who’s by all counts a complete lunatic. She rarely, if at all, bothers with her school uniform, and sometimes even comes to school in full tactical gear. How she gets away with such antics is a mystery, although it helps that most of the student body is madly admirative of her. Anyway, Momoka’s caught her eye, and she’s not about to let go.

Other members of the club include Boobs, who’s also a model on the side (and, er, that kind of model, it seems) ; the cute little girl who’s a bit too possessive of her childhood friend Miou ; and the monotone potted plant who’s in it for the cosplay aspect. I’m also not entirely sure whether the duck mascot is really sentient.

Production Values

It’s a bit hard to judge with NicoNico’s eyebleed-o-vision, but this is a bright and shiny series with distinctive character designs. Animation is average, but it’s good at selling the sight gags, and that’s what counts. The level of fanservice isn’t low, but not too cringeworthy either.

Overall Impression

You might remember last year’s C3-bu, which had a similar premise. Beyond the questionable decision to have the girls fight in school uniforms, it had them wear adequate protection and observe good gun safety. It pushed the realistic approach to have a lead with crushing co-dependency issues, and the havoc it wreaked on the group.

Here, the narrator goes out of his way to make it clear we won’t have any of that angst shit, and don’t care one bit about realism. It’s all about bringing the funny. The good news is that this is from the makers of the likes of Mitsudomoe and Love Lab (different studio, but same director and head writer), and they know about funny. If you enjoyed their madcap approach to comedy, and their precisely-paced slapstick, then you’re in luck, because that’s what they’re doing here too.

This made me laugh nonstop. Of course I’ll keep watching.

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

Spring 2014 capsules

So, first, a few worlds about Insufficient Direction (Kantoku Fuyuki Todoki), a series of Flash-based shorts adapting the autobiography of Hideaki Anno’s wife. If you think that sounds interesting, you’ll be disappointed by the final product. It’s the perfect example of a private joke taken too far. For one, there’s no actual explanation of the premise at any point in it ; I only discovered it later on when I did a bit of research to write this. For two, she’s inexplicably depicted as a toddler throughout. Since this first episode covers their marriage ceremony, that’s more than a bit disturbing. But the most damning flaw of this thing is that it doesn’t seem to have much more insight to offer than “otaku are weird and kinda creepy” ; the Director character could be just about anyone and it wouldn’t change a thing.

Don’t bother with it.

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

SEQUEL WATCH !

Mushishi is the same as it always was. Great mood piece, intriguing world-building, and nothing much for me to actually say about it. Well, except that this first episode is way less depressing than average.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure – Stardust Crusaders is a whole different kind of awesome. This is a textbook example of how to animate bigger-than-life characters. It seems to have gotten a budget upgrade too, which isn’t unwelcome. (Although really, part of the charm of the 2012 series is how they used colour and framing to compensate for the lack of animation.)

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

QUICK CAPSULES !
Because I certainly don’t want to spend any more time than strictly necessary covering the sea of mediocrity we got this Monday.

Hero Bank, Dragon Collection and Oreca Battle are all kids’ shows bases on videogames (respectively for the 3DS, a social network, and arcades). All three of them feature an annoying redhead kid and his bland friends, fighting stuff with their collectible assets. (Hero Bank sets up some sort of permanent VR tournament, while the other two are the old “transported to another world” gimmick.)

Hero Bank is the least watchable of the three, partly because it’s a full 22-minute show, but mostly because everyone is just so annoying.

Dragon Collection has a slightly less annoying protagonist, and his initial sense of wonder at being transported to a fantasy world is decently done, but the only reason it doesn’t overstay its welcome is that it’s only 11-minute long.

Oreca Battle at least seems to have fun with its weird monster design. (Flying octopi that rain tomatoes onto kids ? WTF ?) This one actually suffers from being a bit rushed at 11-minute-long, completely losing me with a journey to a fantasy world that seems to come from nowhere. Especially as it’s way less interesting than the “monsters come alive out of this card game and run wild into our world” premise it’d been initially setting up.

