Sunrise often takes a lot of libertes with their work, and divides the fans and the haters. Here comes a show that is made by Sunrise working on a manga adaptation drawn by Korean artists. A possible hit or a miss by a mile? Continue to read for more details.
Summary
At night, a group of people were searching for a “Mototsumitama.” Keita is a high school student who lost his mother at a very young age. As he woke up, her neighbors noted that a lady was involved in a minor accident. The neighbor then apologized since they remember how Keita’s mother died (in a car accident). Keita was late for class, and met Risa her classmate on the way to school. Keita was clearly trying to keep his distance away from his friends. He saw a person that looked exactly like his deceased mother boarding a train. At a concert, Risa saw a girl exactly like her in a concert and she mischievously mentioned that it was her doppelganger. Surprised at the appearance of that look-a-like, Keita tried to give chase to the train before losing sight eventually.
The next day, Keita murmured that he could never forget that day. Later that evening, he continued his routine of eating ramen at the shop. A strange girl appeared and wanted to eat ramen, but she did not have enough money to buy ramen. As she eyed Keita with a sparkle, Keita decided to treat the girl. The ramen owner offered to treat Keita, but he said it was all right. The owner asked whether Keita was living alone, and asked about his parents. Keita started asking the owner about doppelganger. The strange girl corrected him, stating that the world was like Doppel liner. A person exists in three forms, a root and two doppelgangers. When the root met with the doppelganger, the doppelganger will die almost soon. Her speech was interrupted by the appearance of a man, who swung a baseball bat right at the girl’s head. He then called her a “Mototsumitama.” When the man was about to swing at her, Keita tried to stop him.
The man easily dispatched Keita, and told him not to interfere. The girl murmured that she was annoyed that her ramen was spilled since it was a rare occasion for her to be treated. The girl and the man started to fight viciously. After a huge struggle, she eventually beat the man to a pulp. The girl then mysteriously disappeared. Back at home, Akane asked if Keita was trying to avoid human relationships because of the accident. However, a news flash showed her friend Risa dying in an accident. The next day, Maya his neighbor’s child told Keita that she met a girl that looked like her. Maya immediately died soon after rushing onto a car. The mysterious girl appeared again, saying that the child was not the root.
Thoughts
Ok, Sunrise definitely surprised me. I thought they are only good at butchering the plot but this is probably a bloody exciting show. I can understand why Calawain has a strong interest in this show because it is based on a very interesting premise. I like the whole idea about a person existing in three forms to provide a balance of life. In a way, it explains how the life force of human kinds continue to be constant in this world by passing the life force of the substitutes to the root. I bet that they will eventually explore the death of Keita’s mother too, and that will be an episode I cannot wait to watch.
I am also happy that they manage to open up some ideas that have quite a few loopholes that might be explored eventually. I did not read the manga at all, but there are surely some situations where some people might have illegal methods to break the balance of this world. I do wonder how they will explore the story, and why this strange girl decided to appear to Keita. Keita might have something to do with the balance of the world (if it follows normal story conventions unlike Ga Rei Zero’s first episode).
Characters are not illuminating by any measure. Keita is the typical brooding high school boy who fears to get close to anyone after his mother died. I have no clue why he did that, but it feels like a very strange reason to keep his distance away after so many years. The trauma is obviously big, but it felt a bit surrealistic. Akane is just clingy and ditsy. I am not sure if she has any significant role to play other than being a huge-breasted woman. Other than that, we have the generic “I am a bad guy.” That said, Kuro’s character does interest me a lot due to the mysterious element.
Since this is an early release, there is no OP but I have heard that Kuribayashi Minami is the one in charge of the song. That will be a very interesting choice and Panther professed that she is a very good singer. I will see during the official first episode whether he is speaking the truth or not. In terms of ambiance, I felt that Sunrise has done a pretty good job on the show. The sounds fit nicely and the music during that excellent fighting scene is also done tastefully.
Now, the animation is just pretty darn good. It might not be crystal clear due to the low resolution of the raw I got, but the fighting scene between Kuro and the baseball guy is very fluid and exciting. I can actually feel myself going “Wow, this fight scene is pretty darn good animation.” Sunrise has made a good piece of anime, and it seems like the manga is pretty interesting as well. If they can build on the good concept and explore the themes of balance and the world, this will be a good thing to watch if you have nothing better to do.
