Fear Kubrick. How utterly appropriate.
What They Say:
As Fear starts to settle in to her new school, supernatural agents from a mysterious organization scheme to take her out!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
After an opening episode that showed some really appealing animation with a predictable storyline, C3’s second episode has the task of showing that it can be something more than what looks to be a series that could be mapped out from start to finish based off of that first episode. What this one kicks off with is more of the predictable, but admittedly needed, as we see that Haruaki’s father has sent Fear’s stuff along to the house and she has her own room now and can finally settle in to the house. That of course throws off Konoha who again sees Fear as a threat to her long term relationship with Haruaki, not that there feels like there’s anything too awful serious there to begin with.
The everyday school life as Fear gets into her class is definitely cute and silly since she has a whole lot of appeal to kids her own age, but there’s also a dark undercurrent throughout it as well. When we have the sequence with the principal and he’s wearing a gas mask in a darkened room, it almost feels surreal and not silly in the slightest which was welcome. But the show takes those moments and sprinkles them throughout while also going with the more traditional elements, such as all the clubs wanting Fear for their own and the knowledge that Haruaki actually knows her, which in turn sets both boys and girls against him and makes his life harder as is to be expected. You can’t have a cute girl like Fear in your life without things being difficult.
When the show works a more serious angle, and a supernatural one at that by introducing the Battlefront Collection Knights, it definitely turns more interesting. Having one of the agents from it, a rather beautiful woman, arrive near the school and create a barrier in which to confront Fear as she’s with Haruaki and Konha, works well because it makes clear more of what Fear is, her abilities and the intensity of the action that the show may employ. As much as I liked the designs and animation before, it goes up a few notches here to something very well done. And even better, while we do get some background bits brought in, there are some surprises as well that ups the ante in terms of story. While Konoha seemed like the affable forlorn type, she looks to have a bigger role in things and may be far more proactive than one would originally think. It’s not so much that the show surprises you, but it turns away from predictable and offers up something that could be a lot more engaging.
In Summary:
C3 didn’t exactly excite me story wise in the first episode but it held my attention for the animation and designs. It was a show that you felt could be easily mapped out and even have a bit of a Moon Phase kind of feeling about it because of the darkness. With the second episode, it takes what came before and ups the ante a fair bit in the second half of it, not exactly by pulling the rug out from under you, but turning your face to a different direction and realizing the true nature of the story. There’s a lot of neat moments here even if it is just largely fighting but it shows some sides that weren’t expected, either at all or at this early of a stage in the series. It has darkness about it in general from the animation, but the story becomes much more so here and changes it from a show that you could easily miss to one that needs a few more episodes to shake out before really deciding on it.
Grade: B-
Readers Rating: [ratings]
Streamed 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.
