Okay, since this is my second post on this blog, as well as the second post in which I'm going to mildly shaft a series, I'd just like to take a moment to say that I intend to say positive things on this blog as well (I do not intend for this to become a 'whine about things I don't like' blog). It's just that the first couple things I wanted to post about happened to have a bit of a negative bent.
That being out of the way, I am now going to give my impression of Shuffle!, which is based on the first ten or so episodes of the series
It's probably somewhat unfair of me to judge a series so early on like this, especially since at least one of my favorite series had a very weak start and my brother tells me that that Shuffle! is supposed to get a lot better later on. Nevertheless, what I've seen of the series so far doesn't leave me very impressed.
At it's heart, Shuffle! is a harem show, making it part of a genre that I have mixed feelings about. I don't have a very high impression of harem shows as a whole, but being a big Love Hina fan, I have to admit that there's the occasional one that can be pretty good. Unfortunately, there's a lot of mediocre and even downright bad harem shows out there (being a Love Hina fan, I'm going to point out the awful Love Hina Again OVAs as an example of how bad the genre can be). So far, Shuffle seems to fall firmly into the mediocre category.
The basic premise of Shuffle is thus: ten years ago, portals opened between Earth and two other worlds -the World of the Gods and the World of the Demons (just as a note, the terms 'god' and 'demon' should be used somewhat loosely with regards to this show, since the gods aren't really very divine and the demons aren't really very evil). This has led to an Earth that is shared between all three species. It also resulted in the Lords of both the gods and the demons making trips to Earth and somehow losing track of their daughters, who met up with a kind human boy. Now, years later, the two girls want to meet that boy again, and their fathers seem quite approving -not only do they let their daughters attend his school, but they expect him to choose one of the two and marry her (and in the process, become either a god or a demon himself). And of course, this being a harem show, there have to be a few other girls who have an interest in the boy as well. Among them his doting childhood friend, whom he's lived with since his parents were killed in an accident several years before.
The Lord of the Demons (Left) and the Lord of the Gods (Right).They're definetly buddies and they don't behave the way you might expect.
Their daughters, Nerine and Sia. They're kind of cute, but that cutenessalone isn't going to get them onto my list of favorite anime girls...
What all this results in, is a somewhat amusing, but not really all that great comedy show. Sure, there are some good laughs (the Lords of the gods and the demons are apparently friends, and their antics are not exactly what you'd expect from beings with their titles) but it failed to really hook me in. I can enjoy a romantic element in a series (I'm a big fan of the Sousuke/Kaname pairing in Full Metal Panic!, and the Eri/Harima pairing in School Rumble), but I'm not that into the complex mess of relationships in this anime, and I also feel that the series has too much in the way of cheap laughs and cheap fan service. It's not as bad as some shows are (at least judging by what I've seen of this one so far) but it's really not that great. Frankly, the first ten episodes may suffice if you're bored, low on stuff to watch, or a fan of harem shows. Otherwise, you don't need to get into a frenzy over this one.
Another guy voiced by the voice actor who played Kyon...
3 comments:
Disagreed. I think Shuffle is MUCH BETTER then Love Hina, and in fact is an example to the genre. Sure, it has flaws, but it also has good points. The female characters don't beat up the male lead for bad reasons, it doesn't rely on absurdity for humour, and many of the scenes can be quite heartwarming. And it's still funny! Also, the complex relationships are in my opinion a major strong point of the anime. And both from what I've scene and heard, there's a fair bit of good stuff coming up in the anime. Sure, it's slower paced then something like Love Hina or Magikano, but I don't think that's a serious flaw.
Um... are you so sure about the 'doesn't rely on absurdity' for humour part? I would think it does somewhat, not that that's such a big flaw, other shows use absurd stuff as well.
Also, seriously, some of the fan service in the series really does come across as cheap. As for how male leads are treated -admittedly, Kietaro getting the crap kicked out of him by Naru and Motoko was a bit repetitive, but it was funny, and it kind of avoided the problem Shuffle! (and probably other harem shows as well) has of having a bunch of girls fawning over the male lead. Also, I suppose the relationships involving the male lead (what's his name again?) could be considered complex, but in my view they're messy. Two many people with the same object of affection, so when one person makes a move... well, are we really supposed to expect it to go anywhere when it happens this early in the series?
Uh... Shuffle does have some absurd humour, but very little of it.
How are the relationships "messy", and how is that a bad thing? Yes, a few girls like the same guy, but it's well justified for the most part. And the series is quite enjoyable, even heartwarming at times (you haven't hit the more serious stuff yet). Sure, it doesn't have the fast paced comedy of Magikano or Love Hina, but this is a comedy/romance/drama hybrid, not a straight comedy.
I do agree some of the fanservice is excessive or poorly drawn, though, although there's some decent stuff in there too.
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