Tag: romance

Nisekoi (“False Love”)

(26ish episodes)

What’s it about ?

High school romantic comedy. (Adapted from a manga series.)

Characters

Raku, our male lead, wants to become a honest and productive member of society. That’s a bit hard when he’s the heir of a yakuza gang and there are dozens of henchmen expecting him to succeed his crimelord of a father. (For now, those are family-friendly mobsters whose only visible mischiefs are feuds with other gangs, but that may change later on.) They do respect his wishes for the time being, but they sure hope he’s gonna change his mind.

Kosaki, the nice girl in his class. It’s heavily hinted that she owns the key to the locket he exchanged with his childhood love 10 years ago, and she’s been testing waters in attempts to confirm that… but actually, that’s so obvious I’m expecting some kind of swerve.

Chitoge, the new half-American transfer student. It’s antipathy at first sight ; it doesn’t help that she has a terrible personality and accidentally stepped onto his face while jumping the wall into the school. They do mellow a bit after a while (an evolution nicely underlined by chapter titles progressively shifting from calling her “Monkey Girl” to her actual first name). On the other hand, they’re both taken aghast when their respective fathers order them to (at least pretend to) be lovers for three years, in order to broker peace between the two gangs. Hence the title.

Production Values

It’s impossible to forget Akiyuki Shinbo & studio SHAFT are at the helm here : weird angles for shots, editing used as punctuation, text hidden in the background, the trademark head tilts, some great use of colour… heck, even Kouki Uchiyama often sounds like he’s doing a Hiroshi Kamiya impression.

It helps that the show has enough budget to animate lavishly the rare actions sequences. Nice music, too.

Overall Impression

Let’s not mince words : this series’ key selling point is the presentation. The plot and characters are serviceable, and there are some good jokes, but it’d be instantly forgettable in lesser hands. I’ve seen an interview of the manga creator being delighted that SHAFT would adapt his series, and I can believe it. This is way better than it deserves, if the series is as pedestrian as a quick browse through a few pages lets me think.

But while this is certainly a great-looking (and -sounding) anime series, it doesn’t really add up to anything. It’s still a generic romantic comedy with a formulaic hook. It’s not like, say, Sankarea, whose impressive execution added tons of atmosphere and edge. We’re firmly into well-trodden territory here.

But hey, I’m such a Shinbo fanboy I’ve watched through aggressively terrible SHAFT series (hello, Maria+Holic !) ; there’s no way I’m skipping this. After all, it’s perfectly okay.

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

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.

Sakura Trick

(12ish episodes)

What’s it about ?

High-school romantic comedy about lesbians. (Adapted from a 4-panel gag manga.)

Characters

Haruka, our main point-of-view character. She would be the straight man in half the jokes if she wasn’t a lesbian girl. A bit airheaded and clumsy.

Yuu, her longtime girlfriend. They were already friends each other in middle school, and are now pushing it to the next level. More brash and fiery-tempered.

There are quite many other lesbian girls in their class… oh, fuck it, this is so boring I fell asleep and can’t remember anything about them.

Production Values

Studio Deen recruited a SHAFT alumnus to direct this, and it shows ; he’s trying his darnedest to spruce up those talking heads with every visual trick in his bag : unusual shots, some good use of colour, and of course many close shots of young girls’ thighs.

Overall Impression

How can this show be so DULL ? Admittedly I often run hot and cold on 4-panel gag manga adaptations, but the jokes here just aren’t very funny, and the characters are instantly forgettable. It feels like the show’s only selling point is “Lesbians!”, and that just won’t cut it.

Don’t bother with this one.

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

Engaged to the Unidentified (Mikakunin de Shinkoukei)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a 4-panel gag manga about teenage arranged marriage.

Characters

Kobeni, our protagonist, is a normal high school girl. Who’s just learned she’s been forcibly engaged to some far-related cousin from the boonies. And he’s coming to live with her family right now. Obviously, she’s not too happy about this, despite her generally easy-going nature.

Hakuya, said fiancé, does seem like a decent dude. He’s got no presence whatsoever, though.

Mashiro, his younger sister, is the big problem. For one, she’s also coming to live in. But mostly, she’s just very, very annoying in her worship of her brother and her jealousy against Kobeni.

