Yumekui Merry

High school student Yumeji Fujiwara has the ability to see people's dreams. Despite the visions never appearing clear or concrete, he is able to predict them by sensing the person's "aura." Normally, this skill is a fun trick to play on his classmates, but Yumeji only ever sees himself having the same nightmare every night.

To his surprise, the nightmare continues in the middle of the day even before Yumeji has fallen asleep. The unexpected event was triggered by a dream demon—an inhabitant of the world of dreams who wants to use Yumeji's body as a vessel to fully enter the real world. However, Yumeji is saved by the timely arrival of Merry Nightmare, another dream demon who can somehow physically manifest without a host and is instead trying to return to her own realm.

As more dream demons continue to push into reality, it is up to Yumeji and Merry to fight back against the invasion before everyone's nightmares materialize.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Nightmare, Merry Main

Sakura, Ayane Japanese

Fujiwara, Yumeji Main

Okamoto, Nobuhiko Japanese

Doe, John Supporting

Nakata, Jouji Japanese

Treesea, Mistilteinn Supporting

Yahagi, Sayuri Japanese

Threepiece, Engi Supporting

Endou, Aya Japanese

Tachibana, Isana Supporting

Kayano, Ai Japanese

Kounagi, Yui Supporting

Akiya, Tomoko Japanese

Kisaragi, Minato Supporting

Hidaka, Rina Japanese

Kawanami, Chizuru Supporting

Ueda, Kana Japanese

Hercules, Pharos Supporting

Miyake, Kenta Japanese

Nakamura, Shinichi Producer

Tanaka, Junichirou Producer

Yoshikawa, Atsushi Producer

Yamauchi, Shigeyasu Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

May 18, 2011

Archaeon

Recommended

They say that variety is the spice of life, but if that's true, then why is there such a lack of it in anime and manga? Part of the problem stems from the fact that there seems to be a certain number of themes that can be considered the "bread and butter" of the industry, but the subject of dreams is surprisingly not one of them. This is more than a little odd as Eastern folklore is littered with stories about dreams, and one has to wonder why such a rich and varied theme tends to be ignored.

So what is a dream?

There are those who ... believe they are nothing more than one's subconscious mind doing a bit of "housecleaning", whilst others claim that there is a supernatural element that can be defined and translated to provide a message to an individual. Many people believe that dreams are simply flights of fancy that occur while one is asleep, and almost everyone has used the term in reference to personal goals. The common misconception though, is that while they are often weird, and maybe a little unnerving (this includes some real life ambitions), they are also harmless. What people tend to forget is that a nightmare is also a dream.

But what happens when dreams and reality merge, and just how important are they to a person?

Based on the manga byYoshitaka Ushiki, Yumekui Merry (Dream Eater Merry), tells the story of Fujiwara Yumeji, a high school student who has the ability to see auras around people that allow him to predict what kind of dream they will have. Unfortunately his own dreams involve him being chased by armed cats, but all of that changes when he meets the mysterious Merry Nightmare.

The story features several interesting dream related elements that offer some food for thought, and while there are a few rather lacklustre attempts at comedy, the series manages to retain a reasonably serious atmosphere. That said, the cliche manner in which the two leads meet does a good job of negating the generally forthright approach to character introductions, and shattering the illusion of seriousness. Granted the two have to meet in some way, but did it really have to be that?

In addition to this the plot contains several typically shounen themes that act as a foundation for development of the story, which is a bit of a shame as while there are some explanations on offer about certain events, there are also a few glaring omissions that can leave viewers wondering how everything fits together. Yumekui Merry also suffers from the fact that all of the action takes place in a particular area, and generally involves people in a particular age range, which immediately raises several questions that are never answered.

The design poses an interesting dichotomy as on the one hand the series adopts a very typical formula with regards to characters and environs, yet on the other there is a degree of imagination and innovation on display, in particular where supernatural characters and otherworldly realms are concerned. While this is obviously a purposeful move to highlight the difference between reality and dreams, J.C. Staff haven't really made the effort to break new ground (and seem overly addicted to Merry's navel), and because of this Yumekui Merry retains a humdrum quality that makes it difficult to take seriously.

