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Sep 27, 2014
Story: 5/10
Hanayamata's story is something you have probably already seen. Naru is an average middleschooler with no defining traits. She meets Hana one night, who was dancing yosakoi, a contemporary Japanese dance. Hana happens to be a foreign transfer student in Naru's school. Hana forcefully convinces Naru into dancing yosakoi, and is successfull. They decide to form a club, but go through the (ever-present) predicament of finding more members and an advisor. They enlist the help of Naru's best friend, the vice president, the student council president, and a part-time teacher who absolutely loves drinking. Working together on choreography and costumes, with some antics in
...
between, they enter the local yosakoi festival as dancers.
Sound familiar? Bet it does. Replace "yosakoi" with some other activity and you create another slice-of-life story.
The show has its fair share of drama. In the early part especially, it can be heart warming. The drama deals with a character's issues, and to be honest, is relatively deep for some characters. Towards the end however, the drama could have been toned down. The dialogue tends to be...sparkly and unrealistic. Unhealthily sparkly, that it's kind of awkward to watch.
Hanayamata is not very strong on plot. You can't get anything more out of "cute girls doing cute things". Sure, there are no plot holes or inconsistency. There is progression, conflict, climax, but it doesn't stand out. If there's one thing I'd like to point though, it's the theme: broadening your world.
Art: 7/10
Produced by Madhouse, one of the best studios in the industry, you would expect a lot. However, Hanayamata is not one of their strongest works. The sceneries and effects are very well done. Crisp sparkles, fireworks, rays, fluid, objects. However, it is outweighed by character design and dance choreography, the whole point of the show.
The characters look awkward, sometimes. The style might just be for the cute factor, and is sort of unique too. They have a natural blush, but it gets out of hand at critical moments. For normal scenes, the character design is passable. Dance choreography is another matter. Undoubtedly, the studio has done their research on yosakoi. The steps look great, really, but still frames are used a little more than half the time. It's only on the final episode you get to see the impressive animation for the main dance, which was honestly applaudable.
Sound: 6/10
The soundtrack doesn't stand out, but isn't bad. There are tracks for every situation, comedic, dramatic, etc. Good composition, but not noteworthy. The OPs and EDs are great though. The OP is cute, and the ED has a hint of fantasy, both having a touch of traditional Japanese blended with modern music.
I can't say much on voice acting. The voices are uncomfortably high most of the time, but I don't see how it could have been done another way.
Character: 6/10
The five main characters fit into usual slice-of-life personalities. An average girl, thrown into events that will change her life. The transfer student is the start of it all. The tsundere popular girl helps the average girl reach her dreams. The (cold) student council president and (perfect girl) vice president serve as obstacle and support respectively.
Character development takes place in the form of drama, which was mentioned earlier. Each character's development serves as their motivation to join the yosakoi club.
The two minor characters would have been interesting if they had their own development.
Enjoyment: 5/10
Enjoyment depends on what you expect beforehand.
Yuri factor is at a medium-low level. Since the characters are middle schoolers, they have subconscious gay tendencies e.g. blushing because of what the other said or how good looking the other is. There are no hints to any romantic relationship, but the girls do become close as the series progresses.
If you're looking to expand your slice-of-life library, Hanayamata offers a different premise. Instead of a book club, tea club, idol group, or light music group, it's contemporary Japanese dance. However, there is more emphasis on characters as there is on the technicalities of yosakoi (but I suppose most slice-of-life are like that...).
So maybe you're looking for a possibly different kind of comedy? Not that either. You have character interactions which you've already seen in another anime. Tsundere not being honest with herself. Transfer student being the cheeriest person. There's a lack of creativity.
How about the motivating moments of the show? The show makes you think about your passions and if the things you do in life are worth it. It's just that it's presented in such a sparkly language that you might feel embarrassed watching it. Mileage may vary of course.
Overall: 5/10
While the show has decent drama in the first half, passable music and animation, it suffers from the lack of "crunch" in everything other aspect. It's not half-assed, but it isn't very memorable.
As another slice-of-life ends, you'll wonder how original the next title will be.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jun 28, 2013
Photokano is about a boy Maeda Kazuya whose father passes his old camera to him. "Through the viewfinder" (he says it that way), he meets girls, and told in separate episodes, develops romances with each of them.
Story: 5/10
The initial premise frankly doesn't sound too bad. You are given introductory episodes where Maeda meets the heroines. After that, each of the heroines' romance stories with Maeda is told in one episode. Each route follows the same format: an encounter that puts Maeda on the girl's route, problem, resolution, confession, then ending. Because each route is crammed into one episode, everything is rushed, and abrupt development
...
occurs. It's hard to take it seriously. Especially where at the end of each episode you get the "I like you", "I'm okay with you?", *hug*, process. Admittedly, I have done other things while watching Photokano and could still grasp what had happened. Well, it's not really something to be guilty of, but it goes to show how predictable it is.
Although, it's good to note that Maeda's narration puts an ample amount of interest. Though it sounds the same in each episode, it gives the impression of him breaking the fourth wall - knowing that there are possibilities with each of the girls he has met. This isn't expounded on however.
Art: 6/10
Not sloppy. But not eye-catching. The best part would be the camera shots, which at least look like something that is photographed.
