Tag: manga adaptation

Kamisama Kiss (Kamisama Hajimemashita)

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Shoujo male harem with god bishies.

Characters

Nanami, our female protagonist. She’s got a bit more spunk and personality than the usual, what with now being on the streets due to her dad running away and the debtors taking the house over. She then meets…

Mikage, the local god, who ran away a long time ago and doesn’t really want to come back. So he kisses her on her forehead, which somehow transfers the local godhood to her. The scamp then disappears after giving her directions to the temple. Well, at least it’s a roof over her head…

Tomoe, a more minor local god, who’s been waiting for Mikage for ages. He’s really not fond of this normal human taking over the business, and was about to storm off when she kissed him, which somehow forces him to assist her. (Don’t ask me how it works, I was barely able to pay attention by then.)

There’s also a couple of mini-dudes in masks hanging around and being obnoxiously helpful.

Production Values

Very average.

What did I think of it ?

Snore. It may be because I have no interest in the genre, but I found this very boring. The two leads have no chemistry, and the jokes stop working halfway through. The OP/ED (and the next episode preview) promise more god bishies in further episodes, which I don’t find enticing at all.

I’ll pass.

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

My Little Monster (Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun)

(13ish episodes ?)

What’s it about ?

Standard shoujo romance : a girl falls for the angry good-looking bad boy. After all, he stalks her, threatens to rape her, kisses her forcefully and casually backhands her, injuring her in the process ; this must be love, right ?

Characters

Shizuku, our protagonist. She’s very, very cold and misanthropic, and has no friends whatsoever, chosing instead to focus on her studying. I like her and her dry, cynical attitude (although she’d probably very annoying in real life). One day, she’s tasked with delivering transcripts to the recently-kinda-suspended…

Haru, our male lead. While he’s very violent, he’s not that bad a guy ; he’s just very awkward around people, has no sense of his own strength, and very little social knowledge. He likes Shizuku because she’s the only person who’s not afraid to look him in the eye, doesn’t exploit him (unlike that pack of “friends” that hangs around him early on), and just straight up tells him what’s what when she’s fed up with his haphazard behaviour.

What with some of the OP imagery and Haru’s body language, I’m starting to wonder whether the title might not be a metaphor (although this episode’s coy on the subject so far).

Production Values

Brain’s Base bring in their usual baseline of quality, although this is in their lower range. Most of the budget here seems to be spent on the body language, making sure that the lead characters are always doing something quirky or a weird face in every single shot.

What did I think of it ?

Ignore my generic annoyance at the usual shoujo romance tropes in my first paragraph (although all of those things do happen over the course of the episode) ; this is actually a very fun romantic comedy, with perfect comedic timing and hilarious sight gags and dialogue. The two leads have tons of charisma and chemistry, and are a delight to watch interacting. This is very much played for laughs, which makes the shoujo clichés more palatable.

It reminds me somewhat of KareKano ; while it’s nowhere that good a show, there are worse models to follow after.

A pleasant surprise, setting a high bar for the other shoujo romance shows also airing this season.

via [In which I review] New anime, Fall 2012.

Girl’s High (Joshikousei)

(12 episodes, 2006)

My previous exposure

It was mentioned in passing in a recent ANN column as “the anti-MariMite”. Okay, bring it on.

What’s it about ?

It’s a slice-of-life show featuring six girls attending a girls-only high-school. The high concept is that they’re crude and make tons of sex-related jokes (despite most of them having no experience whatsoever, obviously).

The plots alternate between standard slice-of-life fare (the sports and culture festivals), some more risqué material (the love hotel episode) and more character-focused drama.

What did I think of it ?

This is a very decent show struggling under the weight of very pervasive and immersion-breaking fanservice. The pervert camera is on full-on mode here, oggling the girls and never missing an opportunity for a panty shot. This is more than a bit annoying, especially considering how the ED sequence manages to show the main cast sexing it up while still remaining tasteful (and looking like potato sacks teenagers). Fortunately, the fanservice does get a bit lighter later on, with a couple of episodes even having no panty in sight whatsoever.