So, yeah. Three show I’m thrice too old to watch, and I won’t be bothering with.

The Comic Artist and Assistants (Mangaka-san to Assistant-san to) is a different deal altogether. Again it’s a shorter format (11-minute-long), but the similarities end there. It adapts a comedy 4-panel manga, and manages to fit four sketches in its first episode. As the title lays out, it follows the hijinks of a quirky manga author, his assistant, and his editor. (More characters presumably coming, according to the OP & ED ; aside from the manga author, they’re all female.)

The problem here is that this show’s only joke is that the manga author is a pervert who sexually harasses his colleagues. And then makes puppy eyes for them to forgive him. It’s endless variations about the same theme : he wants some reference of breasts being groped, he launches a debate about how much panties should be revealed, and he buys tons of female underwear, again for “reference”. (You can guess what kind of manga he draws.)

Yeah, no thanks. The joke is already tired by the episode’s end, I can’t bear anymore of it.

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

It’s almost painful to watch the slow demise of studio Gainax. With most of their key staff having gone off to the greener pastures of Khara and Trigger, it’s now reduced to a shadow of its own glory, taking any bizarre project that might get them some direly-needed sponsorship money. Remember when they did a short magical girl show that was a glorified (and impenetrable) ad for Subaru ?

Well, Magica Wars (Mahou Shoujo Taisen) is a similar project : a series of 26 shorts starring magical girls who represent the various prefectures of Japan. Not that the premise is obvious from the first episode, which showcases the not-very-funny slapstick hijinks of an incompetent magical girl chasing small blobs.

It doesn’t even have any kind of novelty value ; it’s just boring and pointless.

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

I’m not making a full review for Marvel Disk Wars : the Avengers, but I do want to note that it’s much better than I expected. Especially since it involves a bunch of kids using the titular disks to summon Avengers and fight bad guys. The chief reason the show manages to make that premise less terrible is to spend the first episode without it, instead devoting it to pure set-up. And it does a good job of selling this as a recognizable version of the Marvel Universe, with the Avengers behaving like they should throughout. The Disks are Stark Technology Gone Wrong ™, baddies try to steal them, the Avengers presumably get stuck in them next episode. And the kids are given plausible explanations for being around, which is a relief.

Let’s put it this way : I’m open to watching a second episode, which is more than I can say for just about any of the other marketing-driven kids’ shows this season.

Also, a few words about Inugami & Nekoyama, an adaptation of a 4-panel gag manga about a dog-like girl who likes cats, and a cat-like girl who likes dogs. That’s basically the whole joke, so it’s a good thing that it’s a series of 3-minute shorts. Sure, that’s a bit of a “stop-start” paced format, but the episode packs just enough content, and I’m not sure the source material could support a full-length adaptation anyway. As it stands, it’s perfectly pleasant to watch.

No full review for Escha & Logy’s Atelier either ; I fell asleep watching it and have no wish to try it again. It’s very boring indeed, with flat characters and a complete lack of any kind of narrative tension. You’d think a JRPG adaptation would have more punch, but no.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Spring 2014 – Page 7.

Is the Order a Rabbit? (Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu ka?)

(12ish episodes ?)

What’s it about ?

A full-length adaptation of a 4-panel workplace-sitcom manga.

Characters

Cocoa, our bubbly point-of-view character. She’s come to [whichever European-like city this is set in] to study, and gets to stay at the “Rabbit House” provided she pays her stay by working there. It’s a coffee house, with dozens of blends on the menu.

Chino, the deadpan head waitress, and the owner’s daughter. There’s a white bundle of fur, allegedly a rabbit, resting on her hair. (“Please do not touch it.”) Hence the title, as she mistakes Cocoa’s confusion for a client’s order.

Rize, the other waitress on duty that day, had a totally good reason for hiding half naked in a closet. And drawing out a gun at the slightest provocation. Sure she does.

