Tag: romance

Accel World

(24 episodes)

What’s it about ?

In the future, augmented reality is going to be wicked awesome… Oh, wait, it’s a shounen fighting series.

Characters

Haru, our protagonist. Nothing says “punchable loser” like being voiced by Yuki Kaji, but the character designer went out of their way to portray him as a very short fat dude who looks utterly out of place among the other characters. He spends most of his middle school life being harassed by bullies and retreating into virtual reality games, until he meets…

Er, well, I really doubt Kuroyukihime (“Black Snow Princess”) is her real name, so let’s call her Black Lotus, her virtual reality screen name. She’s the beautiful idol of the school, although that’s just a front for her actual personality of a complete troll. She goes out of her way to introduce Haru to the underground community of Burst Linkers, which are basically people who use a program to hack the omnipresent augmented-reality/internet/network to get super-speed. This sounds awesome and addictive until you learn you must play a special game to get more doses of it. The big mystery here is obviously what’s Black Lotus’ angle in getting Haru under her wing.

Haru has what looks like a successful big brother to feel inferior to, and a clingy childhood friend who’s all set for the mandatory love triangle by the end of episode 2. Hopefully they won’t get too much screen time wasted on them.

Production Values

Wow. The real world sequences and characters aren’t much to speak of, but as soon as the augmented reality kicks in it looks awesome. (The virtual worlds don’t look too bad, either.) I really, really want to live in this future world where you have the internet hardwired into your neck. Sure, the Big-Brother-cameras everywhere feel a bit dystopian, but it feels worth it.

Overall impression

Dull characters, including yet another Yuki-Kaji-voiced loser protagonist ? Check. Already starting to degenerate into a fighting tournament series ? Check. Oh, dear, those aren’t good signs. But on the other hand, it’s a series with a killer concept at its core (and the visuals to back it up), and that may be enough for me to keep watching it.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2012 – Page 3.

A Town Where You Live OVA (Kimi no Iru Machi)

(2 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a 18-volume (and counting) romance manga. Obviously, some degree of compression and creativity was needed to fit some of it into such a short format.

Characters

Haruto Kirishima, our generic male lead. Lives in a small country town.

Yuzuki Eba, a Tokyo girl who randomly decided to live at Haruto’s (the flashback is too vague to determine the exact circumstances), to his irritation. Presumably one thing eventually led to another, because the actual story here is that she’s now gone back to live in Tokyo, and they have kept a long-distance relationship over the last few months. Today he comes to Tokyo on a class trip, and they’re planning on finally meeting again.

Nanami Kanzaki, a classmate of Haruto’s whom he used to have a crush on. After presumably months of awkward love triangle, she eventually settled for them being just friends. Anyway, she’s also part of the class trip, and asks him to play the role of her boyfriend while she meets with one of her friends (to whom she bragged a bit too much). There’s absolutely no way for this to backfire !

Akari Kaga, said friend. It’s obvious she’s not entirely fooled by Nanami’s stunt.

Production Values

Perfectly serviceable. Some nice bits of scenery porn, even.

Overall Impression

Let’s be frank : the first half of this episode is fairly dull, as the two leads struggle to set up their meeting in a very boring way. Neither of them come off as particularly interesting here.

But this completely change once Nanami enters the picture. It’s charming how she scrambles to reinvent a happy relationship with Haruto despite things not having turned some well (as some judiciously chosen flashbacks show while illustrating her unreliable narration). There’s some genuine chemistry and drama in this very well-designed scene, even when you can plainly see the inevitable cliffhanger coming from the moment it starts.

It’s always a risky choice to adapt a long-running manga by choosing a storyarc set quite late in the overall story ; you can alienate a lot of potential viewers with convoluted relationships between characters they’ve not gradually grown familiar with (hello, Wandering Son !). This OVA avoids nicely the trap by focusing on the essentials of the relationship between the three leads, and making its particular story stand on its own. While it does matter that those three have a lot of history together (presumably detailed in numerous manga volumes I haven’t read), all you need to know is summed up perfectly in a way that seamlessly builds into the plot. The more I think about it, the more I can’t help by admire it.

Hopefully the concluding episode will live up to such a promising start.

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

The Scarlet Fragment (Hiiro no Kakera)

(26 episodes)

What’s it about ?

It’s an adaptation of an otome game. You see those romance-simulators where the player can chose between a harem of characters ? This is the female-oriented version, where the player-stand-in is surrounded by a bunch of pretty boys.