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19 Comments
“Characters are not illuminating by any measure. Keita is the typical brooding high school boy who fears to get close to anyone after his mother died.”
hopefully if they just don’t do that as a convenient set up for a BIG CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT later then I won’t have to watch it out of social-memetic obligatory participation
In the manga, Keita already has a job. He’s definitely not a high school boy. Shit, I’m already preparing myself to see how badly Sunrise are going to butcher it.
awaiting sub*
LOL. They put Keita in school now? So that they would have a school setting?!. LMAO. Sunrise butchered the plot, right down to the bone, sheesh…
“Keita is the typical brooding high school boy who fears to get close to anyone after his mother died”, So now school emo-boy is the fad? My god, they even butchered the character?! (Keita is a known carefree kind of a guy in the manga)
I see an ahoge~ Interest++
Mmm…
keita as a school boy… ~_~
this might seem awkward.
I’m following the manga, and was anticipating the anime. Though, with this change of settings, i wonder how much difference it’d be in terms of atmosphere…..
*sigh*
oh well.. i’ll still follow to see how it goes.
This is one of the shows I am extremely looking forward to(despite the stupid changes such as Keita in high school, I have no clue why they did that). I expected high quality animation and it seems that Sunrise delivers. The manga is ok but I wouldn’t say it’s outstanding(I’m not that far into it like only 58 chapters or w/e has been scanlated).
@Lelangir: let’s have a bet. That WILL HAPPEN. It is Sunrise after all, the animation team that prides itself for creating a shitstorm of LULZ that will resound to the edge of the galaxy. I am very sure that they will do just that, and the minor spoilers I hear seems to indicate some sudden mega character development where he turns from a wimp to a hero. That said, it is NOT EVEN a spoiler because every single shounen out there is about this. Meh.
@Hikari: Well, from what I have heard from other anime bloggers, the change is aiming to make Keita less alienating simply because his original character in the manga is so detesting that most new viewers of the show will feel like killing him with a stick of pain.
@Seme: Hopefully it will appear soon.
@Kypm: haha, do read my reply with Hikari. I guess anything including a school setting will lessen the hate and increase the fanservice. Or something similarly stupid. I think it is to make sure that all those sex-starved otakus can find someone to relate to. Maybe.
@Schneider: Don’t tell me. Next fetish: Drooling.
@Jalin: Hmm, I do not know but the concept is at least interesting. Hopefully, you do not need to hear my great disdain of how Sunrise happily butchers stuff again. Hear that from Calawain.
@Jarnel: Arr, ok. Maybe there is still some hope left.
…This is one of the shows I will try to watch in order to restart my fandom into anime, and I hear it’s getting a sequential Sunrise treatment. LULZ.
I CAST DROOLING CAT ON YOU!
Impz, manga Keita was hardly more of a douchebag than someone like Lelouch and Lelouch is one of the most popular characters ever. Luke from Tales of the Abyss is far worse than manga Keita so I don’t know why they made this change.
Actually watched the ep. Wow, really really good fight scene. What a way to start the year! Hope that the animation stays consistent like this.
And not only is Kuro hot, she knows how to make cute faces too!
So it seems half the audience for this show is only watching because they want the chance to freak out if something is changed from the manga and to start some memes going wherever possible (ahahaha…memes are so funny *rolls eyes*). I guess this really is how people watch their anime in the online circles now. I had thought it was just a phase, but nope, it’s the real deal, anime fandom has actually gone that downhill. Lame start to 2009…..
@ Kaioshin Sama:
No, this is how people watch their Sunrise anime in online circles…
Isn’t it funny how Kaioshin is nowhere when people slammed the shit out of Chaos Head being a crap adaption from the game yet when people dare to say his beloved Sunrise fucked up he’s everywhere? Where were you when Kimikiss game fans where bitching about Kimikiss? When light novel fans were bitching at J.C Staff for Shana and Znt? When manga fans were tearing Madhouse a new one for that crappy Claymore ending? Oh Kaioshin you selective warrior you, I would say change your name to Sunrise Apologist but your name is synonymous with it anyway, so I guess there’s no need.
Hmmm…seems like an interesting anime. Too bad I didn’t understand half of what they were saying…(therefore I relied on your blog here to get what this is all about). *sigh* if only I knew jap. Anyways, is there going to be any fansubs subbing this? I heard it got licensed by Bandai Entertainment and it seems they’re only going to release dubs for this. And as far as I know, english dubs suck balls.
By the way, the action scene in this was AWESOME! xD.
now… let’s see if Sunrise will disappoint us with the future episodes…
You have to update your poll.
Looks like I’m watching this after I get back to Vancouver from my X’mas holidays here in Manila.