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In an effort to reinvent the anime industry, Yutaka Yamamoto presents an anime with a premise focused on adventure and fantasy, a refreshing change from all the “rom coms” and ecchi comedies that each season seems to be flooded with, and which Fractale promises to deviate from. Does it hold up to its promise? The short answer: Good attempt, but not quite

The long answer:

The premise of Fractale is a gem among seinen/shonen anime, advertising a journey set out to discover just how the Fractale system works. What is the Fractale system? A giant plot device that threatens its inhabitants. Should it fail one day, it ... will destroy the lives of those connected with it. Guarded and maintained by the supposed villains, and opposed by a collaborated group of umpteenth villages, the story of Fractale is little more than a war between religion and antireligion, with a twist thrown in to create potential discussion among viewers. As a whole, it reminds one of a generic RPG storyline (so generic that I have at least 3 games that seem to deal with a similar plot), which for a weekly, 1 cour anime, could very well be unique.

Sadly though, the story in Fractale is a bit underdeveloped. In the first half of the series, you're abruptly (though rather clumsily) thrown into the war which you, as the viewer, are sorta supposed to accept, without much information as to why the group known as Lost Millennium opposes the Fractale system, other than the fact that it apparently turns its users into zombies who can't properly live out their lives without technology to provide them with shelter, food, and even a goddamn minimum wage if you're unemployed (Pretty sure these are positive benefits, though I guess they prefer to be masochists). Afterwards, the story seems to literally turn into an RPG battle, where Lost Millennium and the Fractale Administrators do nothing but take turns making cheap shots at each other. The Fractale Administrators themselves are rather omniscient (they have a magic crystal ball that can basically reveal at least 90% of the world), and their giant floating temple of doom can shoot what appears to be an infinite supply of lasers, so why they don't just take out these rebel villages, thereby eliminating their only threat, is beyond me, but for the sake of lasting 11 episodes, God shows them mercy.

While the turn-based battle that is the story unfolds, the character interactions dominate the story itself, quickly overshadowing the fantasy tale. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, it deviates from my expectations, and left me slightly disappointed. It gets to the point that though I enjoyed Clain and Nessa's first meeting and subsequent shenanigans, I was hoping they'd get to discussing the Fractale system. (Which doesn't fully take off until the end of episode 3) The series likely would've worked better as a two cour, as the characters themselves become the main focus, and the discovery of the Fractale system became a mere setting.

Where the series starts off slow in the beginning, the pace accelerates out of control as the final episodes come around. Every final revelation, and lasting impression a character creates has much less impact that it could've had if those moments or characters had been more developed. There's several implied actions which never hit the screen, and the final scene, though cute, felt incredibly soured by the lack of build up to it. A two cour would have provide a balance between characters, drama, and story. As a one cour, the series tried to do too much in all three aspects and mixed up its own priorities, without really developing anything to a meaningful degree.

Nevertheless, the characters themselves are fantastic. The main three characters, Clain, a techno-nostalgia geek, Phyrne, a rogue priestess, and Nessa, a mysterious avatar-esque “touchable hologram” with a childlike nature, have great synergy and are fun to watch. Early on, Clain gets to converse with Phyrne and Nessa, both pairings providing some decent humor. Afterwards, the three come together, and make for some touching moments. Once Phyrne fully joins the picture, she easily becomes one of the better, more complex characters in the series, and once her history starts to surface, I began to feel some sympathy for what she has had to go through. This sympathy only lasts for the middle of the series, but it's much stronger than some of the deaths that occurred. Though Nessa is childish, she is hardly annoying, and acts as a bit of a connection to the audience, to get them accustomed to the Fractale universe (as generic as it is). Her problems and thought processes are simplistic, but they just work.

The supporting characters are pretty decent too. Notably, Sunda is a pretty cool big brother dude, and Enri, sadly, will be the most annoying character to appear recurrently. The running gag in which she thoroughly believes Clain is nothing but a dirty pervert got old fast and she always seems to be screaming about everything. It's really hard to find a strong point about her character (except maybe she cares for her henchmen, who resemble the Blues Brothers), and it isn't until the very final episode where I see her as more than an annoying brat, though by then, the series is already three minutes away from being over. At my most optimistic, I'd say she's a biproduct of trying too hard to create comedy within the series. It just feels unnatural that only the 13 year old girl makes a huge fuss about accusing ecchi foreigners. The rest of the supporting characters include a few one-shots and Sunda and Enri's entire family, which adds a nice touch, though I could have lived without. Again, half of them seem to exist only for comedic moments, and without them, the main story could've had much more development.

