天下制覇

You came so close, Xebec! Sooooooo close!

Impressions:

A surprisingly satisfying conclusion to the show. While I held no illusions at this point for anything being resolved, Xebec managed to actually get in some really nice Mio development in the last ten minutes. Nothing romantic, mind you, but this would be solid for any show, let alone in comparison to the previous flimsy Mio-centric episodes. On the other hand, they also decided to throw in the show’s first panty shot in the final 3 seconds. You almost made it, Xebec. You were so close. So very very close. Another time perhaps. As long as I’m complaining, I guess I should mention the fairly poorly sung insert song at the end too. Nice tune, vocals… not so much. Also not helped by characters singing a completely different song at the same time.

The first half was just the usual fluff, entertaining for the most part, but little special. However, the second half was a return to that nice mix of comedy and drama handled about as well as the early Yuuno stuff was. Mio accidentally ruined some kid’s birthday party in the first half, so got really serious about making things right, then Tarou noticed her singing happy birthday to herself and deduced that it’s her birthday as well. He then had to distract her by insulting her to ger her to chase him around town while everybody set things up. He even managed to choke down his masochism from taking over when she caught him once. Subtle, yet important. Shows that he’s growing and even though it still clumisly sidesteps the romantic side of things, shows that she’s important to him. That’s the kind of thing I wish I saw a lot more of in anime instead of abrupt machinations everywhere.

Final thoughts at the bottom.

Final Thoughts:

Xebec certain outdid themselves with this show. Since they’re Xebec, that’s setting the bar pretty low, but they still managed to make a pretty decent romantic comedy out of it. At times, it was even very good. Curiously well made for a Xebec show too, without a single panty shot that I can recall. I think that may be a first for them. Yuuno’s development and Tarou’s relationship with her early on in particular was very well executed all around. The direction and music of those scenes kept them on the right side of the corniness factor, which it was teetering dangerously close to.

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said be said for… well… any of the rest of the cast. They tried to have their cake and eat it too with Mio and last ten minutes of the show aside, it mostly ended up being jumbled and unclear. The less said about Noa and everything she brings to the table, the better. It was actually very disappointing after those very strong first episodes to have all development completely vanish by episode 5 and the show to launch into a seeming endless parade of otherwordly exploits. Mind you, that was what I expected from the show before it aired, but it’s still unpleasant to have good things taken away.

All in all, it’s a decidedly above average romantic comedy. I wouldn’t recommend it to people who abhor the genre to begin with since it doesn’t tread much, if any new ground. For others though, charismatic characters, decent production, and mostly solid writing with a few bouts of total inanity make it well worth at least a good long look.