***Warning, the following may contain spoilers from Amanchu. Reader discretion is advised.***
Series Synopsis
Futaba “Teko” Ooki (voiced by Ai Kayano) is about to start her high school life in a town far and away from anything she has ever known. Teko has always been shy, never having the courage to try anything new, and she hopes to leave her old self behind. A task much easier said than done.
However, she isn't given much of a choice. On the first day of school, Teko meets the highly energetic Hikari “Pikari” Kohinata (voiced by Eri Suzuki), who does everything with a smile. The thing which gives her the most joy, scuba diving.
Teko cannot help but be drawn to Pikari’s constant motion; even if it means going against every instinct she has ever held dear.
Teko cannot help but be drawn to Pikari’s constant motion; even if it means going against every instinct she has ever held dear.
The two find their way to the school's diving club where Pikari signs up without any hesitation. Seeing such unabashed confidence, Teko also decides to give the club a chance.
From that day on, the two become inseparable and are soon the best of friends. Through Pikari’s never ending positivity, Teko begins to realize the world isn’t as intimidating as she once thought.
Series Positives
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| Teko |
Of all the anime of the 2016 Summer season, Amanchu was the one I was looking forward to the most. From what I saw of the series, it seemed like the type of show that would offer an interesting twist on strange, and maybe even surreal, humor. Basically I thought this could be in the same vein as Nichijou.
With that as the expectation, it wasn’t met. However, it was an expectation based in assumption. So me not getting what I thought is nothing against Amanchu since it never promised to be the next Nichijou.
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| Pikari |
That being said, it was still incredibly fun; boasting a charm and personality which was uniquely its own. It stands out and it’s hard to mistake it for something else. True, it didn’t live up to my anticipation and I didn’t enjoy it as much as I probably would have liked, but it was a great time none the less.
The Animation
The biggest surprise of Amanchu was how beautiful the animation was. This show's gorgeous. It didn’t have to go the extra step, but it did. From the character designs to the backgrounds, oh my God the backgrounds were stunning, this series knocked it out of the park.
The color and lighting were spot on. The blue of the ocean and really any body of water was vivid and bright. The way the Sun reflected off everything cased an immensely relaxing glow. There was so much emotion in this artwork. And this was just a straight up comedy.
There weren’t any heavy moments, there wasn’t much tension, and there wasn’t anything to rack up the nerves. This show is as laid back as you can get. Yet, you felt every eruption of anger, every splash of embarrassment, and every tingle of happiness.
Then if a shot ever went underwater, holy s@#$.
From beginning to end, Amanchu poured in every ounce of effort into making this one of the most visually breathtaking anime comedies I’ve ever seen. Did I expect to say that when starting this show? Not in the slightest, but it happened.
Expressive
This was what caught my attention and it was why I was ready to compare this show to Nichijou almost immediately. Having now seen the show, I can now say Amanchu is one of the most expressive anime there is.
Think about what I just said. One of the hallmarks of this medium is its expressiveness. Emotions and gestures are blown completely out of proportion and exaggerated to no end. That’s all this show is, it’s nothing but expression.
Every character may have had their standard, but describing it as such is difficult and not all that helpful when most of the time no one had a “standard”. Everyone had a giant, doofus-like look on their face. Each character had their own derp mood.
For Teko, she was always wide eyed and cowardly; everything intimidated her. Ai Ninomiya (voiced by Saori Onishi), Teko and Pikari’s senior, was fiery, angry, and had a constant gaze of plotting and mischief. Her younger twin brother, Makoto (voiced by Yuichiro Umehara), was in a perpetual state of skittishness, mostly due to him being the target of his sister’s violent outburst. The Diving Club’s facility adviser, Mato Katori (voiced by Shizuka Ito), had an everlasting look of annoyance; normally a direct result of Pikari’s antics.
And finally there’s Pikari herself. What in the hell even is she? It's questionable if anything was going on in that head of hers. She never thought about her next step. What she did and when she did it was an in-the-heat of the moment decision, and her face said it all.
These expressions never changed and this was where the show got really clever. Characters would go through a range of emotions, but only their actions, not their face, would indicate the change. It was the juxtaposition between what the character was doing versus what their face was actually showing that gave this series a lot of its funniest moments.
Pikari was the queen of this. She could get embarrassed, should could get flustered, she could even get a little shy and nervous. However, she always kept that stupid smile of hers. I don’t know why this worked, I don’t know if it would work again, but Amanchu pulled it off and repeat the benefits of it.
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| From left to right: Teko, Pikari, Mato, Ai, Makoto |
Series Negatives
Amanchu is unique and deserves to be credited as such. Its visual style sets it apart from other anime, making it one of a kind. The same cannot be said for the story or the characterizations. It’s very easy to place everyone in a well-established troupe.
The series gets away with this since it was able to present these characters in its own way. I’m always going to remember and recognize Pikair’s goofy smile, but I’m not going to remember Pikari herself. I’ve seen energetic airheads before. Without looking at her, she’s indistinguishable from other members of her character type. Same is true with Teko and the rest of the cast.
This won't take away from the enjoyment of this show. Yes, these stories and these characters have been done before, but there done well here. It’s fun for what it.
The only reason I bring this up is because, again, I was anticipating this show. Though not met with disappointment, it’s a little frustrating, for me at least, to not be able to justify that anticipation. That and this show did make a few stumbles.
Overly Whimsical
The music in this show was great, but it was also out of place. It was very relaxing and emanated a strong calmness. The music played up the majesty of the art work and complimented the scenery. Too bad this series was too energetic for that.
The cast was lively and at times doing a hundred things at once. The music on the other hand seemed like it was trying to paint a moving message of discovery and awe. This was okay at points because there were scenes that were heartfelt in nature. Except when you keep saying the next card in a deck is going to be the Ace of Spades, you’re eventually going to be right, but you’re going to get it wrong more often than not.
The whimsical angle this series seemed to be going for was extremely heavy handed. Luckily this wasn’t a big problem. The music did match up with the animation at parts; successfully creating a wondrous atmosphere that was truly amazing.
That's not the case with the dialogue.
What in the hell? Everyone spoke in motivational poster quotes. Saying something deep and thoughtful is fine and the show could have pulled that off, if that was indeed the route it wanted to take. Except when you have a forever absent minded character like Pikari saying these things, they sort of lose their meaning. Plus, when this type of dialogue is used constantly it becomes unbelievable since no one speaks like that on a regular basis.
This never got annoying, but as already stated, it was certainly out of place.
Final Thoughts
I would now very much like to pick up the Amanchu manga. While this show didn’t give me what I thought I was going to get, it still gave something worthwhile.
This series is extremely funny and it takes place under the backdrop of some of the best animation from an anime comedy. The characters are standard, but they remain a lot of fun and are among the most expressive to come out of this medium.
Amanchu doesn’t venture down its own path, but instead it goes down a familiar road in its own special way. This alone is what makes this series worth watching.
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Others in the Amanchu Series
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