As for the animation itself, the series does achieve a very high standard, especially during a few action set pieces, but there's no real consistency to the quality so these high points are more the exception than the norm. There are many scenes where things could have been timed better and movements could have been sharper, so it's somewhat annoying to find that the effort hasn't been made to raise the bar in any way.

The opening sequence features the typical character introduction montage blended with some action that never appears in the anime proper, all against the J-rock/pop stylings of Daydream Syndrome by Fujiwara Marina. That said, the ending theme attempts to keep things simple with a boppy little J-pop track (Dreams And Hopes And The Me Of Tomorrow by Sakura Ayane), set against an image of Merry that is gradually being revealed from underneath flower petals.

Unfortunately one of the biggest problem areas is the background music as there are a number of tracks that don't seem to mesh well with the on screen action or appear to be completely unnecessary. In addition to this there are also issues with the levels, and all too often whatever track is playing will lay the foundations of a veritable cacophony when large audio effects kick in or characters begin speaking loudly. Unfortunately these issues could have been easily rectified during the recording process, so one has to wonder if there has been a poorly executed attempt to enhance the atmosphere of particular scenes, or simply a continuous oversight during production.

That said, there is some decent performances from Okamoto Nobuhito (Fujiwara Yumji), and Sakura Ayane (Merry Nightmare), but this is only in comparison to the rest of the cast. A large portion of the acting is nothing more than lines by rote which can be attributed to a script that's more than a tad juvenile, and this truly is a shame as the cast are a talented bunch for the most part.

Yumekui Merry features a variety of personalities that one might find in any number of highschool anime, yet while there is a certain amount of depth applied to several prominent characters, this never really feels like true development. It seems as though the producers have decided to follow a method that attempts to define the characters rather than make them grow, which is unfortunate as this approach can only really yield good results when there is a decent amount of characterisation from the start.

Sadly, there isn't.

Aside from the generic looks and routine personas, it's only Yumeji who appears to have any sort of detail at the start of the story, and part of that stems from the manner of his introduction into the tale. While one might argue that Merry's introduction also constitutes definition of sorts, nothing substantial is done with her until the latter half of the series. Most of the characters are apportioned a certain amount of screen time to tell a highly abbreviated version of their personal history or future goals, but there's very little emotion involved in this and the story can sometimes feel like more of a writing exercise than anything else.

Even with the flaws there's still something to this anime that manages to raise it from mediocrity, and that's the interesting ideas it can spark about dreams and how important they are to a person. While the explanations of cause and effect are a bit on the simplistic side, they can also be somewhat original and unusual, and this helps to retain the viewer's interest in the story. In addition to this the main thrust of the narrative is well conceived, even if the execution is lacking, and the generally serious tone of the story helps to offset the fact that Yumekui Merry can be a chore from time to time.

One thing that should be pointed out is that the series has a very clear "kids versus adults" mentality that seems more a convenience for its own sake than an outright declaration that everyone over a certain age is "evil", which makes it pretty obvious who the target audience is for this show (as if the highschool wasn't already a dead giveaway). The ending also lacks a degree of substance due to its slightly hurried nature, and many of the concepts in Yumekui Merry aren't fully realised, but given that the manga is ongoing it will be interesting to see where things go from here. While the series barely manages to hold it's own against the likes of Yume Tsukai (which isn't really all that impressive to be honest), there's an earnestness that appears from time to time that really should have been more prominent as it would have offset the lethargic productions values.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Apr 10, 2011

Inushinde

Mixed Feelings

Watching Yumekui Merry was like riding a jeep down a long, bumpy road spanning several steep hills. When it was good, it was pretty compelling. When it was bad, it was almost impossible to slog through. Though the good outweighed the bad enough to not make me dread the next episode.

Now, I don't expect anyone was especially thrilled to see another show that used every shounen trope to its fullest extent, with a bland male lead, an unstoppable and infuriating lead villain, and a plucky tsundere sidekick.

