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Mar 13, 2014
It's a little surprising that one of the most meta and self aware shows in the anime industry could be one that isn't even conventionally animated. Tesagure! Bukatsumono is, at first glance, a horribly CG animated moe slice of life show, otaku-targeted, made simply for the sake of money. Never mind that it has surprisingly high sales for such a low budget production (its second season is currently outselling Kill la Kill); sales only indicate popularity, which never means much about quality anyway.
Or does it? If you look past the CG animation and watch through the first episode, you will discover right away that this
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is a series filled to brim with anime trope parodies. Its OP sequence goes through, with almost methodical precision, every cut you can expect to see in an anime opening, while the lyrics provide instant narration. "And now we're running! And now we're reaching out our hands! As long as we keep this up, we'll have a real anime opening in no time!" Similar parody is seen frequently throughout the series, with topics ranging from anime hair colours, to overly powerful student councils, and even to the way anime schools never seem to have male students. It's always hilarious to see this show pick out, with such unerring accuracy, the little flaws and irregularities of anime that every other series has come to ignore.
The humour extends beyond parodies of the anime medium. Tesagure! describes the activities of the Tesaguri-bu, a club dedicated to letting its members grope for their respective interests. As such, every episode has them discussing a different club activity they could take part in. This opens up into a systematic break-down of activities as they are portrayed in anime and manga, with the characters very wittily pointing out illogical features of each. But it doesn't stop there. The characters spend roughly half of each episode brainstorming ways to improve upon the activity under discussion, each coming up with their own 'New XXX club'. ”新しい”, "new", is a word you're going to hearing a lot when you watch this show. The brainstorm segment is generally the highlight of each episode, as the ideas thrown out are deliberately ridiculous and very funny. It's because of this random humour that even people who don't watch a lot of anime can appreciate a lot of the comedy in this show.
As a matter of fact, much of what makes this show funny besides the continually inserted jokes is the characters themselves. The main cast (four of them, and of course all girls) each come off as having distinct personalities and play each other off very well in their separate roles, from Koharu the naive kouhai to Hina the mysterious (and floating) senpai. Cliches they may be, but as a unit they work very well, and their energy alone is enough to make even unfunny jokes crack a laugh.
It is a unique feature of this show's production that allows the characters to interact so realistically and with such energy. While most anime are animated and then dubbed over, Tesagure! has its audio recorded and then the animation made to match. Supposedly, parts of the dialogue are also improvised, resulting in moments when the characters talk over one another or bend double in laughter for seconds on end. These are small details, but they really solidify the character interactions of the show. If you were to watch Tesagure! with your eyes closed, the group of girls joking on your screen might not be just the two dimensional characters seen everywhere else. For once, they could be real people, and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
Tesagure! is, as a result, one of the truest and most entertaining pure slice of life series in the anime medium. Juggernauts like K-ON! and YuruYuri feature with a good mix of slice of life and drama, and so become as entertaining as they are. For Tesagure! to reach similar heights of entertainment with its far lower production quality and nothing but slice of life should be a testament to how well this show is executed. If there ever comes a day when an English fansub group picks this up and subs it in full, do yourself a favour and watch it. If nothing else, you will be impressed with a very strong sense of the 新しい.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Oct 10, 2013
I'll say it very simply here: Stella is not a show worth wasting your time on.
To be sure, it's not all bad. There's slice of life, and there's the much more serious character arc going on throughout; that latter one was what drew me personally to watch it. Moe too, if that's your thing; and fanservice, because this is after all Gainax.
And, to be fair, it takes a pretty daring writer to even think of putting moe with something serious, simply because they are inherently opposing elements. Kudos to the original mangaka for that.
But as good as all this sounds on paper, it didn't translate
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very well onto animation. Stella suffers from terrible directing. Scenes flow awkwardly into one another, transitioning for instance from the serious moments in the latter episodes, focused on Yura, to the girls doing nothing in particular and being moe, focused on just about the rest of the cast. There's a lot of humour in here, only that's it's not funny; and what's worse is that you can tell they're trying to be funny, what with overly over-exaggerated chibi expressions and randomness going on. That hurts at times. The music doesn't fit the anime well for the most part: either it's there and you don't notice it, or it's there and you're wondering why it sounds so inappropriate for the scene. Take the gunfights which comprise most of this show's action: they're backdropped by a low-key saxophone piece, which doesn't do anything to raise the already low tension of the scene.
