Kono Bijutsu-bu ni wa Mondai ga Aru!

Mizuki Usami is a passionate member of her school's art club, but the club has a problem—Usami is the only member who takes her craft seriously! The lazy club president constantly sleeps through activities and Collette hasn't regularly attended club activities in quite some time. Uchimaki Subaru, despite being an exceptional artist who could win an award if he tried, is obsessed with drawing the perfect 2D wife.

Light-hearted and comedic in tone, Kono Bijutsubu ni wa Mondai ga Aru! follows Usami as she struggles to do art club-like activities, often obstructed by her motley crew of good-for-nothings and her distracting crush on Subaru.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Usami, Mizuki Main

Ozawa, Ari Japanese

Uchimaki, Subaru Main

Kobayashi, Yuusuke Japanese

Collette Main

Uesaka, Sumire Japanese

President Main

Tone, Kentarou Japanese

Imari, Maria Supporting

Touyama, Nao Japanese

Moeka Supporting

Tanaka, Aimi Japanese

Ayase, Kaori Supporting

Tokui, Sora Japanese

Tachibana, Yumeko Supporting

Mizuki, Nana Japanese

Oedaki, Yuka Supporting

Ichimichi, Mao Japanese

Second Year Boy Supporting

Takumi, Yasuaki Japanese

Tanaka, Junichirou Producer

Sudou, Koutarou Producer

Yoshida, Keisuke Producer

Uesaka, Youichirou Assistant Producer

Reviews

Sep 22, 2016

WFCgbow

Recommended

Kono Bijutsubu ni wa Mondai ga Aru! or also known as Konobi was one of the best animes I have ever watched in my lifetime. My heart went doki doki a lot lol.

I bet many people thought this will become the romcom of the season, I did personally to but it's just a goofy show overall.

The story is something certainly I don't complain about, because the comedy and art always makes up for it. I just thought it kinda slow-pasted and a little boring at times.

The art was amazing. very fitting for the anime. Character designs worked well because it was very lighthearted ... and also the studio made the most important scenes have the prettiest colors.

To include in this, I loved the music as well. The music is so different from most anime openings I listened to. The voice actors made the voices sound really good to.

Now the characters were somewhat relatable, and because of that I loved the characters a lot. Collete is the funniest character lol.

Overall, I think anyone would enjoy a comedy and kind of romantic anime so please give it a try.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Sep 22, 2016

Adi

Mixed Feelings

There are two types of anime I consider a “5”: those with an equal force of determinants and merits, and those that follow a formulaic and mediocre narrative used quite often. The difference is that shows described by the former are usually on the negative side, whereas shows described by the latter can still be a good watch; Konobi is the latter.

Produced by studio feel (who’ve brought the likes of OreGairu and Kiss x Sis) comes “This Art Club has a Problem!”, a hilarious, lighthearted rom-com with emphasis on “com”; Seriously, this show is funny. Definitely one of the greatest strengths of this show is ... that it knows how every other rom-com plays out and instead of trying to simply be another one, it adds a couple pivotal twists to the setup and focuses more on the comedy aspect, making this show a unique and refreshing rom-com yet still allowing itself to be held back by the limitations of its genre-type.

Konobi follows the story of a cute middle schooler, Mizuki, and the exploits that follow as she pursues her die hard crush on Uchimaki Subaru. This is where the first pivotal twist comes into play. Subaru is a certified otaku, the only girls he’s interested in are what he calls, “2D girls”; yes, Subaru has 17+ waifus. No joke. The second twist is not so much a twist but a unique way of keeping things fresh, it’s the setting: an art club. The only reason Subaru is in the Art Club of his middle school is so that he has the means to paint his 2D waifus day after day. Now imagine the struggles that Mizuki is accompanied by when she tries to pursue her crush on a man who’s only interest is in anime and manga girls. It can only be hilarious, right? This twist to the genre and premise sets up a plethora of extremely funny gags that surprisingly, aren’t a hit and miss.

The reason the gags aren’t a hit and miss because unlike many other comedy-centric shows, it doesn’t rely on slapstick/chibi humour or what I like to call, “reaction humour”; reaction humour is a show’s attempt to make the viewer laugh by having its characters react to something absurd in an overblown and eccentric fashion. The reason reaction humour is almost always a hit and miss is because since it’s unpredictable and comes out of nowhere, it literally either hits your funny bone or misses it. While Konobi does have humour like this, it is never solely reliant on it. Rather, Konobi constructs its gags around a specific physical or abstract object (e.g. ruining someone’s painting and covering it up), and the humour is pulled from the anticipation of how the characters will eventually interact, react, and deal with the object. The humour is not wholly “predictable”, but on some level you build an anticipation in your mind about the end result, and when the show either matches or subverts your expectation it’s funny regardless. The hilarity that ensues throughout the show is never consistently funny, there will always be a couple gags that may very well not entertain you, but for the most part the show’s humour is well above average in terms of consistency of quality. Whenever you have a show with an overabundance of jokes it is a given that some may turn out being predictable and occasionally seem lackluster.

