Nice arc. It was cool that it focused on someone who had previously been a bit character, I hope Rin
and Zakuro
continue to appear. The art was just different enough to force an adjustment, but it was still good, and the action was good. Kotoha fight was good, I require more.
I didn't like that turn of events myself, but even last week I could tell she was going to start regretting it sooner rather than later. That prevents me from really hating on Shoko. And perhaps I'm just too used to people around me doing terrible things to each other for dumb reasons, which sadly isn't just the exclusive realm of crazy anime.
VVV 22
Pretty poor episode. Really drawn out and predictable, and that was probably the worst implemented 'introspection' sequence I've seen in a long time. They're nearing the end already and the episodes have been slow, but this one was too much. Breakneck pace really fits VVV better too. The CG suits were actually terrible, and the character art was all over the place.
Kind of a bit dull, I agree, but more or less necessary. The whole introspection part was sudden, yes. That said, even Gundam rarely seems to set up its own
Newtype Ghost interventions
with any kind of formalities (with exceptions like 00 and Unicorn, I suppose).
I'm also not surprised that the studio went cheap when it was all just talking heads. If there was any time to cut budget from an episode to save something for the conclusion, this was the only choice left. Besides, I found the goofy 3D suits rather noticeable but relatively harmless and fitting since the character bickering wasn't really portrayed as being too dangerous in context.
I kinda want a Wii U for Mario but: a) I don't have space for it; and b) The 3DS I bought to play Mario is just sitting there on the table mocking me, unplayed.
Voters sell their campaign for liquor or money, what-do-they-care about the electoral process? (Probably a lot, considering they keep voting into power the guy who keeps paying them off.)
"I'm not suffering from poverty and I'm not a single mother!"
"Fear not, simple maid! We shall soon forge a bond of unwavering trussssst!"
"OOoooh, that sounds nice."
Oh God the toilet cleaning again.
"IF THAT HAND WERE TO TOUCH ME IN MY MOST SENSITIVE OF SPOTS, I'D LOSE CONTROL OF MY PRECIOUS BODILY FLUIDS. IF ONLY MY HAND WERE MY PENIS."
If "IF THAT HAND WERE TO TOUCH ME IN MY MOST SENSITIVE OF SPOTS, I'D LOSE CONTROL OF MY PRECIOUS BODILY FLUIDS. IF ONLY MY HAND WERE MY PENIS." isn't one of the best parts of Golden Boy, I truly marvel to think what surprises lay ahead.
That said, even Gundam rarely seems to set up its own
Newtype Ghost interventions
with any kind of formalities (with exceptions like 00 and Unicorn, I suppose).
I'm also not surprised that the studio went cheap when it was all just talking heads. If there was any time to cut budget from an episode to save something for the conclusion, this was the only choice left. Besides, I found the goofy 3D suits rather noticeable but relatively harmless and fitting since the character bickering wasn't really portrayed as being too dangerous in context.
I don't really watch much mecha shows or Gundam, but it wouldn't surprise me that it's also bad there. At least Tomino seems to have a reputation for being a shit writer/director.
And the character art would be more an issue of schedule rather than budget. It doesn't cost money to tweak the layouts a bit and fix a pose or a face, but it does take more time. I understand why they would have these priorities, and I think you also understand it doesn't make the episode any more pleasing to the eyes.
If "IF THAT HAND WERE TO TOUCH ME IN MY MOST SENSITIVE OF SPOTS, I'D LOSE CONTROL OF MY PRECIOUS BODILY FLUIDS. IF ONLY MY HAND WERE MY PENIS." isn't one of the best parts of Golden Boy, I truly marvel to think what surprises lay ahead.
If "IF THAT HAND WERE TO TOUCH ME IN MY MOST SENSITIVE OF SPOTS, I'D LOSE CONTROL OF MY PRECIOUS BODILY FLUIDS. IF ONLY MY HAND WERE MY PENIS." isn't one of the best parts of Golden Boy, I truly marvel to think what surprises lay ahead.