I don't like the characters. Not because they're unlikeable, but because they're empty. Stella has a cast of six main characters, plus one main antagonist: about three of them (Yura, Sonora, and Rin) are actually useful; the rest could have been cut out of the show to no detriment, and probably even improve the overall quality. Sure, there's an airhead, and a tomboy, and a few other stereotypes I couldn't be bothered to identify, and I'm sure they're all totally popular; but they ultimately don't do a thing, which makes them, for all their appeal, completely and utterly useless. And while we're on this topic, there's one character in particular - Rento - who's voice just doesn't match her character so hard I, for all my grumbling about useless characters, am actually glad she doesn't have much to say.
This probably leads in well to the art. Animation is smooth, but that's really to be expected: it's a big studio, after all; and in any case and do you honestly see that many animes out there with bad animation? Not really. But while the animation is passable, the same can't be said for the art: it's mostly consistent (and detailed and pretty *enough*), but there are a few times when the characters don't look like themselves. It only does happen a few times, but it's obvious enough when it does, and that hurts the show still more. Quite possibly the biggest problem with the art, though, is that it doesn't match the acting. I've said this before, and I'll bring it up again: Rento's character does not fit her art. She's a soft-spoken character, but is usually drawn with her mouth wide open as if she's talking loudly. And this is not something limited just to her, although she is the worst case of it: almost every character (barring Rin, maybe) has moments where they look like they're talking loudly and enthusiastically, but sound quiet or subdued. It gets better during the middle of the show, but the damage will have been done by the start anyway.
As a matter of fact, it's the middle of Stella where it really shines. The start is just your typical moe slice of life fare - nothing special, all to be expected - but by the middle Yura's character arc really kicks in, and I was pleasantly surprised to see quality there. It's good. More than that, it's a welcome change from the randomness and wannabe humour which plague this show's opening. When Stella's being serious, it can really be serious. Unfortunately, it's mixed up among all the low grade fanservice and moe of the rest of the show, and loses some of its greatness in the passing. There are, for instance, thirteen episodes to this anime; the actual arc concludes quite nicely by the twelfth, leaving viewers with a ridiculous beauty pageant / airsoft game show crossover, which is filled with humour - chibi means funny, guys. Always. Or at least, that's what Gainax thinks - and oppai. Hurrah for oppai! Screw serious plots and good endings for oppai! Fanservice is totally the determiner of a good anime!
What Stella really suffers from apart from its bad directing is, as other reviewers have probably mentioned, a lack of self identity. If it was a full moe/fanservice show I'd judge it based on that, scoring it equally badly in quality but highly, at least, in enjoyment. If it was a full serious show I'd find it not a bad watch, acknowledging the quality of its ideas if not their execution. But Stella is neither of these. And as such, it comes off just as bad.
I can't tell if I've made my point clear enough from these few paragraphs. I don't care enough about this anime to check. So I'll just reiterate my words from the beginning of this review:
Don't watch Stella. It's not worth your time.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Sep 22, 2013
You'll be forgiven for thinking Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi just glorified loli show with superficial theological issues thrown in just to seem deep and intellectual. That's certainly the attitude I went into this anime with; but what I discovered behind its veneer of gaudiness was a genuinely decent plot taking viewers through well thought-out settings populated by characters who, barring the odd few, all had a clear purpose in the story. So before you turn down this anime upon seeing its seemingly pretentious opening, read on; and afterwards, go and finish the first few episodes before deciding whether or not to drop it.
First things first.
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Kami-inai is adapted from a series of light novels, all of which are practically self contained stories revolving around the protagonist, Ai, and the various people she meets along her journey through the world. And as a result, the anime follows an arc structure, with the characters, settings, and events of each arc barely ever appearing again beyond their few episodes. This brings us to deceptive point number one: Ai is the only main character; everyone else, even if they are listed as such, is a supporting character who will not appear again once their arc has concluded.
While the arcs are self contained, they all take place in this world which has supposedly been forsaken by God; and here's deceptive point number two. Kami-inai is very, very light on actual theological substance. The focus of its title, and arguably the main draw of the show for newcomers, is really nothing more than a plot device to allow for the plots of each individual arc. But that's not to say that this makes the show bad. Rather, it allows Kami-inai to explore a range of themes across its widely diverse and compelling settings, even if they're not particularly innovative. In fact, it's the settings of Kami-inai that are its true strength, more than making up for the disappointment of the title being mere bait. Of the show's four arcs, two take place in settings tied closely to the arc's theme; and of course, they're both evocative and entirely unpredictable, the latter due on no small part to the arc structure of the series. So at the very least, you'll be kept entertained by the fresh content that comes by every few episodes.