Chino’s dad handles the evening shift, where the place becomes a bar. And apparently Grampa’s the rabbit-thing, but that’s a secret.

Production Values

Scenery porn ! And coffee porn, obviously. Very little actual fanservice, thankfully.

Overall Impression

Fluffy, pleasant, inoffensive, and immediately forgettable. It’s a nice and comfortable way to pass 22 minutes, but nothing to go out of your way for.

Still, it’s perfectly okay, and I may give it a couple more episodes.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Spring 2014 – Page 7.

Soul Eater Not!

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a spin-off manga from Soul Eater. Not that the original series is required reading/watching : the premise is reintroduced from scratch, it focuses on new characters, and this seems to be set around the start of the main story anyway.

Characters

Tsugumi, a girl who discovers she’s a weapon. So she goes to the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning Death Weapon Meister Academy, where she can learn to control her newfound abilities and save the world. Sure, Death City and the academy are quite overwhelming as places, but she’ll be fine, eh ?

Meme, a weird girl who seems to have memory issues. She’s on track to become a “meister” (the people who wield the weapon-people, with totally no sexual subtext whatsoever to their teaming-up, no siree). She’s nearly immediately assaulted in the corridors by a couple of sleazy assholes ; Tsugumi, who had befriended her a bit, finds her resolve and runs back to help her.

Anya, a rich/noble girl who’s come to study as a meister and mingle with the plebeians. She can’t overlook the attack against Meme, so she offers to wield Tsugumi and get rid of the two jerks. They make a pretty good combo… which is a bit awkward, as Meme wants to partner up with Tsugumi too. That’s not the kind of triangle she was expecting to be in the middle of…

A good chunk of the original series’ cast drop in to make cameos. Of most significance : Maka, as the experienced upperclassman Tsugumi takes for a role model, and Pr Sid, who presides over the welcome course.

Production Values

It’s studio Bones, so of course it looks nice and the action sequences are impeccable, but as a whole it looks much more generic and ordinary than the Burton-esque original series. The jerk sun is still around, but it looks a bit alone. It’s especially weird as the plot still calls for demented designs – there’s a dude who can turn anything but his head into a knife !

Also, no more Taku Iwasaki music. The replacement’s not bad, but it’s just not the same.

Overall Impression

This is a nice angle for a spin-off ; the original series never really bothered with world-building, rarely giving any sense of how DWMA was supposed to work and fit into the world. Here it’s front and center, free from the constraints of any wider plot. I already get a much better understanding of DWMA than I ever did before ! (Like, that Death City is supposed to be in America.) And the new main characters form a good framework to explore all of this.

I’m on board.

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

Daimidaler the Sound Robot (Kenzen Robo Daimidaler)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of an mecha/sentai ecchi manga.

Characters

Kouichi, our protagonist, straight on loan from the 80s, i.e. wearing a rakugan instead of his high school’s more modern uniform. His core personality is that he’s a pervert ; his standard daily routine includes standing below stairs to check out what underwear girls are wearing.

Kyouko, an agent from the PRINCE organization, which is tasked with handling attacks from the evil extraterrestrial Penguin Empire. He mission was to scout Kouichi, as he can generate a high level of Hi-ERO energy. You’ve guessed it : he can power his mecha up by doing something perverted, such as fondling her.

For now, the Penguin Empire are mostly represented by a few of those low-level masked underlings that are so common in sentai ; this is the kind of series that finds it very funny for them to have a front “tail”.

Production Values

Decent, I guess. The Daimidaler mecha has a very peculiar old-school design that at least makes it look distinctive.

Be warned, this is a very fanservice-heavy show. And not just because of Kouichi’s antics ; the camera is just as perverted as him.

Overall Impression

Oh, dear. The kindest thing I can say about this is that it’s neither bland nor forgettable ; unfortunately, its sense of humour starts at tedious and then goes downhill. It’s dreadfully unfunny, and watching more than five minutes of it was a chore.

