This is the only show I watch on Nico Nico with the comments on because it makes the show actually enjoyable.
What They Say:
During the day they really are just students at St.Cherine academy, but they can also become the Twin Angel duo, and fight against the evils of the town! The lovely Angels are back, and it’s time for them to get ready for some action!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Twin Angel: Twinkle Paradise moves right along with some awkward moments here and there, which are beautifully exemplified by the comments that scroll across the Nico Nico stream. The show opens with a couple of students talking about an interest in guys like twenty years old while another shows Saijou waiting in an office that has mounted animal trophies on the wall to give it a class of elegance and creepiness. The focus on Saijou is pretty strong at the start here as she ends up gaining the job in a strangely heavily romanticized series of events that feels like it’s disconnected from the show in general. Saijou isn’t a bad character, but the focus on her is awkward and at her age, she’s such an utter child of a girl because of what she feels when this guy just touches her cheek is beyond ridiculous.
The first half of the episode is just a joke at this point with what it does as Saijou takes on the job and learns all sorts of things about her new boss, the company president. While he looks very cool with his massive sunglasses, fancy car that suddenly gains a chauffeur and easy access to lots of money for fine meals, he’s got some history as well as we learn about the kids that he has that he hasn’t seen in an age and a wife that is no longer with him. Saijou is alternately intoxicated by him and tearful because she knows she can never truly have him, which makes it easier for her to give in to the whole concept of marriage interviews and the like, something that her eavesdropping students are all adamantly against.
Now, there is an angle being played here with regards to Saijou and her new boss that comes into clarity in the second half, if it wasn’t already clear long before that. It’s not a bad angle in a way, but the show has such a serious tone to it here that it’s really strange considering how hyper and overactive the show has been in the first four episodes. The main trio (why are they called Twin Angels again when there’s three of them, and why are they stalkers?) keep following Saijou around to figure out why she’s going through with an arranged marriage idea as their concern is pretty strong. The whole episode just pushes Saijou further down this path, but nothing is what it seems (except that it is) and it leads to a fairly painful action sequence where everyone is just so athletic when they really have proven they’re nothing like that.
In Summary:
Painful. That describes the bulk of this episode that attempts to shift from wacky, silly comedy action to a serious and heartfelt piece in order to make a bunch of gags at the end to support it all. It’s just a mess from start to finish, making a series that was pretty rough and hard to swallow even more problematic. Nothing works here at all and the only thing that saves it is the comments from the viewers who are taking it to task for being what it is. A poor attempt at cashing in at what other shows have done a decade or two before in much better form and fashion. If there’s a worse show out there this season, I don’t think I’ve seen it yet. And after watching this one, I’d be afraid to.
Grade: D
Simulcast By: Nico Nico
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