Another place where Kami-inai really excels is in emotional impact. Again, because each arc is a self contained story, they all end with very emotional scenes; and given how difficult it is to write a good emotional scene, Kami-inai has me more than a little impressed. This is no Clannad, but that doesn’t stop it from being good nonetheless. However, as is the case with all good emotional scenes, there’s always quite a bit of plot beforehand that’s needed to build up all the impact later on, and here’s where viewers might get turned off the show. The plot sections, for the most part, do a brilliant job of exploring the arc’s setting with an appropriate air of mystery; but when it’s not doing that, the viewers are left seeing the characters interact with one another as they do what they have to do. And this usually means seeing Ai being what she is: a loli. I personally have nothing against these segments, but there are those who find Ai annoying as a character and the things she does ridiculous; and certainly there is merit to that view. Not only that, but the show shifts from serious to comedic in tone to accompany Ai’s loli acts, and sometimes the change is so jarring it’s simply not welcome. But since Kami-inai always remedies these annoyances with the emotional parts that follow afterward, they’re not really that much of a problem.
For all the good that Kami-inai does with its emotional scenes, the said scenes are unfortunately also used at times to cover up gaping plot holes at the end of each arc. Or maybe it’d be better to say that gaping plot holes exist where the writers decided to kick reason to the curb in favour of writing scenes that would make viewers cry, for maximum audience appeal; and of course, this has the neat upshot of making said viewers less likely to notice the plot holes. If you’re the sort of person who can’t stand a shoddily-made plot then you won’t like it when it happens; but thankfully, there is only one real plot hole in the series. So it’s not so bad.
I realise I’ve been praising the arc structure quite a bit in this review. Once you get over the idea that there is no single plot connecting the stories, Kami-inai’s structure actually makes for a pretty good meta-plot, because each arc is as a consequence sharply focused, with zero filler. But that’s within the arcs. So it kind of sucks when the third arc, episodes 7 and 8, is total filler; and what makes it even worse is that characters who are carried over to the next arc are developed here, so you can’t just skip it and move on. You can’t just blame Madhouse for it either – believe me, I wanted to – because they were just faithfully adapting volume 3 of the light novel series. They actually cut it shorter than a standard three-episode arc; but even so, those two episodes alone take Kami-inai and drag it down from something amazing into something merely great.
Now enough of the plot. Kami-inai is a beautifully drawn and animated series; my only complaint is the slight overuse of CGI in the early few episodes, not because they look bad but simply because they don’t fit in with the rest of the animation. But CGI usage peters out beyond those two or three episodes, so it’s not really a problem. The art is bright and colourful, with a slight fantastical tint that sets the world apart from the normal world (or what passes for it in anime); and while the art style sometimes has the characters looking a little flat when viewed front-on, they’re still very detailed and very well drawn. Light and shadow is also used very well, often to great dramatic effect. Simply put, Kami-inai is beautiful.
And it’s not just easy on the eyes, too. The music is awesome, creating with ease the spooky, mysterious, and heartrendingly beautiful atmospheres that pervade the show. A lot of the emotional impact (and not just the crying scenes) is built on the background music, which should give you an idea of how good they are. Acting, for Ai and her main supporting cast, is consistently good, and all the characters come off as real and believable. And of course, mention must be made to the OP and ED songs, respectively ‘Birth’, sung by Kitamura Eri, and ‘Owaranai Melody wo Utaidashimashita.’, sung by Komatsu Mikako (yes, I’m writing the names inverted by English rules. Deal with it). The OP song is catchy and fun song to listen to, if standard JPop fare; but the ED’s is downright amazing. By itself it contributes to a great deal of the emotional impact I mentioned earlier; and even better, Madhouse plays with its ED so that the song will start before the credits roll, and sometimes the whole ED is cut in favour of just letting the credits and song play across what’s going on – and the emotional impact of those moments is then magnified, pardon my exaggeration, a few hundredfold. It should say a great deal that while I really looked forward to the start of the episode when it aired every Sunday, I looked forward to the end even more.
So there you have it. If you want good plot Kami-inai’s got it. If you want good setting Kami-inai’s got it, and by the bucketloads. If you want themes Kami-inai’s got it. If you want good characters Kami-inai’s aren’t half bad. And if you want good music Kami-inai’s is damn amazing. So if you’ve haven’t watched this series before or quit at the start because of how stupid it seemed, keep watching and get past the show’s deceptive shallowness to reach the wealth of greatness it has to offer. It’s well worth it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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May 10, 2013
Prior to watching this, my only experience in romantic comedy was Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai!, which some would argue isn't even that much of a romantic comedy anyway. Since this might have a bearing on my perception of this anime, if I were you I wouldn't rely solely on my review as a basis for judging this show.
