Tag: Comedy

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First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2017 First Impressions – Magical Circle Guru Guru/Mahoujin Guru Guru

The seal that confined the evil monster Guruguru for hundreds of years has worn off. A young boy named Nike is chosen (against his will) as the hero. He sets off with Kukuri, a girl who is the lone survivor of a tribe that uses black magic for good, to save the world, RPG style. – ANN

Copyright 2017 (c) Production I.G.

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 24

Source: Manga

Episode 1 Summary: After 300 years, the seal on Demon King Giri has worn off, and it’s time for a new hero to go on a journey to defeat him. As a kid, Nike might seem like the least likely choice to deal Giri a smack down, but his parents have been raising him to take up the mantle of hero for his entire life. Despite Nike’s protests, he’s sent off to Magic Granny’s house to obtain a traveling companion. There he meets Kukuri, the last of her line of magic users, and a start-struck 12-year-old to boot. She considers her meeting with Nike her destiny as a magic user, and the two journey to the Anshient Castle to meet with the king. Though there are hundreds of other hero-wannabes already there, Nike demonstrates some elusive inner potential and is sent on his way (along with a modest monetary payment to purchase supplies). They meet their first monster on the road, but due to its bad case of monologuing and Kukuri’s innate talent (luck?) with magic, they’re able to defeat it.

Impressions: Magical Circle Guru Guru is a surprise in both tone and style; in an age when anime (even humorous anime) takes itself very seriously, this show seems to hearken back to a simpler time of rapid-fire gags and outright parody, and is ultimately stronger for it.

Nike doesn’t want to be the hero. Copyright 2017 (c) Production I.G.

The anime reveals itself as a parody of 8-bit style RPG’s right from the get-go with its use of pixel art and dialog boxes straight out of classics like Dragon Quest or the original Final Fantasy. As Nike is thrust into the role of protagonist, the show wastes no time in pointing out the inherent ridiculousness of so many video games in establishing the hero’s role and purpose. Who in their right mind would assume that a tween kid still living with his parents would make a suitable hero. Of course he holds some mysterious unnamed power – all the tropes say that he has to! The way in which the show employs each and every one of those time-worn cliches belies the fact that the creators of the story truly have a lot of love for these kinds of scenarios; many of us geeks of a certain age have a shared experience in playing these types of games, so while we might not exactly what’s “supposed” to happen, seeing it unfold gives us a chuckle and a warm case of the nostalgia fuzzies.

Another nostalgic aspect of the episode is evident right from the get-go; the show channels other classics like Kodomo no Omocha in its way of presenting the story through non-stop visual gags and hyperactive dialog. This barely gives the viewer a chance to take a breath and regroup before tackling the next item on the story agenda, but this is definitely where familiarity with the structure and pacing serves another purpose; when you already know what’s supposed to happen and have already accepted that it will do so without question, it leaves enough time for your brain to latch onto the fact that one of Kukuri’s magic circles is the “laughing man” symbol, or that the home-cooked meal made by Nike’s mother is the perfect visual representation of an RPG world map. It’s a bit like the way in which moé characterization can, in some cases, serve to provide a good character baseline so that additional character development can occur within the relatively protracted time period allowed for in most TV anime these days. It definitely doesn’t occur that way successfully in all cases, but when done right it can help make the most of limited resources.

Don’t draw your magic circle incorrectly! Copyright 2017 (c) Production I.G.

Speaking of characterization, though, I feel like that might be one area where this episode happens to fall short. It can be easy to underestimate the importance of character development in a comedic setting, especially with a gag-comedy focus. In the end, the most important thing is that most if not all of the jokes were successful in entertaining the audience. I’ve found that a lot of viewers (and some creators) tend to underestimate the potential value added when competent comedy is coupled with sympathetic characters with whom the viewer can form a connection. Jokes that harp on one person’s primary defining trait often grow tiresome, but jokes that escalate as we learn more and more about a character’s inner self make for some of the most transcendent, memorable laughs in anime (one series that does this surprisingly well is Nichijou, which is a must-watch as far as I’m concerned).

My main complaint with this episode in this regard isn’t as much with Nike, who’s kind of your crabby “everykid” hero and seems fairly self-aware, but with Kukuri who stands out to me as being more ill-defined. She’s introduced as a character who’s cute but ineffectual but for her streak of dumb luck. She’s worshipful of Nike, her “hero” who serves some sort of important role in her life as an ideal rather than a friend or equal; it’s this piece of it that grates on me a little bit. Kukuri toes the line between someone who could eventually become aware of her own potential and someone who’s purpose in the narrative is to provide Nike more obstacles to overcome due to her clumsiness and lack of awareness. For now their dynamic is kind of funny, but it’s something to keep my eye on.

The characters travel in 8-bit mode. Copyright 2017 (c) Production I.G.

I briefly mentioned above how the show utilizes visual parody in addition to other forms of humor, and this is probably one of the more entertaining aspects of the episode. There are several 8-bit overhead view interludes (in 4:3 aspect ratio, no less) that occur when characters travel, or something is occurring that seems particularly ripped-off from any of several classic RPG video games. This breaks up the episode nicely and the technique isn’t overused which lets it keep being funny rather than repetitive and tiresome. There’s also a similarly funny effect that occurs in some instances during character closeups, where they’ll be portrayed as they are in the anime, but highly pixelated in close-up. It’s difficult to describe why it’s so amusing to me; I tend to think that extreme close-up shots of people’s faces are inherently pretty funny for whatever reason, especially if the zoom slowly increases in intensity. The added effect of the pixels only enhances that. Overall these cute additions really serve to emphasize the tie that the show has to a particular era of video-gaming; while I believe that the show is made for younger viewers, this aspect makes it entertaining for those of us who played the first Dragon Quest on cartridge, too.

I have to say, this show really came out of nowhere for me. As a re-make of an older series, it definitely looks pretty unassuming. There wasn’t a lot of energy put into making it flashier for a new generation of viewers, and I think that was the correct decision. Considering that anime comedies tend to be mostly-miss for me, I really didn’t have a lot of reason to pay attention as this was coming down the pipeline. After finding myself highly amused by episode 1, I feel like I might have to add it to my queue. At the very least, it seems like it might be a fun distraction.

Pros: The visual and parody humor work well together. There is judicious use of visual gags like 8-bit style and pixelation.

Cons: The characterization is a bit lacking so far.

Grade: B

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First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2017 First Impressions – Fox Spirit Matchmaker/Enmusubi no Youko-chan

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

Copyright 2017 (c) Haoliners

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.

Suusu’s sibling(?) wants her out. Copyright 2017 (c) Haoliners

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.

