What am I watching - Denpa Onna To Seishun Otoko

A slice-of-life comedy of alien proportions

                                                   

 Despite being a huge anime fan, I am probably the last guy you want to get into a conversation with if your questions include the word season. You see, I don't ever follow an anime by season or whatever. I just go on animenewsnetwork or anime-planet or hell, I'll just go to Moviestop and just experiment a little, to get my anime fill. But after one long hang-out session with a pal o' mine, I found out two things.

1. I haven't been rabidly downloading new anime since 2008. I'm a sad fucking excuse of an anime fan if I don't know what exactly most kids know about. I know, it's flawed logic, but this is running through my head. Couldn't catch it, out of shape, you get the memo.
2. If I'm going to work within this industry, I better get used to them CGI technologiez. 

What I mean to say is this. I am a follower of the old-school. Everything I own if from the 60's-early 2000's. My favorite decade is the 80's for their City Hunters, obnoxious aliens, and North Star encrusted fists. That's just how I roll. I'm not a big fan of how newer shows require that a mech, car, or plane in question has to be a different dimension than everyone else. It's as though those poor animators forgot how to draw them or something (I know that surely is not the case). But I can hang with the newer stuff, and like I already said, I was relatively updated through torrents and discussion forums. Then College happened, and I kinda stopped posting about Pro Wrestling and Anime. This is the first anime post I've made since October 2008. Yeah.

     So, my friend gets me started on the track to recovery with a few titles: Ano Hi Mata Hana No Namae O Bokutachi Wa Mada Shiranai (calling it Ano Hana from now on), Han Zemi, and Denpa Onna To Seishun Otoko.

Alien or not: you decide...

Synopsis - Denpa Onna To Seishun Otoko is a story about... you know what? I'll just quote it.

"The story revolves around a highschool boy named Niwa Makoto. He lives with his aunt’s family since his parents are away on business. It is there where he meets his mysterious cousin of the same age Touwa Erio — who happens to tie a futon mattress around her upper body and is a self-proclaimed alien. Her staple food is pizza. Erio had been missing for half a year and was found floating in the sea. She doesn't remember anything about what happened during that period of time, but she began to think that it was the act of an alien and wanders the neighborhood wrapped in the futon."

Review - So I couldn't sum up the story, sue me. But I did get most of it.

Before I begin, let me start by saying that I didn't know what the title meant. Apparently, Denpa Onna To Seishun Otoko means Electric Wave Woman and Youthful Man, with emphasis on electric, because that refers to a type of person who believes in crazy ideals like aliens transmitting messages through your right testicle. I mean, sure that makes sense, but not everyone is quite as logical as we are. Anywho, I'm kind of reviewing this show based on the 2 episodes I have seen. 

With that said, the plot so far is original, to say the least. I know, I can't make a proper judgement of plot with just 2 episodes. But what I will say is that it holds up fairly well. 

If there's something to write home about, it is certainly the characters. The show's strength lies in it's characterization and mood. SHAFT seems to be very good at making shows that have that oddly calm feel, all the while some nut is on the screen rambling about how suicide is the right way (Zetsubou) . Speaking of weirdoes, I personally think the characters especially made the show, especially Erio. When I first saw her as she sat down at the dinner table with Meme and Makoto. Erio, just chilling while she's wrapped in a futon just repeatedly kicks at the poor Makoto, while he's trying to wrap his head around this strange woman talking to him.  And it's not just the folks at home.

Makoto's classmates are also quite familiar with the strange. I like Ryuuko/Ryuushi's cheeriness, and if the second episode is of any indication, she may have something to do with Erio quitting school (don't spoil me, guys). Maekawa is an interesting character as well. A "secret member" of the Arts club, she gets motion sickness if she raises her hands above her head for ten seconds. Because of this frailty, she hasn't been contacted by the basketball, track, or any club of that sort. Don't know what the creator of the series will do with her, but she is cool. As stated before, the real seller to me (or anyone, really) was Erio. Her random expressions of humans and their misunderstandings of aliens (I am only re-educating you about how irrational it is to refuse developing extraterrestrial cultural relations..). Her absoluteness spontaneity in essence, brings this show's true character to light. So, it's this category that ultimately won me over.

I liked the music. One thing that appeases me a bit is that unlike many shows nowadays, this show's opening (rightly called Wassup Alien!) actually corresponds with the show's meaning, with lyrics like "Wearing my pajamas, I've been skipping school; Actually, I've dropped out before the arrival of summer break"). Definite positive.

The design of the opening is cool, what with the vectorized lightning and minimalist begininning..  I adored the motion graphics of the opening as well. Maybe it's just me liking monochromatic 3D  objects with minimum (and strong) colors within said composition, but the opening scene with the CG box and the motion blur on the corners was exquisite. Erio herself, especially in the first two episodes. One scene in particular that, and this is just personal, looked awesome was how beautiful Erio looked when she first came out of her futon. Don't know why, really, but I wouldn't be surprised if she wasn't quite human.

Overall, this show was fun as hell to watch. The characters were filled with life, none of them bored me. Though the plot seems to run as a "slice-of-life" kind of show, so I'll give the show credit that it didn't move at a snail's pace, especially considering the characters within the show. Can't pick out any negatives, considering 1) I'm barely at the beginning of this series and 2) It's fan-friggin'-tastic. I can see, however, how someone might not like the random fan service, but I'd normally just reply, "Where have you been?" and accuse them of being inferior earth beings while I fly away on my crinkety bicycle. Great presentation and solid music, Don't be surprised to see me post an update. 

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Story - 7

Characters - 8

Content - 7.5

Animation - 9

Music - 8.5

Overall - 8.5

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