Tag: romance

RDG: Red Data Girl

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Supernatural romance ? Even with three episodes released, it’s a bit hard to tell where this is going.

Characters

Izumiko, our female lead in her last year of middle school. She’s a shy introvert who can barely do anything without relying on others. She’s also terrible with electronics, somehow always breaking them. She lives in a remote shrine deep in the forest. The twist is that she’s the host of the local goddess, and thus all kind of nasties are out to get her. Fortunately she’s got many bodyguard “monks” looking out for her.

Miyuki, our male lead, really doesn’t want to be there, but Daddy has forced him to take up the family business and become her new bodyguard. It’s disgust at first sight, and we all know where this is leading.

Izumiko’s parents are conspicuously away. (She’s hosted by her relatives.) Dad is on another continent, and Mom’s yet to be seen.

The OP sequence lists tons of other male characters in a manner suspiciously reminiscent of dating sim adaptations. Hmm…

Production Values

Quite good. It’s a notable improvement over studio PA Works’s last supernatural project, Another ; here the creepy atmosphere actually works.

Overall Impression

I’m not quite sure about this one. There’s nothing particularly wrong about it, and there’s several little sequences that are well done (Izumiko’s drowning in anxiety in front of a computer, or Miyuki “changing his mind” about staying at the shrine). But I can’t quite shake the impression that Izumiko is a very annoying protagonist ; I’m not fond of those wet blankets that have to be saved by awesome but antagonistic dudes.

I’m still watching it, but I don’t expect wonders out of it.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2013.

Kotoura-san

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Being a young telepath with soul-crushing angst is apparently no obstacle to starring in a high school comedy show.

Characters

Haruka Kotoura, the title character. She’s been able to read the thoughts of people around her ever since her early childhood. As a result, she’s considered a creepy monster. (The show makes a convincing case about how her innocently blurting out secret thoughts would make the lives of everyone around her a living hell.) By the time she transfers to yet another high school, she lives alone and purposely aleniates herself from anyone else (as it’s less painful than people she’s grown to care for eventually leaving her). That’s until she meets…

Manabe, the guy sitting next to her in class. He’s not creeped out at all by Haruka’s mindreading, barely taking notice to try and have a bit less erotic daydreams around her. While he’s a bit of a weirdo, he legitimely wants to be her friend (or more), and promises never to leave her.

The OP/ED indicates that she’s going to make more friends. That’s going to be a tall order indeed. Also, her mother is apparently going to stay as part of the supporting cast, which is a bit surprising given the way she abandoned her daughter.

Production Values

This doesn’t have a high budget, but it knows how to make do with it. In particular, there’s a nice effect with the colours progressively becoming greyer and more monochrome as Haruka’s life spirals into hell, until bright colours smash back in when she meets Manabe.

There’s also quite some creativity with Manabe’s mindscape.

What did I think of it ?

This really should be a hideous style clash, abruptly switching from borderline-manipulative melodrama to “traditional” high-school hijinks. But it’s fiendishly effective, setting up the show’s gimmick and the main couple’s relationship with a poignancy that a pure gag show couldn’t hope for. It helps that the narrative doesn’t cheat : other people’s reactions to Haruka are often unkind, but feel entirely human.

I’m not quite sure how the series can maintain this balance in the long run, but I’m hooked.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2013 – Page 6.

AMNESIA

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Ontological mystery meets male harem romance. Adapted from a visual novel, and boy does it show.

Characters

Our main character doesn’t actually get named at any point (the ancillary material calls her “Heroine”, for what it’s worth). As the title of the show suggests, she suffers from a severe case of amnesia, unable to remember anything about herself (or anything else, for that matter). She’s completely shell-shocked by the experience, and is barely able to string two sentences together. It probably doesn’t help that she’s also the only one who can see and hear…

Orion, a very talkative sprite who claims to be the (accidental) cause for her amnesia, what with having lodged himself into her soul by accident. He’s very sorry, and spends the episode giving her “helpful” hints on how she can get better. Gods forbid she seek any medical help ! What she really needs to do is to pretend she’s perfectly fine, and keep talking to her “friends” like she remembers anything about them. That’s how she’ll recover her memories !

Said “friends” are a parade of generic pretty boys : the aloof one, the nice one, the slightly creepy one… Also, she seems to have been working at a maid café.

By the end of the episode, she rans afool of the mandatory bitch squad, who’ve been stalking her all day and are angry about something she has no clue about.

