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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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| Watch | 7 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
 Ggultra2764
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[series:2851#1552] |
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Engaged to the Unidentified appears to be your run-of-the-mill slice-of-life title that relies on the strange quirks of the characters to carry along its plot. However, this one does have some substance to it compared to most other slice-of-life comedies thanks to things with Hakuya and his sister not being as they would seem on the surface. Hints are dropped that Yonomi and Hakuya might have known one another from the past and Hakuya and his younger sister being not so normal with their origins. These offer up some nice twists on the series, provided you can put up with the normal bizarre antics that come up from this baby's regular slice-of-life comedic elements. The slice-of-life comedy works more against the series for me as it left me wondering if Engaged wants to be a typical slice-of-life comedy or a serious paranormal romance title. Regardless, the series ends on an inconclusive note as things with Yonomi and Hakuya's relationship have not been fully resolved as of the end of the series. Even so, I don't feel invested enough in this series where I would be tempted to want to check out any future anime adaptations of it that come out, if any do so.
Last updated Friday, March 13 2015. Created Friday, March 13 2015. | ||||||||
| Unevaluated |
 Devil Doll
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[series:2851#752] | ||||||
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I tried watching episode 3 (which explains the reason for the arrangement between Kobeni and Hakuya), but both sisters of the couple are a sheer nuisance and Hakuya is a non-event so far. With Kobeni being the only likeable character, I don't think I'm missing a lot here.
Last updated Monday, January 27 2014. Created Monday, January 27 2014. | ||||||||
| Watch |
 Stretch
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[series:2851#628] | ||||||
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(Watch+ or Rent-) (All episodes watched): I have seen this before: a show which clearly has great potential, perhaps due to a vibrant cast of likeable characters, yet seems to make little effort to do all that much with them. The plot is OK but unexceptional, which was what I had been expecting. Perhaps it's unrealistic to assume that above average characters will automatically be matched to an above average plot. Also, sometimes the first episode of a show is distinctly better than the remainder will be. Episode one of Mikakunin left me with the impression that this was a show which knew what it was doing: a wacky twist right off the bat, namely Kobeni learning that her marriage has been arranged, just nobody bothered to tell her until her fiancée showed up in order to move into the house. And a number of other twists quickly appear, like Kobeni finding that she has a little sister-in-law, Mashiro, who acts like a mother-in-law. But there's a balance of power of sorts, since Kobeni's older sister, Benio, is a bit of a lolicon and finds Mashiro adorable. But while most shows would be content with the perversion angle to attract viewers, and would neglect the comedy, this show takes the opposite approach. It had me laughing continually, and every character remains likeable as well as being distinctive in some odd way, like the apathetic Hakuya, the assertive Mashiro, and the mildly perverted Benio. In short, this show had me excited and optimistic. It looked like genuine quality story and joke telling done right. Episode two startled me--apparently UFOs aren't just a visual joke in the OP sequence, instead they really will play a major part in this story. I wasn't sure what to make of this; the show had seemed to be going so well previously that a major change could only be bad news. Surely there will have to be some sort of explanation of Hakuya and Mashiro's status as 'aliens', won't there? A lot will depend on how good it is. They clearly have a major secret that they need to come clean about, but the show seemed to delay that step for as long as possible, which was frustrating. Also, the quality of the comedy seemed to fall off somewhat after episode one. With the humor nothing to write home about, what Mikakunin needs is an interesting, fast-moving story; but I was frustrated by the lackadaisical pace. The show seems determined to keep as much information from us for as long as possible; perhaps the makers were confident that the comedy would fill the gap, but it is only slightly above average, and the result is that the dearth of interesting content breeds apathy rather than intrigue. Either be the brilliant show that you clearly have the potential for, or give me an excuse to quit watching altogether, but don't just keep stringing me along! Kobeni learns that, as the title suggested, her fiancée is in fact not human; questions like 'what is he then, an alien?' leap to the viewer's mind, but she asks nothing. Who gives a damn about whether she gives him chocolate on Valentine's Day when he's a blanking non-human? It's especially frustrating to see this happen in a show which did take the trouble to develop likeable characters, which is where so many other shows fail. One good thing about this show is that the characters aren't idiots who invariably draw the wrong conclusions from coincidences and things like that. They think twice, and even if they make a mistake, they at least considered the correct answer before making a bad guess. That caught my attention because it is so rare. Another strong point of this show is the humorous caricatures that the artists could draw. But we never really learn much about Hakuya and Mashiro's alien origins, or for that matter the event years ago when Hakuya supposedly saved Kobeni's life. And their sudden disappearance turns out to be no big matter. The conclusion is, like the show as a whole, OK but nothing extraordinary. I guess I just jumped to the conclusion that anyone who could create a well crafted cast could create a well crafted plot to go with it. In short, a show which had great potential but didn't utilize anywhere near all of it. Somehow, that is more frustrating than a terrible show which is clearly not worth watching at all; perhaps because we wind up investing so much time watching it in hopes that at some point it will regain the brilliance that first struck us. Last updated Saturday, March 14 2015. Created Monday, January 13 2014. | ||||||||