Sound: 6/10
Nothing special. You hear the same thing almost every time.
The prolific seiyuu in the voice cast (Saito Chiwa, Kaori Mizuhashi, Sanae Itou, among others) is the only reason why I watched this. But because each girl is usually important for just two episodes, you don't get to hear your favorite seiyuu much. At least you get to hear them.
Characters: 4/10
Here we go.
Maeda is an amateur photographer -and clearly does not have any perverted intent in his actions- . Sounds too good to be true. Although he has many perverted encounters, he has good moral character. He's that kind of guy, so I guess it's not too bad. His clubmates, led by the eccentric club president voiced by Midorikawa, are pretty much opposite to him. They are perverts who like taking perverted pictures. And they're funny.
...
..
.
The heroines however, they follow common stereotypes which makes them generally...stale, personality-wise anyway. To list: Niimi Haruka is the ideal girl, Nonoka is a sports girl, Aki is the ever-so-strict student council president, Hikari is the unsmiling one, Tomoe is another unsmiling one, Rina is the ideal waifu, and Mai and Kanon satisfy the kouhai and imouto complex respectively, and inner lolicon collectively.
Probably the only character I really cared about was Uchida, the stealth photographer, who in each episode you slightly learn more about her. Too bad she didn't get a route. Now while they are stock characters with stock personalities, it doesn't mean they don't develop. But since each girl only gets one episode, you don't get to feel the momentum of her development that leads to romance and/or realization. The result: an unsurprising 24 minutes.
Enjoyment: 6/10
So you have a route-type plot coupled with stereotypical characters. You get scenes you've probably seen numerous times like, "Try this food" and a succeeding "Delicious!" phrase. The humor is silly, forced, and unfunny. Unique to Photokano though are the camera scenes. They be objects, scenery, but mostly, the girls. Many of their poses are suggestive, but in the anime itself there aren't many ecchi scenes.
For fans of Hikaru Midorikawa, he has extremely hilarious lines and shouts in each episode preview. Listening to that with UTW subs, it was something to look forward to every week (and was the only thing that kept me watching). Even if you're not a fan of him, please don't skip the episode previews. PLEASE DON'T. I BEG YOU. That's the only saving grace of a dull half hour.
Overall: 5/10
If you have a thing for dating sim adaptations and girls having their pictures taken which results into generic romance, by all means watch Photokano. Otherwise, you might just be wasting your time.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jan 31, 2013
Kuttsukiboshi can perhaps be attributed to a bench. You sit on it and wait for something to happen. While sitting, you are more open to the world around you, physically or emotionally. Usually, things transpire while sitting. And at times you ponder on what is happening. But it doesn't last for long, because usually you only stay on a bench for a small amount of time.
Story: 7/10
Considering that it's only composed of two episodes, Kuttsukiboshi's plot is pretty linear. It's understandable for something that lasts only a little above forty minutes. Instead of delivering plot twists however, Kuttsukiboshi brings shock, which isn't very common in
...
shoujo-ai/yuri. The story is centered on the couple Saitou and Kawakami. Looking at them, you would somewhat expect that there would be a misunderstanding between them that pulls them apart. But the events that actually pull them apart were unexpectedly...appalling. The result of that: what seems to be cruel in reality, happens.
At some parts though, the drama between Kawakami and Saitou felt rushed, as was their succeeding resolution. At one point, you'd wonder "what just happened?", and realize you'll never get an answer. Simply because Kuttsukiboshi was made to be simple, but often at the wrong time.
Oh, and lots of love making. Not that that's a bad thing.
Art: 6/10
Produced by Primastea, infamous for the Isshou Training series, you wouldn't expect much. Yet what looks to be flawed turned out to be actually acceptable. Although every scenery, person, love scene, or bench, doesn't live up to 2010-2012 standards, the style used gives the ambiance of a world isolated to two girls. That's pretty vague...
Without looking at the deeper meaning of style, one can say that Kuttsukiboshi may have been done a little slower than a rush. Painted sceneries and objects look decent but look lazily done at close inspection. Character designs aren't the best; passable but unique.. One thing that may bother the viewer is the awkward smoothness of the camera at times, but can be overlooked. In short, it's not perfect, but at the very least decent.
Sound: 7/10
The soundtrack is appropriate, as was the use of the piano. Calming most of the time. Not much can be said here.
Character: 6/10
Unfortunately, not much back story was given for Kawakami and Saitou. The benefit of this is that what is told to you is relevant to the story, so you aren't lead off-track. The character development was done in a simple manner: conflict, resolution, change. Although the "change" was in a way unimpressive and out-of-the-blue, it could be called "sweet", considering that this is shoujo-ai. You are given little internal monologue and so you wouldn't know what led a character to such decision (although you can be assuming and just say, "it's love").
Enjoyment: 7/10
There are two reasons why I enjoyed Kuttsukiboshi. The first: love scenes that are short, sweet, and not explosive. The second: the "shocking moments" I mentioned earlier. It left my mouth gaping for at least half a minute. Depending on your tastes and expectations, enjoyment will vary.
And so you leave the bench, wondering how what happened affected you. Kuttsukiboshi is, bluntly, not what you'd expect (on a positive and negative note), but is definitely one of the better shoujo-ai anime there is.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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