Chuuninbyou demo Koi Shitai
Short Synopsis: Our lead character lives under a cute girl’s apartment.
So, it was tough, but did Chuuninbyou live up to the standards of Hyouka last season? Well… no. This is a show that I’m very likely going to pass up, because Kyoani has pretty much returned to making premises I don’t like again. This episode of Chuuninbyou overall felt redundant: the characters all seem like shallow copies of other Kyoani characters, and the glue that holds them together, the so-called “Chuuninbyou”, or phemomenon that teenagers see themselves as the center of the world, just isn’t strong enough to result to anything interesting. It was mostly used to show the lead female in a lot of cute situations (think like in Kanon), and it lead to some cheesy drama at the end of the episode. The impression I get of this episode that this is a series that focuses a lot on trying to be cute with light humour, and for that it’s just too generic of a romance. Remove the Chuuninbyou and we’ve all seen this before. It’s a shame because the animation is like what you’d expect.
OP: Dull song, but some interesting camera uses.
ED: Very awkward character animation. Also bad J-pop.
Potential: 60%
Monsuno
Short Synopsis: Our lead character can summon a giant polar bear.
The problem with these toy commercials is their entire premise. These things exist just for one thing: promote toys and make them look cool so that kids will start to buy them. The solution that every single one of them revolves around over the top battles that involve either giant robots or monsters that are vaguely related to the toys to sell. The worst part is how incredibly lazy they all are, and Monsuno is pretty much the same. For a show of its kind it does have more action than usual, but that’s not necessarily a good thing because in this way, it just keeps jumping from one action scene to the other without giving the characters any time to flesh themselves out outside of the cliches. The animation is also really bad and jerky. There is one positive thing I can say about this episode though: the music is really good.
OP: Really cheesy 90s opening tune that doesn’t work in the slightest.
ED: Same cheesy style as the OP. Doesn’t work either.
Potential: 0%
Wooser no Sono Higurashi
Short Synopsis: Our lead character is this strange rabbit-like creature.
Okay, this was a bit against my expectations. Wooser looks every bit like your average kids’ show, but there is a slight difference: the creators got a bunch of pretty good voice actors and just had them go their way. The result is particularly noticeable with this titular Wooser, who acts completely opposite of what you’d expect in a kids’ show with very bored and biting sarcastic remarks. So yeah, it’s different, yay! Beyond that however, this had very little notable. Yeah, it’s one of those shows that’s inoffensive for one episodes, but that has no real compelling reason to keep watching.
OP: Could have been worse.
ED: This is a song with way too much sugar.
Potential: 20%
I’d give up on Chuuninbyou, it’s not heading to a place you like. Though I disagree on the ed, I liked it
Do you know anything about it? I think I came across some rumors a while back that one of this story’s major themes is drug abuse. Does it take some kind of dark, nasty turn later? This might be a setup for the audience to get blindsided.
Finally got a chance to see it. It’s pretty cute, although I don’t think I like how this guy hits girls, no matter how weird they are. -.-; That weighing machine height attachment looks like it’s made of metal. It’s trying for slapstick but that ain’t one of the 3 Stooges. Kinda nice otherwise. Interesting concept about being infected with childhood fantasies and growing out of it.
I don’t see drug abuse issues so I wonder if I came across some fake info. Don’t know anything about this series other than KyoAni being involved – it looks like they’re partnered with another company to work on it.
You should have known that was a lie. You think KyoAni would tackle something that dark? That requires them to have guts and ambition.
Well, hopefully drug abuse isn’t so much of a problem in Japan although I can’t say for sure. Like you said, it’s a tough issue to tackle sensitively and may not be suited to a medium that’s usually aimed at kids. It’s not something you’d want to expose kids to without some due diligence, just in case it has the opposite effect.
It’s strange. I wonder where I came across this info in the first place. I think I just came across some random anime forum posts about this show talking about a girl being on something and getting the guy on it as well to fuel their fantasies. It’s about the closest thing I could find about this show that resembled details of a plot. Sorry for the confusion.
nope not a theme at all. escape from real problems via fatasy is more like 1t
Yeah. And with a main cast of middle schoolers, I would say it’s target audience would be middle schoolers too. There’s no way they’d go there. Sorry again for spreading a crazy rumor.
I caught Chuuniwhatever against my better judgment, hoping KyoAni grew up a bit after Hyouka. Sadly, this was pure rubbish. The OP nearly gave me epilepsy, for starters.Then the main(?) girl was too annoying, I ended up fast-forwarding through most of her scenes. I just don’t have the dexterity for these types.
which means you basically watched fast forwards…I’m not saying you should’ve given it a chance, just saying you probably could have saved yourself some time and just stop all together, cause you cant really critique something when you didnt watch most of it and expect people to take your evaluation at face value
Sorry, it already lost 3/4 the battle against me the moment it brandished its moe-fagness.
What have cigarettes got to do with this series?
and you couldn’t find that out by reading the synopsis? Again, I’m not saying you should watch it, since it clearly isnt your thing, same reason I don’t watch Vampire Diaries or True Blood or any number of terrible Brovo reality shows. Just saying that why would anyone take you critique seriously when you essentially said “I watched none of it except for a series of fast moving pictures with no sound”, might as well be staring at a kaleidoscope and call it rubbish
Hyouka had that ‘moe’ thing going for it as well, but at least the plot was decent enough (minus the whole theater club part).
I fail to understand the pre-ordain moe label on hyouka. Pratically nothing about it is moe except for maybe Chitanda, and people think she’s like the embodiment of moe when moe itself has no strict definition. People see cut art and light atmosphere and go “I hate moe.” It’s like calling anyone wearing a leather jacket cool because James Dean did it back in the day
I get the feeling Litho overassociates Hyouka’s (and now Chuuinbyou’s) art style with the uber cute K-ON, even though Hyouka’s plot and atmosphere are pretty different. Well, in Chuuinbyou’s case, it might not be misplaced perception but I think it might be worth having a look. I enjoyed K-ON as a slice-of-life myself.
oh I know this 100% moe. I’m just tired of people calling ever anime with a bug eyed girl moe.
That was the worst piece of Kyoani I ever saw since Hyouka’s worst moments. Just hang those noisy weirdos.