Initial Thoughts: A Trio Of Titles

Tonight! We will be looking at the following series: Kamisama no Memochou, Ikoku Meiro no Croisée, and Nyanpire The Animation. So a show about NEETs solving crimes, a show about adorable Japanese girls in France, and a show about a vampire kitty. Variety much? Yes!

Initial Thoughts: Kamisama no Memochou

"It's the only NEET thing to do!"

Narumi Fujishima is barely a blip on anyone's radar, and that's exactly how he wants it. But after a chance encounter on the streets with a couple of suspicious looking kids outside a love motel, his classmate Ayaka ends up dragging him into a world of NEET detectives led by the eccentric shut-in Alice who lives in her tiny apartment filled with computers and stuffed bears. Despite Narumi's attempts to remain just 'one pixel' when it comes to not being noticed, his life has taken an unusually active turn.

First off, I did not realize going into it that Kamisama no Memochou would be 47 minutes long. Apparently it was a double episode? Well, I'm glad it was; I don't think I would have liked it as much if I had to watch it split into two parts. From what I hear though, I'll have to wait two weeks to watch the next episode. Bah! Normally it wouldn't matter except that I really really liked this show so far. Why? Let me tell you!

We have our unlikely main protagonist - Narumi, who would rather disappear than be caught up in the middle of a mystery - and our 'heroine' of the series - the rather moe and intelligent Alice. The fact that everyone pretty much looks up to her and does what she says makes me wonder what we haven't seen of Alice that has drawn so many fellow NEETs to her in the name of solving mysteries. The idea of social recluses and rejects taking matters into their own hands and using their unusual skills for saving people is an appealing and interesting one and so far it’s got me hooked on the adventures of Narumi and Alice. I’ve seen comparisons to Gosick, another atypical detective team series, and it isn’t terribly far off the mark.

The only down part of the whole thing is the awful ending theme. Ugh! Still, at this moment Kamisama no Memochou is the must-watch new series of the season for me.

Initial Thoughts: Ikoku Meiro no Croisée

“At the end of 19^th century Paris, at Galerie Du Roy, a glass-roofed galerie far behind the times, a Japanese Girl named Yune coul be seen. However, only a few people knew about her.”

A man named Oscar comes back from a business trip to his ironwork shop in Paris, loaded with lots of Japanese collectibles – and an adorable little girl in a kimono named Yune. She is apparently the best storefront sign in all of Nagasaki, and now she is working for their shop as an assistant and to attract customers. Oscar’s nephew Claude, who does most of the ironwork himself, is reluctant at first to let Yune help but is eventually swayed by her moe charms.

To this I say: meh. Is it incredibly adorable? Yes. Is the animation lush and colorful? Yes. Is Yune not the most adorable little girl you’ve ever seen run around in a busy Paris street while wearing clogs and a kimono? Yes! But this show overall doesn’t seem to have any higher ambitions beyond cute girls acting cute in a French ironwork shop.

 

Which isn’t to say that over time Ikoku Meiro no Croisée won’t find some hidden depths in its rather basic set-up – in the first episode we do see some interesting sparks of development between Oscar and Yune, and the idea of these two cultures clashing could be explored well enough in stories to come – but given the fact that it only has twelve episodes, I have to wonder how much depth it could drum up in such short time? Still, it is cute and could be worth watching for a couple more episodes at least.

Initial Thoughts: Nyanpire

A little black kitty is close to death, lying in the street, when he is found by a vampire. He feeds the wee kitty some of his blood, turning him into a cat vampire – Nyanpire! Now Nyanpire lives with his human caretaker Misaki as he spends his eternal life being an adorable blood-drinking kitten.

So what can I say about Nyanpire? It is an adorable five-minute per episode anime about a small black kitty who also drinks blood and lives forever. Oh, and he has wings! Don’t come into it expecting any great feats of intellectual fortitude; this is the fun to watch anime for a lazy afternoon when you don’t want to think too terribly much. Besides, given how burnt out pop culture is with the vampire faze, it’s nice to see one entry that doesn’t take itself seriously at all.

And, of course, there was the live action MV-style ending sequence by Nyadain and Nyatsuko, which was ridiculous and a whole lot of fun to watch. Probably just an excuse to dress up in a lot of silly costumes and goof off while on camera, but it was funny!