The story, which isn't properly divulged in the synopsis, is as such: Yumeji is your standard shounen protagonist ... with the ability to read peoples' dreams by making a circle with his thumb and index finger. He meets a mysterious and flamboyantly dressed woman while experiencing a trippy dream sequence, and the two build a friendship that withstands any and all obstacles. That's about it.

In the beginning, there's nothing at all wrong with the story. The problem with it is, quite a few plot threads are introduced, toyed with for an episode or two, and never brought up again.
Just a warning, possible spoilers ahead. If you want this to remain as spoiler free as possible, skip down past the dotted line.

The first plot introduced is Yumeji's conflict with a dream demon who wants to use his body as a vessel. Okay, that's a good plot. And the demon can infiltrate his mind at anytime and plunge him into that dream state. Alright, that works. And the girl who he meets in there one day tries to help him out. Okay, excellent. Sounds like a good, semi-compelling series. But nope, a few episodes later it's dropped and only paid lip service less than halfway through, where it's resolved in an incredibly anticlimactic manner. And for the rest of the series, this entire plot is forgotten, which makes the synopsis utterly useless.

Not a problem though, because a second plot is brought up by Merry, the plucky sidekick. She's also a dream demon, but all she wants is to return home to her world, and for that she needs to vanquish a few demons and use the portals that send them back to send herself back. Not nearly as interesting as the first, but it's still serviceable, and would allow for more freedom with character development. And thankfully character does develop... right up until the last third.
Unlike the first, this isn't forgotten, but just completely shoved aside for the standard plot.

The main plot, of course, being the need to vanquish an unstoppable evil through the power of friendship. You all know how this is going to go, so nothing needs explaining.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


The story is somewhat redeemed by a twist at about the halfway mark, and another at the two thirds mark, that's somewhat unexpected and casts what Merry does in an entirely new light.
It would've been decent if they had just stuck with the main plot, without introducing all those abandoned subplots.

The characters are, for the most part, bland and uninteresting. Merry's the only one not of a cookie cutter design, but her personality is as standard for tsundere characters as it gets. Really, there's nothing here you haven't seen before. Heroes are likable, if somewhat dimwitted, and the villains are despicable in a way that you like them to be. Again, standard fare.

Sound-wise, Yumekui Merry employs a somewhat catchy OP and a pretty good ED, but otherwise unremarkable music. The characters are usually appropriately voiced. Not much worth mentioning either for or against the music or VAs.

Aside from the boring character designs, I must admit that the art of the various dream worlds used is quite excellent. Each world is haunting and surreal, from a moonlit wheat field swaying gently in the twilight breeze, to a warped town bathed in a bluish-green glow, surrounded by levitating fish skeletons. Otherwise, it gets the job done, and nothing more. The animation is fluid, the fights are fun to watch, and I was never left bored during the action scenes.

Yumekui Merry breaks no ground, preferring to tread water under pseudo-philosophical debates and questionable handling of the story. I understand that 13 episodes limits the schedule somewhat, but if the subplots were going to be underutilized like that, they should've been left on the cutting room floor.
Otherwise, it's more than watchable. Just don't expect to be wowed or walk away having felt richer for the experience. It's stupid, short fun, and sometimes that's what you need in life.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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May 8, 2011

shuffleair

Not Recommended

When Yumekui Merry started at the beginning of the Winter 11 season I felt it was going to be good show. It had an interesting art style, the characters were likable, and the production was done by JCStaff. An animation studio that I adore for making previous works such as Kaichou wa Maid-sama and the Index series. But something went wrong. Everything fell apart by the end. Plot holes, ruined characters, inconsistent art, and one of the worst finales I’ve seen in a long time. And, yes, I have seen a LOT of anime.

Animation wise, Yumekui Merry had an interesting approach during the dream ... segments for the first few episodes. I was really intrigued. The watercolor approach worked well for the series and the character designs were charming. The show was full of stills (meaning no movement or very minimal amounts kind of like a slideshow), but hey they were at least pretty stills. Sort of. Then the art lost all its style at the end. Gone were the interesting art choices and the art became inconsistent during the last few episodes. Misty’s face during the last episode comes to mind.

