Level E

Tokyo-born schoolboy Yukitaka Tsutsui is moving to Yamagata Prefecture for high school on a baseball scholarship. Since he went to the top middle school in Japan for baseball, the townsfolk are very excited about his arrival. However, when he arrives in his apartment, he encounters a strange man nonchalantly reading and wearing his clothes! The stranger claims to be an alien who crash-landed on Earth and has nowhere to go. Revealing himself to be Baka Ki El Dogra, the crown prince of the planet Dogra, he is just one of the hundreds of aliens that have already made Earth their home.

Despite his regal origins, the prince is an infamous intergalactic fool who thinks nothing of inconveniencing others for his own amusement. Whether he is running ridiculous tests on his subordinates, giving strange powers to random children, or just generally being a nuisance, nobody is safe from the idiot prince's antics!

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Ki El Dogra, Baka Main

Namikawa, Daisuke Japanese

Kraft Supporting

Koyasu, Takehito Japanese

Tachibana Supporting

Kinoshita, Sayaka Japanese

Mi Mad Magra, Luna Supporting

Nakagawa, Shoko Japanese

Mayuzumi, Mayo Supporting

Takakura, Yuka Japanese

Demon King Supporting

Yoshida, Seiko Japanese

Moe Supporting

Matsuzaki, Rei Japanese

Ki El Dogra, Mohan Supporting

Hino, Satoshi Japanese

Shimizu, Yoshiki Supporting

Kanada, Aki Japanese

Yokota, Kunimitsu Supporting

Kanaya, Hideyuki Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Kajita, Kouji Producer

Hagino, Ken Producer

Katou, Toshiyuki Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

May 29, 2020

Ezekiel_01

Recommended

Level E is a series comprised of short story arcs that traverse the themes of paranormal sci-fi. Secret coexistent of different cosmic entities shrouded with mystery, whether they are peace-loving or aggressive warlike species in our daily human lives. From the horrors of invasive species struggling to survive total extinction. Political issues of small scale planetary crimes and up to the massive intergalactic crisis. Prepare to be mind-blown to the sophisticated brain-numbing twist and turns for Level E has it all.

[Art & Sound 7/10]

Aesthetic and audiovisual defines Level E identity as paranormal scifi. By listening to the soundtrack you already have an idea what ... the show it's all about. The soundtrack serves a fitting design, for it gives off an eerie and unsettling atmosphere, it delivers an uncanny valley effect, that adds up to the mystery of the story.

Character design is noteworthy. The staff did a good job of updating the art style of a decade-old manga for the modern audience. The animation is fluent and the use of CGI is alright. Spaceship, alien, and high tech technology design is never given in-depth details for reason it’s not the primary focus, to begin with. For a young studio at the time, David Production did a good job in the animation faithful to the source material.

[Story 8/10]

Level E is rather one of those few titles that tried the experimental approach. It combines two separate elements in a single entity that blends well with the narrative. Serious paranormal sci-fi and light-hearted comedy is something that is very hard to imagine that it could even exist. Sure we have western movies that made a parody and satire over the paranormal genre but its more comedy than a serious story. Level E manages to put an equal balance between unlikely elements. It establishes a solid paranormal story while at the same time create a fascinating built up of a comical impact. The show takes advantage of it to establish paranormal tropes to disguise its intellectually well-crafted humor. There is a good amount of foreshadowing in the story that justifies the means of its bizarre and unexpected plot twist. Even I was constantly fooled and trolled by the unexpected solutions this show came up that was well thought out. For comedy, I say Level E has a well-constructed parody and satire of the paranormal genre.

(This section might contain possible spoiler)

[Character Section 7/10]

When it comes to characters, there are only a few them worth mentioning in the series. Prince Baka and the Color Ranger Boys. For me, they are the most memorable in the entire cast. They have the most exposition and got some interesting development before the end of the series.

The Prince of Dogura

He's the main antagonist of the show, well he’s the protagonist but the way he antagonizes every single character in the series for the sake of his mess-up self-enjoyment might as well make me believe his the main villain of the show. But aside from all I said, he’s a good guy. He is a smart, athletic, and reliable. The problem due to his playful nature being another level annoyance, people around him call him the devil. But in Outer Space, Prince of Dogura is well known for the title of "Baka Prince".

The Color Ranger Boys

They might be the funniest and inspiring group of characters in the entire show. They have nice synergy to each other and their bonded friendship is very remarkable. Each individual ranger has unique abilities that reflect their personality. I support their adventures in kicking the forces of evil, especially the ass of our Baka Prince and it felt satisfying to see.

[Final Thoughts] [Enjoyment 6/10]

Level E is an unexpected show of 2011. It’s an old manga that got modernization treatment upon its adaptation. It’s aesthetics blends well with modern audiences, it is good service to have that Death Note design. The OSTS is good, special mention how it brilliantly parodied the sentai or power ranger series. It hit me hard especially when the Baka Prince sang the Color Ranger Song. Love the voice acting by Koyasu, Takehito, very hilarious and comical in giving impact to the Baka Prince antics. It offers a nice combination of serious paranormal tropes with unpredictable humor. It doesn’t take itself too seriously. The effort place when it comes to the scientific biology of alien species is a treat. It has a solid ending that terminates the status quo of most paranormal scifi endings.

You know, if you put aside you’re human dignity a bit, the show is fun to watch even though it feels like it is made by a guy who randomly watches a few stuff in the T.V and decided hey let’s combine all this element into a story.

Togashi you Madman!

Overall Score [7.3/10]

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Apr 20, 2023

boguda

Mixed Feelings

Well, this has been a rollercoaster if not anything, a rollercoaster of good and nothing episodes.

I didn't have high hopes but I did have good hopes for this show as it has been stuck on my PTW for about 2 years now. After finishing it I can say that it's one of the most mediocre shows I've ever seen. Most of the episodes are nothing episodes with essentially no plot(coming from a slice-of-life enjoyer), this 13-episode show feels like an eternity at times. All the good arcs are rushed leaving the watcher unsatisfied. Saying all this it's undeniable the first 2 episodes set up ... our mc Ki El Dogra aka Prince Baka very well, it's also the only 2 episodes where his presence is enjoyable. The show shines best when Prince Baka's bodyguards have the spotlight as they are light-years funnier than him. It's not a bad show per se, it just leaves you unsatisfied because the premises are super cool and interesting. If you want to watch a mediocre show with a great soundtrack, and good animation, this is for you.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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May 8, 2019

detroitmetalcity

Not Recommended

All of the bad parts of shounen in one 12 episode package. Baseball, former delinquents, an annoying MC, tokusatsu hijinks, aliens, boring mystery subplots, references to how much we LOVE! Shounen Jump, and jokes that fall all the way flat. Suffers from Shounen Jump shounen disease where none of the arcs and characters matter when the next arc starts. The main character is absolutely unbearably smug and unpleasant, and even hearing Takehito Koyasu's sexy voice as one of the like, three recurring characters was not worth it. A charmless version of the things that make Shounen Jump shows so accessible and beloved. The entire time ... I watched it, I kept thinking about much it reminded me of Gintama - an infinitely better version of all of the same elements presented in this trainwreck.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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