Tag: light novel adaptation

Gonna be the Twin-Tails!! (Ore, Twintails ni Narimasu.)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a series of comedy light novels.

Characters

Souji, our protagonist, is a high-school student with a very strong twintails fetish. That’s all he ever thinks about. He evaluates each every girl around him according to their twintails quality (or potential, if they don’t wear their hair that way). He tries to stay quiet about it as much as possible, as he knows it’s not exactly socially-acceptable, but he doesn’t always succeed.

Aika, his childhood friend, does happen to have magnificent twintails, which I’m sure has no link to her obvious crush on him… but she’s so tsundere and, well, familiar that she’s been effectively friend-zoned. He just seems to used to her being around to really care about her twintails. (Also, she’s highly trained in martial arts, because of course she is.)

Twoearle, a mysterious woman (without twintails !) who shows up out of the blue and starts stalking Souji clumsily. Absolutely unable to speak in without double entendres. She eventually gives him a magic bracelet and explains : he’s the only hope against the Elemerians, invaders from a parallel dimension who have started a war against twintails. (They feed off “twintail energy”, or something like that.) Only him can beat them !

Lizardgildy, the captain of the invasion force, is a true sentai villain. He’s even got hordes of identical small-fry footsoldiers ! And a machine that captures twintailed girls and then extracts energy out of them, undoing their hair in the process…

But then, this is really a sentai show : when Souji activates the bracelet, he transforms into TAIL RED, a warrior who can use twintail energy to beat the baddies up… and happens to be a petite twintailed girl.

(The ED sequence suggests he’s going to be joined in by Aika and the Student Council President, who’s one of the victims of the week.)

Production Values

Rather less fanservice than you’d expect, really ; the camera is a bit perverted at times, but most of the time it tries to sell this as a SERIOUS and TOTALLY NORMAL sentai show. So does the bombastic music.

Overall Impression

Well, this was ever going to be dumb fun, or an unwatchable trainwreck. The good news : the joke works. It’s a very stupid premise, but the direction plays it entirely straight (well, as straight as a sentai show can be), and the contrast between the deadpan exposition and the plot’s complete insanity is hilarious.

I’m not sure it’s a joke that can carry a full series, but I’m willing to give it a try.

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

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.

Lord Marksman and Vanadis (Madan no Ou to Vanadis)

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a series of fantasy light novels.

Characters

Tigrevurmud (sic) Vorn, our protagonist. Lord of the small province of Alsace (/facepalm), he leads a token battalion among the much wider forces of Brune. At least, that’s his backstory, as by the time the series starts he’s the last man standing, with patrols from the enemy country of Zhcted (gesundheit) scouring the battlefield for stragglers. But while he doesn’t have any illusions over his survival odds, he’s going to make the most of the few arrows he’s got left.

Eleonora Viltaria, one of the seven war maidens (“Vanadis”) of Zhcted, stumbled upon him ; she quickly overwhelms him, but she’s fallen in love with his bow skills, and so takes him prisoner. Officially she’s asking for ransom, but she deliberately set an unreasonable price to be sure she’ll get to keep him. Refreshingly, she’s NOT a tsundere ; she exudes power and self-confidence, and is charmingly frank about her motives and plans.

Her entourage, though, aren’t too happy with her latest conquest, as they suspect she wants more than merely his bow skills. Some of them are already trying to undermine him.

Zaian Thenardier (sigh) was Tigre’s “rival” among the Brune forces, i.e. a bully who kept provoking and insulting him. The episode closes on the announcement that he’s attacking Alsace, because mwahahahah he’s an evil little prick. It’s obvious where this is going : Eleonara “conquering” Alsace so as to protect it and keep Tigre under her thumb.

The OP & ED threaten to turn this series into a full-blown harem series, with several more scantily clad young woman about to join in.

Production Values

As has become the norm from studio Satelight, this is much brighter and shinier series than you’d expect from the actual subject matter. The fanservice level is quite high, as the camera never lets you forget that Eleonora has boobs and legs.

Overall Impression

I had very low expectations coming into this. I’ve come to dread adaptations of fantasy light novels in general, as they’re often the height of mediocrity ; the pervert camera is highly annoying ; and the laughable naming scheme is just distracting. It doesn’t help that the script makes the questionable choice of starting off with Eleonora’s claim of ownership over Tigre (which has no impact whatsoever out of context), and then delves into several nested flashbacks to explain it all. (There’s even a terrible infodump from the narrator.)