"Oh angel, what a tight piece of heaven you have, keep those pearly gates closed or St. Peter'll give you a blessing." This phrase is so horribly cheesy and lewd that I want to hate it, but the delivery is so fucking perfect. /dead.
If "IF THAT HAND WERE TO TOUCH ME IN MY MOST SENSITIVE OF SPOTS, I'D LOSE CONTROL OF MY PRECIOUS BODILY FLUIDS. IF ONLY MY HAND WERE MY PENIS." isn't one of the best parts of Golden Boy, I truly marvel to think what surprises lay ahead.
The lies just keep piling up, and Banri probably doesn't even realize he's doing it. And a relationship built on lies never goes well. We also learn that
Kaga has the picture of Banri and Linda from high school
. That can't be good! Also Mitsuo and Nana are awesome.
Also, I can't help but feel like this show has stronger/better secondary characters than Toradora did. Ryuji and Taiga are still better protagonists by far, but Mitsuo, Nana and Chinami are far more entertaining characters than Kitamura, Ami and Minori were. However I don't think that Golden Time will be as affecting of a love story as Toradora was, since
we've already seen Banri and Kaga get together. If they split up and get back together at the end or something, it'll be nice I'm sure, but it won't beat Ryuji and Taiga getting together after nearly an entire series.
Every Monday I find myself longing for the next. Perhaps that's why I'm not watching much of any other anime at the moment as to do so would simply be reminder that whatever I am watching still isn't GBF.
The lies just keep piling up, and Banri probably doesn't even realize he's doing it. And a relationship built on lies never goes well. We also learn that
Kaga has the picture of Banri and Linda from high school
. That can't be good! Also Mitsuo and Nana are awesome.
Also, I can't help but feel like this show has stronger/better secondary characters than Toradora did. Ryuji and Taiga are still better protagonists by far, but Mitsuo, Nana and Chinami are far more entertaining characters than Kitamura, Ami and Minori were. However I don't think that Golden Time will be as affecting of a love story as Toradora was, since
we've already seen Banri and Kaga get together. If they split up and get back together at the end or something, it'll be nice I'm sure, but it won't beat Ryuji and Taiga getting together after nearly an entire series.
Yep, definitely agree with both points. Banri be lying, and with a character like Kaga who probably can't even trust herself it's obvious shit's gonna go down soon.
Btw, this whole thing about Kaga telling us her flaws was cool at first, but does she really need to keep repeating them every damn episode? We get it, you're flawed.
NouKome 10 (Final) - Ugh, bad decisions to the end! Just choose someone,,, preferably Furano, since she's by far the best girl. OF course that'd actually maybe give the series an ending which being an adaptation of an ongoing, relationships-never-really-progress series it isn't allowed to have, but that's no excuse! That's only explaining
why it's bad, but that still leaves it as bad. This episode continues the water-park story from the previous one. Expect drama that goes nowhere and lots of random "comedy", some of which is moderately amusing and some of which isn't. Also pretty much every major character in the show makes cameo appearances. Not a whole lot happens, and we don't really learn anything more about the characters in this episode either -- just that
Chocolat now realizes even in her amnesiac form that she likes the MC
. That's it. Yeah... that's not enough.
But yes, this was a bad episode, one of many poor episodes in this short series. I liked some parts of the episode, but overall this was not any good, sadly. The biggest issue was the MC's stereotypical and yet aggravating refusal to choose which girl he likes -- he doesn't want to make anyone sad, you see, and doesn't seem to have any particular feelings towards any of them... or anyone, for that matter Do TV anime harem protagonists even HAVE human feelings? The world may never know.
Anyway, saying that this ends with a complete non-ending isn't a spoiler, sadly. I wish it was, but at this point, it'd only be a spoiler if one of this kind of show actually DIDN'T end like this. But no, the guy once again reacts with panic when one of the girls actually confesses to him (
Just Chocolat, who has done so before during her short "I'm not an amnesiac for the episode" part; the other girls still have not confessed.
). "I don't want to make anyone sad so I won't choose"? You're just scared... but this "choices" thing won't go away until you DO choose, so yeah, given his generic anime harem lead nature, that could take a long time. This could probably go on indefinitely, if they had more episodes.
