HighWire: [Reaction] Myriad Colors Phantom World, Episode 1

This is a reaction, so if you haven't seen the first episode of Myriad Colors Phantom World, only read ahead if you don't mind some minor spoilers. As for the rest of you, let's get started.

Myriad Colors Phantom World really is a name that looks like somebody stuck a bunch of words in a blender and served whatever goop came out, which frankly kind of annoys me. Okay granted, it's not like the name doesn't make any sort of sense. After all, the setting certainty is a... world... with phantoms... that is very colorful. So that's three out of fours words right? You know what's also annoying? Stalling intro tactics that serve no purpose in the overall discussion. Though, ladies and gentleman of the jury, I'd like to defend myself here.

So, hello, people of the "Wired", my name is Quan, and welcome to a brand new reaction series, one that I intend to keep running throughout this winter season. So, yeah, Myriad Colors Long Name World. Let us discuss.

This anime has been a whirlpool of speculation ever since it was announced, as it seemed, just by the cover, to be Kyoto Animation finally selling out and adapting some life-less, fan-service battle-harem, in light of the recent trend of LN adaptions that the anime medium has for whatever reason been fixated on for the last few years. Maybe it's good just to forget all of that and just look at the name for a second. ...Hm... myriad: a less known synonym for something countless or in great number. Huh. Well would you look at that. I'm already less worried. That's inexplicable, sure. Names of anime, or hell, even the basic description, usually tells nothing of the show's actually quality. Or for that matter neither do the character designs. Or the PV's. Or, hell, anything that has caused this show to be arguably the most hesitantly anticipated anime of the Winter 2016 anime season. Because in the end, I can't tell you my thoughts about a show from any of those things. All I can tell you is what I thought after the first few episodes. And well, I haven't watched the first few episodes of Myriad Whatever Name Phantom World. I've only seen the first. I can't tell you if the show is going to get better or worse from here on out. I can't tell you if the anime is going to completely fulfill or completely break away from the basically predetermined expectations that came from the communities first impression of the anime's name, description and PV. But what I can say is this, after watching the first episode of the actual show, regardless of what I thought of the name, description and PV, with no pretense or idea of how the rest of the anime will turn out, in my own uncultured opinion, is this: ...Kyoto Animation finds a way... if barely.

10 years ago, the world changed. After a very vague scientific disaster occurred leaking out a strange chemical(or so we've been told), the population of Earth started seeing some weird sh*t, for instance, things like demons poking their head through living rooms or enormous monsters tearing holes in school property. The line between what was once fantasy and what is now reality has basically disintegrated, as creatures called "phantoms" roam the world, and it's sort of unknown whether they are actually there or are part of some sort of elaborate world-wide hallucination.
Regardless of whether these phantoms are real of not, the new generation of children have developed strange magical powers in order to fight phantoms that are causing trouble. Once such young man is our protagonist Haruhiko Ichijo, who along with his fiery partner Mai Kawakami, are the lowest ranked phantom hunter team in their whole magical school. The story follows their attempts to discover the secrets of this unknown world, but it remains unsure whether their bond will be strong enough to handle the truth.

Is this real? Not sure, but it sure is adorable.

You know, I've made it a rule to never count a Kyoto Animation anime out the running. This studio nearly always finds a way to surprise you with its anime, but you know... they're really making it hard for me this time. I wouldn't go as far as to say this first episode was bad, because it wasn't. In fact, for a by-the-numbers light-novel adaption, it was even rather interesting. I mean, this premise is interesting enough to carry a story on its own, and I only can imagine the turns the story could potentially take in the future, especially with the strong director and writer KyoAni have brought on for this project. That's not my problem. My problem is that KyoAni's reputation is hovering over this show like an ominous cloud, and that's dampening aspects I may have been able to forgive otherwise, like the bland and sort of dis-likable characters that we know nothing about, and a magical highschool setting that I really can't be bothered to make excuses for anymore. Hell there's even a large amount of fan-service, something that I really hoped this studio would only do once with Amagi Brilliant Park. There's a scene in this episode where Mai is playing limbo in order to seal away a phantom(long story, so don't ask), and is forced to bounce her considerably large breasts up and down in order to wait for the perfect moment to fit her rack underneath the long hanging bar. Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to type that up, knowing it came from a KyoAni show? It pains me to my very soul.

But again, it wasn't bad. It was average if anything. That is disappointing. But we're only just getting started. As they did with Hibike! Euphonium, I have confidence that KyoAni will turn this around, because they have done it before, and there's no reason why they won't be able to do it again. This studio almost always has an ace up their sleeve. I want to believe that. I need to believe that... somehow, Kyoto Animation will find a way. Well... at least I know if all else fails, the colors will be pretty, right? Goodbye for now guys.

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