In a world where Spirits and Humans coexist and can fall in love with each other, many Spirits see their human loved ones die before them due to the Spirits’ much longer life expectancy. Even when that human is reborn, the previous memories of their past life is erased from their memory. However, it is said among Spirits that a certain “service” is spreading. This “service” is provided by the “Fox Spirit Matchmakers” who can revive the lost memories of their former lover. When a Spirit loses their lover, they can purchase the service of the Fox Spirit Matchmakers to attempt to restore their former lover’s memories, and continue their love story together. This story follows a young Fox Spirit Matchmaker who tries her best to restore lost memories and spread love. – ANN
Streaming: Crunchyroll
Episodes: 24
Source: Chinese Web Manga
Summary of Episode 1: Fox spirit Suusu comes from a prestigious clan of matchmakers – individuals whose job it is to locate reincarnated humans in service of the immortal spirits who love them. Unfortunately Suusu is young and hasn’t yet completed a match. Her clan is about ready to kick her out, though she’s determined to complete her next mission and prove them wrong. It’s in pursuit of this possibly fruitless dream that she runs into shameless monk Haku Gessho, coincidentally the human man to whom she’s been betrothed. Somehow these two misfits decide to work together, not realizing that they’re meant to be together.
Impressions: It’s been an awfully long time since I’ve watched something that so thoroughly gave the impression that someone had thrown a bunch of sad old tropes into a bag, shuffled them around, and then dumped them out and used them as-is to make a profoundly mediocre end produce. During the best episodes of anime, I often find myself pausing each episode multiple times to absorb what’s going on; during this episode of anime, my mind wandered to the point that I was nodding off.
I don’t want to pigeonhole these Chinese co-productions (or just productions? I’m still not entirely sure) too much, but of those I’ve sampled so far, they seem to have several things in common. They often feel like the generic versions of genre pieces that were popular about ten – or more – years ago. They seem to be made without much care given to aesthetic appeal and don’t seemed to be planned or directed with much intention. And there’s really something indescribable about the dialog, especially when it’s supposed to be funny; it’s like the jokes have been run through three or four different translations, and the cadence just doesn’t seem right even if the words kind of make sense. This show seems to suffer from all of these things, with the added setback of having two extremely unlikable protagonists.
Suusu’s characterization seems to be banking mostly on her cuteness and utter ineptitude. While this isn’t the type of character I’m drawn to anyway, set against some of the other major problems this episode has (including its disjointedness and inscrutability), it turns something that’s boring into something that’s kind of infuriating. Gessho is your typical skeezy dude looking to shirk his responsibilities, and being such he’s in the company of so many other dismal anime protagonists from really mean-spirited ecchi shows his presence here just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. There’s zero chemistry between the two leads and I’m not sure that anyone involved with the production could do much to make me feel anything about their relationship at this point. It’s been a while since I’ve been so unconvinced by a couple that’s ostensibly fated to be with one-another.
While I don’t normally enjoy harping on things like this, I feel I really have to mention that this is one of the clunkiest and visually-unappealing series I’ve watched lately (and I watched an entire episode of Hand Shakers so I’m pretty sure I know what I’m talking about). If the show had great writing or something other hook I might be more inclined to overlook the workmanship aspect, but there’s truly not much to distract one from the fact that the characters are all lacking in detail, barely move (even during “action” scenes), and look like they don’t actually exist within the backgrounds that they’re slapped on top of. The background art is also incredibly generic and doesn’t give the impression of any particular time or place. It mostly seems to exist just because someone had to put something there.
Though I mentioned it earlier, it bears repeating that there’s just something a little bit off about the dialog. Much like the events of the episode, which keep occurring one-after-another with very little rhyme or reason, people keep talking and talking without saying anything substantial and their lines are translated awkwardly, almost too literally in some cases. I’m reminded of a Perd Hapley line from Parks and Recreation, altered and paraphrased – the lines have the cadence of a joke, and that’s really the only way I know that I didn’t laugh when I was meant to. If I were more inclined I’d go re-watch the episode in order to provide an example, but I’m not inclined to put myself to sleep at 7:30pm a second night in a row (yes, this happened; after I watched the episode I wandered out to the couch and fell asleep for two hours. I know what I’m doing the next time I have a bout of insomnia!).
Part of me really wants to see a breakthrough anime-style hit from somewhere other than Japan. Considering that Japan farms out a lot of its animation work to Korea, China, and places in Southeast Asia, it seems long overdue that these other countries should have a share in the success of the anime aesthetic. I’m positive that it will happen at some point. But not right now and not with this stinker of an attempt.
Pros: I like the Haoliners intro animation, but I couldn’t find a video to link to so you’ll have to take my word for it.
Cons: The protagonists are unlikable and their relationship isn’t believable. The animation is clunky and flat, with little personality. There’s something goofy about the dialog and/or translation.
Grade: C-