It'd have been great if he hadn't been given the out of option #4 and actually DID have to choose one of the three girls... though he might well have chosen Chocolat, so maybe not. :S Furano's better!
But yeah, MC, you know how to get rid of your problem, but refuse to do that thing, and then complain that the problem won't go away... sure, that's a valid option for sure, but it definitely does make me less sympathetic with his complaining for sure! Plus, he has three girls who love him, plus various sub-haremites as well. Of course he doesn't know that two of those three girls love him, being the generic anime harem lead that he is, but they do.
On another note,
miss President clearly knows everything about his condition. What is she, one of the other gods or something? Is she that absent female god who used to have his case? Or is she just another person like the teacher who had had a similar problem before... she seems to know more than the teacher, though, so I'm not so sure about that.
Yeah, as if this series was actually going to resolve any major plot points? Hah!
Overall, NouKome was just amusing enough to keep watching, though the MC's many bad choices -- and seriously, he surely made many more bad choices in this series than good ones -- got old eventually. The show also had some unpleasant imagery that it thought was funny but wasn't, and some of that made an unwelcome return (from ep. 2) in this last episode, too. It's also frustrating that the plot barely budged over the course of this series. Sure, we learned a little about each of the three main girls, but really barely anything happened over the course of this series... I know that it's an adaptation of an ongoing LN series, and LNs in general have quite low quality standards and that does show here. Get a group of generic moeblob haremite girls, paste slightly unique covers over each of them but be sure to occasionally show that yes they are loving generic (sexistly-designed) moeblobs inside (
Furano when she thinks the MC isn't looking, Ouka when scared or embarassed, Chocolat when she has her memory and maybe some in this episode as well, Ayame when the MC cornered her that one time (as far as I can remember, that happened anyway this isn't a show I try to remember too specifically), etc... the only one with any doubt was the President girl, if she was just trolling him most of the time of course -- but even she must have some interest in him, however slight, given that she helps him out some when he needs it. I know that's how the genre works, but a better show would have more to it than this one does. It IS just an LN adaptation, though, so you're probably starting with pretty bad material, of course.
), add a slightly original concept with the "questions" to tie things together, and there you have it. NouKome is very generic in a lot of ways, apart from the "choices" thing, and it's a substandard anime overall. It was amusing enough to finish, yes, but barely. I don't think I could give this a passing grade... though if it'd finished with a 'he confesses to Furano' end I might have been more generous.
So, I'm not watching it, but NouKome ended today after 10 episodes and well, I feel like this has to be a sign of a larger trend. Studios are probably looking for ways to save as much money as possible and contracting the length of the standard season seems to be the way it's going.
I'm not really sure how I feel about this... if anything, a shorter episode length forces the writers to be more judicious and think about their adaptations. Of course, it also means that for most adaptations, you're just going to get a summary of the series because that's just the easier thing to write.
Think? Actual thought goes into shows like NouKome? Could have fooled me...
But yeah, at this rate, anime will end up with British TV-style 6-episode "seasons" at some point, it seems... and while that may be an exaggeration, seasons are clearly slowly getting shorter over time, so who knows.
NouCome
① "Not Your Average Harem"
② "An Irreverent Comedy With Boobs"
I'm going to go with ② as my choice for how to describe this series. The first phrase has so many unspoken connotations and years of baggage that the anime fandom's built up (What is "typical"? Can typical be a good thing? The definition's constantly being redefined). NouCome was interesting to me because it's one of two shows - the other being this spring's Gawore - that play along the "visual novel elements integrated into reality" premise, which as I said before it started, was kinda the premise of a story I myself had written. Kinda. So, how was the show?
There were a lot of little things it did that I appreciated. The stingers showing the results of alternate choices were funny, and while the montage that opened and closed the series did go on a little long at first, it wasn't what I was expecting, and was fairly interesting in itself, if only for the historical choices they showed. (Japan loves it some Steve Jobs, apparently.)
