|
|
||||||||||
| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Watch | 8 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 5 |
 Ggultra2764
|
[series:2519#1552] |
|
Ano Natsu de Matteru didn't feel too unique for me. To a great extent, the series was mostly a hodge-podge of archetypes and cliches you would find from romantic comedies and from when you seen from Onegai Teacher. If you've seen Onegai Teacher, you could pretty easily see similarities with the personalities between Ano Natsu's major cast and the original cast of Onegai Teacher. Whereas the former series did offer some believable exploration on aspects of love, Ano Natsu plays out much like your typical rom-com with its teasing of the "will they or won't they" developments with Ichika, Koichi and others among Koichi's circle of friends and the expected outcomes shouldn't be too surprising to those who've seen enough romantic comedy titles and Onegai Teacher. The series does offer a solid visual presentation with vivid scenery and character designs that have a good amount of visual detail. But that alone doesn't do enough to make this series stick out from other romantic comedies as Ano Natsu de Matteru follows the conventional elements of the genre and unless you're a sap for them, I wouldn't recommend watching this.
Last updated Monday, March 26 2012. Created Monday, March 26 2012. | ||||||||
| Unevaluated |
 Stretch
|
[series:2519#628] | ||||||
|
(11 episodes watched): I think I see where this is going: the 'aliens accidentally kill a guy and then revive him and take him under their wing' deal. Probably something like Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~, but minus the gender-bending. Since this was almost certainly a premise which I have seen at least once before, I was impatient with it to get on with the story. Visuals are good, but this will be another series where I have to wait for episode two to see if its really any good. The sickly cute blob-creature puts a damper on my expectations. I doubt if I will end up watching, but I can't be certain. Episode two didsn't really convince me one way or the other to watch Matteru either. I was left hoping that the series as a whole wouldn't be one of those which walks the line between worth and not worth watching, because watching such shows results in little entertainment relative to the time invested, and not watching makes me vaguely uncomfortable because it's always possible that it got better later on. It was episode three which made up my mind: I had lumped this show and LaGrange into the same category, sci-fi, but in terms of quality I now consider Matteru to be in a completely different and much better category. The plausible misunderstanding in episode three, and the silly antics that result from it, convinced me that this is actually a clever and even touching show. It is the standard 'guy meets strange girl, which leads to a romantic triangle with ordinary girl who secretly loved him' story, but it seems to have been done well, and with heart. Even supporting characters are given some soul, which is nice, and the jokes are amusing. The technology of the movie camera and telephone suggest that this story is set a decade or two in the past. I wonder if Matteru was written a decade or two in the past, because stuff of this quality seems rare nowadays. Not every episode is as good as number three, however. In fact, none have matched it yet. This show is basically a teenage romance--you almost forget that Ichika is an alien, since that factor gets little mention. Maybe that pink creature was included to remind us of her origins every now and then (doesn't anybody think that thing is odd?). The underlying issue is that she is falling in love with a human, Taito, but sooner or later she will be expected to return to her home planet. Basically, the characters are likeable but I have gotten impatient for something serious to happen. I'm not kidding, this show really did seem to have a classy, 'eighties or 'nineties sort of aura to it at times. But otherwise it hasn't delivered all that much and I sometimes just wish to get it over with. There's a good joke once in a while, but they are thinly spread. Perhaps a problem is that the characters haven't developed much depth and personality to them. There's the scheming, manipulative girl, Lemon, who likes to spy on others and outsmart them--but that's about all there is to say about her personality. Why does she do it? I don't know. And almost everything we know about her was clear back in the first episode or two. Ichika and Taito are clearly in love, but they just keep pretending that they aren't until episode nine or so. Finally Ichika's origins are exposed, and maybe something will happen as a result. But so far her friends have simply promised to keep her secret to themselves (didn't countless people at the festival see, or at least hear, what happened that night?). Was the 'accident' which befell Taito back at the beginning just an excuse for kissing to take place? It's like there's a game of follow-the-leader underway: almost every character seems to love somebody who doesn't love them. Since there are five chief participants, and three girls versus two boys, somebody's got to lose. I was surprised by Tatsuo's 180 degree turn away from the girl who seemed his obvious match. But again, it's hard to get excited or moved by this. Maybe a little interest will come from outer space, since the teen romance story isn't all that great. Indeed, the arrival of a second alien shakes things up a little. This is better, but the plot as a whole still seems muddled and unexciting. Do I really care who Tatsuo chooses as his girlfriend? Again, even though the series is nearing its end, the characters have somehow managed to avoid developing much personality. Last updated Wednesday, March 28 2012. Created Sunday, January 15 2012. | ||||||||
Other Sites
| Name | URL |
|---|---|
| Official Japanese Series Web Site | http://www.ichika-ichika.com/ |