Benio, Kobeni’s older sister, is the idol of her high school… but a lecherous, borderline-lolicon at home. Maybe she’s just joking, but Mashiro certainly hates her attentions.

Production Values

Perfectly okay for this kind of thing. There are heavy white highlights that give a somewhat pastel look to the characters (if that makes any sense), which looks okay enough.

Overall Impression

Well, this could be a lot more cringe-worthy, what with the forced-marriage and lolicon elements of the premise. As it is, it feels oddly charming.

On the other hand, it’s not that funny, and I have better comedies to watch. So I’m not going to bother with it.

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

The Pilot’s Love Song (Toaru Hikuushi e no Koiuta)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a very successful light novel series. Before you start running away, I should mention it’s the “ambitious steampunk” type of light novels, not the generic incest/harem/etc. ones that have plagued recent years.

Characters

Kal-el, our teenage male lead. (Who the heck though this was an appropriate name for a character in a pseudo-European steampunk setting ?) He’s a new recruit for an airship piloting school that is set on a flying island. I can’t quite get a bead on him, personality-wise : most of the time he’s your generic protagonist, but at times he’ll have fits of unexplained anger, or impenetrable flashbacks involving some sort of priestress.

Ariel, his “sister”. (I get the nagging feeling he’s been adopted, and some spoilers I’ve encountered pretty much confirm it.) They have typical siblings relationships : often quarrelling over insignificant nonsense, but still there for each other. They’ve actually got two other sisters, but Ariel is the one who also enlisted and is the copilot for his plane.

There’s some mysterious new student whose main distinguishing feature is that he scowls angrily at people. (I don’t think he even utters a single word this episode.) Everyone else wonders what’s the deal with this angry loner bozo.

Claire, a cute shy girl Kal-el meets in the countryside. Ten minutes later, they’re already touching intimately. Well, that was quick. They reluctantly part ways late in the evening : she lives in the “noble” section of the island, which he can’t access because he’s a commoner.

The narration is all doom and gloom. This can’t bode well.

Production Values

Scenery porn !

Overall Impression

Hmm. There’s nothing particularly wrong with this : it does some good (if not particularly innovative) world-building, establishes the characters quite well, looks quite good overall…

But the core problem here is Kal-el : it’s obvious there’s some sort of twist about him incoming soon, but in the meantime the character is left in an awkward place where he keeps shifting personalities randomly. And let’s be blunt : his default “nice ordinary guy” personality is quite boring indeed. (Not that the “angry” one is any better, especially given the lack of context for his outbursts.) Which removes a lot of charm his romance with Claire might have.

Frankly, I just don’t have the patience to wait for the twist ; the story is just too bland so far. I won’t be bothering with this one.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2014 – Page 3.

Nobunaga the Fool

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Arghlsidfssqe.

Wait, let me try this again. This is a bizarre multimedia project ; the other media being stage plays. (With animated sequences.)
The setting involves two twin planets ; the “East world” is vaguely modelled on the Warring Kingdoms, while the “West world” features random European historical figures from centuries apart.

Also, mecha. And tarot.

Characters

Nobunaga “the Fool” is obviously our protagonist. He’s the cocky teenage son of the Oda family who has adventures with his sidekicks Mitsuhide and Hideyoshi. He’s supposedly a cunning strategist, but so far his only display of that is “tell everyone to run like hell from the bigass army that’s vastly superior”, so yeah. Not that he’s taken seriously, given his reputation for mischief. Thus plenty of people die, and he vows to “change the world”.

Jeanne Kaguya d’Arc (/facepalm) is a teenage girl from the West world whose propensity to hear voices has labelled her a witch. The mysterious dreams she’s been having of being burned at the stake (in “Paris”, /double-facepalm) aren’t helping. Since those dreams also prominently feature Nobunaga, she vows to head for the East world.

Leonardo da Vinci agrees. Wait, were you stalking her to appear just right at this moment ? And what’s with the megaphone ? Anyway, he works for King Arthur, and together they board Magellan’s spaceship. From which they drop onto the East world, with a mecha in tow. And they crash-land right next to Nobunaga, who immediately hijacks the mecha to fight the incoming enemy armies.

Production Values

Perfectly alright. The character designs have the same clean genericness as most other Satelight productions, but they’re the least of the show’s problem.