I also liked how God's phone avatar was Ecce Homo (botched painting version). Never commented on, purely an Easter egg, but it's a good indicator of what the show's doing. Something that should be pure - like a first love - and deliberately wrecking it by being as juvenile as possible, while still letting the audience know that it's not being done maliciously.
The characters were all fairly set in their archetypes, but not without some hidden sides. Furano was probably the most defined in this regard, switching between perverted ice queen and lovestruck teenager. Seira's hidden side was only hinted at, but I ultimately liked all the characters. Whenever anime does a brightly-colored cast of weirdoes like this one, I usually do.
That's probably true, even though Ouka got like an episode and a half of focus in the last two episodes, it didn't say much at all about her apart that she's usually happy but gets scared in haunted houses, and acts like a generic moe girl when scared, naturally. But all of the girls act like that at least some of the time in this show, as listed in the spoilered section in the last paragraph of my review. None had much actual depth, besides "cute/loving inside with some other thing outside". The three main girls sure didn't at least. Even Infinite Stratos has more variety than this! I liked some of the covers, but the show doesn't exactly have much to its character designs for sure, and tries to hide that by dragging things out endlessly.
Which brings me to probably my favorite character. Furano's cute and Ouka's got that high-energy personality - even Chocolat's thought process was fun to follow, but standing above all is Ayame Reikadou. For the most part, your standard drill-haired rich girl, but oh my god those boobs. Those fantastic boobs. That they're fake doesn't deter me, and that we have an anime girl who got that way because of a boob job is interesting in itself. Plus, as stated before, I am a bit of an M. Her screentime wasn't a whole lot, but she made a strong impression. The battle with Furano and with Yuragi stand out.
I didn't think Ayame was anything original character personality type-wise, but no one in this show is that, for sure. You are right that fake breasts are quite rare in harem-anime characters, though. Maybe anime in general as well. That makes her different, even if not much else does.
Isn't her whole personality basically fake though, including the M thing?
The color palette was also fun. Lots of bright, primary colors, the kind of thing I like to see anime doing. Nothing too out of the ordinary, but it was polished without feeling overly so. The opening was extremely catchy, and the ED's a nice listen. I'm not sure how I feel about Afilia Saga taking over the preview, tough. That felt like 5pb. playing its hand a little too strongly. It was just restrained to the previews, so it doesn't affect a whole lot, but if that time had been used for more banter between the cast, I would've loved it even more.
Yeah, I don't like that they put the idol group singing the OP in the previews, that was going a bit too far... they didn't appear in this last episode, at least. That was good. I often like the usual cast-banter bits many other shows put in their episode previews.
Final Thoughts: With any adaptation, there are some things left unsaid, but the running jokes don't overstay their welcome, and the irreverent sense of humor makes the show unpredictable. There's still a core of sentimentality to it to make it so that things don't feel too crass (especially from Furano). As a comedy, it was enjoyable. Also full of boobs, which is a plus for me, personally.
The lies just keep piling up, and Banri probably doesn't even realize he's doing it. And a relationship built on lies never goes well. We also learn that
Kaga has the picture of Banri and Linda from high school
. That can't be good! Also Mitsuo and Nana are awesome.
Also, I can't help but feel like this show has stronger/better secondary characters than Toradora did. Ryuji and Taiga are still better protagonists by far, but Mitsuo, Nana and Chinami are far more entertaining characters than Kitamura, Ami and Minori were. However I don't think that Golden Time will be as affecting of a love story as Toradora was, since
we've already seen Banri and Kaga get together. If they split up and get back together at the end or something, it'll be nice I'm sure, but it won't beat Ryuji and Taiga getting together after nearly an entire series.
I here what you're trying to say and I'm gonna let you finish but even when I liked this show at its most, its not even in the same zip code as Toradora.
Do people who like anime comedies think this looks funny? This isn't meant as a sarcastic question - I just genuinely can't tell as I never find these things funny and so wasn't sure what I was supposed to find amusing in the trailer.
The manga seemed kind of okay; but again my sense of humour bypass keeps me from appreciating it properly.
Call me crazy, but this is my AOTS. Yozakura might displace it once I get around to catching up.