The romance element of the show is heavily downplayed, and rightfully so. Its consistent comedic and lighthearted nature wouldn’t dare allow for serious and touching scenes of romance. Every time it seems as if Mizuki is about to move from a platonic relationship with Subaru to a romantic one, it’s always just another setup to prey on and make light of Mizuki’s naive and earnest pursual of Subaru. Many of the show’s episodes are divided into 2 parts, with each part following the exploits of another character or another subplot; this division sometimes makes the show feel episodic but the events that happen always impact the characters and their surroundings, so there is a sense of continuity throughout the story. This division of episodes into comedic shorts greatly compliments the pacing as well, things never unnecessarily drag out and the viewer won’t ever feel bored through repetition.

The characters are just… there, they all have their own contrasting personalities but they can still just be summed up in one liners, for the most part. This is perfectly fine, considering that the show never tries to be a super realistic revolutionary romance story, it’s just a gag show, so as long as the characters are likeable and funny, for all practical purposes they can be considered “good” characters.

Studio Feel are really upping their animation game; this show has dazzling visuals. Just the first episode alone has this breathtaking scene where Subaru is drawing Mizuki in the art club room, with shimmering sunset light beaming through the window, enveloping the entirety of the comfy art room in a warm, cozy colour palette that is just captivating to gaze at. With subtle, meticulous and distinct dust particles drifting through the air in a carefree manner as well, studio Feel brought this show to life. With Konobi added to their resume and OreGairu Season 2’s scrupulous character animations, they’re well on their way to approaching Kyoto Animation level beauty.

The voice acting is pretty standard as far as anime goes, but one thing that should be noted is that Ozawa Ari, the voice actor of our protagonist Mizuki, also voiced Sakura from the equally hilarious show Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun. Coincidentally enough, both shows are actually fairly similar in terms of plot, so if you liked Gekkan Shoujo I cannot recommend Konobi enough. The soundtrack for the most part is again, pretty standard, but there are a couple tracks that are surprisingly distinct and potent. They add a sense of emotion to all the scenes and make the whole experience just a little bit more enjoyable overall.

Enjoyment: 7/10

Despite the show not being anything spectacular, it is fairly memorable. I was entertained a lot, I laughed a lot, I found Mizuki cute a lot, and amongst other things I was able to leave this show satisfied with and happy overall. The gorgeous visuals, the surprisingly potent soundtrack and then strong voice acting left a reasonable impression on me as well.

Overall: 5.5/10

Again, the show does nothing spectacular, but with a couple amusing twists to the rom-com setup it allows for a solid and entertaining watch throughout. I’d recommend this to anyone into who likes both romance and comedy, but usually prefers the latter over the former. For similar titles, again, I’d recommend Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun.

I hope this review was informative and helpful.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Sep 23, 2016

Animeprophet951

Not Recommended

"Kono Bijutsubu ni wa Mondai ga Aru " is a typical and lighthearted slice of life romantic comedy. It uses tropes like any other anime, since that´s pretty much unavoidable, but it is a show that definitely shows it is trying it´s best in spite of a couple fatal flaws in the set up.

On the good points side, the show has stunning art. If it wasn´t for the general lack of more fluid art which at the same time has bigger detail, it would have a full 10. However, this is a big nitpick, and between it´s focus on art and the general unique design ... for many characters. hand to hand with some comedic focus, the show definitely creates visuals well-worth keeping your eyes on.

The show looses a lot of points though (skip to the next paragraph if you haven´t watched it as this sentence may have minor spoilers) is how the central plot makes no progress. This is a big thing for light novel adaptations such as this one, but it takes almost ridiculous levels in this show.

It is not the only trope the show uses badly though, as the majority of it´s characters are rather bland and the show often tries to shove relatability down our throats like it´s sour medicine...that doesn´t work. It also tends to re-use it´s comedy a bit too often, making them get old really fast, and while we do get some amazing comedy sequences on the show´s lined-up misunderstanding style, it can be enough for you to zone out and miss out on important parts.

It does make a comeback on it´s side-characters, though, as the line between main and side-characters is rather blurry. The distribution of focus on this anime is rather refreshing, allowing a lot of it´s side-characters to have a proper spotlight not just making things more immersive as a slice of life, but also upgrading characters beyond plot devices. However, even here plot and characters generally don´t change, have little progress. As there is nothing to do, characters are just set to goof around and it makes the whole thing ultimately feel quite pointless.

This is not just about being a slice of life show, but it goes beyond that. The fatal flaw of this show, it seems, is the premise. There is very little to really explore if you´re not willing to let go of the thing you think your character relatable to the audience, in this case, how the main character is a giant otaku. This results in an emptiness regarding any kind of story and while the show is definitely trying it´s best at coming up with fresh ideas, there is really only so much you can pull. A lot of it´s problems, bland characters, repetition of jokes, etc... are something I believe comes from this.

In conclusion, "kono bijutsubu ni wa mondai ga aru!" is a happy show that is great to relax to, but plays safe a bit too much regarding it´s main character which empties it´s premise of what little potential it could have in the first place. Watch if you´re into art and slice of life as the show definitely knows what it is doing in that department, but don´t if you´re looking for some deeply fleshed out romance or characters. Ultimately, it´s an OK show that nonetheless would likely be better off as a short-episode anime.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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