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Summer 2011 First Impressions: Yuru Yuri
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Synopsis: “The shoujo-ai series is about a group of school girl aged friends who end up taking over a tea ceremony room in the school that’s no longer used and form their own club, an “amusement club” as you may say.”
Thoughts: Similar to last season’s slice of life show A Channel but now with yuri elements instead of implied yuri elements. Of course having yuri elements does not make a show that does just about nothing to set itself apart from other moe slice of life shows any better. Yuru Yuri’s first episode is introduces the main four girls who go to an all-girls middle school. Nothing in this first episode of this show really stands out. The character designs are generic moe and are forgettable. The music is generic and forgettable. In fact, most of what is present in the first episode is forgettable.
Of course, there are some good elements to this show. While this is a slice of life show, there is comedy involved too and the comedy is quite funny. I have never seen a show do a bit on what makes someone noticeable and make it funny at the same time. The cast is also likeable as well, which is important for any moe or slice of life show.
The first episode of Yuru Yuri does not do much to set it apart from other shows in the genre. Those who like moe shows or even slice of life shows should give the first episode a watch to determine if they want to keep watching it or not. Those looking for something deeper look elsewhere.
Score 2 out of 5
Anime Review: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya – Second Season
In 2006, the anime adaptation of Nagaru Tanigawa’s Haruhi Suzumiya light novel series took the anime scene by storm. By mixing a wide variety of different genres into an original story, the series offered an exciting experience unlike any other at the time. Being only 14 episodes long, it’s needless to say that fans wanted more. In late 2007, a second season was finally announced. And then… we didn’t hear anything about it for a while. It wasn’t until 2009 that we finally started to hear news pop up again about the much anticipated second season of Haruhi.
But fans got their hopes up too soon. Instead of airing the alleged second season, Kyoto Animation (“KyoAni”) later confirmed that they would simply re-air the first season of Haruhi. Fans had been teased, and they weren’t happy. But KyoAni had a surprise up their sleeves. That surprise was called “Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody” and it was a brand new episode that was aired during the re-airing of Haruhi‘s first season. This was the first of what makes up the so-called “second season” of Haruhi (commonly referred to as Haruhi S2 or Haruhi 2009), all of which aired during the re-airing of the first season. A pleasant surprise, indeed. But was all the anticipation and putting up with KyoAni’s teasing worth it? Well, that depends…
In writing this review, I’m going to assume you’re already familiar with the Haruhi series. If you aren’t, then be warned: this review may contain spoilers from the first season.
Haruhi 2009 takes place during the events of the first season, and is divided into three arcs: Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody, Endless Eight, and The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya. The arcs are shown out of chronological order, though the episodes within each arc are in order. Two of the three arcs, Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody and The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya, focus on giving some backstory and explaining some of the mysteries that were left open. Endless Eight, however, takes a completely different direction, and is by far the most controversial part of the Haruhi anime series.
Anime Review: Hidamari Sketch
The slice-of-life is certainly an interesting genre of anime. It’s hard to believe that a show about normal people living out their normal everyday lives could be interesting, but some titles manage to pull it off. Hidamari Sketch is a great example of a title that doesn’t have much of a plot but still delivers some great entertainment. The show is about four girls (surprise, surprise) attending an art school, and that’s about it. While there really is no plot, this show is all about three things: presentation, comedy, and characters.
The presentation: You may be familiar with SHAFT’s art style from other titles such as Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei and Bakemonogatari. It’s certainly a unique style that employs the use of colorful designs and patterns to create an almost surreal-like feeling. While the series itself is anything but surreal, Hidamari‘s style of presentation certainly makes it a piece of art that’s enjoyable to just simply look at, even if one does not find other aspects of the show interesting. If you appreciate good art, you will appreciate this series.
The comedy: Hidamari Sketch contains a load of subtle humor. What I mean by that is that unless you’re paying full attention to the jokes, it’s real easy to miss them. However, if you can stay focused on the characters’ conversations, you will find that the show has some outright hysterical moments. It’s very similar to the type of comedy found in Azumanga Daioh and makes for some very subtle, yet funny, and mostly wholesome entertainment.
The characters: The traditional “moe” character tropes are done to a much lesser extent, and that’s what sets this show apart from others of its kind. There’s no tsundere, and there’s no delinquent girl. While there are differences among the four girls, they aren’t over-exaggerated. So if you’re tired of the crazy overly hyperactive girl or the shy glasses girl, rest assured knowing that while those character tropes are present in Hidamari, they aren’t overdone. The characters really are quite adorable, and there are plenty of moments that make you feel all “warm and fuzzy inside.” In other words, the show will make you go “aww” quite a bit.
Hidamari Sketch is a really fun show one can enjoy at any time. It’s the type of show that one can really relax to, simply because it doesn’t require much thought. Of course, the show is not for everyone. If you want an anime with a deep epic story that will challenge your mind, I suggest you look elsewhere. However, if you’re a fan of subtle humor, adorable characters, and unique art styles, then this show is totally worth your time and money.
Hidamari Sketch is currently on sale and is licensed and distributed by Sentai Filmworks.