The torture sequences were a little brutal, and honestly made me feel pretty uncomfortable. And then Torture's all LOL I'M GONNA CUT OFF MY LEFT HAND WITH A CIRCULAR SAW. THEN REPLACE IT WITH A CHAINSAW BECAUSE I'M A CYBORG.
I honestly had no idea how this whole thing was gonna play out, so I was legitimately tense throughout the whole episode. Animation was awful, as usual, but the writing carries it well enough.
Was not expecting Masayoshi to reveal himself as Flamenco at the end, but his mask was so damaged that someone was gonna figure it out anyway. This show is now Iron Man meets tokusatsu.
I here what you're trying to say and I'm gonna let you finish but even when I liked this show at its most, its not even in the same zip code as Toradora.
But I'm not saying GT is better than Toradora. FAR from it. Toradora is the stronger series on the whole due to the strength of its main characters and writing (save for a few spots where shit gets a bit dumb). I'm just saying that, at least thus far, GT has the more entertaining secondary characters. Toradora is my second favorite anime of all time, and I don't see that changing any time soon.
Seriously, this show was written by a mad man and I love it! Is this the midpoint of the series or is it just about to wrap up (...I can't tell)? It seems like the seeds have been planted to go for another 12 episodes but I totally can see it ending. God... Dat ending credit!
But I'm not saying GT is better than Toradora. FAR from it. Toradora is the stronger series on the whole due to the strength of its main characters and writing (save for a few spots where shit gets a bit dumb). I'm just saying that, at least thus far, GT has the more entertaining secondary characters. Toradora is my second favorite anime of all time, and I don't see that changing any time soon.
Seriously, this show was written by a mad man and I love it! Is this the midpoint of the series or is it just about to wrap up (...I can't tell)? It seems like the seeds have been planted to go for another 12 episodes but I totally can see it ending. God... Dat ending credit!
It's only the halfway point. Unless all the character designs they've been posting on the internet are meant for 2-3 episodes. Which I doubt it. And honestly we're 10 episodes in and the characters still have a lot of growing to do.
It's only the halfway point. Unless all the character designs they've been posting on the internet are meant for 2-3 episodes. Which I doubt it. And honestly we're 10 episodes in and the characters still have a lot of growing to do.
A series that I have a hard time predicting and delivers excellent tension is hard to come by these days. Is it a comedy or drama? I'm not sure... I would have classified it as a shounen slice-of-life at one point but classifications be damned. This is one hell of an excellent series and I'm happy it has more to give
Two of the most watchable episodes of the show, outside of 06; the speed at which things are moving and the greater action focus are probably to thank for that. There are some really beautiful cuts, primarily involving pink tentacle weird and Izumi.
Nino's lull outfit is great. She's great.
Kyoukai no Kanata 10
Sooooooo pointless. Why am I watching flashbacks about stuff I've already figured out from the last two episodes? An episode of completely new material that felt like a recap. Ugh.
Kyoukai no Kanata 11
This is pretty much where I expected this to go after no explanation was given for Mirai
disappearing instead of just being killed by the boundary youmu transfusion.
Is Akihito's Mum supposed to be some youmu hunter genius, or was she just being cute here? Either way, she seems to know a lot and still left him twisting in the wind for basically the entire show save for a couple of creepy postcards. Family.
Etsuko Yakushimaru is also designing and illustrating some alien characters which will be featured on the show itself and in the ED animation. Cool! Her new single will be out on Jan 29 2014.
----
For those unaware, Yakushimaru sang the ending theme for Tatami Galaxy and the opening theme for Penguindrum.
Bah, that NouKome 10 summary ended up near the bottom of the last page... hopefully people who watched the show read it anyway, and maybe reply if there's anything to say. Anyway though, this is on another topic.
