02.06
So, uh, there’s this guy called Kou Ichinomiya, or as he’s known by the local crazies, “Ric”. One day, he almost drowns in a river only to get saved by some weird girl named Nino. Because of this, he’s indebted to her and must start a close relationship to relieve himself of said debt. And by living with her, he has to spend the rest of his life under a bridge with a bunch of people off their meds. There’s also a plot somewhere hidden in there, but you’ll have to wade through at least half the season to realize it.
Going in for the first episode, I had never previously watched a show by SHAFT, had no idea what it was even supposed to be about, and was frankly confused enough by the opening as it is. Suffice to say, this show is fucking weird. It’s the kind of weird that could stand toe-to-toe with Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, Axis Powers Hetalia, or anything Gainax cooks up. Honestly, any attempt to comprehend this show in logical terms would result in tragedy and cranial trauma. Though admittedly, it does get a bit more coherent once the characters get more familiar and the plot reveals itself.
And as the inanity goes hand-in-hand with the main humor, your mileage will massively vary on whether or not the jokes stick or not. Pretty thick cultural barriers lead to most of the jokes coming off as confusing rather than funny. Many of the visual gags are quite blunt and lead to more awkward laughs than genuine ones (a guy who always wears a star on his head being one of many examples). By all means, even the most hardcore weaboo will have a hard time getting the majority of the show’s shits and giggles. That said, there are a few pieces that hit rather than miss, like how the opening randomly changes to highlight a minor character singing about how worthless her secret admirer is. Granted, it’s still just as strange as most of the other jokes, but the level of the absurdity is so high that it goes to being funny based on shear WTF-ness. But once again, your results will vary.
With the characters, Kou initially plays the straight man in everything, only to quickly unravel and show a “one is a genius, the other’s insane” dilemma regarding him and the rest of the cast. While he’s unquestionably the most intelligent of the characters, he’s also the most manic and easy to crack. On the other half, you get Nino, a strange young woman who spends most of her times fishing and believes herself to have come from Venus. She mostly ends up being an inversion of the usual “magical girlfriend” cliché, by being much more stoic and mundane compared to the usual fare such as Belldandy or Lum. Unfortunately, the series underutilizes the whole yin yang conflict and eventual accordance between the two in favor of having Kou interact with the rest of the cast, and most of them don’t really share the chemistry that he has for Nino. Everyone else is one-note and usually serves purely for gags rather than anything else. And because of this, the tolerance for the cast varies, with a man cross-dressing as a nun, nicknamed Sister, as well as the misanthropic farmer Maria being the most entertaining, while others such as the Iron Twins or Stella just being pretty annoying.
For production values, the music is pretty good. Really, the opening and ending are pretty interesting to watch and listen to, if only for the art directions and how the song of the former inexplicably tries to rhyme “Venus” and “Jesus”. The animation’s typical of most other anime, though it randomly shifts into different styles throughout the season. One gag even shifts the art to resemble Matt Groening’s.
Also, the “to be continued” spots make the habit of setting the series in live-action, naturally leading to massive uncanny valley. And at one point, you can also find a bit of rotoscoping in one of the episodes.
So in other words, this show is an acquired taste. You’ll either love it for its eccentric style, or hate it for its nonsensical ideas. Either way, you won’t be bored watching it.
Rating: 6/10
Originally posted on Saturday, December 4, 2010.