Autumn 2019 First Impressions – Shorts

I usually like saving short-form anime impressions for later, since that leaves enough time for a couple of episodes to arrive, offsetting the lack of content. There seem to be far fewer anime shorts this season than in previous ones, so I wonder if the form is falling out of favor with creators or broadcasters. In any case, below are impressions of this season’s selections.

Null & Peta

Genius inventor Null tragically loses her older sister Peta in an accident. To get over the grief, Null develops “Peta Robo,” a robot with the same characteristics as her late sister. However, the robot is a little different as to what Null expected. – MAL

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: TBA

Source: Original (multimedia project)

Summary: This review covers episodes 1-4.

Big sister Peta may no longer exist in her human form, but that doesn’t stop the young scientist Null from recreating her in robot form. Though she might not really look like the original, Peta Robo has all of the original’s habits and quirks (including a lack of skill in the kitchen). It becomes Peta Robo’s one quest in life (afterlife?) to get her younger sister to attend school, which might be a more difficult task than anticipated.

Impressions: Created as the precursor to an upcoming Steam game, this series of short episodes is comedic and colorful, but like a lot of similar short-form series is comparatively light in content.

Peta Robo is created from Null’s memories of her sister, resulting in a life form that has a similar personality, but a form that represents the literal feelings of comfort that Null felt from being around her sister. While the premise is a little bit unsettling (I’m sure many anime fans are familiar with the ways in which alchemical-style resurrection can go extremely wrong), the end result is touching in its own way.

Aside from a few moments that delve into some more depressing realities (one episode explains the reasoning behind Null’s aversion to school and it’s a bit sad), overall this series seems pretty light. These episodes in particular get a lot of mileage out of a gag revolving around Peta’s lack of skill in the kitchen (and her opinion that fried rice is the perfect food), and while it’s kind of a cliche joke to make, in these short snapshots of these characters’ lives it has its own charm. Also charming is the art style, which is colorful and pleasant. I especially enjoyed the background artwork throughout the episodes, which has a hand-drawn storybook feel. It provides just the right amount of fantasy atmosphere for a series that spends so much of its time outside of reality (seriously, by the fourth episode the characters are floating out in space).

This seems cute, harmless, and good for a chuckle if anything. It certainly beats some of the gross-out humor we’ve been getting from short-form series in the recent past.

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Pros: The visual style is colorful and cute. The gags are funny in small doses.

Cons: There are some unsettling facets of the story that seem unlikely to be addressed.

Content Warnings: Character death (flashback/offscreen). Mild nudity (bathing scene).

Grade: C+

Days of Urashimasakatasen

The anime centers on the members of the real-world four-member male vocal unit Urashimasakatasen. Uratanuki, Shima, Tonari no Sakata, and Senra appear in the shorts as high school students. – MAL

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: TBA

Source: Original

Summary: This review covers episodes 1-4

The members of the band Urashimasakatasen are transformed into high school students. Each anticipates taking on the iconic role of “the transfer student,” but since all four of them are transfer students they end up stealing one-another’s thunder.

Considering their similar circumstances, the four decide to form their own after school club – the transfer-student club. In the club they can enjoy each-other’s friendship and make the most of their school experience.

Impressions: Out of the two short-form series this season, this one feels like the lesser of the two. Not because it’s terrible by any means, but mostly because it reads more like an advertisement for the band that makes up its cast than it does as the legitimate character-based comedy it’s trying (not very hard) to be. I don’t have a huge tolerance for “commercials” which is why I no longer go out of my way to watch anime series based on toy lines and card games. This series isn’t really selling a product, but it’s definitely trying to convince me of Urashimasakatasen’s inherent charms; since I’m not really a prospective fan it’s just missing the mark.

If I were to identify something entertaining about this set of episodes, it might be the fact that they try to be conscious of the various tropes of high school slice-of-life anime. The mysterious transfer student, the struggling school club, the goofy hijinks… they’re all here and the series definitely makes a play at riffing on them. That said, it’s becoming more and more difficult for me to interpret blatant self-awareness as anything more than a ploy to convince an audience of how genre-savvy a piece of media is; call me cynical, but that seems like something just about anyone can do with a nominal amount of research these days.

This series’ chibi art style is cute and colorful; with every episode I was amused by the fact that its OP animation depicts the characters as cute bishounen, when most of the time the episode them as little moé blobs – the tsum-tsum versions of their character designs. The background artwork is unfortunately lacking, at once both bare-bones and cluttered with clip-art type furniture. It’s all a goofy distraction that I doubt I’ll end up finishing.

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Pros: The chibi character designs are cute. Seems to be riffing on genre conventions.

Cons: Feels like a commercial for the music group who’s portraying the characters.

Content Warnings: None

Grade: C-