I.D. Analysis – Seto no Hanayome, Kissdum ~Engage Planet~ and Over Drive

Ok, after the first fabulous anime that is likely to be a keeper, Seirei no Moribito, I went on to watch some of the other series on hand which looked interesting and might be worth a surprise. I must say that even though these two series are pretty competent in what they do (aka they are not crazily explosive to blow your mind off), they are out of my blogging radar. Nevertheless, here is the time for the Impzie’s Destructive Analysis, the dissecting of the first episode of the spring season anime with the swiftest blow ever.

Time for the most explosive (if you consider exploding random information that makes little sense to be explosive) quick summary ever in history! I will first blog on the slapstick comedy “Seto no Hanayome“, and the cycling series “Over Drive“. After viewing Kissdum ~Engage Planet~, I felt that it deserves at least a bit of love.

Seto no Hanayome

Summary in a chunk

Nagasumi was a boy who went to his grandmother’s house for a vacation when he was about to drown in a sea. Somehow, he was saved by a mermaid but he thought that it was all a half-dream until the girl came into his house. He was shocked and the girl suddenly asked for him to marry her due to a certain reason. She also told Nagasumi that her name is San. Mafia-looking people started to appear and demanded Nagasumi’s parents to meet up with San’s parents, as everyone presumed that San was part of a mafia family.

As they were shoved down the sea, it was apparent that they were a mafia under the sea, a mermaid mafia. After random events where San’s father tried all forms of physical extortion toward Nagasumi for stealing his daughter, Nagasumi and San attempted to escape, only to be caught. At the last moment where Nagasumi was about to be beheaded, he called San’s father father and said that he would marry San. San’s father just wanted to kill him as everyone else tried to stop this craziness.

Thoughts

Ok, if you want some random hilarity just like in the mold of School Rumble, this looks like the best series for you to catch on for some brainless laughter. Honestly, there is hardly any depth here, and I do not expect it to have any. The graphics are average, but the character design is pretty cute and it’s perhaps fitting for a series that is based on comedy. I also enjoyed quite a bit of the slapstick humor in this series, even if their notion of comedy is to smash every single scene so fast and randomly that you have no choice but to laugh at it. Nevertheless, it is pretty much a competent series that is worth watching just for the laughs.

I must say that I personally do not like the design of San. I expected a bit of maturity in her looks (something similar to the graphic art in the site) but that is perhaps wishful thinking from me, considering what I have seen from this episode. Nevertheless, the group dynamics of the characters makes this show a watch if you are a comedy fan that does not really care about any depth (who knows, we might get some depth but I doubt it as first episodes are usually a good gauge for a comedy series). It’s not a series that I will blog, or follow. I did say that I never really enjoyed School Rumble’s style of humor.

Over Drive

Summary in a chunk

The opening scene was one from the Tour De France, the most demanding cross country bike race in the whole world (I watched it before) and the leading cyclist was Shinozaki Mikoto, a new Japanese talent. Back from this dream-like sequence, Mikoto is a clueless high school student who has no talents. He cannot run or do any extreme sports due to his inability and he has practically no sporting talent. Bullied by other students due to his weak will, he generally lives a boring life in school until the day that he found the school belle, Fukazawa, giving him some attention in class. She initally tried to flirt with him, but then rejected him before Mikoto has the chance to express his interest.

After some talking, she asked whether he would be interested to join the cycling team. He was not sure as he had little talent in sports and fleed away back home, still shocked at the attention given by Fukazawa. Fukazawa actually wanted to get a bag as her brother, the cycling’s captain, promised to give her one if she could recruit anyone into the team. Back at home, after having a dream about cycling and enjoying it, he rushed back to the school to see the mountain bike as it sparkles into life. It shone in the night sky, as though glowing at Mikoto.

Thoughts

A typical weak boy that seemingly has no talent suddenly becomes the talent of the world. Ok, this is perhaps a little different from the normal story because most boys in the sports genre always shows a certain talent within the first episode but this seems just like a very average boy with almost no sporting talent. I also like the soft approach toward this story, rather than downright slapstick humor as it hurts most sports genre. It is also not that serious, which actually is pleasant, because I know that when sports become serious, the jargons will start flying in like cabbages in a cooking contest.

I am fully expecting this to have a more serious side in the sense in cycling, and the shoujo/romance part will start to die down too. Nevertheless, the first episode seems to be actually entertaining, though I am not sure whether I will actually hold out to watch it every week. The main problem is that the storyline is a bit weak at the moment and is pretty generic. The second thing is that I am never a great fan of cycling and watching something that is not of my interest, so it’s quite unlikely that I will blog. This will probably fit any sports genre fan, who likes a dose of romance.

Kissdum ~Engage Planet~

Summary in a chunk

A huge disaster came upon Earth as a huge carrier was sunk by a mutant monster, with all 3511 passengers disappearing in this huge catastrophe. Twenty years later, Sasara was out at the river bed to get specimens of new mutant species. She was part of the Neo International Defence Force (N.I.D.F), an organization that is tasked to protect the Earth from the outbreak of Hadium, the codename for the mutants. Rukina, the section chief, has found that the Hadium would arrive in the shores soon, considering how they were following the current of the sea. As the N.I.D.F went on its duty, they discovered that there was a new breed of mutant flies but they were harmless for now.

Rukina, along with her assistant Nanao, found the existence of “Death Book”, a weapon that could fight against the mutants. However, the flies started to gather in the Tokyo air, gathering into huge balls as they formed the mutants. The whole city was in a panic and the N.I.D.F were required for duty. As entire troops were destroyed, they released Aiba, which was jailed within the N.I.D.F complex for fighting with Io. Demon, the leader of the combat force was held back by Iburi, the commander of the N.I.D.F, as he was only to be dispatched in an emergency.

Sasara, on the other hand, was chased by one of the sea based mutants, eventually escaping when the other combatants arrived. Rukina and Nanao then finally found the “Death book”, as the discovery by Sasara at the sea bed and the movement of the mutants to return to their lair meant that the starting point of evolution and mutation was here. Back at Tokyo, none of the weapons used by the combatants seemed to work and Iburi ordered to kill Rukina and retrieved the “Death book”, as she assumed that Rukina had betrayed the party and obtained the item that could fight against the mutants.

Rukina was attempting to return back to the base, she was hit by the mutants as her car crashed.Aiba finally arrived near Rukina as they left a tracker on her and was clearly outmatched by the monsters. The other mecha by the N.I.D.F arrived too late, as Aiba was close to death after being attacked but with Nanao’s distraction, Rukina rushed over to Aiba and stabbed the “Death Book” into the body of Aiba, releasing the power and destroying all the mutants.

Thoughts

Yes, it’s a mecha show. However, there is just this excitement brewing in the picture when it starts off with giant monsters and a completely catastrophic environment where mutants of all kinds lived in the Earth that we know. I like the settings that are presented and it feels to me that the background of this mutant form makes a classic monster vs humans fight, but I somehow feel that there is something deeper within in the plot. The explosive start and the great ending for merely the first episode has a climax twice in the show, and that says something about the anime in question.

The graphics for the animation is pretty good, and this is really a nice change since I have not seen a single anime in the whole spring season having too low of a budget as yet. Every animation has top notch stuff for the first episode, and it’s amazing how nothing has disappointed me in graphic quality. I have some qualms of it because the amount of action might be a bit too strong for me to maintain my total interest. To add on, Aiba’s relationship with Rukina is an interesting one, and I totally want to find out more why Aiba would risk his life and soul just to protect her. There should be a back story behind it and the ending also means I just need to watch yet another episode to go on.