There really isn’t anything special about Is the Order a Rabbit? and The Comic Artist and His Assistants. The latter had a horrible opening episode. What they both did right in the end is deliver on the rather limited goals they were aiming for: largely unserious, light and frothy comedy provided by stereotypically cute characters. The only surprises might be that the real attractions of both shows for me were not their leads, who felt like they were designed by a committee tasked with identifying blatant niches to pander to, but instead the major supporting characters. Rabbit gave us the wonderfully unbalanced Rize, whose beauty and charm hides a warped cousin of Sousuke Sagara underneath, all military preparedness and gun-nuttery. And Syaro, the not-rich-oujo who also becomes hyper from caffeine. Comic Artist introduced us to two great foils to the comically loathsome loser lead: sharp-tongued but weak-punching Sena and even better, Mihari, the childhood-friend-tsundere love interest who provided quite a bit of the emotional ballast while taking the wind out of Aito’s sails. Of course, there was also Branya, the real comic master of the show.
BM: Any praise of Is the Order a Rabbit? I’d gladly give my support to, and you’re spot on with Rize, but I’d have to disagree on Mangaka-san. I stuck with it up to around episode 4-5, and Aito’s general attitude (no more about the pantsu obsession, please) along with failing to understand why the girls would want to be around him beyond work commitments drove me away. And I was in the mood for a service-heavy show, too…
GBS: I can’t really argue with that, but the reason why Comic Artist eventually found its place for me is that I increasingly just ignored Aito. Sure, I know, hard to do, but if you just look at it as the Mihari, Sena, Branya, and Ashisu show (Rinna was pretty useless too), it has enough charming moments. But you have to have the ability to zone out Aito. If his annoyance factor is too high, then there’s no way this show will win you over.
KS: I can agree with the assessment of “formulas done right” being a theme in some of the better new offerings of the season. There is one that I’d consider outstanding, and you guessed it, that’s No Game, No Life. I think it’s selling it horribly short even to say that the series is in any way formulaic, but from the outset it can certainly seem like any number of other “protagonist(s) get whisked away from our boring old world to a magical and/or game-based world that embodies what they had always dreamt of” shows.
GBS: That was one of my initial reasons for putting it on the “pass for now” list. I’m thoroughly tired of that entire genre. Nine times out of ten, it’s just will-fulfillment nonsense.
KS: That in itself is a formula I could see No Game, No Life starting to play with and then giving its own delightful spin to. This is literally the world the protagonists regularly say they always belonged in, but seeing them freak out over the anime tropes playing out before their eyes and literally inserting themselves into them in the ways they’d always dreamed of just speaks more to how the show’s self-awareness makes all its formulaic elements that much more worth it. As soon as they arrive, it’s obvious that neither these characters nor the world are like any we see on a regular basis, and no character in the show is as NPC-like as even any number of supporting characters in shows that have nothing to do with games. Any time the show does seem to be leaning on some tired formula, it does with the biggest metaphorical wink imaginable, and it’s always a joy to behold.
GBS: If it’s knowing about what it’s doing and willing to play with the usual conventions, that would make it more worth my time.
KS: Since it’s the other one that’s not a sequel and that I was particularly taken with, I’ll mention that Haikyu!! is another one that fits this theme well. Within a few episodes it’s following the shounen sports anime recipe like scripture, but it has such great animation, pacing (it’s been a full cour and only just now has anything even taken two episodes!), and character work that by the end of the first season we’re halfway through (I’m being hopeful by already calling it the “first season”) I could see it approaching the level that the first season of Kuroko’s Basketball achieved (which was then far surpassed by its second season).
MvP: I’ll definitely agree that Haikyu!! is formula adhered to to perfection, but what makes it, as noted by a lot of the fans, are the facial reactions as well as the dynamics between the main protagonists and even some of the more reflective, euphoric moments. As to the animation, it’s ok. Any production that can’t be arsed to properly animate faces on the opposite side of netting instantly earns my scorn. Haikyu is certainly not the best sports anime this season in any way, but it’s a fun one, well executed, and well worth the watch.
GBS: Since I was already watching two sports shows (the carry-overs Yowamushi Pedal and Ace of the Diamond), I was not interested in picking up a third team sport show.
MvP: Then let me bring up Rowdy Sumo Wrestler Matsutaro, which stays true to its own formula of defying the formulaic expectations by continuing to make its main character as deplorable as possible. The candy-from-a-child thievery, wash basin-based elder soakings, and drunken debauchery in the first episode are only compounded by Matsutaro’s continued defiance to moral change despite an audience pleading for repentance. This is what makes the show worth tuning into: the endless tease of redemption (when, in fact, no such means are in sight and, really, nothing could possibly redeem him at this point). I hope the series sticks to its guns in the episodes to come and delivers us a truly superb, unlikable protagonist.
GBS: I watched the first episode of Matsutaro, but I couldn’t get past it. Actually, it was so bad I forgot to list that one in my drop list before. As a critic, I can admire the show’s producers for keeping true to the nature of the character and not allowing him to be redeemed, but as a viewer, I don’t get any pleasure from watching such characters.
