Double-J

While it feels a little generous to call Double-J an anime, it's still a pretty good time, and succeeds in being the kind of comedy it set out to be. Beginning with the story, there really isn't much of one. A traditional arts club gets up to a variety of antics, providing casual examples of traditional arts, wreathed in frantic, upbeat comedy.

As for the art, while it makes for an admirable display of multimedia experimentation, it feels more like an old-school flash animation than anything else. Like I said, it would be generous to ... call this an anime due to the general lack of any serious animation going on. Though, I don't really hold this against Double-J, as it pulls off a very funny, lighthearted experience even with this primitive technique. To take this point even further, the flash-style animation gives the whole show a warm, nostalgic sense of well-being. One major exception to everything I just said, however, is the ED animation. As the credits roll, the viewer is treated to a gorgeous, energetic explosion of color and animation, which is a real joy to watch every episode. Most anime don't have anything even half as good as this for an ED, which makes it all the more bizarre that I found it in this little sketch comedy anime from 2011.

The sound is probably this anime's strongest point, due to some odd factors like comedic timing and emotive voice acting. I'm not sure what it is, but the lines were delivered really well in some understated way that made all the jokes really stick the landing. Another credit to the sound is the song they used for the ED, which is endlessly catchy and captures the spirit of Double-J nicely.

The characters come off little flat, even with the fun VA work, but this isn't a huge issue either as they're less characters and more placeholders upon which situational comedy is often inflicted. Overall, this was a fun little romp, and there are definitely worse ways to kill time than giving this show a shot.

I will clarify a few things.

I am a TERRIBLE reviewer and I have tried it before with my own hands.
Ever since I improved my English and grammar (Or claimed that I have) I realized looking back at them that just… Wow, how can you call those reviews?
I sounded like some kind of foreigner or caveman talking.
The writing and grammar were so bad that I practically gave myself several face-palms.
I’m freaking American and I can’t even master my own 1st language.
So this is going to be my first PROPER review that has been reviewed with time put into it.

*Note*
...
My grammar is still terrible despite fair improvements so there may be quite a few mistakes in my review. However, all I hope for is that any of you who are planning to read this review will find it helpful for even a minuscule amount.

*ahem* Anyways, enough of my worthless background; let’s dig into this deep review of an extremely short anime, shall we?
First off, there should be a few things that I think you should know about the creators of Double- J.
Eiji Nonaka, the creator of the story, is highly famous for his absolutely bizarre, yet amazingly hilarious manga series Cromartie High School. What made Cromartie High School so special was its interesting semi-realist art style and its focus around badass delinquents. At first I didn’t really think the series was that funny overall, but after re-watching it a few times I began to truly understand its absurd humor and how truly genius it was.
Most of Nonaka-sama’s works are all made by himself, accompanied by his interesting art style that fits very well into his stories.
What was so interesting about Double-J was that this time, instead of doing the artwork himself, he teams up with Maru Asakura who is known for his manga 090 Eko to Issho.
What makes Asakura-sama so special is that for his typical moe yet still somehow unique art style that you usually see in today’s anime, the humor in his manga is very light-hearted and will attract any casual manga fan’s heart.
I’m a fan of both creators and their separate works.
But seeing them work together was very hard for me to accept because those two have a completely different sense and style of humor.
I am a HUGE fan of Cromartie High and seeing that this was made by the same creator was very eye-catching. I mean, if it weren’t for the fact that Eiji Nonaka made this I would have avoided it or just overall planned not to watch it at all.

And what were my thoughts, you may ask?

I was very disappointed. Double- J is simply a very rushed, under budget looking anime that the studio seemingly did NOT put that much effort into. It’s a shame, too, because, the manga was actually fairly funny. This anime adaptation of the manga is very miniscule in humor, however. Now it’s time for my ratings for this show.

Story-6
I can’t really say the story is at all special, and really, there isn’t much of a story to begin with. It’s just about two girls joining a club called the “The Cultural Activity Preservation Club” in which there are all kinds of analog jobs and activities, such as handcrafting mats and toothpicks. Does it catch my interest? Not really. In general it’s a basic gag anime with fairly interesting elements that were poorly executed.

Art-7
I like the design of the characters, but that’s pretty much the only thing I truly like about this series. The colors in the anime are pretty bland and very unattractive, but then again, what can I expect from a studio that is known for making flash animation? Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen plenty of other flash anime that have much livelier and more appealing colors. This one is just a very poor exception.

Sound-5
The sound is neither bad nor great. Just mediocre. I mean, the voice actors sound pretty good, but I feel like there just wasn’t enough effort put into it. With the exception of a few lines of dialogue, they all pretty much just sound the same when they’re talking.

Character-3
This is where the series fails to show memorable characters. Most of them are just very uninteresting and boring most of the time with the exception of two characters that actually do seem more memorable and human, who are the Drama and Manga Club presidents. Everyone else is just so bland that it would make anybody fall asleep. While I know they tried to make the characteristics seem different, they executed it poorly enough that they don’t even seem human enough for you to acknowledge them as characters. They just feel like B-grade actors or side characters that nobody will care about or even bother to remember. They’re just that BLAND.