ENJOYMENT – Art style, subtle humor, and cute characters make it great
RECOMMENDATION VALUE – Great for anyone who just wants to kick back and relax
REWATCH VALUE – The humor doesn’t lose its fuel, so it’s worth rewatching
Anime Review: Blue Drop
Anime loves to experiment with genres, and it’s quite common to see an anime that combines aspects of many different genres. Higurashi (When They Cry) is an example I love to use in this case, as I feel that it creates a perfect balance and blending of both moe and horror. Who would’ve thought that could work? Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out so well. Blue Drop attempts to be a crossover between slice-of-life and sci-fi. It’s an interesting and fairly unique concept that I could see working if executed properly. Blue Drop, however, fails to do so.
Five years ago, the residents of Kamioki Island were mysteriously massacred. Mari Wakatake, the only survivor of this incident, lost her memories, and has been living with her grandmother since. Mari is forced to transfer to a new school by her grandmother, much to Mari’s resentment. In the new school, she gives her classmates a cold attitude, and is even more upset when she meets Hagino Senkouji, who upon meeting Mari, immediately tries to strangle her. It is soon revealed that there is much more to Hagino than meets the eye. Essentially, Blue Drop tells two stories: The slice-of-life story about Mari’s school life and the sci-fi story about the mysteries surrounding both Hagino and the destruction of Mari’s hometown five years ago.
This would work if the two stories were related to each other in some way, but they aren’t. The show is littered with awkward “genre shifts,” where, for example, we’ll go from an epic sci-fi battle to a scene about girls preparing for a school play. Even then, the sci-fi aspect isn’t all that great, as most of the scenes consist of little more than just simple dialogue, where not much really happens. There are some good battle scenes, but they don’t come in until the second half of the series, and even then they are few in number. As for Mari’s school life, the pacing is overall very slow, but it was at least interesting enough to keep me watching the show.
What I liked about this show are the characters. Mari’s got that tsundere-ish personality that I enjoy so very much. Hagino’s a very mysterious girl, and trying to find out what her deal is kept me interested in her. Overall, the story is actually pretty good, I just wish it were presented better. This is another series where I feel that if it were less episodes, it could have been free of pacing issues. However, even at only 13 episodes, the story still seems very stretched-out.
Blue Drop is good if you think you can stand the awkward genre shifts and don’t mind slow pacing. The entire series is available from Sentai Filmworks at an affordable price, so I would say it’s at least worth checking out, as you won’t have much to lose if you don’t enjoy it.
Blue Drop is currently on sale and is licensed and distributed by Sentai Filmworks. Also available at TheAnimeNetwork.com.
ENJOYMENT – Interesting enough
RECOMMENDATION LEVEL – Probably not
REWATCH VALUE – Probably not
Anime Review: Sola
One of the biggest problems with anime adaptations of manga and visual novels is that in many cases, the pacing of the anime just doesn’t live up to that of its original work. Pacing is tough to manage, especially since most anime series are limited to 13 or 26 episodes, each of which must be around 23 minutes long. Some anime deal with this problem brilliantly, and others, not so much. Unfortunately, Sola falls under the “not so much” category.
Sola is a story about Yorito, a young boy in high school who loves to take pictures of the sky. His older sister Aono has been in the hospital for several months, and is visited frequently by his friend Mana and her sister. Yorito doesn’t devote much time to seeing Aono in the hospital, and Mana gets annoyed by this. Instead of caring for his sister, he prefers to spend his time taking pictures of the sky. On top of that, he has been becoming close to a mysterious girl named Matsuri. What he doesn’t know is that Matsuri has her secrets, and there may be more to her than meets the eye. The story is actually pretty good. It’s fairly original, and the addition of supernatural elements into what would be a typical slice-of-life drama make it more interesting.
Unfortunately, the story is very stretched out. Most of the first half of the episodes consist of “filler fluff” where nothing really happens. There are some good plot points, but they are few and far between, and when something interesting does finally happen, the plot immediately slows down again. The story doesn’t get all that interesting until more than halfway into the series, which is way too late.
The characters seemed bland to me. Aono is the generic “silent girl” role that’s starting to become very overused these days. Even though I usually like the silent types, Aono did nothing for me. Mana plays the typical “childhood friend” (although I don’t think she’s technically a childhood friend, she acts similar to that role), so there’s not much interesting about her either. Matsuri was the only character I found somewhat interesting, but I still didn’t feel for her that much overall.
Visuals are pretty standard, and aren’t impressive, to say the least. They’re not bad, but I think my enjoyment of the series would have been greatly amplified if it had better animation and a more unique art style. The music, however, is very good in some parts, and is one of the aspects I enjoyed the most about the show.
Ultimately, Sola is a good story to sit through if you have a great deal of patience. Unfortunately, I don’t, and it greatly impacted my enjoyment of the series. It’s sad that such a good story is essentially ruined by poor pacing. Perhaps I should consider reading the manga sometime, as I may enjoy that more. The series is available on DVD from Bandai Entertainment, although I would very much recommend True Tears instead.
Sola is currently on sale and is licensed and distributed by Bandai Entertainment.
ENJOYMENT – Uninteresting
RECOMMENDATION LEVEL – Probably not
REWATCH VALUE – Definitely not