Production Values

Pretty ! Besides Nekomonagatari (Black), which barely counts, this is the first show of the season that displays some style and artistic ambition. There’s a lot of work on colour and atmosphere, and everyone’s dressed in ridiculously stylish borderline-cosplay clothes for some reason. This is definitely a show with budget…

Overall Impression

… It’s a just shame it’s wasted on a –ing otome game adaptation, especially one which makes no effort towards disguising its nature. Orion is very obviously your game assistant, and one of the characters even pauses once to give a tutorial for the parfait-making minigame. This could have some charm, but the big problem here is the annoyingly moppy and useless “protagonist”, who seems to stumble onto every single “wrong” option available in her menu.

Still, it is very pretty, and I’m vaguely intrigued by some of the setup. I’ll give it one more episode for the heroine not to get too much on my nerves.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2013 – Page 5.

My Girlfriend and Childhood Friend Fight Too Much (Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru)

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

High school harem romantic comedy.

(Adapted from light novels, as you can guess by the ridiculously long and plain title.)

Characters

Eita, our protagonist. He’s been badly burned by both his parents walking out of his life after finding love elsewhere, and thus doesn’t want to hear about any romance whatsoever. He’d rather concentrate on his studies, thank you.

Chiwa, his very annoying childhood friend. The kind that now stalks him relentlessly and regularly invites herself for meals. I get the notion that he mostly tolerates her because chasing her off would involve too much energy.

Natsukawa, the beautiful and ultra-popular girl in his class. Like him, she has no interest in romance, and she’s getting tired of getting proposed once a day ; her solution is to use him as a fake boyfriend so as to finally get some peace. She’s somehow got her hand on his embarrassing diary, so it’s not like she’s got any say in the matter…

There are two other girls featured prominently in the OP and preview artwork ; maybe it’s related to that club mentioned in the next-episode preview.

Production Values

Perfectly okay as far as visuals go ; the main distinguishing feature is very bright, pastel colours. The score is nearly entirely crap, always slightly out of place and emphasizing the artificiality of the scene breaks.

It’s telling that Eita is entirely absent from the OP sequence…

Overall Impression

Hum. The first half of the episode was very unengaging indeed, with haphazard storytelling (must Chiwa really be the one to exposit to Eita about Natsukawa ?) and the childhood friend character being obnoxiously annoying. However, it changes radically once the “girlfriend” finally gets to speak : it’s Yukari Tamura at her best, cynical, whimsical, and affecting various personae at will. She’s clearly this show’s most (if not only) entertaining character, and its main selling point.

Is this enough to make the series worth watching ? Er, I’ll get back to you about that in an episode or two, once we actually see her interacting with someone besides her beard, and the “plot” gets properly underway (so far, the two title characters have yet to even meet, let alone fight like the title suggests). I’m not too optimistic, but maybe the show will click together then.

In a busier season I wouldn’t have bothered with this one, but I’m willing to give it a bit of rope for now.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2013 – Page 3.

Sakurasou’s Pet Girl (Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo)

(24 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Sakurasou is a special dorm for an “art” school, designed to keep in check the most socially-inept-but-artistically-brillant students.

Characters

Sorata is the one “normal” guy in Sakurasou ; he’s there because he likes taking care of stray cats and the dorms for normal people don’t allow pets. As the only person with a head on his shoulders, he’s often tasked with helping out with the other residents’ idiosyncracies.

The current students attending the dorm include : Misaki the energetic artist/animator with no sense of decency ; Jin the casanova writer, and some programmer dude who only communicates through his maid-avatared answering machine.

And also Mashiro, the newest arrival, incidentally the teacher-in-charge’s niece. Very un-energetic indeed.

Sorata’s also got a kinda-girlfriend patiently waiting for him with the normals, although I’m not sure he’s noticed.

Production Values

Perfectly okay.

What did I think of it ?

Hum. I heavily dislike the “guy takes care of socially-inept girl” genre on principle, and even this series mostly playing it for comedy doesn’t manage to overcome that. There are some decent jokes, but it mostly degenerates into “ahahah she can’t dress herself that’s so funny” fare by the end of the episode.

Maybe in less busy a season I’d give this more time to find its feet, but no thanks. (Especially as it’s going to last for 6 months.)

via [In which I review] New anime, Fall 2012 – Page 6.

Say “I Love You” (Sukitte ii na yo)

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Our third shoujo romance show of the season ; this one is introvert chick X unbelievably-nice guy.

Characters

Tachibana, our protagonist. She’s very distrustful of people, and her gloomy disposition certainly doesn’t help matters. (There’s a rumour among her classmates that somebody may have heard her speak recently, but that isn’t confirmed.) Her widowed Mom tries to be supportive, to little avail.