Gessho strikes a pose. Copyright 2017 (c) Haoliners

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-

Categories
First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2017 First Impressions – Gabriel DropOut

Gabriel White graduated at the top of the class at angel school and attends a human school on earth in pursuit of knowledge, but then gets engrossed in a web game and decides its too much trouble to go anywhere. – ANN

Streaming at: Crunchyroll

Number of Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode 1 Summary: Gabriel is the embodiment of angelic behavior. She graduates at the top of her class in angel school, then descends to earth in order to observe humans close up and make their lives better. It’s a lofty task, but her inherent kindness and helpfulness keeps her on the straight-and-narrow, as one would expect of such a divine being. It’s this trait of helpfulness that turns out to be her eventual downfall, however; while playing an MMO, Gabriel becomes tempted by a weapon that she can use to heal other characters, and soon gets sucked into a life of gaming and skipping school. She’d play hooky every day if not for her friend Vigne, an unusually straight-laced demon with a strong sense of responsibility. Gabriel also shares her school days with Satanichia, another demon who fancies herself the future Queen of Hell (but who’s afraid of dogs and can’t even manage to get away with not turning in her homework) and Raphiel, another angel with a vile personality.

Impressions: In the continuing saga of no one being able to predict what I’m going to find funny, I went into this show with zero expectations and actually laughed out loud a couple of times by the time the credits rolled. I guess I’m just not as self-aware as I think I am.

The show itself is deceptively simple, and seems to revolve around one particular concept – angels and demons behaving in ways that are generally thought of as being contrary to their very nature. Gabriel and Raphi are both blessed with various shades of shitty attitude, while Vigne and Satanichia are either overly-kind or ineffectual, depending on the moment. It’s a gag that ought to run out of steam really quickly (and it very well could after a couple more episodes; I don’t really know what to expect at this point), but it definitely just works. By the time Satanichia was ranting about not doing her homework, I was definitely laughing to myself.

Part of what I think really gets me going is that Gabriel’s situation is pretty relateable. I played an MMO for a period of about three months many years ago, and never quite got into it much until I was asked by some other characters to join a raid. I got sucked into the experience completely, and spent an entire Sunday’s worth of daylight playing the stupid thing. After it was over and we all went our separate ways, I looked to see that more than six hours had passed since I’d started; probably not that impressive to many of you, but it was a huge amount of time to me. Whereas I made the choice then and there to stop completely, though, Gabriel lets herself fall further and further down the rabbit hole, essentially screwing up her life in the process. I think seeing her flaws laid out and knowing full well that I could have become something similar, given the chance and the inclination, makes her story amusing to watch on some level.

I read some other anime blogs, of course, and in poking around I learned a new term for Gabriel’s character type -she’s a trash character (side note: Anime Feminist is a great blog – whereas I tend to be more broad and incorporate my own feminism into my anime examinations, they are very focused on the subject and are good at pointing out some of the things that I might overlook. Check them out!). Trash characters are those characters who, for whatever reason, have stopped caring about social propriety and let their real, harsh opinions and bad habits fly free for all to see. The iconic ones tend to be young women who stop caring about putting up appearances – one example that I can think of is Yukino from His and Her Circumstances, who appears to be very put-together at school, but who becomes a lazy slob at home. There are of course some questions as to whether this is a good thing or a bad thing as far as women’s representation; to summarize some of the good points, these characters seem to reject traditional femininity but at the same time it’s usually in service of some moé appeal. In short:  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ As usual, interpretations are in the eye of the beholder.

As for myself, I’m aware that this story was likely written to appeal to males on some level (the story originally appeared in a shounen magazine, after all), but I’m the type of fan who tends to overlook the hard demographic markers and take things for myself, since there isn’t nearly as much material created specifically for my particular demographic (anime made for mid-thirties women is in short supply, sadly). This has been a very roundabout way of saying that I identify with what Gabriel is going through in that its so, so easy to fall off the productivity wagon, lose hope, and become cynical about life and towards others. Most of the time I find it easier to stay inside and screw around on the computer than to leave the house and go do something more “productive,” so despite her specific situation being more extreme, I find that it makes sense to me.

I think if Gabriel were a lone lead, though, the show would get irritating quickly. It’s the ensemble cast and its members’ variable personality quirks that really make the episode entertaining. I mentioned Satanichia’s inflated perception of herself as being memorable (just look at that accompanying image to the left – I think it’s pretty representative of her personality), and it rings true for almost every scene she’s in. I think a lot of other reviewers have found her to be outright grating, but I tend to like noisy, clueless characters (think Yukko from Nichijou) so I think that’s why she hit me the right way. Vigne just tries so hard to be a demon and yet can’t seem to help but be a goody two-shoes sweetheart. And Raphiel… when I say “bad personality” I don’t think that properly encapsulates how rotten she is. She’s truly a bully, but in a manipulative way that worms its way around your conscious perception and catches you by surprise. She’s the type of character I would despise in a more serious setting, but as a foil for Satanichia I think she works well.

Overall I’m reminded a bit of Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt, which has a similar story premise (but a more adult, vulgar outlook). In that series, there’s a constant questioning of what acts are actually “good” or “bad,” to the point that it actually becomes fairly serious and broad-reaching inquiry regarding morality and being judgmental about women’s behavior. Right now the characters in this anime are maintaining a solid, humorous balance and I suspect the show won’t really be asking those big, serious questions at any point. As I mentioned before, though, I worry that something more will have to happen in order to keep up the level of interest, because a one-gag show is rarely funny for twelve episodes.

As with most comedies, there are a couple of questionable gags. One in particular (that I admittedly laughed at anyway – sorry for being a flawed feminist and human being) involves Gabriel attempting a divine teleportation to make it to school on time. Ultimately, the only thing that transports is the pair of panties she’s wearing (it’s implied that the rest of her is so corrupted that the spell just doesn’t work), and they appear over her desk in class. A group of teenage boys sees this as a divine miracle. Despite the scene being about a minute long, I feel like there are a lot of things I could pick apart – teenagers are not always the smartest, but I think the assumption that teenage boys are so goofy and sex-starved that the act of seeing a pair of a girl’s underwear is a miracle makes me roll my eyes. I feel like the rest of the show is funny enough on its own merits that it doesn’t have to stoop to this level, so it’s a little bit frustrating to me. But again, I still chuckled at it.

I truly have no idea whether this anime series can remain funny beyond the first episode (I recall my experience with Himouto Umaru-chan where I found the introductory episode chuckle-worthy but the subsequent couple of episodes so profoundly flat that I dropped it like a turd), but I liked the introductory episode quite a bit. As of this writing, the second episode is available, so I might just go check it out. In any case, if you have a taste for somewhat low-brow comedic antics, I would definitely give this one a look.

