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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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| Unevaluated |
 Stretch
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[series:4890#628] | ||||||
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(Six episodes watched): Episode one of this show left me mystified regarding what the premise of it was going to be. There is no mention of the Cinema Club as of yet and how a mangaka would help this club avoid being shut down was unclear. And was there really any need to include Maki (the former head of the Photography Club) at all? As a result I was inclined to drop it, but after reading the synopsis at ANN perhaps I will watch another episode. But it is not terribly funny and will definitely need an interesting plot, not just be a travelogue as the ANN synopsis suggested might be the case. 4-koma manga (newspaper cartoons) are seldom hilarious and an anime about how one gets made would probably be even less so. I noticed that anime with an otaku theme usually have an advantage over those without when convincing me to watch, but the revelation of the mangaka here didn't pique my interest much. This seems to be the first production of a recently formed (2023) animation company, 'Soigne'. Episode two clarifies the premise: the Cinema club is in a similar situation, with just two remaining members (at least four are needed), Sakurako Shikishima and someone known as 'Tajima' who apparently seldom shows up for club meetings and is little more than a name on a list of members. But a member is a member, and Shikishima is perfectly OK with the idea of merging the two clubs. Haruno needs a twist for her manga and this development gives her one. Kako, an old friend of hers, turns up and takes her on an exciting motorcycle ride across a good deal of Japan. I felt that this show had a little spirit to it and was modestly funny, but just where the plot is going remained a mystery to me. In episode three 'Haru' invites the three girls to accompany her on a whirlwind 'Manga Pilgrimage', a series of brief visits to the real-life places where events in a recent manga occurred (the manga in question felt like a combination of Yama no Susume and Yurucamp). Again, this was sort of amusing and I learned a few things, but I wish more of a plot was forming. In episode four the girls go on yet another tour with Haru, this time of Japanese vinyards; then they sign up for what seems like a photography competition but turns out to be an eating contest. Will this show be entirely about tours of various sorts? The (vague) idea was that Haru would get ideas from the girls' adventures which she would use in her manga; has that happened? Will the Cinephoto Club ever accomplish anything related to cinema or photography? Again, this show seems about like reading newspaper comics: a succession of little jokes without much of an ongoing plot between them. The girls tour a region full of vinyards in one episode and a region famed for its meat products in another. They find that they have brought a strange stowaway back to Haru's apartment. In episode six they go looking for Maruishi Dosojin, 'spherical stone monuments of unknown origin'. Last updated Thursday, June 12 2025. Created Friday, April 25 2025. | ||||||||
