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[series:3631#628] | ||||||
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(All episodes watched): This show is a hybrid of anime and live action--the real world events occur in live action mode while the alternate reality ones are animated. That initially made me wary, but I'm glad I watched because this show turned out to be modestly funny and interesting. Indeed, during episode one the thought occurred to me that it was fucking crazy--such wild, outlandish events, such bizarre aliens, such wacky comments from the characters, all made me LOL several times. It was kind of fun to try to figure out the answers to the puzzles that 'Sphinx Paramesos' presented to the boys--one of them at least, since it had an English answer while you would have had to know the Japanese alphabet to figure out the other. Most of the puzzles fall into the second category, but it was still sort of interesting to read the subtitled lines and get an idea of how the boys figured them out. With all the puzzles, it's sort of like a game show. I couldn't help thinking that this show had been made with a tight budget judging from the real-world acting skills of the cast. The acting is weak yet (or maybe because of that) I find that this show has a certain charm to it. It sort of feels like something made by a drama club in a high school--they know they aren't brilliant, but they are doing their best and we can root for them. Even if I could not solve the puzzles I remained semi curious about where it would all go. And it can be amusing at times, like the guy commenting on his new hair color in the '2D world', or the flippant attitudes of the Sphinxes. The best part--for me at least--is the conversations the boys have with the various sphinxes. Sphinx 'Green Hill'(?) was especially fun as he goes off about things like what he does as recreation. I wish we would get more of an explanation of how and why the Sphinxes poses a threat to the world, but instead the trend seems to be to use the trips to the alternate dimensions as a way of solving not exactly fascinating problems the boys have in the real world. For instance, the brainiac becoming a total dork after losing his self-pride as a result of the failure to solve a puzzle. In episode ten the boys use a clever trick to turn the tables on the boss Sphinx--he must answer their puzzles as they answer his. It came as a surprise, made perfect sense, and made me feel that I had made the right call in sticking with this odd show. We start to get an explanation of sorts of just how and why the Sphinxes pose a threat to our world--better late than never. Also, as tension builds, I find the OP song has become kind of catchy, what with a few English lines, like 'Exceed, we are the number one!'. The climax comes in the next-to-last episode. Again, it wasn't brilliant: the final fate of the Sphinxes was confusing and sudden, and the trick that did them in was kind of simplistic--would such brilliant beings have really fallen for it? But like most of the show it was definitely original. We finally learn about the origins of Spudio, the talking rock. I was not thrilled but I was satisfied with the way things worked out. Episode twelve is basically omake, an all live action episode in which ten years later the boys investigate a rumor that Spudio has reappeared at their old school. There is a hint that there might (or might not) be a second season. I will not argue that this was a brilliant show, but it is definitely unusual and deserves some credit for that. Last updated Tuesday, April 23 2019. Created Tuesday, January 15 2019. | ||||||||