Pros: Its simple premise provides more humor than might be apparent from first glance. The characters’ personalities are over-the-top but meld well into a comedic unit. Gabriel is relateable.

Cons: Some of the gags are maybe too low-brow and/or cynical. There’s the potential for one-note gags as the show progresses (or doesn’t, as might be the case).

Grade: B

Categories
First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2017 First Impressions – Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid

Miss Kobayashi is your average office worker who lives a boring life, alone in her small apartment–until she saves the life of a female dragon in distress. The dragon, named Tohru, has the ability to magically transform into an adorable human girl (albeit with horns and a long tail), who will do anything to pay off her debt of gratitude, whether Miss Kobayashi likes it or not. – ANN

Streaming at: Crunchyroll

Number of Episodes: TBA

Source: Manga

Summary of Episode 1: After a barely-remembered evening of drunken debauchery, Kobayashi-san finds herself in the strange situation of opening her front door and finding a dragon waiting for her. The dragon, named Tohru, takes the form of a lovely young woman, and has become hopelessly infatuated with Kobayashi, for reasons that are not immediately apparent. Tohru also claims that Kobayashi offered to share her home with her; though Kobayashi doesn’t really remember much about what she may or may not have said or done that night, she eventually breaks down and lets Tohru stay, especially since she promises to make herself useful around the house. The problem is, however, that Tohru doesn’t know a whole lot about what being human entails, and her ideas of being a house maid are often way off the mark. It may be more work than it’s worth to keep Tohru around, but Kobayashi-san finds herself warming up to her unwanted house guest bit-by-bit.

Impressions: Content warning for what could be interpreted as non-consensual removal of one character’s clothing by another character.

Continuing with my unintentional theme today is another series focused on monster girls, in this case dragons and other mythological beasts. At first glance, this anime appears to be much more straightforward in its comedic intentions, but there’s enough going on that I feel like there might be much more worth talking about than may be immediately apparent.

What I think is worth mentioning first of all is that, while this episode is definitely “funny” and I can see the humor in it, it’s not really what I would call “funny ha-ha.” I’m admittedly very particular when it comes to anime-style humor and I tend to disagree with the majority about what works and what doesn’t, so my saying that I didn’t really laugh much throughout this first episode isn’t necessarily an indictment of the series’ success in that regard. I do think that that the show works to subvert expectations in such a way that it’s entertaining even if it isn’t exactly laugh-out-loud entertaining. I think one of my favorite sequences (and one that’s pretty easy to find if you go looking) occurs when Kobayashi-san tries to outline for Tohru just exactly what a maid’s duties are, and Tohru’s dragon nature takes over and twists them to fit within her inherent skill set as a mythological beast. For example, a house maid does the laundry for her master – luckily Tohru’s saliva is perfect for removing stains from clothing. Other examples are similarly gross and vaguely horrifying, keeping the episode from devolving into complete saccharine mayhem, which is a nice surprise.

What’s helpful in creating the atmosphere is Tohru’s characterization, which is incredibly earnest. She’s someone who’s not really familiar with human cultural conventions and doesn’t really care to follow them, so she wears her heart on her sleeve and tries to emphasize doing what she thinks is right. She shows up on Kobayashi’s doorstep because Kobayashi (albeit while drunk) invited her to stay over, and this act of kindness so struck her heart that she fell in love with the human woman (she claims that it’s “sexual love” but I think that might be an oversimplification). She wants to do right by her host, it’s just that she doesn’t always know how to keep her natural inclinations under control. There’s also a sense that she’s fairly lonely and just needs a little company. I find that overbearing and willfully obtuse characters normally tend to push my buttons a little bit, but Tohru tends to skirt the line humorously without crossing it. It’s a balance that not many anime are able to strike.

Likewise, Kobayashi is pretty unique as far as protagonists are concerned. What struck me as unusual right off the bat is that Kobayashi-san isn’t exactly a typical “working woman” type character. She’s not depicted as an “OL” (an “Office Lady” – a woman employed at a company in a low-grade position making copies and bringing people tea, the assumption being that she’ll likely leave as soon as she gets married), and appears to have actual job responsibilities as some sort of software engineer. She also dresses in a masculine manner, which is not exactly unusual where I’m from, but seems to be less common when it comes to anime, which is based so strongly on visual symbols and shorthand. He work acquaintance, Makoto, describes Kobayashi as “one of the guys” which is a concept that I have a lot of problems with, the main one being the assumption that some men have trouble being friends with a woman unless the woman in question sheds every bit of their femininity. However, I think the intention was to demonstrate how Kobayashi isn’t focused on presenting herself as typically feminine (and instead admires it from outside via her interest in Victorian era maids), and I do find it heartening that there is an anime airing that features a less-common gender presentation and doesn’t make a big joke of it. There are a lot of things that could have gone wrong in that sense, so it’s nice to see it mostly done right.

This does kind of beg the question, though – how are we as the audience supposed to interpret the relationship between Tohru and Kobayashi? I could pretty easily see it as a romantic one, since Tohru has essentially confessed her true feelings already. Kobayashi seems mostly uninterested thus far, though. I’m at one time kind of bummed out that in episode 1 we are already kind of dancing around the issue, having the character share a bed, showing a little bit of nudity, essentially planting the seed of something that could easily blossom into a romantic or even just sexual entanglement between two women, but I’m also wary of most “Yuri” series since so many are primarily fetish fodder for straight cisgender males. It’s not that I think that audience shouldn’t be catered-to, but there’s already plenty out there, and I’d love to see a cute same-sex romance that exists without those particular caveats.

It bears mentioning that there was an iffy moment in this episode involving nudity and consent. There’s a scene where Kobayashi and Makoto are getting drunk at a restaurant, and in her inebriated state Kobayashi starts to get angry that Tohru isn’t behaving much like an actual maid (obviously problematic, since Kobayashi is a maid otaku after all). There’s a lengthy sidebar about maid cosplay versus lolita fashion (I actually enjoyed this part, for reasons that should be obvious to those who know of my side hobbies) and how Tohru’s chosen form is closer to otaku cosplay than to the uniforms of actual Victorian maids, which are what Kobayashi is more interested in. Kobayashi forcefully removes Tohru’s clothes at this point. There are arguments to be made about what’s really happening here, I suppose (didn’t Tohru say that her “clothing” was really her scales, magically shape-shifted?) and Tohru doesn’t seem to be particularly perturbed by the nudity (moreso by potentially making Kobayashi angry with her), but the scene felt mean-spirited and out-of-place in a show that’s otherwise pretty cute and upbeat. It wasn’t a deal-breaker for me, but I think it could be for others, so beware if that description is off-putting. It remains to be seen whether there is more of that type of material to come.