Here Comes the Black Witch! 31-42 - I haven't posted much about this series, but I have continued to watch it... or rather, I got up to episode 30 a while back, then stopped, before starting up again a few days ago. Well, I believe that I've caught up now. These episodes include the last couple of episodes of season one, and the first 8-10 of season two of this short (~7 min. episodes) kids' anime. Season two has a new OP, which ditches the backstory OP of S1 in favor of some dancing characters. Episodes 31 to 42 are great, every bit as anything from before that point in the series. The series' repeated theme of introducing a new character who happens to be a student at their school and is interested in whatever the episode is focused on repeats again and again, but it's frequently entertaining and is a good, fun light little anime about a witch girl and her none-too-helpful black witch teacher Gyubid. It's set in the real world though, for those who haven't watched it; witches are from the spiritual world, usually, but she's an exception. Just watch the series, it's entertaining and fun. I don't usually watch stuff like this, but this one is good enough that I keep following it.
Episodes 43 to 45, though, are different, and much worse. This might be the first time I've actively disliked a Here Comes the Black Witch arc, but unfortunately, it earned it. I have two major problems with the arc. This three-episode arc tells the backstory of the MC's grandmother, who
turns out to have been a Black Witch. The story is about how her, a girl who was much like Gyubid (Gyubid's mother/grandmother maybe), and another girl who now is a black witch teacher or something in the spiritual world
have been sent by their teacher at black witch school on a mission to normal Earth.
The first problem is that this isn't a good mission -- instead, they're required to curse a human man. Uh, I know they're black witches, and this story is set 49 years ago so it isn't the present day, but nothing that bad has happened in the series before! Sure, there had been witches trying to do bad things to humans, but before this that had clearly always been witches who were behaving badly. This time, the authority figures are telling them to do the kind of thing that the main characters have always been trying to stop people from doing, in the present day in the series. You can explain this discrepancy, probably mostly by saying that things have changed over the last almost 50 years, and maybe I'm forgetting something, but it is a change, and it's central to the story of the arc -- it is the reason why the story ends as it does.
Specifically, the main characters' grandmother stays behind on Earth because she refuses to curse the guy the three of them were cursing in a way that may have killed him; she liked him instead, so she saves him and stays with him (and ends up as the MC's grandmother of course). This all only happens because of the "curse someone badly" mission.
The second problem, and this is the worse one really, is that the witch girls are told that they have one hour on Earth -- if they're there any longer they will be stuck there forever. Uh... WHAT? People have gone back and forth from the spiritual world to the human world over and over over the course of this series, and that can't be something that was just invented! Gyubid and others are witches living in the human world, in fact. Sure, Gyubid was technically summoned, but I don't think she's staying just because of that, and portals to go back certainly exist. I don't understand this point at all. If it'd been "if you get weak and fail to come back because you won't curse the guy you're expelled" or something, but "the door closes and it'll be impossible for you to return to the spiritual world again" is complete nonsense.
And of course, it's exactly how ep. 45 ends, with the MC's grandmother making tearful goodbyes to her friends and staying behind forever, in the human world, where she still is.
Ugh!
Overall,
it was obvious that the MC's grandmother knew something about magic and was a witch, because of telegraphing that started several episodes before this arc began (this is a kids' show, don't expect a deep plot!),
and that's just fine (
obviously the MC's spell in the original-season OP that summoned Gyubid worked because of her heritage, I would now say... that makes sense.
), but I don't know what they were thinking with this arc. I know it's just a kids' show, but the story just doesn't fit together well with the 42 episodes of the series that predate it. Ah well, it's still alright. It could be worse I'm sure.
ED news are great and all, but it'll be overshadowed by
Just like Tank! overshadowed the Real Folks Blues.
edit: Speaking of Dandy, voice cast announced in english. Never heard of this Ian Sinclair guy, and reading his anime resume it seems like I haven't seen anything major dubbed where he was featured (saw Brotherhood in japanese). Shame it wasn't somebody I knew and loved, but this'll be his big break so I can't blame the guy.
In fact the only guy I've heard is J Michael Tatum (voiced Scar in FMA).
My experience with the Gundam franchise is limited to bits and pieces I've picked up on thanks to osmosis but none of that stopped me from enjoying the hell outta this so far. It almost makes me want to sperg out on Gunpla and spend some mad $$$$$.
That's because defeat in this show doesn't mean death, it means swift induction into Mako's harem. I think we can all agree that this is a most excellent thing.
