so boring it nearly put me to sleep – Page 4

Cat God (Nekogami Yaoyorozu)

What’s it about ?

Slice of life comedy about mini-gods hanging around on Earth.

Characters

Mayu, our protagonist, a mini-god sent down to Earth 4 years ago because she kept skipping curfew and going out gambling. Dad was mellow enough to let it go, but Mom put her foot down. Anyway, she spends a lot of her time playing videogames.

Yuzu, the poor human woman Mayu is rooming with. (I don’t think it’s ever explained how that happened.) She’s mostly there to suffer and be nice to everybody.

We see quite a few other mini-gods hanging around, but they’re all already blurring together in my mind. The plot of the week involves a poverty god wreaking havoc in the city, but the twist is so dumb I’m trying my best to forget about it.

Production Values

Bright and shiny artwork with everyone in super-deformed character designs that make them look like toddlers. Okay for what it is, and thankfully devoid of fanservice.

Overall Impression

Deathly dull and instantly forgettable, if you hadn’t guessed from my pitiful attempts at remembering anything about it mere hours after watching it. It’s another of those comedies that aren’t funny in the least, but it has the good grace of being completely inoffensive, which is better than several shows I’ve reviewed in this thread. But there’s nothing worth watching here.

via [In which I review] New anime, Summer 2011 – Page 8.

Figure 17

(13 monthly 47min episodes)

What’s it about ?
A young girl moves to Hokkaido with her dad and nearly bores me to sleep before seeing an alien ship crash in the woods. The alien pilot is humanoid and probably a good guy ; a monstrous thing has hitch-hiked on his ride and he has trouble fighting it off. Our heroine merges with a sentient alien armor to dispatch the monster, but there’s a weird after-effect : the armor has taken human form, which means our girl’s now got a twin sister.

Characters

Tsubasa, a very boring 10-year-old girl. Quite asocial, which doesn’t exactly endear her to me.

Her dad is a bit more interesting : he moved to Hokkaido after his wife’s death (apparently from complications from Tsubasa’s birth ?), and is starting over as a baker’s apprentice.

The alien dude looks like your standard issue alien action hero, although he’s clearly overmatched by the beastie. He’s as surprised as anyone when Tsubasa merges and proceeds to kick tons of ass.

By the way, “Figure 17” is the name of the Tsubasa/armor merger.

Production Values

Perfectly okay for this sort of thing, I guess.

Overall Impression

There are series that benefit from the double-length format. This is not one of them, as the pacing is so relaxed it’s downright lethargic. We’re treated to half an hour of Tsubasa’s daily life before anything happens, and that’s so boring I nearly gave up halfway through.

Some of the underlying ideas are somewhat interesting, I guess, but I have no wish to wade through hours of navel-gazing before it gets to the point.

Even a Giant Teeth Monster right behind her can barely wake Tsubasa up !

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2001 – Page 8.

Tamayura OVA

(4 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Basically, this is a slice-of-life series about a girl obsessed with photography and her friends, in a rural village.

Characters

Fu, our main character, is a quiet clumsy airhead. She got her love for photography from her father, who died 5 years ago.

Kaoru, her best friend. Like nearly every character voiced by Kana Asumi, she’s cheerful and slightly snarky.

Norie, our setting’s Tomo. Energetic, annoying, and unhealthy fond of Fu’s younger brother.

Maon, who spends more time whistling than talking.

Plus various other supporting characters (Fu’s family, Kaoru’s embarrassing older sister, etc.)

Production Values

It’s an OVA that revolves around scenery porn. Of course it looks good.

Overall Impression

Dull. While I was half-joking about falling asleep while watching Starry Sky, here it was a real struggle to stay awake. Which really shouldn’t happen for 4 15-minute episodes.

Understand, I actually enjoy the slice of life genre. I liked K-On!, Lucky Star, Azumanga Daioh… I’m currently watching and enjoying Potemayo, for –‘s sake ! But there seems to be a subset of the genre that immediately puts me to sleep, and this is such an instance. (Other example : Hidamari Sketch.)

It’s not even that nothing happens : there’s a neat throughline around Fu’s obsession and how it allows her to connect with her late father. But… the pacing is glacial, the characters are barely developed at all, and the jokes aren’t that funny. When the series goes for emotion, it does feel genuine, but those moments are few and far between.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2010-2011 – Page 3.