On the upside, I do appreciate that there’s a little bit of variety in the character designs – Tohru in particular is slightly more plump than a typical anime protagonist (probably not “real life” plump, but I’ll take even slight variety when I can find it). I also like how Kyoto Animation went a bit more Nichijou with the character designs and general visual presentation for this series. Believe me, I love the light blooms and perennial sunset lighting of series like Hyouka and Sound! Euphonium, but I also appreciate bright colors and simplified roundness, too. I think it fits the more comedic atmosphere really well. Speaking of Kyoto Animation, I think it bears mentioning that, while this series doesn’t look like it’ll end up being some crazy animation powerhouse like some of their other series, it still looks very nice, with a lot of fine details that might not be flashy, but add to the overall richness. I’ll be excited when more characters show up so I can get a chance to see how they move and what their color palettes are like.

It’s a good time to be a fan of cute monster girls, since there are plenty to go around this season. Even if this series never goes on to strike me as laugh-out-loud funny, I still think it has potential as a vehicle for a quirky relationship between a couple of mismatched characters. Tohru is a likable and earnest lead, and Kobayashi-san has her charms as well. I’ll remain hopeful that it keeps its less savory elements in check.

Pros: Kind of a fun twist on the core relationship, being between two women. The character designs are varied and cute. There’s a lot of quirky humor.

Cons: Kobayashi’s drunken non-consensual removal of Tohru’s clothes was gross and out-of-place.

Grade: B

Categories
Anime Reviews Reviews

Anime Review – Space Patrol Luluco

Space Patrol Luluco

Ogikubo is the name of the specially designated area in space in the Milky Way where Earthlings and aliens can live together. Luluco is a female middle school student who lives with her father, and no matter where she is, Luluco is a common, “super normal” girl. As she is living her normal life, one day the mysterious transfer student ΑΩ Nova abruptly appears before her. That meeting will change Luluco’s fate. – ANN

Streaming at: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 13

Source: Original

Review:  This review contains spoilers for events that occur throughout the series. 

There’s a large sub-set of anime series that seem to trade primarily on their perceived “wackiness.” “Oh, those cartoons from Japan, they’re so weird,” people sometimes say, confused by somewhat by anime’s blending of cultural call-backs they’re not familiar with, referential comedy based on other media that will likely never be available in the West, and characters that don’t seem to reflect any real human attributes. Add to that the fact that so many shows nowadays, comedy series especially, arrive in such short, punctuated doses, here and gone in the blink of an eye, and it’s no wonder that many of these silly, colorful, and over-the-top anime are incredibly difficult to relate to (especially if you’re getting on in “fandom years” like me).

Luluco
Luluco endures an awkward transformation into the Judgement Gun.

Short form anime seem to only be increasing in popularity and ubiquity, but until recently I just couldn’t fine many that I actually liked. It’s only been in the past couple of years or so that several short series have started to make decent use of their format and branch out from comedy into other realms, like Yamishibai‘s horror tales or She and her Cat‘s delicate look at life through a feline’s eyes. Still, comedy has primarily the format’s bread and butter over the years, and there have been several good ones lately. While many people have been trying to get me to watch Please Tell Me! Galko-chan (I’ll get around to it… someday), which I’ve heard called “Feminist” and “like Broad City, the anime,” I haven’t found myself in the correct frame of mind to tackle it yet. Those are both really large claims to make, and I’m afraid of ultimately being disappointed if/when it misses the mark. On the other hand, I had no trouble keeping up with Space Patrol Luluco from week-to-week, I think primarily because there’s some inherent part of me that just clicks with Hiroyuki Imaishi‘s body of work.

The anime that Imaishi has had a strong hand in tend toward the silly and perverse, with a lot of over-the-top movement and fiery, uncomplicated emotion. They can be both barely-animated in the same vein as many Western made-for-adults animation series tend to be, and jam-packed with cinematic, bombastic movement, within the same episode. Their subject matter could be silly, perverse, or grotesque, but with the ability to turn serious when needed or at least provide lip service towards exploring more complex topics. It’s like he walks into a project with a big old bag full of contradictory nonsense, and somehow has the ability to smash it all together into something visually appealing and entertaining to watch. I find that pretty fascinating.

Luluco is a sci-fi comedy anime that has Imaishi’s storytelling and directorial fingerprints all over it. It’s about a self-professed normal girl who wants to live an average teenage life. She worries about “teenage girl stuff” like finding her first love, getting along with others in school, and dealing with her dad. The twist is that she lives in an area called Ogikubo that’s a hotbed for alien activity where creatures from all across the local corner of the universe interact with one-another and occasionally cause trouble. Luluco’s dad is a member of the Space Patrol, an agency that sniffs out unlawful alien activity and “deals with it.” It’s when Dad “accidentally” eats some contraband material with his breakfast and freezes his body solid that Luluco is thrust into taking his place until he’s better. Goodbye, normal life! All is not lost, however, since with her is Alpha-Omega Nova, a very attractive boy her age that Luluco instantly starts crushing on. Chasing down criminal aliens and embarrassingly transforming into a giant gun aren’t so bad when you get to spend all your time allowing your first love to bud and flourish!

Luluco06
Lalaco Godspeed arrives to steal Ogikubo.

Eventually Luluco’s mom shows up (she’s a space pirate with a real rag-tag crew), steals Ogikubo itself and takes it to the far corners of the universe, and Luluco and company are sent on a mad chase to retrieve it, all the while discovering just how many truly goofy planets there are out there. Eventually Luluco’s very love for Nova-kun becomes a major plot point and the fate of Ogikubo and all its characters rests in what the big-bag refers to as a teenage girl’s “shitty, worthless first love.”

Imaishi seems to have a way with female anime characters and their stories. I wouldn’t necessarily call it feminist (those of you who have seen me in person at conventions lately know that there are reasons for that), but I do think that he and those who work with him seem to have more of a vested interest in presenting girls and women in a different light than you see in many anime. In Panty and Stocking (a series that generally seemed to confound a lot of fans), we get two main characters who are basically unapologetic about their “vices.” Panty has a lot of unattached sexual encounters, and Stocking eats sugary sweet food all day. Ultimately, I interpreted the series as a whole as being critical of these mostly unexamined prejudices that are held against women, both in the anime and in real life. In Kill la Kill, in the correct light, you can tease out messages about body shaming against women and the constant pressure we face to be dressed a certain way, as well as the value of female camaraderie and friendship. There are major issues with these anime series, too, which is partly why I’m hesitant about lifting them up as paragons of female-focused entertainment. They contain plenty of leering and fanservicey stuff to round out their run time (though I maintain that late-era “good” Gainax and Trigger material has a way with fanservice that I personally find less gross than the norm), so that’s something to consider.