Definitely one of the strongest episodes in this entire show. The focus on Satoru getting dragged around town by an upperclassmen in his Kendo club felt incredibly earnest and really reminded me of some of the better episodes of Natsume Yuujinchou. It helps there was next to no Haru in it to be an annoying little shit.
Not, however, as awkward as Sengoku. Girl, you're so young that Araragi barely even realizes you're a girl. Like, dirty thoughts aside, he failed to notice all of your advances. Twister indeed.
Ah yes, I knew my statement that nobody is exempt from Araragi's perversions needed some kind of disclaimer. Nadeko is the exception that proves the rule. She needs to provide all the perversion herself.
They're going to reveal that Araragi's sisters are actually his cousins so it is okay for them to try to bone him, aren't they? I will fucking rage quit this show before ever even seeing Best Girl Hanekawa Season if that is the case.
Since when does Araragi need justification for perversion? It's not "okay" for him to "try to bone" anyone seeing as he totally has a girlfriend since the second arc. That just means he has to engage in totally non-sexual activities with them instead.
Eh, Kanbaru gets her time in the spotlight eventually (extra eventually in the anime since her arc was delayed), but it's true she is a little under-represented. She doesn't suffer as much as Nadeko though, who doesn't appear at all for...I think five books in a row? Of course then she becomes a major focus of two whole arcs, so it's difficult to say who's the most neglected at this point.
Etsuko Yakushimaru is also designing and illustrating some alien characters which will be featured on the show itself and in the ED animation. Cool! Her new single will be out on Jan 29 2014.
Just when you thought you had finally gotten rid of me...
Hello again, anime gaf! It is good to see you all once more, but I just wish it was under more pleasant circumstances. I was in little Tokyo not long ago, and I happened upon this dvd in a clearance bin (of sorts) for a whopping three american dollars. The case promised light hearted, sci-fi action and fun with tons of ridiculous names for characters, ships, and technology. I thought, "what the heck?" and decided to give it a chance. I now know why it was it was three dollars.
Story
A girl narrowly escapes the grips of an apparently evil force that is destroying a facility her father works at. The young lady winds up on the planet where the protagonist, Tita, and her Pet Shop Hunter crew live and work (don't let the name fool you, however! there is no sort of pet shopping or huntering taking place here!).
Tita rescues the girl from some no-good looking fellows and learns her name is Elysse. Turns out her daddy knew a thing or two about science and made some thing that was supposed to be used for good, but the bad guys wanted to do bad things with it.
When the bad guys show up on the planet and threaten Tita's life for the password to activate the science, Elysse relinquishes the knowledge that it is in fact the last twelve digits in her dna sequence. From that point on, it's a race between the bad guys and Tita's Pet Shop Hunting crew on the Cha Cha Maru to save the world!
Somehow, the tiny ship is able to slip past an entire military force shown to consist of dozens of vessels. This isn't some Star Wars thing, they just inexplicably get by. Next, Tita and Elysse infiltrate the bad guy's base, but they're too late! Things start going bad, and the big-bad seems like he will win. Thanks to contrivance, Tita manages to get the upper hand, they stop the world from destroying itself because of a hot gravity belt, and everyone is happy.
Mix in some paper thin characterization, subplots that last maybe an entire thirty seconds, fifty cups of closeup shots, a dash of non-sensical jargon, a handful of boob shots, simmer for forty minutes, and you have yourself one Plastic Little soup.
Presentation
This OVA wanted to look good, but it just didn't. There wasn't anything inherently wrong with the quality of the art or animation, but you just never got to see any of it. The vast majority of the screen real estate was occupied by someone's bulbous head on either half of the screen (or, half of the time it was front and center). It was quite apparent that the people who storyboarded this had either never paid attention to other films, the higher-ups made demands to have an inexplicable number of closeups and extreme closeups, or the budget was so limited that only doing limited lip-flapping and head the occasional head-turn helped them save enough money on background painting and animation cels to get this thing finished.
