Otaku Digest – Sanzoku no Musume Ronja, Inou Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka de and Girlfriend (Kari)
Hello one and all, another week down and that means another Otaku Digest. This weeks line up is Sanzoku no Musume Ronja, Inou Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka de and Girlfriend (Kari).
Sanzoku no Musume Ronja
First up this week is the anime I know I have been waiting for – Sanzoku no Musume Ronja or Ronja the Robbers Daughter. Created by the illustrious Studio Ghibli and even has the Miyazaki name behind it with Goro Miyazaki taking the reins. An adventure based anime released on the 11th of October the series focuses on Ronja, the daughter of a Bandit Chieftain and lives within the tribe of bandits in a castle in the forest. She will encounter many the magical creature of the forest, experience life in the forest and even befriends another child like herself.
Can you really go wrong with Studio Ghibli? Is it possible? Thankfully the first and second episode of this new anime venture was no different and as much as I dreaded Goro Miyazaki being involved since I was NOT a fan of Tales of Earthsea this is a well-made beautiful episode. The characters are interesting with their own presence, the scenery is breath-taking and the story beyond holds up engaging you right till the end with not only a good narrative but inserts of the magic that the studio is known for. Funny the majority of the first episode barely contains any of Ronja herself except her birth but the episode is enjoyable as a premise to her story. Lastly on this episode – that animation is without a doubt exceptional. With the traditional aspect to the back grounds and the spectacular 3D CG dimensions to the characters. Making them stand out and giving them far more dimensions than usual animation.
Will I Continue to Watch: HELLS TO THE YES!! This is a modern Studio Ghibli production, you can see the blood sweat and tears they put into it and it completely paid off. I look forward to more.
Inou Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka de
Next up is Inou Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka de or Inou Battle Within Everyday Life released on the 7th of Octob
er. Centring on a high school literature club that half a year ago five of its members woke up with astonishing supernatural powers. With these powers the five thought they were to be whisked into a world filled with adventure, evil powers bent on world dominate and they must be the ones to save the day – what really happened is life went on. They continue to live their normal mundane lives with still that little glimmer of hope that maybe just maybe something extraordinary will happen to them, they live within their own fantasy.
This anime is exactly what it says on the tin, a fantasy, romance and comedy school series. First off it has a killer catchy opening theme with the perfect intro video that sums up the series to a t, It is cute where it needs to be and gritty where needs be. A lot of explanation goes into the first episode although not an explanation of how they got these powers but more a description of what each of them can do. Although it is a very talky episode they do manage to give the characters depth and a description if their individual personalities. Although I am getting sick of the near “harem” genre with there being one guy and multiple female characters – I understand it is the usual now but it has begun to get old in my book mainly because although the female characters have usually different traits and personalities the male characters are bland and the same from anime to anime. Visually this anime is good, not great but good – it takes the usual cutesy animation and mixes just the right amount of fantasy elements to make the visuals pleasant to watch and well accompanying for the narrative.
Will I Continue to Watch: Yes, only because the first episode dove only a small amount into what could be a very enjoyable anime.
Girlfriend (Kari)
Lastly is the anime Girlfriend (Kari) an anime adaptation of a mobile game of the same name released on the 13th October. The basis of the mobile game was that the player has a girlfriend – it is a dating simulator game with over 100 different virtual girls to choose from and each of these girls have their own voice actress. The relationship is measured through dates you go to with your girlfriend – other features include engaging in different activities whether they be in school classes or as part of a club. There is also battle events where bad guys can appear. The game is free to play but a player can buy premium services.
Let me begin by saying I had no idea what this anime was an adaptation of before I saw it – I knew these games existed I just had no idea an anime was being made of one. So I am looking at this from the anime point of view and not the game since I have never played. As an anime my first impression was cute fan service, there is not really a better way to describe it. There is outright fan service but it is teamed with cute character animation – making it palatable for a viewer not interested in the fan service. As far as story goes – you will be waiting, the first episode was more interested in introducing as many of the girls as possible rather than giving us an outright story making me believe this could be a yuri anime what with having such a female character base. I understand there is probably going to be a romance thrown in there somewhere but the first episode was not very interested in establishing it or a story other than what seems to be main girl Kokomi returning a picture to another girl called Lemaire.
Will I Continue to Watch: No, as terminally cute as it was I don’t think I could take the lack of story behind it.
What did you think of this week’s anime? What have you been watching? Let us know in the comments!