Similarly, the gross-out sexual jokes of the initial episode quickly get phased out in favour of character-based humour… with some dashes of utterly random slapstick (such as drama queen Kouda’s instant bizarre cosplay shtick) and various parodies. It also gets sometimes into some weightier subjects (bullying, a rape attempt…) that get dealt with an appropriate mix of seriousness and levity.

Once you get past the adolescent pubic hair jokes and exaggerated personalities, there’s something surprisingly genuine about those girls’ portrayal. The series is at its best when it lets them act like actual teenagers. I especially liked the flashback to Himeji’s eating disorder, which is treated as a joke throughout, but still looks very real.

Thus this is something of a mixed bag : a fun little gag series burried under tons of creepy fanservice. But hey, at least it cheered me up.

via [LTTP/WIW] Various anime from the 00s and beyond – Page 13.

Ebiten – Ebisugawa Public High School Astronomical Club (Kouritsu Ebisugawa Koukou Tenmonbu)

(10 episodes)

What’s it about ?

High-school slice-of-life comedy show.

Characters

Todoyama, president of the Astronomy Club (and there must be a pun here in Japanese, because the subbers were intent on dubbing it the “Ass-tronomy” club). She’s exactly the kind of obnoxious hyperactive asshole that makes me avoid Kana Asumi in leading roles.

Kanamori, her chewtoy. Subject to tons of abuse, she spends most of the episode half-naked or in bondage, but it’s okay because she’s a dirty yaoi fangirl.

Noya, the first-year newcomer, who for some reason has to participate in a Saint Seiya parody as a trial before joining the club. Why she doesn’t run for the hills once she notices how weird and offputting this bunch is, I have no idea.

There’s also the “charming” vice-president who has to deploy allher social-fu for the club not to get closed down, and the sarcastic girl who deadpans through the whole thing while putting as little effort as possible into it.

Production Values

This is streamed on Niconico in eyebleed-o-vision, but even accounting for that it looks like crap. It also suffers from Seitokai no Ichizon‘s character designer, who manages somehow to turn in designs both stupidly elaborate and terminally generic.

Overall Impression

I can’t find a kind word for this. The premise is dodgy at best (hint: don’t go for “the student council wants to shut the club down” angle if you can’t give a reason to disagree with them), it looks horrible, but the biggest problem is that it’s just not funny at all. Which is worst possible sin for a gag show.

Avoid.

via [In which I review] New anime, Summer 2012 – Page 15.

Joshiraku

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Five girls talking about random stuff. Adapted from a manga written by the author of Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei.

Characters

Hey, remember how the girls in SZS often devolved into a generic greek chorus sharing the same snarky personality ? It’s even worse here, where I’m utterly at a loss to remember distinguishing character traits between the five main characters.

Nominally they’re doing one-woman-show comedy routines, but the series focuses their idle talk in their break room.

Production Values

Unlike other adaptations of Kouji Kumeta’s work, this is NOT animated by Shaft, but by JC Staff. As such, it’s perfectly serviceable but utterly boringly directed.

Overall Impression

Duller than dull. Never mind all the barely translatable puns : most of the jokes are just very lame. Also, that they’re already resorting to “why would anyone animate us ?” jokes in the first episode doesn’t fill me with confidence.

I’ll give it one more episode to click, but I’m not hopeful.

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

Natsuyuki Rendez-vous

(11 episodes)

What’s it about ?

A romantic comedy between adults, which is a rare occurence indeed. Adapted from a josei manga, obviously.

Characters

Hazuki, our protagonist. He’s taken a shine to the florist down the street, and has become a bit of a stalker. Buying a new plant every weekday, applying for the part-time job… Now, if only he had the guts to say out loud half of his snarky narration, he might have a chance.

Rokka, the florist. Frankly, she doesn’t make that much of an impression beyond “cute and sad”, as we mostly see her through Hazuki’s eyes.

Atsushi, her husband. Who casually walks around half-naked in her house just to put Hazuki off. And it would have worked if the latter hadn’t learned that the former has been dead for three years. Yep, he’s a ghost.