Characters

Tamaki, our generic female protagonist. With her parents off doing cooperation work over in Africa or something, she’s moving back to the countryside to her grandmother’s estate. Which is very convenient, because she’s the next in line to be the Local Princess Protector Of Stuff, and Granny’s about to retire. She has no clue what this is all about, although she does seem to have the innate skill required to cast spells against the random creepy things crawling around the place.

Takuma, the mandatory gruff bishie who begrudgingly escorts her the whole episode (voiced by Tomokazu Sugita, impeccable as always). There seems to be no depth whatsoever to him besides that. He just grumbles and reluctantly gives some exposition from time to time.

Tamaki enrolls at the local high school, and there are a bunch of of female classmates that might have gotten a chance at becoming supporting characters if Takuma hadn’t dragged Tamaki out of the classroom within 30 seconds so that she could meet more bodyguard bishies. There’s the short one with a size complex, the quiet deadpan one, and the handsomer-than-the-others glasses dude.

Just in case you’re wondering whether there’s actually a plot here, the last minute shows us Tamaki’s Evil Blonde Counterpart and her squad of underlings. Not that they do anything yet, mind you.

Production Values

Slightly better than you’d expect. The random monsters do look suitably creepy and menacing, at the very least.

Overall Impression

This could have been worse. Sugita pulls off his character without being too annoying. Some of the jokes work. (I like that Tamaki’s bodyguards are called “The Five” despite there only being four of them.) The monsters look good.

But the key issue here is that it’s dreadfully unoriginal. There’s nothing to set it apart from any other series in the same genre. None of the characters display any dimensions beyond their respective archetypes. To put it bluntly, I just don’t care, and I can’t see myself bothering with another episode ; nearly everything else this season looks more interesting than “Generic Otome Game Adaptation #1642”.

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

Rec.

(10 12-minute episodes, 2006)

My previous exposure

None, beyond the notion that this is an early Studio SHAFT show, and I thought I should watch more of those.

(Also, I needed some counter-programming for Mushishi.)

What’s it about ?

A junior advertising worker drone starts housing a rookie voice-actress after her flat burns down. One thing leads to another, although their relationship is quite rocky indeed.

It doesn’t help that she then gets hired on his next project (not that he had any role in the decision), and she prefers to keep their relationship hidden so that the conflict of interests isn’t too obvious. Awkwardness ensues.

What did I think of it ?

I only noticed it too late : Shinbo didn’t direct this. So, none of his usual quirks are present, and this is a bog-standard romantic comedy with no creativity whatsoever in the photography. Oops.

Still, does it work on that level ? Well, just barely. The plot doesn’t go anywhere interesting in the very short running length, the characters don’t have much maturity or personality, and the supporting cast remain caricatures. There’s a semi-interesting plotline about the female lead’s career that feels more genuine than most depictions of the voice-acting business, but nothing to go out of your way for.

It doesn’t help that the format actively works against the story. The 12-minute length is a brutal mistress, and it’s obvious the story has been arbitrarily cut in pieces to fit it. (The first episode doesn’t even manage to establish the premise !) Also annoying are the random scene transitions every three minutes or so that are so jarring they took me out of the show.

I won’t say it was painful to watch, but there’s very little to recommend here.

via [LTTP/WIW] Various anime from the 00s and beyond – Page 9.

Winter 2012 capsules

Some quick notes :

Amagami SS Plus basically resumes where it left off : each of the 6 main girls gets 2 more episodes set after their original arcs. We start off with Ayatsuji (the verbally-abusive class president). Frankly, at first it’s more than a bit self-indulgent (a perverted bath scene that turns out to be the MC’s erotic dream ? Seriously ?), but it does pick up after that, and the new plot is actually a lot of fun. Got me worried for a while, though.

I’d gotten the impression that Nisemonogatari would star the Araragi sisters, but that’s only in the loosest sense of the term ; this is really a straight sequel to Bakemonogatari, with new arcs focusing on said sisters. Well, “focusing” may be too strong a word ; the arc is titled after Karen, and she doesn’t even show up this episode (while Tsukihi gets less than 5 minutes). The bulk of the episode is devoted to an extended prologue that I fail to see what it’s got to do with anything, and a long talk between Araragi and Mayoi that often makes me uncomfortable whenever he’s making a joking pass at molesting her.

