天下制覇

 

I think this show has blown its load already.

Pre-air on Bandai Channel. Broadcast begins on January 5th, which means episode 2 airs on Sunday the 12th.

Impressions:

To say this show has issues with presentation would understating things to a degree that I couldn’t even think up a good metaphor for. It’s kind of a shame too, since JC Staff seems to be putting an uncharacteristic amount of effort into animating the action too. It could even be mistaken for decent now and then barely having to squint at all. Even the CGI mechabunnies looked surprisingly decent for CGI mechabunnies. But getting back to the first point about presentation, the show would be well served to just stop trying to be funny altogether. They’re making silly faces. There’s silly sound effects, so I guess him getting the crap beaten out of him is supposed to be comedic. That’s how it is for most of the rest of the episode too. Except it starts with just beating the crap out of him to ominous violins. Not a humorous fracas or dust cloud. Taken behind the school and beaten the hell up. That was far more… upsetting I guess? graphic? than the smash cut to No-Personality being impaled by a surprise rain of swords that didn’t exist before. And the ending where they were introducing the antagonists as transfer students? Each one was done to a gigantic “BWONG” of a timpani. Are you trying to be funny? Are you trying to be an action show? Are you trying to be gory, bloody, and/or shocking? It’s trying to do far too much and it’s mixing together about as well as milk, pizza, and a hamburger in a blender.

And then there’s the characters. The horrid, horrid characters. The male lead especially. It begins with him silently introducing himself to the camera, then explaining that the girl they just showed with a crowd of people flocking around her is popular. And it doesn’t end there. The internal narration never ends. Ever. Nothing can be shown that can’t be explained at excrutiating length, even what they just showed happening right in front of his face a moment before. The female lead somehow barely manages to beat him out in the personality department by having absolutely none whatsoever. Even when stabbed with dozens of swords and the lead is giving multiple speeches, first in his head and then out loud, not a thing.

Production’s surprisingly decent for JC Staff then especially the CGI which is doubly surprising since they’re traditionally dildos at it, but the directing outside of the action scenes is nine flavors of godawful, especially surrounding the characters themselves.