Luluco02
Luluco close to death (from embarrassment?)

Luluco as a whole skews a bit younger with its characters. Its atmosphere, while appropriately zany and wacky, is a lot more tame in terms of the visual sexualization, so its handling of female-focused plot points comes across more purely than some of its predecessors. Ignoring the sci-fi element all together, the story is focused on the value of a young girl’s first love. This might not seem like particularly groundbreaking material, but consider that anime most often tackles this subject in the context of school drama where a young woman ends up becoming consumed with her feelings for the object of her affections to the exclusion of (most) everything else. The crush acts as both the focus of the plot, as well as an aspect of it which is used by outsiders and naysayers to trivialize the type of anime made for a young female audience. I knew someone at one time who called shoujo anime something like “those pointy-chin shows” referring to the types of character designs that tend to show up in those series. Getting beyond the fact that it’s kind of a funny term and there are a lot of mediocre shoujo anime (like any other type of anime) out there that kind of deserve it, I find that there are a lot of viewers who generally just trivialize anime series that have too strong  a focus on feelings and emotions, and especially uncomplicated-yet-overwhelming pubescent romantic feelings, ostensibly because they find themselves unable or unwilling to try to relate to those emotions of the teenage girls who serve as protagonists.

There’s a lot to unpack there, but what amuses me about Luluco is that it does so without hesitation and without looking back… you just have to be paying attention to notice it. Luluco lays its aesthetics on thick with its bright colors, cutesy characters, madcap comedy, and constant parody humor, not to mention its lightning-fast pacing and Inferno Cop style plot progression. Luluco’s girlish crush on Nova-kun seems like a side note for most of the series, a gag that keeps cropping up that serves to re-emphasize just how bland of a personality he has. It’s only near the end of the show when the big baddie is revealed that we find out  how central Luluco’s feelings were the entire time. The Blackholeians, who make their living stealing valuable items throughout the universe, have decided that it would be more interesting to start seeking out things that are considered utterly worthless. They’ve now come to the conclusion that the first love of a teenage girl is probably the most utterly worthless, most bland and most insignificant thing out there, so they steal it (visually represented by a clear heart-shaped jewel) from Luluco, killing her. Luluco then has to journey back from Hell itself to then prove the true value of her feelings.

Luluco07
The essence of Luluco’s pure and innocent first love.

I was incredibly impressed by this final story arc because within the microcosm of an otherwise very silly show, the creators were able to express a frustration that I’ve had with almost every kind of fandom I’ve ever been in – “this thing you care about isn’t important to me, so therefore it doesn’t matter.” Doubly-so when said by male fans when referring to entertainment targeted towards girls and women. Thinking back, I don’t think there are many people who would look at their first crush or even their early relationships, and think to themselves “this was substantial and it was made to last.” There are so many factors, including physiological ones and those relating to experience and emotional maturity, that generally doom these early relationships to be nothing more than learning experiences on the road to adulthood. But they were real and they were important, and at the time they felt all-consuming. They had value in they way they helped form my adult self; thinking back to those memories, I can tell which relationships helped me learn to appreciate others’ hobbies (even if they weren’t my hobbies) and which ones caused me to let my personal boundaries deteriorate, setting me up for a long road towards learning to respect myself again. There were happy times and challenging experiences. Sometimes there was more bad than good, but even if the emotions themselves were fleeting and over dramatic, they were always real and they were always important. Some of the same things could be said for the books, movies, television, blogs, or games that drew our attention as younger people. Some of them might have less objective “value,” and looking at them now we can tell that they were pretty terrible (I used to be in love with so much terrible anime, you guys), but people don’t attach themselves to fandoms and media for no reason; there’s always something there that speaks to us when we need to hear it.

When Luluco comes back from Hell and takes full ownership of her feelings for Nova, it’s then that she proves her power. Because there is nothing more emotionally powerful than being able to fully value one’s self and one’s emotions, at least as far as defeating black hole aliens is concerned. I like to interpret Luluco’s powerful return as a giant middle finger towards those who under-value entertainment made for women, especially since the message was stealthed into a show that from the outside seems to be nothing more than a cracked-out (and possibly a little bit self-congratulatory) comedy romp from Studio Trigger and company.

Luluco01
Luluco gets advice from a friend.

All that aside, there are some fun references to other Trigger properties throughout the series – Little Witch Academia, Kill la Kill, and Sex & Violence with Machspeed being the really obvious ones; Inferno Cop shows up in an awesome cameo later on and there are some strong aesthetic references towards Gurren Lagann, too. I would also be remiss if I went without mentioning the third member of the Space Patrol team, Midori, an alien gyaru who starts as sort of a love-rival to Luluco but ends up becoming supportive (though no less sassy) by the end. She’s used more as comic relief and provides a good foil for the pure-hearted Luluco, but unfortunately doesn’t spend much time front-and-center. Luluco’s mother, Lalaco Godspeed, is also a hoot (with prominent hooters, eheheh). The only downside is that the short format means that these fun side characters don’t really receive as much attention as I would have liked, but maybe there’ll be a sequel someday.

I’ve been a little bit snarky in person with some folks this past season, calling this “Studio Trigger’s good Spring 2016 anime series.” I’m only partly joking when I say that, though, since as much as I thought Kiznaiver was a decent accomplishment with a lot of good ideas to share, I felt a stronger emotional connection with this series. Luluco just always seemed more focused on the story it wanted to tell and on the character it decided to feature in the telling. Its entire run time only constitutes about 1/3rd of your average anime series, and yet I think it was more successful in arguing for its central conceits than a lot of other series out there. I may even have shed a tear once or twice (whether from laughing or crying, I’ll never tell). I have a tendency to dig deep into shows that I really enjoy, drawing conclusions that others might not agree with, and I gather that’s the case with this show, too. But they’re my feelings, and those feelings have power for me. And isn’t that really what’s important?

Pros: The show has a definite sense of style to it, with cute character designs, and a good balance of stills and more animated portions. I thought most of the gags were pretty funny and enjoyed the references to other anime throughout the show. There’s a good message to be found about the value of formative (and especially romantic) experiences, especially those that women have which are often belittled by the mainstream.

Cons: If you choose to seek out some of the anime referenced in the show, be warned that Sex & Violence with Machspeed is incredibly racy and grotesque, something that’s more hinted at in the episode of Luluco that references it. The short runtime leaves little time to flesh out some of the side characters, like Lalaco and Midori. Please make a sequel!