The character designs were exhaustingly bland and well-worn. There was honestly next to nothing unique about anything visual in the show beyond the occasional glimpseof the ships, but even those were shot in closeup to the point that I didn't even know the protagonists' vessel until it was on made apparent through dialogue.
The only decent aspects of the animation were the parts you expected to have the most investment put into them. The shots that contained general gunfire and nipples tended to have some decent animation to them, but it just felt so amazingly pandering because of how narrowly focused the quality was to these extremely specific moments that it made the breaks from the mundane less than satisfying.
Overall, Plastic Little is nothing to boast about. The lack of any kind of a single artist's hand having a clear or sustainable influence in the direction of the look of the universe or any attempt to leave a lasting impression beyond presenting as many possible sequential shots with a pan up from someone's bare chest results in a tepid, forgettable visual experience that you will forget in a matter of a few hours (at most).
Final Thoughts
While I might sound rather scathing, it's only because the aspects that they mentioned once in a while about sky whales, diving into the cloud sea to look for animals, having a crew lead by a seventeen year old girl whose father mysteriously vanished, and so forth all sounded much more interesting than the story they decided to tell. I feel that with a better director, a better script, and a better storyboard artist/team, this world has some true potential for a fun OVA that would have been worth watching.
Perhaps I expect or want to much from a show that is clearly aiming totitillateviewers (as evidenced by the plethora of attention both the creators and the characters place upon the female figure and the "jiggle counter" extra on the dvd menu), but I like to think that a product that wants to produce those reactions can also still manage to do something besides flashing the audience once in a while to make sure they're still paying attention.
Plastic Little isn't something I'd recommend, but it's not the worst anime media I have ever watched. I just think I would enjoy a candy bar more for the price.
It looks like the show will bomb, so there won't be another season.
There were a few things that I enjoyed here, but, at the same time, many were really badly executed.
Using amnesia (with completely unrelated causes) as a plot device thrice in a ten episode series, really?
My enjoyment of the show basically only got smaller as it approached the ending.
I'll also never understand why so many harems insist in not resolving anything. Bakemonogatari had a resolution in the first season and still continued on and on with high sales. Although it's not quite the case in Noucome, there's almost always a favored girl too, even if there's no resolution at the ending, so it's not like these shows are completely neutral even without a resolution...
Shiettt that was pretty damn great, god damn this is truly became the ultimate what-if deconstruction show.. they explore some point that never raised in the actual toku show and its feel great.
I can't wait for the time these motherfucker riding Megazord.
Yeah, I only mentioned the repeated, and significantly overused,
amnesia plot device
in passing in my review last page, but this issue was an important part of the lacking plot progression that I did complain about. In addition I criticized those plot points in specific in reviews earlier in the series, so yes, I entirely agree --
the overuse of amnesia,
and the impact those plot points had on the series as a whole, that was really, really stupid and damaged the show. The first time, okay. But again, and again, and again, with no excuse other than an obvious "we want to block any progression from occurring because we must keep this series change-free"? That is not okay! Not okay at all. It's bad writing, and made the episodes quite frustrating to watch when the MC is making terrible choice after terrible choice solely in the name of blocking any actual progress from happening in the story. And the worst thing is, this story block is entirely in effect right up to the end of the last episode. Awful!
The ending has a few hints of change, but they are only hints, not actual progress. We'd need another season to see if anything actually changes -- and it probably wouldn't, I fully expect.
I'll also never understand why so many harems insist in not resolving anything. Bakemonogatari had a resolution in the first season and still continued on and on with high sales. Although it's not quite the case in Noucome, there's almost always a favored girl too, even if there's no resolution at the ending, so it's not like these shows are completely neutral even without a resolution...
Definitely! The show needed an ending. Leaving it with no resolution to anything, with a second season unlikely, is bad writing, no matter if it's like that in the LNs or not. That doesn't matter, this is an anime adaptation and you should not end things like that. It's unsatisfying and reflects negatively on the series.
I think it's often done in order to not anger fans of other characters, in addition to making sequels easier, but come on, make a choice... it's needed. If you're not going to get enough seasons to animate all of the source material, coming up with SOMETHING as an ending is better than having absolutely nothing!