The OP/ED were good. The ED animations were nice. It had some dang midriff. I like me some midriff. The soundtrack was glaring. It was an awful strange choice to choose orchestra music for the more intense fight scenes. I don’t know... it felt really out of place. I mean come on. Why would you put bassoons in a fight scene? The voice acting was okay. Nothing to complain there. Merry's VA is totally new and it was her debut role. And Okamoto Nobuhiko always makes me go crazy as Yumeji. (Okamoto is personally one of my favorite voice actors, so I'm biased.)

The plot is where everything falls apart though. You’re lead into the first episode with a dream demon who can survive in the human world. Wonderful. Our main character has the power to see what people will be dreaming the next night by making a circle with his fingers. Uh weird, but uh interesting. Throughout the first half it was really formulaic. I mean it was basically fight dream demons and send them back to the dreammmm world. It gets boring. So the anime studio then decides that during the second half the plot gets more of a direction, but loses all plans to keep a coherent plot. The ending was awful. Things are developed, but never really mentioned again. Kawanami's character, John Doe, and that one dude that got possessed by a dream demon. And some nonsensical things happen as well. (Yui playing her invisible trumpet comes to mind. What the heck? Why? Did she bump her head? Did she suddenly decide that she was in a band? Is she the one playing the dang bassoon. Dang it Yui. Dang it.)

Mistletine was a good evil villain. Her back story was basically that she likes to be evil and does evil things. Alright, that’s fine. There’s just one thing I have on her. And that is that Misty (Mistletine) has a severe case of ADD. She's fighting the heroes of the anime and then she just gets up and leaves them, so she can enjoy them next episode? What? Why? That makes no sense? Did she get bored? Did she get tired? No, it looked like she had enough energy to insult them. Why? Oh yeah. It’s not the last episode. We can’t have you guys finish each other off till the last episode. Silly me. That’s a perfectly reasonable answer.

Also the teacher (Who I can’t remember his name for some reason. And all I remember about him was that he wears the ugliest striped pants I’ve ever seen.) was kind of bleh. I do like his facially expressions though. They were hawt. Kawanami was the worst character in the series. She felt soooo tacked on. Was her only purpose in the story was so Isana could make friends? Isana has plenty of friends. She has Merry and she has her brother. Well, I guess that isn't much, but still. Kawanami was an anime-original character (same with stripped pants sensei and Misty) but she felt like she had no purpose in the plot. JCSTAFF WE NEED SOME FOCUS IF YOU ARE GOING TO INTRODUCE ANIME-ORIGINAL CHARACTERS.

I mean having an anime-original plot is fine if you do a good job with it. Having anime-original character is fine if you develop them well, but JCStaff didn't. Did JCStaff suddenly decide that the manga wasn’t good enough? If it wasn’t good enough, then why did they choose to adapt this series? I like John Doe. (John Doooooo) I seriously do. I like his name. I especially love how the other characters call him John Dooooo when his named is spelled John Doe. He was cool. Too bad he like totally disappeared, so the anime-original characters can appear.

I feel like there is so much wasted potential here, plot holes, useless anime-original characters, inconsistent art, and Yui playing her imaginary trumpet. I do feel that there are a few good parts in this show, but there are far too few in a sea of bleh. As in my case it’s very hard to recommend this anime. It might be good, maybe, after in taking some alcohol. But whatever. It’s done. JCStaff please do a good job on your next series. I don’t want to see no anime-original characters or plot, unless you can develop them properly, and I definitely don’t want to see your next main character play an imaginary trumpet.

* Nothing is as frustrating as writing a review twice; due to my laptop crashing down right when I click submit. Review is also on AnimeNfo.com

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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According to their official website, Sentai Filmworks announced on Thursday that they have licensed Yumekui Merry. Sentai Filmworks has not specified when and how th...read more

Feb 12, 2011 8:26 AM by Prizkilla | Discuss (12 comments)

	Poll: Yumekui Merry Episode 3 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Yumekichi11 - Jan 20, 2011	98 replies	by LucasM17 »» Jun 7, 9:06 PM
	Poll: Yumekui Merry Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Kuro4735 - Jan 6, 2011	189 replies	by Limi »» Jan 6, 5:20 AM
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