Mukidashi no Mitsuko

-Disclaimer-
First of all, as a non-native English speaker, I don’t guarantee my writing accuracy in this review, and I early apologize for the mistakes you might find in it.


One thing I like with MAL is the anime ranking. We can browse and search for the anime with the worst grades ever. And that’s how I discovered Mukidashi no Mitsuko. When I saw the picture, I was so amused, and I decided to watch it. This ONA isn’t long so it’s quick to watch, and we can find it on the creator’s YouTube channel! There were no reviews on Mukidashi no Mitsuko’s MAL page, so I ... decided to write mine.


STORY: 7/10
Since Mukidashi no Mitsuko is a very short film, the story is quite simple. However, I found it poetic and the nonsense of the situations made the whole short film really funny. I was truly surprised, because I wasn’t expecting anything from a 6-minute long short ONA with a bad score on MAL, but in the end, I laughed several times! That’s why I’ll put a 7.

ART: 7/10
Mukidashi no Mitsuko has an uncommon drawing style, which I really appreciated. We can feel Taniguchi’s (the director) touch. I must still admit that the animation wasn’t very successful, but I know that the director works independently and does not have a high budget for his projects. I think 7 is a good score for the art.

SOUND: 7/10
As I said before, Taniguchi works alone, which explains why he did all the sound effects himself. Some will find this disturbing, but I found it hilarious! Regarding the song, I thought it was funny. In fact, the assumed cheapness of the whole anime makes it very comic. It’s one of the features that made me enjoy Mukidashi no Mitsuko. I believe the sound deserves a 7.

CHARACTER: 6/10
The characters are introduced in a fine way. In six minutes, you obviously can’t develop them but I didn’t think it was especially a problem. The main character is a bit cliché, he’s the caricature of the exhausted workers in Japanese society. On the other hand, we have a sort of mysterious winged angel. So the characters are funny, some are original, but I wouldn’t say they’re fabulous either. 6 seems a fair score to me.


OVERALL: 7/10
Mukidashi no Mitsuko was good. The nonsense and the ‘handmade’ style made it really enjoyable, as well as this song. I recommend it to you if you’re into weird and alternative ONAs and independent productions.