Fall 2009 Anime Impressions – Tatakau Shisho, Seitokai no Ichizon, Nyan Koi

Nyan Koi

These three shows are the final shows that I plan on reviewing for this season and I figured lets to them all together so I can be done already. 🙂

The Scores

Tatakau Shisho

Average Rating: episodes 1-6 – 6/12 B-
Anticipation Level: 2/5 – Below Average

Seitokai no Ichizon

Average Rating: episodes 1-6 – 6/12 B-
Anticipation Level: 1/5 – Low

Nyan Koi

Average Rating: episodes 1-7 – 7/12 B
Anticipation Level: 2/5 – Below Average

Nyan Koi – In America, male fan service is considered art 🙂

The Story

Tatakau Shisho aka Armed Librarians is set in a world where a record of an entire person’s life is created in the form of a stone tablet and appears after the person has died; this tablet is known as a person’s book. These books get stored in a large repository and are guarded by the Librarians and they need to keep a careful watch on things because a religious cult has sprung up and it takes offense at the Librarians’ mission and the library itself.

Seitokai no Ichizon is a comedy show set around the daily lives of a high school’s student council. The four office holders are all female and each contain a set of character quirks that add to the comedy of the show and work against the natural desires of the fifth council member – a visual novel playing boy who earned his seat by being the top student in school and sees the four females as members of his personal harem.

Nyan Koi is a comedy show built around what happens after the main character disturbs a cat god’s shrine and is cursed to either help 100 cats or get turned into a cat. To help him out, he now has the ability to talk to and understand cats.

The Fine Print

Tataku Shisho has one of the most interesting premises this season and as a result I really want to like it. Sadly, I can’t say this show has been a great success because it does have it’s problems but it’s done just enough stuff right that it could end up in the good show pile. The show definitely has the pieces to be a good show but so far it’s storytelling hasn’t impressed me. It’s hard to describe exactly what I mean; I could point out that the first four episodes seem pretty unconnected to the later episodes or how the show kinda feels like a person is clicking between different programs and the programs doesn’t quite mesh well together but that doesn’t really explain what I mean – maybe the best way is to say it feels like the person putting together the story still needs to learn how to transition. I intend to continue watching because like I said, it’s different and I could use some variety this season.

Watching 40+ episodes of Hetalia lead me to the conclusion that Studio Deen can’t quite do comedy shows and Seitokai no Ichizon has confirmed this. It’s close to being a great show but it isn’t quite there. As a result, I find myself only mildly amused when I watch this show – maybe laughing once an episode. This level is fine for Hetalia because those episodes last 5 minutes but it doesn’t work when a show runs 22 minutes. I think part of Seitokai no Ichizon’s problem is that it’s too aware of the supposed formula this type of show is supposed to follow to ensure success and it slavishly follows that formula even if that means it becomes a lesser clone of another show, never finding something to make it unique. Or to put it another way, the show has no soul and will never become a real boy. I’ll continue watching, hoping to see some real creativity, but I’m not expecting it.

Nyan Koi shares something with To Aru Kagaku no Railgun – it’s getting progressively better as the season unfolds. I was all set to like this show because I love talking cats but a couple episodes in and I was moving this into the pile of shows that I might drop. Episode 4 was this show’s last chance and it was in this episode that Nagi – a very masculine girl who appreciates the beautiful femininity in other girls that she lacks – gets introduced and it’s been quickly moving into the “I like this show” category. Add the new characters that get introduced into the show in episode 6 (who know about the curse and have enough power to protect themselves) and it suddenly feels like the show’s working with all it’s gears and the comedy just flows easier. I still could critique the show a bit, for example, the main character has been rather lazy about helping the cats and I’d like to see the curse in action, if only to make him more serious about ending it. At this point, though, my critics are relatively minor compared to some of the other shows this season and who knows, if the show can sustain the quality that episode 7 displayed – it might just earn a spot on my top shows for the season. (And Jeff Lawson likes it too.)