The antagonists are rather sick, gruesome, Fractalphiles. Several dark implications are made about them, and they're created in such a manner that you can only wish that they'd die for the sins they've committed, which could be considered ironic, considering the Fractale system itself is more or less, a technological religion. Nevertheless, they have nothing but a villainous air about them, with almost no redeeming factors, making the feeling of hate a forced one, just like any good generic RPG “final boss” should make you feel. There's also a minor side story with one Lost Millennium leader, Dias, who gets pretty antagonistic in the final few episodes, but due to time constraints, he's developed very little, and you can't really get accustomed to him being one of the villains in the series. Overall, the main villains are almost nothing but selfish over religious nut jobs. Their breakdowns can get over the top, but they're frightening and enjoyable to listen to.

The artwork in Fractale is of decent quality. The backgrounds create an amazing sense of environment, and give the series its much needed sense of adventure, managing to combine both, past, present, and future, with its medieval like villages, and futuristic psuedocities. The art style are reminiscent of Studio Ghibli, which makes the series look somewhat unique in comparison to various moe animes, though the moe aspect still shows a slight bit. Though costumes are fairly simple, they at least aren't overdone or skankish, for an anime set in the distance future. When animated though, noticeable dips in art quality occur and at times, the characters can appear ugly. Early on, this ugliness is obvious and it won't be hard to notice whenever characters look sloppily drawn. Sometimes, the characters don't even appear to fit into the background properly. Luckily, it doesn't ruin the anime completely and later in the series, the art does get more consistent, in a good sense. Either way, animation is pretty fluid, and it shows that effort was placed into it.

Sound is another strong point residing within the anime. Voice actors are more than capable of conveying many different emotions, and combined with their personalities, they almost feel like real people. Yuu Kobayashi does a decent boyish Clain, while Kana Hanazawa brings us the moe in the believable little-sister-like Nessa. Tsuda Minami (who's only other role at the moment of writing this seems to be Kibago from the Pokemon B&W Anime) shows off her talent as Phyrne, and knows how to get mad, sad, pleading, or just happy. The background music is reminiscent, of what you might hear in a fantasy RPG, and though there isn't any truly memorable track, they fulfill their moods well. Sound effects are spot on and nothing feels out of place.

Overall, Fractale is a rushed series. Though the characters are likeable and easy to watch, you'll become impatient, waiting for some sort of action to propel the story forward. When it does arrive though, it just sorta blows over, and doesn't leave much of an impression on you. If you enjoy quirky, bro-like character interactions with a side of drama, then this shouldn't be an issue for you, and for an anime based partly off slice-of-life, it's decent. However, if you came in expecting an adventure series with some great drama, you'll be left slightly empty. The adventure is there, but it quickly lags behind, unable to catch up. Yamamoto's promised magnum opus is sadly, only a fraction of what could've been a magnificent fractal.

Incest is a touchy subject, deemed morally wrong by the general populace. Luckily, this anime throws that concept out the window, so it's a lot less awkward for the viewer. (Though still quite awkward. :x)

Onii-chan no koto more or less, deals with three girls who like the same guy for the wrong reasons. The plot in itself, isn't anything special, being more or less, your standard ecchi comedy. The humor usually didn't cut it for me, though it had a few chuckle moments. The one thing that separates Onii-chan no koto from other ecchi comedies would have to be the main girls themselves.

Nao, the main ... character, is a step sister who has though she was a sister for the length of her life. A car crash left her orphaned (and conveniently, gave her amnesia so she forgot everything that happened before) and she becomes adopted her dead father's friend, who has a son who's about a year older than Nao. For whatever reason, Nao decided to become a closet pervert (though not exactly, since her secret is well known by her close friends), who “wants to be in a forbidden relationship with Onii-chan for the thrill of being in a forbidden relationship.” Once she discovers she's not a biological sister (which manages to happen in the first episode), the back story is never mentioned again, except by many girls who quickly reference that she cannot be that close with her brother. As much of a spoiler as this sounds, I more or less, just described the first episode, so if you're reading this review before watching the show, you're going to see it immediately anyways. Basically, the story line won't be dealing with incest. It's just another pervert girl with aho-ge. Admittedly, I find it cute when she pretends to be innocent to entice her brother, then does her “3...2....1....fan service time over. =S HENTAI!!!!” bit.

