Some Quick First Impressions: Momokuri, First Love Monster and Days

Momokuri

Short Synopsis:  Girl has a crush on boy, girl begins to stalk boy, girl decides to confess to boy. Naturally the boy accepts it. The show chronicles their love story.

They really need to make clear what is a Tv short and a full series before they start airing. Well today’s lesson dear readers is simple, stalking isn’t cute. It’s creepy. A girl becomes obsessed with a boy and proceeds to do all the things a stalker would. Takes pictures of him when he’s not aware, spies on him, knows way too much about him and even holds items used by him in certain reverence. Despite her confessing to him and it being accepted she still can’t quite get rid of her old stalking habits which pretty much makes that the main joke. It’s not really funny and I am not fond of the idea of somewhat romanticising obsession. The characters aren’t really all that interesting and it’s focus seems to be on being cute more than being funny. I say give this a pass as there are better school romances this season.

Potential: 0%

 

Mario’s thoughts:

This is actually an ONA and its episodes are just 13 minutes long. With that said, throughout the two episodes there’s only one hook from the show: that the two main characters decided to date together, the rest stretches out to how the girl becomes obsessed of the boy, and their shyness when being together. For me 20 minutes of doing just that is simply not enough, and I don’t find the lead endearing or anything. The only thing that I give a plus for this show is we get to know how each other feel, even the supporting ones, through their voice-over and it somewhat balances out the seemingly one-note first love story. But then again I don’t have any high hopes for this one.

Potential: 10%

 

First Love Monster

Short Synopsis: Girl was saved from a car accident by a boy and she immediately has a crush on him. After she asks to date him, she finds out he’s a primary school student.

There’s nothing quite as tragic as a unfunny comedy. The manga gave me the impression this would be a more straightforward shoujo show but the anime looks to be pushing for a more slapstick comedy approach. In regards to that it’s lacking a sense of dignity as the second half of the episode delves into humor so juvenile that it’s downright embarrassing. I get that the joke is that these children in teenager bodies are acting immature and childish but I suggest maybe not resorting to kids toilet humor. What’s more the actually maturity of these “kids” is questionable as one hand you have them talking about their wieners and then on the other you have them commenting about how the main guy could be cuckold which is certainly not something a kid would know. The first half had me yawning  and the second half had me shaking my head. This isn’t worth your time.

Potential: 0%

 

Mario’s thoughts:

And talking about first love, we have this one in its extreme spectrum that speaks so much about “crush”. The premise alone is stupid enough, and yes the show goes for full comedy so it means that they don’t take themselves seriously; but to see the kid starts to do all kiddie things, and worst of all they design them to look like a teen who wear kid’s clothes and doing kiddie things, it just sends me chills down my spines. All other characters tick all the box of archetype and anime tropes here so I don’t see any reason that I would spend more time with it.

Potential: 0%

 

Days

Short Synopsis: A boy who clueless about football decides to join a football club.

This is all pretty standard for this kind of sports anime. A clueless newbie joins a sport where he must be shown the ropes. Gains a deep passion and camaraderie with fellow players. And to the world of that show the only thing worth giving a damn is the sport it’s representing. In this case, football. I find it somewhat endearing as it makes the sport look as dynamic and lively as a football match somehow resembles a superhuman showdown with overblown sound effects and overdramatic reactions. Still there is a certain draw to this kinds of shows and I would be lying if I said I didn’t get drawn in partly. It’s simple but effective though the motto of try very hard and you will succeed is one I see as quite foolish. As a certain sportsman once said, “Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.” It’s no Giant Killing but if you are looking for something watchable in between shows this is not a bad choice to go with.

Potential: 50%

 

Mario’s thoughts:

I have to say I have a soft spot for sports anime, mainly because a) I have a sport background and b) I had read many sports manga during my childhood. Days sadly appears to be typically underdog football show, where the main character is weak, don’t even know much about football so he has to try harder to be on the team, and his “pushing himself to the limit” attitude gonna inspire the whole team. There seems to be at least inspirational story but I had seen this many times before and for this episode the show doesn’t offer anything different. I’d say I like the character’s designs and I like how they include futsal here (they don’t often portray futsal in anime) but that’s all there is to it.

Potential: 20%