Grade: B+

Luluco05 Luluco04 Luluco03

Categories
Anime Reviews Reviews

Spring 2016: What I’ve Been Watching – Shorts

IconI moved into an apartment this past month, and while that’s been a pretty awesome change for me, my “office” area is still in a shambles and it’s made it really difficult for me to write anything (no desk, laptop is mainly used for video streaming to the TV, my desktop computer still doesn’t exist… I’m so very full of excuses right now). I wanted to try and squeeze in some time to talk about the stuff from this most recent season that I’ve been watching. Spoiler alert – it’s been a lot! One great thing about moving is that I’ve been able to commute by bus again, so that’s about 90 minutes per day that I can stream anime on my phone while going to and from work. It’s given me the freedom to devote time not just to the shows I truly love, but to some that I might not make time for otherwise – the goofy, dumpy, highly-flawed stuff that serves as a good reminder of how great the awesome stuff actually is. And heck – sometimes watching series with a lot of major issues helps develop critical thinking skills. Or so I will continue to believe as I fill my days with anime of varying quality levels.

In any case, I’ve noticed that the quality of short-form series has increased by quite a bit over the past year or so. In fact, here are some thoughts on the ones I’m watching right now!

Tonkatsu DJTonkatsu DJ Agetarou

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 7 released (as of this writing), total TBD

Source: Manga

Thoughts So Far: Agetarou is a young man who works at his family’s tonkatsu (fried pork cutlet – it’s delicious) restaurant. He doesn’t have a lot of passion for his job, but doesn’t really have any other direction in life. On a fateful night, he’s asked to deliver tonkatsu to an employee at a local dance club, and as thanks he’s granted free admission. It’s at the club that he experiences his first taste of dancing to a famous DJ’s beats, and he’s enthralled. It’s then that Agetarou starts walking the path of becoming a famous DJ.

Aesthetically, this series represents some of the things I don’t really like about the short-form “boom” in anime. It’s a stretch to call it “animated” at all most of the time, since the movement is extremely minimal. It’s more of a moving comic than an animated series, in my opinion. On the other hand, the show is extremely music-oriented, and though it uses a lot of the same tracks over and over again, they’re all very poppy, catchy, and fun to listen to. As goofy as the tale of Agetarou’s rise to fame can be at certain points, the music itself seems to have been taken seriously, and in that sense I think the resource expenditure was well-managed.

One criticism I have of the show is a beef I have with a lot of comedic anime series – a lot of the humor is based around the main character reacting incredulously to some situation and protesting loudly about it. I’ve never found that to be particularly humorous unless it’s done very well (Nichijou is probably the best example I can think of, and a lot of that is the accompanying animation and the great handle on escalation humor that that series has). I think the visual gags, namely the comparisons between DJ skills and tonkatsu-making, are much more successful. It’s silly enough to garner some genuine laughs while also upholding the main premise well.

One item worth noting is the weird, stereotypical language quirks applied to the series’ Black character, DJ Big Master Fry. In the first episode of the show, DJ Big Master Fry gives a monologue that’s audible in Japanese and visually-represented in some kind of heavily-accented written pidgin English on screen. I’m guessing the creators were trying to represent slang dialect, but it comes across as sounding like dialog from Huckleberry Finn. The Crunchyroll translation does a good job of smoothing this out, but there’s really no avoiding it and it comes across as ignorant on the part of the show’s (or the manga’s?) creators. It’s a weirdly uncomfortable moment in a show that’s otherwise very lighthearted and fun.

 

Space Patrol LulucoSpace Patrol Luluco

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Source: Original

Thoughts So Far: Luluco is a middle school student who just wants to live an ordinary life in an exceedingly extraordinary place – Ogikubo, a city where Earthlings and Aliens live alongside one-another. When her father, a member of the Space Patrol, gets into a pickle, Luluco is forced to take over his job and thus her life strays further and further from the ordinary.

When I think “Studio Trigger” what I’m really thinking of is animator/director Hiroyuki Imaishi, a creative voice who specializes in visual stylization and wacky vulgarity. After Trigger’s Kill la Kill, I found myself waiting around for something similarly accomplished to come from the studio. And while we did finally get a hold of Little Witch Academia 2 in the meantime, both When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace and Ninja Slayer From Animation were decidedly mediocre. My original enthusiasm for the company began to flag. Luckily, this season has been pretty good for Trigger, and while I’m still mostly undecided on how I feel about Kiznaiver about 5 episodes into it, I can already safely say that Luluco is living up to that Imaishi spirit.

The series is what I imagine the lovechild of Kill la Kill and Inferno Cop to be. It’s an apt comparison, too, since the show is pretty clearly drawing influence from both in its visual style and sense of humor. The show is not well-animated in the traditional sense, and this is a complaint that a lot of people have with Trigger’s productions. I think there’s something to be said, though, of being able to take one of Japanese animation’s common shortcomings – few frames and choppy animation – and morphing that into something stylistic in its own way. Luluco incorporates elements of Flash and web animation and puts a lot of emphasis on dynamic character poses rather than smooth in-between animation. It’s one of those things that bothers people and would cause a lot of them to call the show “cheap,” but I really like it as a style choice. I think it takes a lot of talent and an eye for composition to be successful with something like this. I love the character designs, too, which are cute, round, and drawn with thick, bold lines. I hope that they sell figures of the characters at some point!

The current story arc is an extended homage to some of Trigger’s other works, and that really tickles me. What some might see as blatant self-advertising, I see as having fun with some great properties. Of the short series I’m watching this season, this is probably my favorite.

 

Spring 2016Pan de Peace

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Source: 4-koma manga

Thoughts So Far: With episodes this short, it’s difficult to create something that’s too complicated. In this case, it’s simply about a group of four high school girls who are brought together by their love of bread. All of their (decidedly mundane) adventures revolve around bread (making it or obtaining it).

This is one of those shows that’s best described as “mostly inoffensive.” I say mostly, because it occupies a weird slice-of-life sub-genre that I’m still not sure what to do with. There are a lot of shows, both normal and short-form, that feature groups of girls doing this or that. It’s been popular in the last few years to go further, and suggest that the characters might or might not be gunning for some sort of lesbian romantic tension with one-another. Yuru-Yuri made it famous, but there have been several copycats. There’s something that makes me uncomfortable about fetishizing sexual orientation, and then not even being brave enough to follow-through with it.

For a show ostensibly involving bread, there’s unfortunately not a lot of focus on the bread. I kind of live for the last two or three seconds of each episode where there’s a luscious photograph of the type of bread in that episode (as someone who no longer eats bread on a regular basis, looking at pretty pictures of it is one way I continue to go on living without it). As a general rule, I’m congratulatory towards a series that focuses on its characters rather than its gimmick, but these episode are three minutes long and there’s not enough time to develop these characters beyond their stereotypes, so give me my damn food porn!

If you can’t tell, I’m very picky about my food-related anime.

Have you been enjoying any of this season’s short-form series? Let me know!