The Onii-chan in question is Shuusuke. Hiding porn in quite literally every inconspicuous centimeter of his room, he's probably the most blatant pervert ever to exist in animation/manga. He's rather dense about the fact that three girls are out to get his lips/in his pants/his nipples, he's a weakling who is easily pressured into doing something, and he's somewhat respectful on top of that too, so he's a male stereotype. For the most part, I found his performance throughout the series rather bland, and could only pick out about 3 scenes across the 12 episodes which I found “not boring” to watch him in. To sum him up, he's the plot device that every girl (who part of the main cast) wants, and every guy (aka fellow pervert) wants to hang with.

Rivaling Nao for the race to Shuusuke's heart is Iroha, a childhood friend overloaded with stalker technology who took a promise way too far, and Mayuka, a model student/class representative who secretly goes out at night to buy and read Yaoi books, and has a strong nipple fetish.

The rest of the supporting class feature Shuusuke's group of friends who enjoy porn as much as he does, and Shuusuke/Nao's parents. The parents don't play much of a role, merely existing to explain Nao's origins, while Shuusuke's group of friends effectively try to get him to actively share and discuss porn, which he, being the biggest pervert he is, agrees to. I personally didn't care for their antics, but they get into odd situations involving their hobby, which made for some okay drama and development.

Each of the three girls get their moments to star but for the majority of the series, it's really just Nao and Iroha fighting with each other, while Mayuka makes a(n) (innocent) move. It was sorta funny the first time, but even after doing it in about four different situations, it gets pretty repetitive. The saving grace of whatever is left in the plot is the relationship between Iroha and Nao, which I find rather intriguing. Rather than just duke it out when along with Shuusuke every time they appear on screen, their rivalry goes as far to try and prevent any other girl from making a move on their Onii-chan/Shuu-chan. It's pretty fun to watch their inner thoughts seem to have a conversation with each other, as they allow their actions to convey their words. The understanding between them, to the point of considering each other friends, is pretty cute, and has been the main reason I watched the series through to the end. Mayuka's solo time was also quite cute, though I wish all of the Yaoi-esque moments could've been toned down a bit. There's also an additional anime-exclusive, though its only purpose seems to be to create a few yuri moments (probably to subvert all of the yaoi I had to endure, blech).

the character models, though unique, and pretty weird to look at. Bony body structures, baggy eyes, and an overall beat up look. At times, it makes me feel like I watching rape victims assimilating to a new lifestyle. The characters are so malnourished that several potential fan service shots are blocked out by fuzzy penguins and cats, just so people don't have to stare at their horror. Okay, that's not the real reason for the cutesy censors, but it's not hard to tell that they were likely unappealing. Even the opening had a full-on frontal panty shot, so the censors just felt unnecessary. In effect, the two aspects that make an ecchi series (fan service and hot/cute characters) are never completely there. Animation is sub standard, which wasn't too surprising. Character designs are generic, though they do their job.

The sound is fairly standard. Background music consists of a soundtrack which almost feels like a parody on romance dramas. Anything else easily fades into the background. Sound effects are quirky (I swear I heard the scooby doo running one once) though they get the job done. The voices for the cast were overall good. Eri Kitamura does a great job voicing the adorable Nao, Marina Inoue makes Iroha sound more mature than she appears, and Kazusa Aranami (a lesser known seiyuu) does a pretty nice job as Mayuka. The opening and ending songs are standard J-Pop, though the ending song is pretty damn catchy.

Overall, “Onii-chan no koto nanka zenzen suki janaiin dakara ne!” (try saying that 10 times fast =_=) is your typical ecchi comedy. The main girls are the show case, and despite their rare perks, they will act cliched at times and repeat similar situations just on a different background. If you don't mind the character designs (and the yaoi about mid way in), this anime can provide a few chuckles, but there are better ecchi comedies out there. If you came in expecting some actual incest, then you're kinda sick/you'll be disappointed.