What happened to the other "thing" that crashed? What happened to Ryou? Forgive me, I just can't helpt but ask...
You need some inspiration, sho... Have some haw flakes...
This Ugly Yet Beautiful World tv Review
Story & Characters
Normally I have some kind of quirky intro paragraph but I'm suffering a bit of writer's block, and well my humor well has run dry. Let's just cut to the chase and review Kono Minikukumo Utsukushii Sekai (henceforth referred to as KonoMini).
Takeru and Ryou are two average high school kids. They go to school and have part time jobs like any other. These two are friends that share a similar past of parents that abandoned them so they get along on a very deep level. When Takeru and Ryou were out on a job a mysterious light comes out of nowhere and circles them while they are on their motorcycle, nearly causing them to wreck. The light went into the sky and split into two that subsequently crashed into two different places. Takeru instinctively goes to one of them and when he arrives, a girl surrounded by a mystical glow falls from a tree. Takeru inadvertently gives her the name Hikari, which she takes. Of course all isn't well as a monster ambushes the group and a fight ensues where Hikari shows her true nature and Takeru discovers his hidden power.
That description is pretty much episode one, and the vast majority of the show for quite a while. It's sad really, when you see "Created by Gainax" or "Blessed by Gainax" or even "One guy from Gainax animated a flower in episode 2" you expect a certain degree of quality. That is a name synonymous with great animation in the past, and yet falls horribly short in KonoMini. It's unfortunate really, there was a great potential for a very engrossing story, but instead they chose to go with the character comedy and fluff approach for greater than 10 of the 12 overall episodes. Granted Gainax still does what it does best, give you a quality ending and manage to rip your heart right out of your chest, but sadly does not give you a solid 12 episodes of good anime viewing.
Rating:
Art
Be warned all ye' out there that possess an HDTV. This show doth not translate well at times to the higher resolution and it shows in the outlines of characters. I can't knock the show for that as it wasn't created with 1080p in mind, just thought I'd give you some gee wizz information.
Animation runs the gamut from impressive to just plain sloppy throughout the show. The biggest emphasis of the anime is it's character designs and animations. Characters on the whole are nicely drawn and well detailed although if you've seen Mahoromatic you may feel like it is just modified from that. Characters movements and facial expressions are well animated on the whole but fall flat on minor characters, even those minor characters in the main group. If you don't play a major part in the overall story, you are going to be anime stock footage, so just deal with it. The other problem comes into play when characters fall even the slightest bit into the background. Detail drops tremendously when more of the backdrop is included in the scene.
Rating:
Sound
The opening song was absolutely fantastic, although for the longest time I didn't think it fit the show's atmosphere completely. The opening is "metamorphose" by Yoko Takahashi and proves to be one of those songs that amps you up for the coming 25 minutes in it's fast beat and heavy string instruments. The ending song, "Natsuiro no Kakera" by Yoko Ishida, I felt was much more appropriate for the subject matter with it's much more light hearted atmosphere. As for the BGM, it was versatile enough to change the mood of the of the scene you were viewing, although it was helped quite a bit by the voice acting.
Voice acting may be the biggest arguing point for this show. Given the subject matter and the characters themselves, the voice acting was superb. Takeru (Takahiro Mizushima) and Hikari (Ayako Kawasumi) exhibited a wide array of emotions throughout and did a fantastic job portraying a tumultuous relationship between the two and the growing pains associated with maturing as a person. Another bright spot in the vocal cast was Mari (Asami Sanada) as the cousin of Takeru. She was jealous of Hikari and showed the most vulnerability of all the characters in her conflicting emotions. Not only that but she had a wealth of likeable personality that was well personified by outstanding voice work.
Rating:
Presentation
Again, KonoMini proves to be a horribly unfortunate show. It had all the ingredients it needed to do something great, yet fell short when it went down the road of "been there and done that." Maybe I wouldn't see it so bad had it been one of my first animes, but as I see it it just used entirely too much of the generic plot devices that has been used by its predecessors. All it isn't lost though. Likeable characters, well executed ending and great music and voice acting makes it a fun enough watch. But in the end it's just an average show that will soon be forgotten.
*Disclaimer* I'm well aware that this review may not be up to my usual standard, but writing reviews for shows that you just see as 'meh' are the hardest ones to write. You can't rave about how good it is and you can't just say "everything sucks". Besides, I'm pretty much just echoing the sentiments of those who wrote a review for this before me, so just use this as reassurance to their accuracy. Thanks as always for reading my long-winded diatribes.
Rating:
Final Verdict
6.5000 (above average)
Reviewed by shoujoboy, Jul 01, 2007
Comments
-
BossMac Jul 02, 2007
-
littlejonny100 Retired Moderator Jul 02, 2007
I've been looking at this one on the store shelves for a fair time now and lightly playing with the idea of getting it. If I wasn't watching my spending I may have got it already but seeing this review pop up has reassured me it's money best saved.
-
Lariel Jul 08, 2007
I agree with this review. The show is rather horrible- it started great in the very beginning and fell to pieces in the very middle. The creators couldn't specific what happened then and whatsie-whotsie. In the end, I ended up staring at the screen when the ending was featured.
-
SchRita Oct 31, 2009
Thanks for the review!
page 1 of 1 4 total items
Only members can post replies, please register.