Sunday, October 26, 2014

Dawnleaf Watches Le Fruit de la Grisaia: Episode 1 – OF COURSE



So, our incredibly creative plot of a boy transferring into an all-girls school gets going…

… wait.  You have this giant school for six students?  Really?  Then why are the classrooms completely full of desks?  Why are there only six?  What the hell?  And, of course, the main character gets the desk by the window.  In his bubble of isolation.


These moe-as-hell girls all have the same face, and it really does not convey drama or subtlety, which this anime apparently wants to do.  It wants to be dark and intense, but these big-eyed dumb moefaces can’t convey anything like that.  Their eyes are far too big to allow me to take them seriously.   And it’s really noticeable, especially because the guy character has far more realistic proportions.  Not like this anime gives a shit about him, as he, the main character, doesn’t show up in the promo material.  We just get the anime chicks.  Shocker.  


Sucks, because the lighting and background detail here is actually very, very good.  Shading is conveyed excellently, and even stylishly.  But, again, the very cartoony character designs look very strange and poorly integrated, as the well-drawn, realistic backgrounds do not mesh with these less reserved designs.  It’s like if Hollywood made a serious murder mystery movie, and everything was very dark and serious except for the fact that everyone wore pink footie pajamas.  It’s a bit distracting, is what I’m saying.  The director for this deserves a cookie (well, if he cuts out all of the perv-shots).  The character designer, not so much. 


Of course, he gets a sexy pinkhaired maid.  Oh wait, no, the class representative just happens to like running around in a maid outfit, you know, just for funzies.  Nothing stupid here.  Carry on.


Then, of course, we get Senjougahara.  Um, I mean her less-awesome cousin.  Speaking of Senjougahara, wasn’t her dialogue so well-written?  I miss her.


I admit, I do kind of like the idea of having a girl who is actually quite nice pretending to be a tsundere to get men’s attention.  But this is a harem, so any good ideas it has will all be split up and shelved and every character’s screentime will be one fifth what it should be and there will be no resolution.  And she’s pretty annoying, anyway.


Oh, yes, we get the loli girl who like snacks.  Creative.  I know what you are all thinking, though:  what do her panties look like?  Don’t worry, you can find that out if you merely complete the herculean task of sitting through this tripe.  However, you should note that you get added to a government watchlist if you do.


Most of the girls are introduced via pantyshots (I counted ten, because they’re so creepy and obvious that I decided to keep a running tally to help ease the pain.  It didn’t help.).  Yes, I can so easily take these characters seriously.  And they’re dumb, as they don’t seem to even notice that they’re displaying their underwear for everyone to see.  Either that, or they’re just exhibitionists.  Or this anime is meant to be viewed with one hand under the table. Who knows?  And there’s plenty of breast bounces for even more funzies (we even get some censored spotlight breasts!). 


They’re like the sun.  You can’t look directly at them, or you go blind.
I’m perfectly fine with an anime having some pervyness (see: Bakemonogatari), but even I have a line.  This anime is so awkwardly horny/pandering that I have zero trust in its ability to tell a properly-functioning story, which it seems like it wants to do. 


The really tragic thing is, there are moments of good in this episode.  The main character gets some amusing lines in, the production quality is pretty high, there’s some atmosphere, and there are even some clever moments.  This seems to be one of those shows that gets UBERDARK later on, with each of the girls having some sort of tragic past, which would certainly be more interesting than this samey pandering high-school crap.  I can even almost bring myself to excuse the most blatantly pandering scene (“Oh, I snuck in you room and stripped naked just because it’s too far to walk to my room to get changed!  And I forgot to lock the door!  Teehee!”), because the character turns out to just be doing that to distract the protagonist from what she’s really doing (searching his room, which he caught her doing).  I mean, she’s still slutty (and it’s still dumb), but at least the writers are actually trying to think their way through this instead of going DOOHOOGIRLSHAVEBREASTSYAY.  In fact, someone more forgiving than I might even say that all of the panty shots are because the girls are trying to seduce him so he doesn’t notice their sinister activities.  However, to that I say this: what about this, then?


…so, I really can’t forgive this.  I know that this was apparently adapted from an adult visual novel, but the makers really could have taken the high road and cut this crap out, as telling a good story (that people take seriously) generally doesn’t mix well with awkward teenage-boy-pandering pseudoporn.  Maybe this episode had a ton of ecchi just to get butts in the seats, and they’ll tone down on it later once their viewership is secured?  I don’t know, but it still annoys me, and it should annoy everyone who has to sit through this stuff.  People who want to watch porn can just watch porn.  Why watch this?  I want a good story, and I don’t feel like having to weather this fap material to get to it.


Um… at least this anime’s pervyness is equal-opportunity?



Crap, now I want to watch an anime where a girl transfers into an all-boy school and has a bunch of sexy boys tripping over themselves to get her attention.  And they’re actually part of a murder cult or something.  

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