Don’t get me wrong : the direction is still as impressive as ever, and the dialogue is on fire ; but this isn’t quite gelling together yet. (But then, I’ve never been that impressed by Bakemonogatari ; it’s good, but there are huge chunks that leave me cold.)

And maybe I should say a few words about Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki, a series of 3-minute shorts where a round cat gets adopted by a family. I’m getting the impression those shorts aren’t for me, because there’s barely any meat there ; although this one gets point for being faster-paced than most and managing to get in quite a few jokes. But that’s a few chuckles at best, and I’m not going to bother with any more of it.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2012 – Page 4.

Inu x Boku SS

What’s it about ?

A building for the filthy rich where all the tenants each get a devoted “Secret Service” servant. Well, that’s the cover story ; the big twist is that all of them are actually (traditional Japanese) monsters. (Well, descendants of monsters, but since they can change form at will it’s basically the same thing.)

Characters

Ririchiyo, our female lead, the “Boku” from the title. She is just moving into the place, and doesn’t like the idea of having a butler/bodyguard/whatever looking after her. Actually a yuki-onna, which might explain the “ice queen” persona she often affects.

Miketsukami, her bodyguard, the “Inu” from the title. And literally too, as he’s a “dog with several tails” monster. His behaviour is very dog-like indeed, frequently embarassing her.

Renshou, Ririchiyo’s childhood friend/big brother figure. He’s got a big tattoo that gives him a bad boy look. Mostly there so she has another person to talk to on a rational level. (He’s really a scroll-like monster.)

A couple of other master-servant pairs, including a deathly-timid (and actual death spirit) girl who’s very convenient to get rid of burglars.

Production Values

About average. The show has a tendency to shift into super-deformed mode for each punchline, which might have worked if the jokes were actually funny. (Also, the narration at the beginning randomly showing up on the screen just looks pretentious.)

Overall Impression

Oh, dear. This show has exactly one joke (Ririchiyo finds her servant embarassing), and I was already losing patience when we got to the twist. Which is mildly interesting in itself, but not enough to redeem the annoying lead characters and the gratuitous master/servant fetishism.

One episode was enough, thank you.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2012 – Page 7.

Listen to me, Girls, I’m your father ! (Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai!)

(26 episodes)

What’s it about ?

A guy in college has to watch after his elder sister’s daughters while she’s away.

Characters

Yuuta, our male lead. Doesn’t show much personality beyond being baffled by how about everyone he knows seems to be trolling him.

Yuki, his sister. She married a man way older, who came with two daughters in tow ; they’ve had another daughter together who’s 3 now. (The dude has no authority whatsoever, as exemplified by the series’ title.) She dumps all three of them onto Yuuta for an undisclosed period of time, without even warning him beforehand. Let’s just say I don’t like her much.

The three nieces are Sora (middle school), who’s got a crush on Yuuta ; Miu (elementary school), who’s a bit of a smartass ; and Hina, the aforementioned 3-year-old.

Yuuta shares his college flat with Nimura, the mandatory perverted best “friend”… Wait, he’s just crashing there on a permanent basis because he wants to keep his actual flat pristine for when he brings back girls ?

Raika, a weird classmate of Yuuta, and his apparent love interest. Even Nimura knows better than trying to approach her. I like her sense of humour, though.

Production Values

About okay.

Overall Impression

This is an anime of two halves. There’s the college parts with Nimura & Raika that are quite fun, if not ground-breaking. And then there’s the scenes with the daughters, which I don’t trust to be handled in a any tasteful way (this is the half with the most panty-shots and fanservice, somehow). The two halves don’t really intersect much until the end of the episode, so I have no clue how this is supposed to work out on a regular basis (the college is in a completely different city from Yuki’s home !).

I’ll give it one more episode to check whether the college parts are as marginalized as I fear, but I’m not hopeful.

(How the heck did this get greenlit for 26 episodes ?)

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2012 – Page 7.

Waiting in the Summer (Ano Natsu de Matteru)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Basically a remake of Please Teacher without the squicky bits, reuniting the same creative team. For those who don’t know it : this is a romantic comedy set in a little Japanese town in the summer. A human-looking alien lands there in secret and tries to blend in.

Characters

Kaito, our bland male lead. He’s got a camera and has let his high school friends talk him into directing an actual movie. While he was filming random landscapes, he got caught into the crash/landing hand got heavily injured. (From the look of it, she mostly cured his injuries while he was unconscious.) His parents are dead, he lives alone with his older sister (who’s about to go abroad for the summer).

