Warning: Contains mild spoilers for Mekaku City Actors, well, episode summaries really.
Hello everyone, Quan here, back from my lengthy hiatus. So yeah, I wasn't able to access the Internet during my little trip, but I am back now, and what better way to celebrate than to introduce a new section to this blog. Now, I obviously can't have Reactions for both shows that are airing, and shows I just happen to be watching, or else it might get a little confusing why there's a Reaction for an anime that aired about 5 years ago. So, First Impressions will be a section where I discuss my thoughts on the first few episodes of an anime I've recently started to watch, and what my expectations for it are. Well, with that explanation out of the way, let's get to it.
Mekaku City Actors is a 12-episode anime that aired very recently, in April of this year. It was handled by Studio Shaft, who are known for some of my other favorite anime, namely the light-hearted harem Nisekoi, the off-beat and bizarre supernatural saga Bakemonogatari, and of course, the magical girl deconstruction mindf**k that was Madoka Magica. It was also directed by Shaft collaborator Akiyuki Shinbou, something that really can be a good or bad thing. See, Shaft and Shinbou tend to let their shows fall towards a more surreal side of the spectrum, which I tend to like, because even typical scenes where nothing is happening can be eye-candy. But also, sometimes still-images flash in front of the screen, usually in Japanese, for no reason, and usually the shows themselves are very strange. Now, I like Shinbou's style when it was used sparingly, like it was in Nisekoi, enough to make everything look awesome, but not be so surreal that it was hard to understand what was happening. It was only OK, in Bakemonogatari to really make everything bizzare, because, well the show was even more strange than the art style. But since I'm pretty sure that Shinbou is some kind of mad genius, he will occasionally have a mental break-down of sorts(see Madoka Magica Movie 3: Rebellion), and let his style take over everything in the show, to the point where it can even seem pretentious or just downright annoying. So, what state of mind was Shinbou when directing "Actors"?
Examples of Shaft's Art Style
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| in Bakemonogatari... |
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| in Nisekoi... |
in Madoka Magica...
So, I watched the first two episodes last night, and they left me going (•ิ_•ิ). Then I looked at the plot synopsis on Hummingbird and went (⊙_☉). I'll stop this now. Needless to say though, they were a very strange pair of episodes indeed. I must say, when I went into this series, I had no expectations at all, and had no idea what to expect, and after two episodes of the thing, I still don't. Apparently the anime is about a series of events that that occurred on August 14th and August 15th that brought a group of young men and woman together, but I haven't seen much of that yet. Yes the characters are bumping into each-other, but I fail to see any kind of over-arching story, antagonist, or even a clear protagonist yet, leaving what the rest of the series has in store a big question mark. Which I'm fine with, as long as the explanation for all of what has happened during these first two episodes is: A. not stupid. And B. is explained clearly.
The first episode occurred on August 14th, as a 20-something year old NEET named Shintaro Kisaragi is forced to go outside his apartment for the first time in a year after he's forced to get a new keyboard for his computer because he spilled something that looks a lot like Coke on it. His only company during this seclusion has been a mysterious and highly advantaged AI named "Ene" that was mysteriously downloaded to his computer about two years ago. The store however, is highjacked by a gang of robbers in clown masks, and Shintaro and everyone else are taken hostage. Shintaro however, meets a very strange fellow hostage who frees him from his handcuffs basically on a whim, giving Shintaro the opportunity to race forward, and plug "Ene" into the store's main computer, giving her complete control. Then the episode just suddenly cuts to black, leaving me a little baffled. I really liked the first episode, the setting and characters were really intriguing, but it was presented in such a weird way.
It gets even weirder after you play episode two, and find out it's about a up-and-coming 16yr old idol named Momo Kisaragi(wait what?). Yeah, the two characters share the same last name, but the episodes did nothing to suggest their related yet. Anyway, Momo is always late for school because everyone in the city wants to say hello to her every morning, and then we learn she's doing so bad in school that she's actually in danger of repeating the freshman year. And that's basically the conflict for the first half of the episode. But the second half deals with Momo's backstory about how she became an idol, and judging from it, I'd say she has potential as a character. The episode then ends with Momo being chased by a group of fans until she loses them in some kind of industrial area in the city. As the episode cuts to black, we see that a strange woman is watching Momo from above; a woman that Shintaro just happened to bump into in episode one. And yeah, that's it, I don't know anything more.
I'd say the show has promise, as I guess it will repeat this pattern of introducing a new character every episode, and reveal what their role was in the events of August 14th and 15th, as the show slowly begins to reveal the mystery behind it all. What I'm guessing anyway. I kind of like that I have no idea where the story will go from here, and haven't the slightest idea what the mystery behind it all could be, so all the show has to do now is impress me. Looking forward to next episode...I think. Goodbye for now guys.
Edit: A full review of Mekaku City Actors is now available by navigating to this link here.
Click here for my Kanon(2006) review.
Click here for my thoughts on what makes a "deep" story.
Click here for part 1 of my "Top Ten Anime OP's" list.
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