I, I know, super late on this one, plus Impz already did a little writeup on it. However, I will be picking this up for the season, and I wanted to say a few small things about it before episode 2 gets subbed. Best not to fall behind at the beginning! So, I’m sure that most have seen this already, and Impz already did a brief summary, so I’ll leave that out and jump right in!
Well, the plot of this first episode was a bit generic, it was the main cast meeting for the first time and generally just meandering around the school, trying to find their way into class. Done before, yes, but if you were waiting on the plot to decide whether or not to watch this show, then you kind of missed the boat. There were a few things that made this show stand out to me, enough to make me want to commit to it for the whole season, so let’s talk about that for a bit.
The first thing that caught my attention was the promo image released several months ago. I absolutely love the color scheme of the outfits. I never really knew I liked orange and black so much till I saw it on a school uniform, I guess. The sharp design of the characters also stood out, and I was instantly curious about the look of the show. I was quite impressed with the animation on this first episode; I thought the scenes with the sky and the other backgrounds were especially well done. The animation can get a bit sparse around the characters themselves, but the clean, simple lines of the faces gave it a look of minimalism, not really low-budgetry.
There wasn’t quite as much music as I would have liked, several scenes being almost entirely silent. That being said, when they did throw in some music, the effect was much more evident and jarring – the scene where Ayumi is trying to decide whether or not to ask Tatsui if she is lost was scored by a classical tune that is the personification of Tatsui’s snobby, frigid demeanor. So hurried and cold, it sent a shiver down my spine and I fully empathized with Ayumi at that moment. (it was the first movement of Winter, fittingly enough, from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.)
Each girl seemed to follow a pretty standard archetype, and this grouping is as standard as fighter-thief-white mage-black mage, but you gotta go with what works. The girls fit their archetypes to a T:
The sweet, clueless new girl, Ayumi Nonomura
The queen bee, Tatsui Iizuka
The wacky one, Torako Kageyama
The Wild Card, Suzume Saotome
I laughed quite a few times in this episode; it’s just quirky enough to catch my attention, while different enough from the shows like this that I’ve seen before to keep me interested. I have heard a lot of people talk about turning the show off after the seemingly endless hallway scene at the beginning, but I honestly didn’t think it was too long – at least, not long enough to really bother me. Some scenes were quite funny – I was so surprised by the scene where Torako gut-punches the teacher that I spit beer all over the place.
This was a really neat slice-of-life, and I’m glad that it didn’t stray into parody or over-the-top annoying slapstick. I was genuinely surprised when the girls jumped out of the 2nd story window, and I found myself enjoying the ride along with Ayumi, which is exactly what I wanted from this show. I knew what I was getting into, and I’m glad to say that Hyakko delivered exactly what it promised. The next episodes is already out, so that’s all I’ll say for now, but I am looking forward to blogging this show. I think that this is going to be a fun little comedy, and I’m not expecting anything major or groundbreaking in the plot department. All I really want is some light-hearted fun, and think Hyakko has a lot to offer.
The first of many lectures, I’m sure
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9 Comments
It’s a nice show. I like it.
I couldn’t help but think I was watching a rerun of Lucky Star or AzuDaioh while watching this.
The characters seem quirky but cliched. I also didn’t like how they spent the entire episode lost at school. It was kind of a dumb intro, imo.
This series looks like it’s going to be a very formulaic school life comedy. I like the character designs but the comedy seems kind of predictable. Most of the laughs are going to come from confrontations between the series Odd couple of the foursome. The outgoing, outspoken, flighty Torako (a blond Konata sans the Otaku interests) and the cool, calculating meganekko Tatsui (Kagami with glasses).
I’ll watch it for another episode or two to confirm whether or not this series merits a full season’s worth of viewing time.
Torako is quite a delightful character, but that’s about it. Hyakko just seems like a compilation of other similar series like Minami-ke. It doesn’t look like there’s going to be any plot whatsoever, the main attention on exploring the girls’ personal quirks through random situations.
If it weren’t for Ayumi, I might be willing to give this the benefit of a doubt, but her character is downright annoying, and with the wide selection of shows to choose from this season, Hyakko is not worth bothering with.
@ myu
ayumi is one annoying girl, i agree and to make matters worse she is the “main”-girl who tells the story, even if hirano aya is the voice actor. T_T
but there were 2 scenes i thought were pretty funny, the jump out of the window and broken leg and the punch from the teacher to the girl(to bad it was not real). ^^
btw. suzumeis cute, right? =]
Check out my anime music blog: http://worldofanimemusic.blogspot.com
@ LDC
Me too ;P
@ Halcyon
I definitely didn’t get the lucky star vibe from this, the manic pace and the quick changes of setting/topic were mostly absent. This seems like a steadier-paced slice-of-life, which I was ready for. They can’t all be KyoAni shows, for better or for worse
@ Myu
I liked Torako as well, but Ayumi didn’t really bother me at all. Her shyness wasn’t absurd; I thought the level was perfect for a new kid at the first day of school, albeit a shy kid. She wasn’t annoying to me, and those character types get annoying fast. Plus, Hirano.
@ tommykn
I was actually the most meh about Suzume, to be honest. Man, what’s with all the hate on this show? I guess we are spoiled with mind blowing first episodes and non-stop hilarity, but this show is charming enough to give it the benefit of the doubt, at least in my opinion ;P
@ Ryvius
Tu sais, quand quelqu’un as quelqe chose intéressant à dire, je cherche toujours leur blog. J’ai vu la tien cette fois, et c’est bien intéressant, mais la prochaine fois, s’il te plait, écriver plus que “click me.”
@jiff
Seen one school slice of life comedy seen ‘em all, I suppose. This one really didn’t stand out in the first episode either in the comedy dept or the slice of life dept so it’s really, really hard to like this show based on the bland, long and drawn out intro we got with the first episode. The pacing just seemed way, way too slow.
Maybe it’ll pick up with additional episodes but as Myu said there’s just too many other shows out there this season that also deserve a first (and possibly second) look to dedicate time to a show which has a less than impressive first impression.
My fave has to be Iizuka. She’s such an awesome comedic foil. LOVE her overreactions and queen-bee-ness.
Despite it being one of many, I think Hyakko compares well. Mainly because of its impeccable comedic timing and smooth slice-of-life aspect that doesn’t overimpose its them like Azumanga sometimes did.
Speaking of the ‘long drawn out intro’ aspect, I thought it brought about a certain mysterious feel to the opening. And it drove home how HEUG the school was. I thought that in itself was funny.
I honestly don’t understand the ADHD people are getting in expecting episode 1 greatness. Sorry, I’m not in that bandwagon.