Overall Impression

Where do I even start with this ? It’s pointless to deride the laughably inept use of historical figures, although they sure are distracting. I presume it’s supposed to be a fun romp, but the result is just a terrible mess that fails to bring its disparate elements into a coherent whole. It just feels completely creatively bankrupt, and desperate in its attempt to coopt everything into itself. That none of the characters are interesting (aside from maybe da Vinci, who’s just weird) doesn’t help.

No way I’m watching one more episode of this.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2014 – Page 3.

Recently, my sister is unusual. (ImoCho – Saikin, Imouto no Yousu ga Chotto Okashiinda ga.)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

It’s a light novel manga adaptation with an absurdly long title with the word “imouto” in it : you know what to expect.

Actually, no, you don’t. Brace yourselves.

Characters

Yuuya, the male lead. His father has just remarried, and new!Mom comes with a stepsister in tow. Oh, and both parents bugger off to India the next day for work reasons, so the two new siblings will be left alone together in the house. Yuuya’s not thrilled about this, to put it mildly. But since he’s a boring generic guy, he mostly takes it in stride. Forget about him, he’s not really the protagonist anyway.

Mitsuki, said new stepsister, whose behaviour looks very erratic until you start seeing her perspective. No, she’s not randomly assaulting her brother and then immediately backing the hell off due to regret or whatever : those incestuous “episodes” actually happen whenever she’s possessed by a ghost fairy. No, seriously.

Hiyori, said fairy, is hugely attracted to Yuuya, whom she calls “big brother” for some unexplained reason. She comes in tow with a magical chastity belt which is now permanently affixed to Mitsuki, to her great displeasure. (And to her distress, as she wastes her “three-minute-open-per-hour” window just before having to go to the toilet. Cue five minutes of embarrassment “comedy” until the episode mercifully ends.)

There are various other side characters making appearances, presumably to be fleshed out later. You know a series commits to a theme when even the token teacher drones a lesson about the etymology of the world “imouto” and how it relates to incest.

Production Values

Considering how many shots focus on Mitsuki wearing the chastity belt, you won’t be surprised for there to be some heavy (if playful) censorship. Still, there’s no mistaking what happens in the scene where Hiyori sexually assaults Mitsuki (and masturbates while possessing her body), so this is definitely a NSFW softcore porn show.

Besides that, it doesn’t look half bad. I’m not sure what’s going on in the ED sequence, though, as it looks like a completely different show. (Hiyori fantasizing about Yuuya, maybe ?)

Overall Impression

Well, this is quite a rollercoaster. Whatever you may thing about it, this is certainly one of the most creative incest-bait show I’ve ever watched. Not only is the premise completely bonkers, but it tackles it headlong and runs with its lunacy. It’s never boring, I’ll grant it that.

I’m almost tempted to keep watching just for the trainwreck factor, but then I remember that I’m already watching too many shows, and there’s plenty actually promising stuff upcoming in the next few days.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2014 – Page 2.

Witch Craft Works

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

You know those light novel adaptations about girls falling into a boring protagonist’s lap, with a generic fantasy setting ? Well, this isn’t one of the many ones we’re getting this season ; it’s actually adapted from a manga series. But it sure fooled me.

Characters

Takamiya, our generic high-school-student male lead. You can see this is adapted from a light novel because he’s constantly narrating or monologuing, when he should really just shut up and let the story happen. There’s certainly absolutely nothing of interest in his commentary. To the point that it’s a relief when a building drops onto him.

Kagari, the girl sitting next to him in class. She’s ridiculously popular, with a humongous fanclub stalking her, and bullying Takamiya when he gets a bit too close to her by accident. She also looks permanently zoned out, never letting any emotion show on her blank face. Also, he learns that she’s sticking close to him on purpose, so as to protect him from magical attacks. You see, he’s Important ; he’s to be her “Princess”. (Yes, you read that right. He has no clue what the heck either.) Also, she’s a Fire Witch, and quite a powerful one.

Kuraishi, the catgirl witch behind the attacks. She deals with illusion magic, so unfortunately a building didn’t really drop onto Takamiya. On the other hand, she can also command armies of armoured rabbit dolls, or whatever those hordes are. Kagari makes short work of those, but they do look quite threatening until then.