Categories
Anime Reviews Reviews

Anime Review – One Punch Man

One Punch Man“Saitama is a hero who only became a hero for fun. After three years of “special” training, though, he’s become so strong that he’s practically invincible. In fact, he’s too strong—even his mightiest opponents are taken out with a single punch, and it turns out that being devastatingly powerful is actually kind of a bore.
With his passion for being a hero lost along with his hair, yet still faced with new enemies every day, how much longer can he keep it going?” – Daisuki.net

Streaming at Daisuki , Hulu

Episodes: 12

Source: Webcomic/Manga

Review: I do a panel once a year at the Anime Detour anime convention focused on “Anime for Grown-Ups” – anime series that older anime fans might enjoy. I try to pull anime series, old and new, from several different genres that have aspects that might appeal to folks who are older, have a lot of life experience, and might not identify very closely with the typical anime protagonist (teenage male high school students, specifically). There are people who tend to misinterpret this as me saying that popular anime or anime aimed at younger audiences is “inferior” in some way to these shows and movies that I’m suggesting in this panel, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s just that, sometimes, it can be difficult being an older anime fan and never seeing yourself represented in the shows you like to watch, especially in the popular ones.

The upside is that, when the overlap between popularity and representation happens, it’s like striking gold a hundred times over. One Punch Man isn’t a complicated show and its action animation and humorous writing have made it really popular with the anime viewing masses. But the element of the series that resonated the most with me and which I think makes it more successful than anime with a similar focus is that its central character embodies a lot of the things that can make life as an adult an emotional struggle.

Let me just say, I really like being a grown-up. I like handling my finances, being able to hold down a job, and having the ability to decide what to do with my time. Driving a car is really great, and watching all the R-rated movies I like is pretty nice, also. But there are struggles, too. Navigating treatment for mental illness sucks, mortgages are complicated and scary, and even a good job can get really boring and tedious if you aren’t in a space where you feel like challenging yourself. Possibly one of the worst parts of coming into your adulthood is eventually gaining enough knowledge of the world to become cynical about it. If you’re careful and lucky this might be avoidable, but I think for most of us it’s easy to allow the gleam of adulthood’s privileges wear off, or perhaps you’re in a situation where you’ve never really even been allowed access to the things that others take for granted. Either way, arriving at the realization that “this is it” can be kind of sucky.

One Punch Man 01
Saitama dreams of a challenging encounter. Copyright Madhouse Inc.

What I loved about this show is that this is exactly where we meet Saitama. Currently stronger than just about every monster, demon, or alien that shows up to harass the people of his city, Saitama’s internal desire to fight for justice and defend the citizenry is currently at a low simmer. He’s reached a point where life no longer holds any challenges, and waking up from a wonderful dream where he’s in an all-out fight for his life, only to realize that the hot-blooded danger he envisioned in his mind’s eye was all an illusion, is depressing. There’s actually some humor in this situation, but I think different audiences will laugh for vastly different reasons. Young people will likely giggle at the utter absurdity of Saitama’s battle power and how his low-key attitude about it all is so incredibly different from your typical bellowing shounen anime protagonist. But for those of us who have been around long enough to have come to the realization that, most of the time, you don’t end up in some career that uses all your talents and pays enough to allow you to live your dreams, and most of the time life isn’t an endless parade of doing whatever the hell you want with your time, the laughter definitely comes from a place of understanding. For a show about a guy who punches dudes through buildings and causes enemy bodies to explode, I’m starting to make it sound kind of depressing.

One of the things that saves this series from being entirely cynical is the relationship between Saitama and his eager student, the cyborg soldier Genos. It’s clear from the outset that Genos doesn’t really need anyone to train him since his robotic body affords him all sorts of power, so much so that he’s immediately recognized as one of the top-ranked heroes in Japan.  Even though he could survive well enough as a loner, he thrives when he looks to Saitama as his master.

There are a lot of times when I wonder why, at the age of 34, I still attend a college anime club. Most of the time when I’m there I get really irritated at the other attendees and their inability to settle down and watch the shows, or the fact that they might not appreciate the full scope of why some series are classic or important (not just older shows, but some really great newer ones, too). But I also get the experience of being around people who are plenty smart and full of real talent, and for some reason some of them want to talk to and get to know me, too. It’s easy to look at anime fandom and think, as an “older” fan, “there’s nothing left for me here.” Fandom keeps getting younger while I stay the same, or at least it seems that way sometimes. But when I see my younger friends’ artwork or hear about the new cosplay they’re working on, or if they want to talk to me about lolita fashion, there’s something about those interactions that remind me that there isn’t such a wide gulf between myself and these people, and being around them helps remind me that I don’t have to let go of all the shiny things in life just because life itself isn’t a constant stream of shinies and rainbows. I like to think (and have interpreted the situation as such), that Saitama gains a little bit of the same perspective being around Genos, whose earnestness helps to offset Saitama’s ennui very well.

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Saitama (unwillingly) takes on a protege. Copyright Madhouse Inc.

The other aspect of the series  that reflects its underlying youthful joy is the way that this show was animated. As much as I would love to be an expert on key animators and the animation process in Japan, it’s just not a sense that I’ve had time to develop and so I leave it to the experts. There’s an excellent article over at Anime News Network written by contributor Kevin Cirugeda regarding what makes One Punch Man‘s animation so special, complete with commentary and some informative gifs that should give you a pretty good idea of what has gone into making this show look the way that it does. The biggest takeaway I had, though, and what I think is especially relevant to the spirit of this series, is that the production team for this anime wasn’t working with some extravagant animation budget or an abundance of time in which to draw it all. What it is, according to the chief animation director, is simply the work of passionate animators doing their best. Knowing anything about the Japanese animation industry, with its ability to work its animators to the bone and pay them salaries that keep them in a state of poverty, it seems almost impossible to think that there are animators left with the ability and drive to push their art to the limit. But once again I think that’s one of the lessons worth learning from this series – it’s easy to be cynical (and sometimes grossed-out) once you know how the sausage is made, but it bears repeating that there are many people who, either because of their young age or some magical ability of theirs to keep from becoming completely jaded, truly exemplify why there are things worth caring about.