And still… there’s the nugget of a semi-interesting premise here. The core couple are surprisingly engaging characters, with more charisma, depth and maturity than the norm. (The supporting cast, not so much.) They’ve got great chemistry. I’m shocked to be thinking this might actually work and be quite watchable, if the harem elements don’t overwhelm it.

Against my better judgement, I’m giving it a second episode. Make the best of it.

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

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 Fran♄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.

Blade Dance of the Elementalers (Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a fantasy light novel series.

Characters

Kamito, our generic male lead. He’s the second guy to ever manage taming an elemental spirit, and the first one was known as the Demon Lord or somesuch. Subtle foreshadowing ! Anyway, he’s a complete anomaly in a world where Elementalers are usually female.

Greyworth, headmaster of the Elemental Academy of the same name, has specifically headhunted him so that he can participate in the next Blade Dance tournament.

Claire Rouge (sic) is the first student he meets on the grounds, and it’s irritation at first sight. Impulsive, reckless, she feels humiliated by their first contact, and is bent on having him contract with her as her slave to offset this.

Other major characters introduced here include the head of the Student Guard Corps, the archer who also wants him for herself, and the teacher irritated by everyone’s antics. (He’s been put into the problem student class, because of course.) Also, a maid. “Why is there a maid ?” Wise words, Kamito, wise words.

Production Values

Very cheap indeed. The character designs are especially bad and generic. And of course, tons of lame fanservice : it starts with a “caught bathing naked” scene and goes on with multiple panty shots throughout the episode.

Nice score, though.

Overall Impression

Oh, dear. This is by far the worst thing I’ve watched this season. Even Momo Kyun Sword and Akame ga Kill weren’t this irritating and facepalm-inducing. The beyond-generic plot is merely an excuse to string along a series of clichĂ© harem antics, with characters who grow more and more annoying as the episode goes.

This is awful on just about every level. Avoid like the plague.

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

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.

Momo Kyun Sword

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a light novel series very loosely based on the tale of Momotarou.

Characters

Momoko, our teenage female lead. Born from a peach, and also blessed with huge peaches in the front. (This terrible pun isn’t mine, the show did it first.) Also, dumb as a hammer.

She has three sidekick gods : a monkey, a dog and a pheasant, who get the straight man role by default. She can fuse with any of them to get superpowers.

The plot, such as it is, involves demons looking for “peach fragments”, and the Heavens sending a team of four warriors to stop them. They’re completely useless, and Momoko ends up saving the day. She’s enlisted to keep up the good fight.

Production Values

So much fanservice ! Everyone, and especially Momoko, shows so much skin it’s a wonder their clothes don’t fall off. Momoko still gets her clothes shredded at the end, because of course.

Overall Impression

I knew we were missing something this season : the vacuous fanservice-fest with barely an excuse plot. It’s terrible on every level, really. It’s not even worth my time deriding it.

Really don’t bother with this one.

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

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.

Shounen Hollywood: Holly Stage for 49

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

This series is the sequel to a 2012 light novel about a male idol group.

Characters

“Shounen Hollywood” was an idol group… 15 years ago. This isn’t their story. This is about their successors, a group of five teenage wannabes who’ve be scouted by the original group’s producer.

Frankly, even while watching the episode I couldn’t bother keeping track of each of the five’s actual personalities. It doesn’t help that the producer is intent on having them adopt ridiculously fake stage personas, all equally punchable.

Aside from the insane producer, the one character who sticks out is the hideous gay caricature who trains the kids. Urgh.

Production Values

Well, if it’s good-looking teenage dudes you want, you’ll get them. They all kinda have the same face, though.

And of course all the songs are crappy J-pop.

Overall Impression

There are actually some decent jokes in this. But that’s not enough to save this shapeless, plotless mess which seems bent on making me dislike all its characters. (Not hate, as that would imply some actual impact.)

You can sell me on idol shows if you’ve got the right kind of energy. This doesn’t have what it takes. It looks like an exercise in tediousness I have no wish to see any more of.

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