Kurosawa, the guy everyone admires. Nice, good-looking, and impossibly perfect in every way. He starts taking a liking to our female lead after she kicks him down the stairs (she was aiming at his mandatory perverted best friend, who was taking a peek under her skirt).

They come together after he chases off an adult dude who was stalking her at her part-time-job.

Production Values

Average.

What did I think of it ?

I’ve got to give it credit : the show managed to make me like its male lead despite his obvious wish-fulfilment status. The guy is so nice it’s hard to resent him. I also like that the situation isn’t entirely black-and-white : however serious the bullying and the stalker incident Tachibana suffers from are, her asocial behaviour isn’t helping. I’m not used to shoujo heroines being so unlikeable on purpose, and it being played for drama, and I’m kinda interested in seeing where it goes from here.

via [In which I review] New anime, Fall 2012 – Page 5.

Little Busters!

(26 episodes)

What’s it about ?

A group of close-knit childhood friends try having one last fun adventure together before graduating from high school. By playing baseball.

Surprisingly for a Key visual novel adaptation, there isn’t any real romance or gut-punching melodrama. (Yet.)

Characters

Riki, the normal, nice guy. A bit of a pushover, he was the last addition to the group ; that’s why he’s so keen on keeping the magic going and having the Little Busters still do stuff together. (As he’d never have had so much fun on his own.)

Kyousuke, the group’s leader. He’s the one with the big, crazy ideas, and despite none of the others being able to follow his reasoning for why baseball, they’re still game because it sounds like fun.

Rin, his sister. Perfectly able to handle her own in their frequent fights. Sent to a mission in the girls’ dorm to get more players, although it’s not working out quite well.

The last two members are Masato, the moron, and Kengo, the kendo guy, who are regularly feuding on ridiculous pretexts for the heck of it.

Also in this episode : the bitch squad (whose leader is in the actual softball team), and a clumsy girl who looks like the perfect love interest for Riki.

Production Values

Not very good. It sells the jokes and that’s it.

Overall Impression

There’s a weird, manic energy to the Little Busters’ antics. The characters themselves are pretty one-note and the plot has no stakes whatsoever, but the crap they do is so random and creative that their energy is overpowering. It helps that Rin’s recruitment run has perfect comedic timing and is hilarious throughout.

Is it lightweight fluff ? Oh, sure. But it’s fun enough to be watchable.

via [In which I review] New anime, Fall 2012 – Page 5.

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.

Regardless of My Adolescent Delusions of Grandeur, I Want a Date! (Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Chuunibyou : a syndrome in which middle-schoolers with an overactive imagination act out a fantasy life, which wrecks most of their chances at a social life as their classmates have no time for those antics and shunning them. Apparently it’s a thing in Japan.

Characters

Togashi, our protagonist, used to think of himself as the DARK FLAME MASTER (cue Jun Fukuyama doing his Zero voice). He’s now thoroughly embarrassed by this, and trying his best to distance himself away from it. This includes entering a high-school quite away from his home just so that he can avoid anyone who knew him in middle school, and make a fresh start.

Unfortunately, Takanashi, his new neighbour, is still very much in this phase. He’s dismayed to discover she’s in his class, has found out about his dark secret (not that he’s much good at hiding it), and seems stuck to him whether he likes it or not.

Also introduced this episode without much development : the Togashi family (mother apparently working a lot, two little sisters) ; the mandatory lecherous new best friend ; a homeroom teacher who’s happy to rely on Togashi to deal with Takanashi ; and the perfect class representative who’s probably hiding something.

Production Values

Standard KyoAni fare, although in their lower range : good animation and attention to detail. (When Takanashi’s antics make a cupboard half-fall, it stays that way the whole scene.)

There’s a show within the show that shows up here and there, including taking over the ED ; it’s a cute parody of the kind of angsty nonsense those kids are obviously riffing off.

What did I think of it ?

The “guy takes care of a socially-inept girl” subgenre is always fraught with peril and unfortunate implications, but KyoAni dodge most of that minefield by focusing first and foremost on its protagonist, making it clear that he was suffering from the same problem mere months ago (and that he’s not entirely over it yet). It helps that they’ve got Jun Fukuyama, a voice actor with enough talent and charisma to sell every aspect of the character.

Obviously the topic at hand can be a sore one for the geek audience, but it’s to this show’s credit that it’s not really patronizing or insulting. It pokes fun at its characters without mocking them, which is a tricky balance to achieve. So far, so good.

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.