No thanks.

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

The Kawai Complex Guide to Manors and Hostel Behavior (Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou)

(12ish episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a romantic comedy manga.

If you’re wondering about the bizarrely elaborate official English title, it’s probably an attempt to play off the pun in the original title (it literally means something like “We’re all from the Kawai Lodging House”, but it sounds a lot like “We’re all pitiful”).

Characters

Usa, our protagonist. He’s looking to start his life anew with high school. (There are hints his middle school years were wild.) Hence why he moved to a new town, and begged his parents to let him live on his own. Finding a quiet and intellectual girl to settle down with would be nice, too.

Ritsu, a quiet and intellectual girl in the next grade. And she happens to live in the same lodging house he’s just moved into ! Heaven ! Well, aside from the fact that she’s not about to let him get into her personal space, and seems to have pegged him as a weirdo. But hey, room for progress, right ? Also, that kendo sword looks dangerous. (There’s a fun joke explaining how she can seemingly pull it out of thin air.)

Sumiko, the elderly landlady of the lodging house, seems to fit the “nice but strict old lady” archetype… But that’s at least partly an act, and she’s more mischievous than she looks. There’s a reason the rent is dirt cheap, after all.

Shirosaki, Usa’s roommate, is part of that reason. He’s more than a bit of a creep, although he’s mostly harmless. (After all, he’s openly a masochist. Sumiko quite enjoys playing along.) He’s less annoying than I’d have thought, as he makes a good sounding board for Usa’s own fetishes.

Mayumi, another of the residents. A working woman in her 20s, she comes back early from a trip after dumping her boyfriend for two-timing her. From everyone else’s reactions, it’s obviously not the first time this happens. She’s an impressive drinker, which however does not mean she can hold her alcohol well.

There’s mention of a college student also residing in Kawai Complex, but she’s currently away. The OP & ED sequences suggest she often antagonizes Mayumi.

Production Values

Perfectly alright. There are some sudden abstract backgrounds & overlay text marking punchlines that initially made me think this was adapted from 4-panel manga, but apparently not.

Overall Impression

Well, that was fun. There’s something to be said for run-of-the-mill romantic comedies : it doesn’t set the world on fire, but it’s very pleasant to watch. Nothing wrong with occupying that niche.

There’s a good chance I’ll keep watching this.

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

No-Rin

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Romantic comedy (with a heavy focus on the comedy) set in an agricultural high school in rural Japan. Adapted from a light novel series.

Characters

Kousaku, our male lead. He’s completely obsessed with this one idol, to a frightening extent. Body-pillows and everything. He even was regularly sending him the cucumbers he’s grown !

Minori, his childhood friend. It’s very transparent why she follows him around, though she’s yet to make any actual move. No clue what she sees in this jerk, aside from being one of the very few eligible prospects from their small village.

Kei is the “serious” member of their trio of friends, and often takes the straight man role. There’s an obvious attraction between him and the stuck-up top animal husbandry student (the threes are in the produce major), but they’d both die before acknowledging it.

“Becky”, their teacher, is that stale joke about desperate single 30-somethings taken up to eleven. I don’t think her students wanted to know about that night she took selfies naked and covered in oil, but she’s telling them anyway.

Ringo is a new transfer student, and it’s obvious she’s Kousaku’s favourite idol incognito after her surprise retirement.

Production Values

There actually seems to be quite a bit of budget behind this, especially in the opening dream sequence where Kousaku fantasizes about his idol.

The fanservice level is quite high, and you’re going to see a lot of big boobs bouncing.

Overall Impression

If you make an entire show out of stale old jokes exaggerated to a ludicrous degree, can the result be worth watching ? The answer here seems to be no : it’s just a painful trainwreck all around. (The “Becky” sequences, in particular, are both extremely memorable and a joke I’m in no hurry to watch again.) It’s mildly funny and quite fascinating, but you still want to escape.

No way I’m keeping up with this when Silver Spoon is already airing.

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