Also in this episode are the former part-timer (going off abroad to be married) and Atsushi’s sister, who comes around on weekends to lend a hand in the shop. But they’re mostly there to provide some gentle exposition.

Production Values

Quite good, and there’s some good visual jokes of Atsushi just floating around. Gorgeous ED, too.

Overall Impression

I was all ready to ignore the noitaminA show that isn’t about talking yeast, but this is actually quite good. Yuuichi Nakamura lends his usual charisma to our male lead, and makes for a fun double act with Jun Fukuyama. The “ghost” setup is a lot of fun too, and I like that the plot doesn’t seem to be wasting any time.

Definitely a keeper.

via [In which I review] New anime, Summer 2012 – Page 10.

Binbougami ga!

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Comedy about a Misfortune God harassing a high school girl. Or is it the other way around ?

Characters

Momiji, the Poverty God. Well, presumably one of many, as we open with her boss giving her a new assignment. She does not seem to enjoy her job too much, although her new “victim” did strike a nerve. (I say “victim” in the loosest of senses, given how Momiji kinda reminds me of Wile E. Coyote.)

Ichiko, an ultra-rich, ultra-popular, F-chested high-school girl. She knows it, and enjoys it tremendously, thank you. Calling her an entitled jerk would be an understatement. (I have to say I’ve been enjoying Kana Hanazawa’s career twice as much since she started getting those bitchy roles ; her venom tongue is a pleasure to listen to.) The plot here is that she’s actually leeching off the good fortune from everyone around her, hence why she’s got so much. Momiji’s job is to resolve the situation.

Suwano, her butler. He’s mostly there to provide Ichiko with an emotional bond… although even that isn’t taken too seriously by the show.

Some of Ichiko’s classmates are given enough prominence in the OP that they’ll probably be important later on, but not yet.

Production Values

Not very good, but the direction is solid enough to sell the jokes.

Overall Impression

Look, a comedy that’s actually funny ! Okay, it’s not without problems (the random popculture jokes, such as Momiji randomly starting to talk like Lupin III for a couple of sentences, sometimes fall flat), but it’s got enough energy and good comedic timing to work. It helps that the two main voice-actresses have amazing chemistry together and can pull off the rapid-fire jokes and multiple tone changes.

“From the makers of Gintama and Daily Lives of High School Boys” had my hopes up, and I’m glad not to be disappointed.

via [In which I review] New anime, Summer 2012 – Page 10.

Poems of Love (Chouyaku Hyakuninisshu: Uta Koi)

What’s it about ?

Remember Chihayafuru last year, about that card game based on 100 classic Japanese poems ? This is a (very liberal) adaptation of those poems. At least, the ones about love stories. Which is about half of them, so that’s plenty enough material.

(Adapted from a very popular josei manga.)

Characters & Plot

Fujiwara no Teika, the dude who’s supposed to have compiled the 100 poems, serves as our host for what is basically an anthology series. I like his sense of humour, for what little we see of it. (And it’s nice to have Yuki Kaji in snarky mode for a change.)

There are two tales here. The first one involves the lower-class Ariwara no Narihira seducing Fujiwara no Takaiko, who’s set to marry to Emperor soon, and thus doesn’t have time for such dalliance. You’ve seen this story thousands of times before, but this one works thanks to Narihira’s incredible charm and impeccably smooth technique, and Takaiko’s very genuine reactions.

The second tale is about his brother Ariwara no Yukihira’s happy marriage, and it doesn’t really go anywhere. It seems to be mostly an excuse to flesh Narihira’s backstory out a bit.

I have no clue whether we’re going to see any of those characters (besides our host) again later. I kinda doubt it, as I seem to recall the 100 poems having been written over a span of several centuries.

Production Values

This is a very good-looking series, with thick outlines and several other design choices contributing to make it look a bit like ancient Japanese paintings.

The ED features rapping. Of course it does.

Overall Impression

There is a lot to like here : it’s gorgeous, the dialogue is very well-written indeed, and the characters have a lot of life in them.