If I had to levy a complaint against this anime, it would probably be that it gets bogged-down by introducing a lot of side characters and “plot” (defined very loosely) in the second half that drag the show down a bit. With a title like One Punch Man expecting high art would be stupid, and the show appropriately spends most of its time being, how to say, “dumb as hell.” That’s fine and doesn’t bother me. Even with a paper thin plot I still managed to somehow draw a lot of personal meaning from the show. But once the series achieved “dumb as hell and full of other dummies, too” by introducing a slew of other hero characters in the latter several episodes, I started to get a little annoyed. Some of the characters are interesting – I especially liked Silver Fang, the old man with high level martial art powers. But some of them are downright irritating, namely Tatsumaki, the green-haired esper with a bad attitude who spends most of her screen time being snotty for no reason. In any case, because the anime is so brief I felt like there really wasn’t time to utilize the large cast of characters very well, and if there had been a good way to keep things simple (at least for this season of the show, as there will surely be more to come later on) and focus on Saitama and Genos for a while, I would have preferred that. Because the final confrontation is so purely focused on Saitama, specifically him finding someone with whom he can have a (nearly) fair fight, I think this would have been do-able with a little tweaking. But surely that would have upset fans of the source material, so it’s just another no-win anime adaptation situation.

One Punch Man 03
The aftermath of one of Saitama’s encounters. Copyright Madhouse Inc.

Being an adult is complicated, and it doesn’t always feel that great. For every awesome splurge, there’s also an accompanying bill to be paid. The ability to do the fun things you want to do is coupled with the lack of energy that keeps you from doing it. You can buy any anime DVD you want, but there might not be a lot around that you want to own anymore (not my personal problem, but then again I’m a hopeless weeb 4 lyfe up in here). In some cases, it can feel a little bit like there’s not much point to going through the motions every day. I think it’s great, then, to have a reminder that there are still thrilling experiences to uncover (even if you have to wait until you’re discovered by a disgruntled space alien with a penchant for violence… yeah, sometimes anime isn’t all that realistic).  I wouldn’t have expected that reminder to show up in the form of an incredibly popular shounen series, but it serves as a great reminder that there are plenty of younger people out there with valuable things to teach us, and that listening to them might just keep us young.

Pros: The show, possibly somewhat by accident, is sort of insightful about the struggles of adulthood. Dat animation.

Cons: It gets bogged down with too many characters (some of whom are very irritating) in the second half.

Grade: A-

Categories
First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2016 First Impressions – Dagashi Kashi

Dagashi Kashi manga cover
Dagashi Kashi manga copyright Shogakukan/Kotoyama

“Kokonotsu Shikada is the son of a dagashi snack shop owner. Although he wants to become a manga artist, his father, Yo, wants him to take over the family business. One day, a girl named Hotaru Shidare shows up at the shop and challenges Kokonotsu.” – Funimation

Streaming at Funimation.com

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Summary of Episode 1: It’s difficult when your own aspirations conflict with your family’s expectations. Kokonotsu “Coconuts” Shikada just wants to draw manga, and his art skills are actually pretty good, but his father wants him to take over the family business – becoming the next in line to run the family sweets shop. It’s not just tradition informing this opinion; when an outgoing and snack-obsessed girl named Hotaru shows up at the shop one day, Kokonotsu learns the truth – Hotaru’s candy company wants Yo, Kokonotsu’s father, to join with them because of reasons. Kokonotsu will have to commit to running the shop before Yo is free to follow his own dreams. Kokonotsu isn’t keen to give up his own goals, but Hotaru is very insistent. She plans to insinuate herself into Kokonotsu’s life and use anything in her power to convince him to change his mind, including becoming friends with his sort-of girlfriend and spreading candy throughout town.

First Impressions: I wanted to check this show out because I have a certain interest in Japanese cuisine, and obscure Japanese snacks fall under that umbrella. While I can’t really eat most of these goodies anymore since sugar makes my brain feel like it’s about to burst out of my skull, I can still stand having them paraded around in front of me. As I feared going in, however, the snacks are probably the most interesting things about the episode and the characters who eat them are somewhat hard to tolerate.

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Hotaru Shows up at the dagashi store.

I’ve seen several reviewers describe Hotaru as a “manic pixie dream girl,” and to some extent I think that’s accurate. Kokonotsu is faced with a life decision that’s likely to take the length of the series to resolve, and Hotaru shows up as he stands at a crossroads and promises to make big changes in his life. She’s a very weird human being, defined so far by her sweets expertise and weirdly regal bearing. She also looks almost exactly like a manga character that Kokonotsu was drawing as the episode opened, which helps contribute to an eye-rolling introductory scene. She’s a male fantasy, an unrealistic woman who is more plot device and catalyst than equal partner. It’s not the worst of sins that a piece of fiction can commit, but it makes things a lot less interesting.

Something else the turned me off was the constant over-acting and forced comedy that peppered the episode. There’s a lot of yelling, goofy behavior, and immaturity on the part of several of the characters, especially Hotaru and Yo. As far as I can tell, the majority of the characters are young adults, and at the very least Yo is, but the humor is incredibly juvenile and Yo especially is a complete goofball. One of my least favorite tropes is parents who act less like adults than their own children, and while I’ve probably seen this trope expressed more by some anime mothers or female authority figures it’s just as irritating when dads do it. The jealousy exhibited by Saya, Kokonotsu’s childhood friend and likely romantic interest, is extreme. To be perfectly blunt, Kokonotsu really hasn’t proven himself to be a man worth giving a crap about, so Saya’s reaction upon hearing that there was merely a weird city girl in his family’s shop just makes her look bad. It’s difficult to get invested in a story when all the of the characters range from irritating and unrealistic to completely intolerable.

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Yo is a grade-A doofus.

The show’s saving grace is the minimal amount of attention that it pays to the “dagashi” (traditional snacks) that are referenced by the show’s title. like I’ve mentioned, I really like learning about food even if it’s technically food that I can’t eat anymore (sugar and simple carbohydrates make my brain feel like it’s about to leap out of my skull). Possibly my favorite scene in the episode occurs when Hotaru challenges Kokonotsu to create a delicious culinary combination of different Umai-bou flavors. I had coincidentally watched a Youtube video earlier in the week in which the person making the video took different flavored Umai-bou and combined them with various actual foods to create new taste sensations. It fascinates me that such a culture exists around what are essentially large, diversely-flavored Cheetos, and these are the things I really like to learn about. It amuses me that there are more desirable ways of eating the “fries” that the characters snacked on, or that you can buy what are essentially mini-donuts in cute little packages (they look way yummier than the dusty powdered-sugar “Donettes” that are ubiquitous at American gas stations). And now I’m really craving something sweet and doughy to spoil my dinner.

I didn’t have especially high expectations for this show, but I thought it might be an amusement worth checking out. I could conceivably see myself watching another episode or two just to gain some more trivial knowledge about Japanese treats, but the characters themselves make doing so feel like more of a chore than an amusement.

Pros: It’s fun to learn about Japanese cultural tidbits, and Japanese treats and snacks are one of those obscure areas that don’t get a whole lot of coverage in the West.

Cons: The characters are irritating in various ways and the women especially get the short end of the character development stick. The comedy is heavy-handed.

Grade: C-