So, the first time in which Noitamina is featuring on a moe adventure. On one hand, this did lead to this season having nothing but teenagers in it (save for only Wolverine), but for Noitamina it’s interesting to see that they’re trying out new things and directions. The announcement of Usagi Drop says enough that they haven’t sold out, and that this series is merely a way to diversify the timeslot. it’s setting in any case is bringing enough interesting stuff to the table.
Last week, I mentioned how the annoyance of the characters was probably going to be the major issue with this series. After the second episode, I still stand by that, but things did change a bit. In particular, the male lead showed that he can actually be a male lead: this episode showed enough of his sides, both his strengths and flaws. With a bit of development he should be fine to push this story forward, provided that his hormones aren’t going to act up too much like they did in the previous episode.
Instead we have this new girl, along with that team rocket clone. My problem with them is that they feel artificially stupid and oblivious to their surroundings. The team rocket clone are just a bunch of annoying morons whose saving grace is that they seem to work for someone who knows what he’s talking about, while the new girl (who is probably going to be the female lead) acted really strangely when she ended up destroying that trailer camp. She got better as the episode went on, though.
I was going to write the following down as a flaw: the way in which nobody really seems to notice that new girl as she ended up destroying the trailer park. But then again, as I rewatched the episode, I pretty much realized that people aren’t able to see her. The setting is definitely the best part of this series: I like its ideas, the way it’s portrayed, and this episode also showed that it knows how to put in these small details in its storytelling. Oh, and the background art is also really gorgeous.
Now, compared to Kannagi’s first two episodes the starting episodes of Fractale didn’t have the same production values or slick characterization. Still, after the episode 2 point Kannagi pretty much went nowhere and drastically decreased in quality, while I don’t really see the same thing happening with Fractale: it’s got a lot of potential in its setting. All that’s left is to hope is that the more annoying characters won’t get in its way.
Rating: * (Good)