Enjoyment-5
This is probably the most important part. Did I enjoy it? Very little, unfortunately.
I had a very hard time enjoying it. There were a few times where I got a mediocre chuckle or two, but that really isn’t saying much since there really isn’t anything to laugh at most of the time. Even when the anime had parts where you’re supposed to laugh, they were poorly executed. Even Nonaka-sama’s funny punch line jokes that he’s known for weren’t even that funny because they were ruined by the anime’s cast of boringness most of the time. And what epically prevented me from liking this (like I said on the top) were the absolutely BLAND characters. I disliked most of them because they absolutely failed to show what there is to like about them even as human beings. And what makes it even worse is the choppiness and lack of movement in the animation that makes the cast feel even more inhuman. All of them barely even move their bodies and just stay in some kind of 60-degree angle most of the time and even when they are in more complicated positions, they just stand still like they were statues. They feel like freaking robots. And what usually makes an anime good and memorable are the characters. They don’t change their emotions that much and usually just stick with one emotion most of the time as if they had a set-button on the back of their necks. I know this is supposed to be a lighthearted anime where you just sit back and laugh after a long day of stress, but even if the studio tried to make it lighthearted, how am I supposed to enjoy it when there is no or very little humor to laugh at? I just felt bored most of the time watching it. The only thing I really liked was the art design of the characters and the ending. They look pretty unique, but that is pretty much the only thing I enjoyed. The ending of the anime is actually the most eye-catching, as the animation is actually good and as lively as if it were a high-quality anime. But if the ending was this good, why didn’t they put this much effort into the show instead? The animation in a show is supposed to get your attention, not the freaking ending!
You’re probably asking me “why are you making such a long-winded review for such a short anime like this?” or “why are you taking this anime seriously when its intention is for you to laugh?”

Well for the 1st question is because I thought this flash animation was going to be special because of the two talented manga artists that created this and that it’s not some kind of low-budget studio that is barely surviving. And the answer for the 2nd question is that I always rate an anime pretty high if it had me laugh hysterically until the end and gave me a warm feeling inside. I barely got any giggles from this show.
I’m very disappointed at the studio for making this. Double-J, unfortunately, is their poorest work and I think that most people would agree if they took a look at the ratings. I’ve seen DLE’s (the name of the studio) work and while most of them are flash animations, some of them are actually pretty decent. I’ve watched a few of them and actually enjoyed them, and the majority of the crowd has as well. It’s a shame that the series actually had good potential which was wasted. The two creators deserve much more than this, but interestingly enough the manga is actually a lot better than this poor excuse of an anime. There was like what, only two chapters of the manga translated into English by a scanlation group? And yet I felt fairly good reading the miniscule amounts of the manga available. How can I say it’s better, you might ask? The artwork is very appealing to look at and the characters feel and look more human. They move more and they express their personalities like the original creators intended. While the first two episodes were based off the two chapters, the enjoyment factor and the production values were fairly different. It’s too bad that I actually wanted to read more of the manga, as the group that scanlated it just downright dropped translating it for such a long time. If you truly want to enjoy Double-J then go read the manga instead of wasting your time watching this. But if you did watch the series, just compare the two and tell me which is better!
If you want a much funnier, high quality and fairly short anime that came from the creator of the story in this show, then go watch or read Eiji Nonaka’s Cromartie High School! I can guarantee you will most likely enjoy it!
If you want to read a better manga with lighthearted humor and a cast of cute characters then go read Maru Asakura’s 090 Eko to Issho!
This is my first proper review. I thank all who read to the end. All I ask for is that I hope you found it helpful, and that even if you didn’t then that just motivates me a write a better review!

Story 4/10
There isn't a story, but has a basis about 2 girls joining a Cultural Activity Preservation club. I do like plotless animes because it means it can have more creativity and more open minded on wacky adventures. Unfortunately, this isn't really the case, The two main characters learn about weird or interesting skills, and that's it. Nothing really builds on from that. What else is there to say but "oh, that's weird".

Art 8/10
I know some people say "The animation is lazy flash" or "it using real photos for backgrounds." But you know what? I like it. It is the good type of weird animation ... that works. It may be lazy, but it is visually interesting to me. It kind of reminds me of Tom Goes to the Mayor type of animation. I like the contrast of different animation, such as how Ichirou is lower quality and almost traditionally drawn compared to the flash drawn girls. I also like the ED animation. The style is overall visually pleasing to me.

Sound 5/10
The only memorable songs are any of the classical music, which I like. Nothing bad about that. But for the rest of the songs, they aren't too memorable. There is no Op, but there is an ED, which sounds okay.

Character 4/10
The characters are not too interesting. There are some unique and funny things about each character, but once that's out of the way, nothing much. The two main characters explore an old talent, and question it and make some comments, but nothing interesting afterwards. Ichirou and toothpick girl are both memorable, but everyone else, not so much.

Enjoyment 4/10
Every episode feels like a a very long setup of explaining "Here are the characters, here is the scenario, here's the talent", and then the last 10 seconds is the big punchline. The whole episode drags on long, and as mentioned before, nothing really funny happens. The last 10 seconds become a hit or miss. Though to be honest, the punchlines are usually funny. But aside from that, the rest of the anime is pretty boring.

Overall 4/10
Do you like listening to people over explain weird things in an uninteresting way? Do you like listening to really long setups for a joke? If yes, this is the anime for you. I made it halfway through the series until I got bored. Each episode is a different plot, but the formula is the same. Although I think the endings can be funny, the whole show doesn't really offer much appeal.