But… It’s an anthology of archetypal love stories. There’s a big risk of them quickly starting to repeat themselves. One of them this episode is already lackluster, and I really doubt this is going to keep my interest for long.

Still, I’ll at least try to stick with it for one more episode. Maybe they’ll find a way for it sustain itself for the long run ?

via [In which I review] New anime, Summer 2012 – Page 10.

Kingdom

(38 episodes)

What’s it about ?

War epic set in medieval China.

The first episode is double-sized, which I didn’t initially notice until the second commercial break.

Characters

Xin, an 10-year-old war orphan who’s housed by the village’s mayor. They don’t treat him well, but then again he’s an annoying little jerk with anger issues. (I’m not sure that scene when he demolishes a wall out of frustration is intentionally funny.)

Piao, his BFF who’s in the same situation but gets better treatment because he’s, you know, not an jerk. The guy has some genuine charisma, so of course he can’t survive the first episode’s halfway point.

The plot here is that a random noble dude shows up one day to pick Piao to serve at the Court. Months later, Piao comes back heavily wounded to the village and dies without having had time to explain what the heck is happening. Xin obviously declares vengeance and starts following the map Piao gave him.

The baddies are headed by the King’s younger brother, a classist asshole who has a total innocent executed just to make a point. He’s making a power play, and somehow this led to Piao’s demise. (The first episode doesn’t explain how or why, although the ending cliffhanger gives a good hint.)

Production Values

This seems to be fully CG-animated, with copious amounts of cell-shading to give it a more traditional anime look. The big problem is that the body language very often lurches into uncanny valley territory, as the characters are animated to move in really unnatural ways.

It doesn’t help that the direction is mind-bogglingly incompetent. Remember when I reviewed 2001’s Run=Dim last year ? Well, this falls into the same trap : yes, CG graphics allow the camera to pan over or around the action without losing quality ; but this isn’t a good reason to show it off at every opportunity, especially when this effect actually often hinders the storytelling of the shot.

And then there’s the continuity issues. It’s most hilarious in the early duel scene between the two kids, where the grass grows from merely a texture laid on flat terrain to knee-deep over a few shots.

Overall Impression

Okay, let’s leave aside for a moment the terrible graphics and the laughably inept direction. There’s no helping that the story just isn’t very good by itself, with an annoying brainless protagonist, EEEEVIL villains who can’t even chew the scenery properly, and a general level of unpleasantness that’s just tiring to watch. (Did that guy really need to sword that kid through the balls ?)

Even for the trainwreck factor this isn’t worth 45 minutes of your time.

via [In which I review] New anime, Summer 2012.

Moyashimon (“Yeast Monsters”)

(11 episodes, 2007)

My previous exposure

There’s a sequel airing this Summer, and since it’s on noitaminA it’d have gotten on my radar sooner rather than later anyway.

Beyond that and the notion that it’s about cute microbes or something, I knew nothing of it.

What’s it about ?

Sawaki, our protagonist, is a new student attending an agriculture university. He can see microbes (bacteria, fungi, viruses, the whole lot of them), not as what they look like under a microscope, but as cute inch-tall little critters. He’s not too fond of this talent of his, and tends to keep it secret, but it turns out to be quite useful in the world of agriculture (both with the “good” fermenting microbes, and the “bad” toxic microbes).

But this is mostly a background thread, as the core of the series is a slice-of-life story involving the ensemble cast of Sawaki, his best friend Yuuki, Pr Itsuki (an ineffable microbe specialist who takes them under his wing), angry grad-student Hasegawa, never-do-well second-years Kawahama & Misato, and various over recurring characters.

What did I think of it ?

I didn’t expect this at at all. Sure, it’s very educative about how microbes are SERIOUS BUSINESS in agriculture, and the quirky “Sawaki-vision” does a lot to liven up all this exposition… but mostly it’s just a really good college slice-of-life series. Heck, the high point of the series is that hilarious two-parter with the survival challenge, and that had nothing to do with microbes.

This was well worth watching, and I can hardly wait for the second season.

via [LTTP/WIW] Various anime from the 00s and beyond – Page 13.