It's possible that I'm getting soft. I'm not sure what happened to those rose-colored days when I chocked down action anime after action anime, high on adolescent adrenaline and swigging a bowl of Cornflakes. It's possible I've just become more mature in my appreciation of anime, and have opened my mind to a vast array of genres, characters and concepts, but then I look at the shows I've begun watching and that argument crumbles pretty quickly.
Whatever the reason, whether it is because "the moe" has finally taken me away to the dark cave where people go in but don't seem to come out of a lot, or if finishing Your Lie in April a couple of days ago had something to do with it, this past week I've embarked on my next great adventure: finding a new comedy/slice-of/life/romance/drama anime that is slightly less crap than usual. I've gathered about four or five anime to help me with this quest, but since I know you have places to be today and important crap to do and so do I, let's keep this First Impression at a reasonable length shall we? So, as a compromise I've chosen two of those five shows to talk about today: those being the first episodes of Tamako Market and One Week Friends.
Whatever the reason, whether it is because "the moe" has finally taken me away to the dark cave where people go in but don't seem to come out of a lot, or if finishing Your Lie in April a couple of days ago had something to do with it, this past week I've embarked on my next great adventure: finding a new comedy/slice-of/life/romance/drama anime that is slightly less crap than usual. I've gathered about four or five anime to help me with this quest, but since I know you have places to be today and important crap to do and so do I, let's keep this First Impression at a reasonable length shall we? So, as a compromise I've chosen two of those five shows to talk about today: those being the first episodes of Tamako Market and One Week Friends.
Hello people of "The Wired", my name is Quan, and I hope you're having an absolutely spiffing day wherever you may be. Today, a new First Impression, of one anime that has potential and one that seems almost opposed to the idea of progressive story-telling. I'll leave it up to you to dechiper which one is which.
So let's start with Tamako Market I suppose, but if I were too, I'd need to keep it short. The simple story follows Tamako, a normal high-school girl who has just finished her year at school, and now spends her days working at her father's mochi shop(basically rice balls), or hanging out with her two best friends. Other important plot points include Mochizou: Tamako's boy friend(as in, friend who just happens to be a boy and that's all) whose father runs a rival mochi shop literally directly from Tamako's father's shop, and also there's this bird named Dera Mochimazzi, who not only can talk, but also claims to be on an important mission to find a princess. Tamako Market was in fact animated by Kyoto Animation, which by this time carries a certain stigma that whatever anime they make will be nothing but moe-pandering plotless fluff. And if you know me, I do my best to defend Kyoto Animation, I earnestly believe they create some of the best anime out there, but from I got from Tamako Market it will be exactly that. I don't think we'll see KyoAni's good comedy or emotional depth here; Tamako Market seems like it is more in the spirit of K-On!, a stereotypical moe-blob show that will accomplish absolutely nothing meaningful by the end of its run, exactly the kind of show people associate with KyoAni and is simply there to fill in the gaps between anime that KyoAni will actually put effort into. Everything in the show is so sickeningly happy, like no interesting drama could dare enter its bubble of good-will and cuteness, and Tamako and her friends themselves seem to have little to no personality. It's not looking good after one episode, and it's up to the anime to throw in some curve-balls along the way, though from what I can gather from various reviews of the show, that won't happen, at all. The only possible upside I can see to viewing this show is the well-received sequel movie Tamako Love Story. And let's just say the last KyoAni movie I saw was The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, which was... pretty good.
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| The two leads of One Week Friends. On the right: Hase, on the left: Fujimiya |
One Week Friends(or Isshuukan Friends) is an anime I've wanted to get around to watching for a very long time. It's one of the few anime that I actually haven't heard bad things about no matter how many people I ask, and I'm glad to say the first episode more than fulfilled my hefty expectations. The story follows Hase, a typical high-school(you need to wonder what Japan's obsession with high-school is all about) boy who desperately wants to make friends with an isolated girl in his class: Kaori Fujimiya. But when he finally makes his offer of friendship, Fujimiya thanks him for the offer but turns him down, and starts running in the opposite direction. However Hase isn't willing to give up so easily, and after pursuing Kaori to an extent that some may consider creepy: eating lunch with her and playing cards(and discovering she is actually a rather sweet and kind girl), Hase discovers the real reason behind her unwillingness to make friends. Inexplicably, Kaori forgets all memories of good interactions with other people each week, her family being the one exception. This basically means that every time Hase successfully makes friends with Kaori, she will forget the entire experience every Monday, and go back to being the cold, distant person that her classmates know her as.
Now yes, you could call this premise slightly cliched, but my real excitement comes from how everything in the show is being handled. First of all, the interactions between Kaori and Hase and truly sweet and adorable, making both characters instantly likable, but also revealing subtle information that could prove useful for development later. But on the flip-side, the drama is handled well also; nothing seems too melodramatic, the show rather seeming to rely on "show-don't-tell" and subtle throw-away sentences for drama. The scene at the end of the first episode where Kaori forgot all the good experiences she had with Hase, and where Hase declares that he would never stop trying to be friends with her is a truly touching and dramatic scene, that didn't need to throw characters crying or dramatic monologues in my face to convey the emotions it wanted. What will ultimately make or break the show is how they handle the whole "one-week reset" aspect, where it could either become repetitive, or take the idea to its fullest reaches. And of course, more so than other anime, the ending will be extremely important: will it tie all the previous weeks and drama into a nice little bow, or will it end inconclusively? I"m dying to find out.
Goodbye for now guys.
For some other First Impression, click here for a First Impression of Mawaru Penguindrum.
Or if you want a review, click here for a anime review of Valvrave the Liberator.
My latest Footnotes is here.
Follow me on Hummingbird or Twitter.
Now yes, you could call this premise slightly cliched, but my real excitement comes from how everything in the show is being handled. First of all, the interactions between Kaori and Hase and truly sweet and adorable, making both characters instantly likable, but also revealing subtle information that could prove useful for development later. But on the flip-side, the drama is handled well also; nothing seems too melodramatic, the show rather seeming to rely on "show-don't-tell" and subtle throw-away sentences for drama. The scene at the end of the first episode where Kaori forgot all the good experiences she had with Hase, and where Hase declares that he would never stop trying to be friends with her is a truly touching and dramatic scene, that didn't need to throw characters crying or dramatic monologues in my face to convey the emotions it wanted. What will ultimately make or break the show is how they handle the whole "one-week reset" aspect, where it could either become repetitive, or take the idea to its fullest reaches. And of course, more so than other anime, the ending will be extremely important: will it tie all the previous weeks and drama into a nice little bow, or will it end inconclusively? I"m dying to find out.
Goodbye for now guys.
For some other First Impression, click here for a First Impression of Mawaru Penguindrum.
Or if you want a review, click here for a anime review of Valvrave the Liberator.
My latest Footnotes is here.
Follow me on Hummingbird or Twitter.
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