I won't bother with plot summaries or character descriptions or the like, since you can find those anywhere. So, let's begin, shall we?
PLOT/GENERAL COMMENTS:
I was first introduced to Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo ("Sakurasou") based on its (relatively) lighthearted nature and its portrayal of the theme of
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failure. Being a person quite big on themes and messages in stories, as opposed to just the story, I was rather intrigued - and when I watched the first few episodes, I wasn't really disappointed. I rather liked how every character was portrayed as flawed or weak or inadequate in some way, and how, over the course of the story, they grew to overcome their flaws through a combination of determination and hope and hard work. Sakurasou also features numerous contrasts between the genius of the pros - Ryuunosuke, Misaki, and, of course, Mashiro - and the more ordinary, second rate characters of Nanani and Jin and Sorata, which really just emphasises the theme of failure and its overcoming that the show presents.
But, just a few episodes on, it fell flat on its face. Out of nowhere, Sorata's little sister comes to stay over - and cue the love triangle/romcom/fanservice episode that pays almost no regard to what the story was trying to do earlier on. Admittedly, there are probably people to whom this kind of thing will appeal. But, for me, it was just to shallow given the subject matter of Sakurasou.
This keeps up in the latter episodes, which is when Sakurasou transitions from having a thematic story to simply having a romantic comedy story. Sure, coverage is given of the theme of failure, and sure, it does play a somewhat large role in the plot there - but the focus seemed no longer to be on each of the characters trying to achieve their dreams (although they were in fact trying to do that). No, the latter episodes were more about the relationships between the characters - the conclusion of the love triangle, the long-expected couple finally getting together, the power of friendship, and a disaster averted with that power of friendship. I have nothing against any of that. This is a romantic comedy, after all; and in any case, love and friendship are powerful things, and it's good that this show reminds us of that. In fact, I rather enjoyed the character development and relationships in the later episodes. But they eclipsed all that stuff about failure sufficiently that failure became not a theme but merely a plot point. And that was this show's greatest failing: in telling a good story, it sacrificed the theme it worked to develop.
Now, I understand that writing a good story is damn hard. Writing a good story with a good theme is even harder. So I can't really blame them for what they did. But because the developers sacrificed their theme, I can't call this show amazing. And of course, the ridiculously shallow Yuuko plotlines only made it worse.
CHARACTERS:
But if there was one thing that redeemed (carried) the show, it was the characters. I don't know much about anime stereotypes, not having seen that many anime before; but, stereotyped or not, Sakurasou's characters were strong. They were real and developed and each had a distinct personality, so that they seemed to carry themselves out of the screen and into the world. Plus, they were personable and likeable. I'd liked to have seen a little more development for Chihiro-sensei and the game designer (what was he called again? Oh, right, Fujisawa), but given the strength of the other main characters it's really just pedantic I-want-to-know-more needling on my part. Oh, and Nanami is a pretty awesome character. Mashiro is obviously very likeable because she's a kuudere, and everyone likes kuuderes; but Nanami's struggle for her dream and the hardships she overcomes just make her, to me, a better character. And she's just so damn nice that it's sad to watch :(
Yeah. I hope I made it clear enough in the above paragraph, but Sakurasou's characters were watch got me watching past the bad parts of the show. I kept watching not because I wanted to know what happened next, but because I wanted to see more of the characters. And, given the importance (and difficulty, too) of getting characters done right, I should think that Sakurasou's characters are pretty amazing.
SOUND:
I suppose I should talk about this as well. I don't have have any complaints about the voice acting (aside from the fact that the show sometimes uses comedy right after serious moments - but that's a wrangle with the plot and not the acting): the seiyuus did a great job of making their characters real. The music of the show fits what happen well, and one or two tracks are particularly nice to listen to. As for the OP and ED songs, they weren't anything particularly special - but after listening to them so many times I've acquired a liking for them. Days of Dash, the first ED, is particularly catchy and just...just generally awesome. It's not anything that'll grab your attention when you first hear it, but after you've become familiar with it I daresay you'll like it quite a bit.
Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo isn't a particularly amazing show. It doesn't compare, for instance, to that other romantic comedy I've watched - Chuunibyou - in that it doesn't have any particular purpose or message, and that it contains episodes shallow enough to be fillers. But it's still fun to watch, and therefore not a bad show either.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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