The attacker wasn’t actually a student in this school, but she transfers in at the end, together with four others who look just as antagonistic.

Production Values

Wow, there’s quite a bit of budget here ; the fights looks very good indeed. The visuals for the hordes of rabbits are a lot of fun (and there’s quite some attention to detail to give each some personality), and there are also nice visual gags for the bullying shots. The soundtrack is very good, too : the score is very atmospheric indeed.

Overall Impression

Hmm. I was planning to give this a pass, because seriously this story is the kind of generic crap we get several times over each season. But the directing is impressive enough to make me take notice ; it’s a great-looking and -sounding package.

Against my better judgement, I’m going to give it a second episode.

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

White Album 2

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a dating sim, because there must be at least one each season.

Don’t let the title fool you : this is a free-standing series, nearly completely unrelated to the 2009 White Album anime or the game it spawned from (aside from a few token elements making it clear they’re set in the same universe).

Characters

Kitahara, our high-school protagonist. Last remaining member of the Light Music Club, after the diva vocalist quit in a huff and the other members just stopped coming. Being the backup guitarist, he was content with just practicing separate from everyone else, but he’s ready to call it a day. While he does have a bit more personality than his ilk, that’s mostly because he’s a sanctimonous git. His “friends” keep him around because he does help around and gets stuff done, but I don’t get the impression anyone’s really close to him.

Ogiso has been the winner of the School Idol Contest for the last two years, but frankly she never wanted to participate, and this time around she finally finds the nerve to tell the SIC Committee about it. Having no clue how to deal with her (losing her would put a crimp on the Contest’s appeal), they call on Kitahara, who’s not even a member anymore this year, but has enough presence that you can understand why she mistakes him for the Committee Chairman. Anyway, to everyone’s consternation, he lets her go.

Our third main character is the mysterious piano player who’s playing together with Kitahara despite being in the next room. It’s perfectly obvious to the viewer that she’s the dark-haired girl who’s always sleeping in his class, but he doesn’t know that. Anyway, one day someone on the roof joins in, singing the song they’re playing… and of course it’s Ogiso.

There’d be a lot more suspense about where this is going if the first episode didn’t open with a flash-forward showing the three of them performing at the School Fair (with dark-hair playing the bass, for some reason), and having an awkward love triangle.

Production Values

Well, they’re certainly not trying to disguise this story’s origins, what with the numerous shots in classic VN perspective. Perfectly alright, though, and it does have some decent music. No OP/ED sequences at all.

Overall Impression

This certainly won’t rock your world. Everything about it is generic and instantly forgettable. It’s mildly pleasant to watch, but that’s it.

I’m not sure I’ll bother with another episode.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Fall 2013 – Page 7.

Golden Time

(24 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Romantic comedy, set in college.

Characters

Banri Tada, our provincial protagonist, is just entering a law college in Tokyo. He’s more than a bit overwhelmed by the big city and his newfound independance. Fortunately, he finds a twin soul with…

Mitsuo “Yana” Yanagisawa, who’s having some of the same troubles. While he is Tokyo-born, he’s cut his links with his family and transfered to this average college instead of the prestigious elevator academy he was previously attending. All this to escape from…

Koukou Kaga, his clingly childhood friend. Unfortunately, his efforts are for naught, as she immediately finds him (she’s rich and has many powerful connections) and transfers with him. She sees his attempts to avoid her as “him just being a tsundere”, although I’m not entirely sure how delusional she is. Somehow, Tada is a bit attracted to her, despite the crazy.

Chinami Oka, a random innocent-looking student in their group, looks like another potential love interest. It’s not like she seems to have any other reason for her prominent introduction.

But it’s Nana “Linda” Hayashida, a senior from the Festival Club, who makes the strongest impression on Tada, when she rescues him from the numerous clubs attempting to recruit him.

Production Values

Perfectly okay for this kind of thing. The ED song’s quite catchy.

Overall Impression

Well, this is a bog-standard romantic comedy, already busy setting the various possible options. And there’s nothing wrong with that : it’s perfectly pleasant, most of the main characters have some charisma… well, except from the protagonist, who’s a bit bland so far.

It’s a decent start, and I see myself sticking with it for the long haul unless the season is way too busy.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Fall 2013 – Page 5.