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Apr 06 2015

Categories: episodic review
Tagged: disappearance of yuki nagato

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“This is a shy girl’s story.”

Disappearance of Yuki Nagato? More like the Disappearance of Kyoto Animation more like it, amirite? I guess both yes and no. The whole conceit of Yuki Nagato is that the series can never be as good as Haruhi Suzumiya: the plot is stripped away, the characters are simplified, and the genre changed. I view this spin-off like Raising Ayanami or any other Eva spin-off where the focus is on high school rather than battling angels (the same with all the Attack on Titan spin-offs too). It’s like, “Hey, let’s just toss the characters into the most generic anime setting and plot possible!”

The bigger issues are that (a) Kyon is no longer the narrator. He is one of anime’s premier narrators, and anime as a genre does not produce many great narrators. And (b) Satelight replaces Kyoto Animation, which is as difficult as being the next male performer who follows Ron Jeremy in a scene. Have you ever wanted to watch more Haruhi, except with boring, sparse backgrounds, inconsistent character designs, and lackluster animation? Well, said no one ever. And that’s really the issue with this show. It’s an impossible act to follow.

I think the best chance for Yuki Nagato is if the show develops its own pace and own plot, but as I have read a bit of the manga, I doubt that is the case. The pacing is a bit too slow, and nothing feels new or different enough about the show. I also feel like the spin-off would work better if the cast were tossed onto Wall Maria having to defend it from titans.

Kyon kinda still feels like Kyon, but Yuki is totally someone else. The biggest disconnect is that she’s playing on her Vita in the club room instead of reading… how is any version of Yuki Nagato who favors video games over reading in the club room acceptable?! The way she behaves in this show almost reminds me of Ayu from Kanon.

Oddly, I’m okay with everyone’s new character design except for Yuki and Kyon, which is kind of an issue since they are the two main characters. They both look a bit too round, and Kyon looks a bit too babyfaced and a bit too Kirito-ized. Yuki looks like someone is trying to cosplay as Yuki. I understand Satelight might want to put their own touch on the show, but I find neither character designs appealing. Satelight also simplified the school uniforms. Ugh. Going from Kyoto to Satelight is like going from Vin Diesel to Sean Boswell.

(Probably my favorite part of Furious Seven is how much muscle butter Vin Diesel and The Rock must have used throughout filming the movie.)

Best part of the episode? Apparently, in this universe, Mikuru doesn’t wear a bra. That breast physics engine hard at work.

I did enjoy the whole LOL FANG-TAN vs. Asakura sequence. The two may be a bit too similar in this universe, but I liked both characters and good to see them develop a natural rivalry. I would definitely watch a spin-off where LOL FANG-TAN and Asakura go around and visit hot springs all over Japan.

Watching clothes dry is still more interesting than most of cable TV these days. Still, doesn’t Yuki have another shirt to wear? Is that her only piece of clothing?

I do like the comic faces. Satelight should just do all the animations like this.

I’m okay with references to famous scenes from Haruhi Suzumiya. Just please don’t reference Endless Eight.

(What other series can use re-imaginings of their characters? Maybe Gurran Lagann can become a baseball anime where Kamina is the star pitcher, but he breaks his arm in the seventh episode, resulting in Simon being thrust into the starting pitcher’s role? Fate/Stay Night becomes a video game world where each servant is actually controlled by a player… the video game world features two teams of five, as they try to destroy the other team’s ancient. The boys of the Iwatobi Swim Club are now prisoners inside a maximum security jail, and they must escape to become free.)

Three MVPs…

1. Kyoto Animation.

2. Itsuki’s two frame cameo.

3. Mikuru’s bra.