Ichika, the alien. She’s trying to pass herself as a transfering high school student, but it’s quite obvious from her lack of understanding of social cues (not to mention her bright red hair) that she’s not from around here. Also, she’s homeless, and somehow manipulates Kaito into housing her (in a well-executed and quite creepy scene).

Kanna, the tomboy tsundere who’s gonna have to step her game up if she doesn’t want the alien to push her into Kaito’s friend zone. (NOBODY is fooled by Kanna’s behaviour, and various people try and push her towards making an actual move.)

Tetsurou is Kaito’s token perverted best friend… although, as a nice departure from the norm, he’s actually handsome and quite the charmer.

Remon is basically Yukari Tamura reprising her role from Please Teacher with the number filed off : the sarcastic and perceptive sempai who’s quite older than she looks.

Production Values

Perfectly okay. So there’s where the budget saved from Kill Me Baby and Bakuman 2 went !

Overall Impression

My main objection to Please Teacher was from the squicky bits (where the alien became a teacher and they used a bizarre loophole to make the male lead legal), so I’m quite pleased to see a nearly-remake without those elements. As a result, this is a fun little romantic comedy that’s pleasant enough, while never coming off as “essential watching”.

Perfectly fine for what it is.

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

Pure White Symphony ~ the color of lovers ~ (Mashiro-iro Symphony)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Yet another date-sim adaptation. The hook here, if you can call it that, is that a previously all-girls high school is starting to let boys enroll.

Characters

Shingo, our generic male lead. As blandly nice as you’d expect.

Sakuno, his sister. She’s more than a bit mentally-challenged, and easily gets lost. Or distracted. I hope she doesn’t have a route, but considering how she’s unaware that they may be a bit too old to bathe together…

Airi, daughter of the principal, and vehemently against boys enrolling. We also get to see her nice side when she helps Sakuno get unlost.

We don’t get to see much of the rest of the cast. The obligatory pervert best friend isn’t actually that perverted, there’s a girl that spends her whole screentime sitting in the grass cuddling a bizarre cat-thing, and somehow the high-school’s got a maid.

Production Values

Perfectly okay, but the character designs are typical date-sim fare : colorful and immediately forgettable.

What did I think of it ?

A pretentious opening prologue about the color of love. Half the episode spent on Sakuno being lost. A dramatic cliffhanger where Airi announces she’s against dudes in the school. This is a joke, right ? A parody of how bland and devoid of stakes the genre has become ? But alas, no, this is played entirely straight throughout, and the show really expects us to care about its hackneyed premise.

I don’t care, and neither should you.

via [In which I review] New anime, Fall 2011 – Page 4.

Chihayafuru

(25 episodes)

What’s it about ?

High-school romance, with a side helping of card games.

Characters

Chihaya, our tomboy-ish protagonist. Used to be on the track team, and her former teammates would love to keep her around. But now that she’s in high school, she wants to indulge in her passion, and set a club up for the “karuta” card game (which, from what I understand, involves a referee reciting poems in a random order, and the players rushing to pick the matching cards up). Nobody seems to be interested so far. Her older sister is a model.

Taichi, her childhood friend. He obviously still holds a candle for her (why else would he join the same high school despite having access to better ?), but the poor guy gets pitifully friendzoned when they finally meet again.

Arata, an outcast transfer student they both met in elementary school, who obviously impressed Chihaya enough to communicate her his love for karuta. Chihaya’s the only child in the class who befriends him ; all the others (including Taichi) bully him because he’s poor, speaks in a dialect, and keeps to himself.

To be clear, none of them went to the same middle schools ; and neither Taichi nor Chihaya have had any contact with Arata for at least a year (but it’s obvious Chihaya still cares for him).

Production Values

Quite good. I loved how Chihaya preempted any fanservice potential when she pins a poster to the board, by wearing her tracksuit pants under her skirt.

Some of the dramatic effects for the flashback karuta game are a bit overblown (Arata throwing the cards into the wall forcefully enough for them to stick ? I know the walls are crap because his family is poor, but still…), although we’re nowhere near Saki territory.

What did I think of it ?

I quite liked this. Chihaya is a fun protagonist, with way more personality than most romance female leads (you can tell this is josei and not shoujo). The card game itself seems to have very little potential (unless there are other rules I missed), but it’s mostly just an excuse to have the characters meet and interact. If this balance of focus is kept, this could be perfectly entertaining.

via [In which I review] New anime, Fall 2011 – Page 3.