Bad dog!
What They Say:
Harumi Kazuhito could spend days at a time with his head buried in his beloved books, and little would make him happier than perusing the pages of his favorite author. Unfortunately, when Harumi gets himself killed he inexplicably finds himself reincarnated as a dog… which might not be so bad if he could read, or his new owner didn’t have the unfortunate twin predilections of playing with scissors and tormenting her new pet!
But what truly makes this strange reincarnation the worst of all possible worlds is that she’s also his favorite author! The horror! Can Harumi find a way to live with this tantrum-throwing typist, or will her crazed clippings prove to be his undoing? Can he escape her constant hounding via the doggy door, or is he barking up the wrong tree?
There’s a rough, rough time ahead as canine compulsive readers and literary she-wolves get snippy with each other when doggies do what they gotta do!
The Review:
Audio:
There are two different language tracks on this set: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, and the audio quality is quite good, which is kind of mixed blessing considering the inanity of the show. English subtitles are also provided.
Video:
Its fault in content aside, Dog & Scissors is a pretty show with vibrant colors and well-drawn characters and sets. There were no discernable issues with the transfer.
Packaging:
The show’s twelve episodes come on two Blu-ray discs housed within the front and back cover of a standard Blu-ray case. The front cover features one of the two protagonists, Kirihime Natsuno, wearing lingerie and fondling a pair of scissors holstered in her garter. The whole front cover is slanted towards stage left, which is interesting. The spine consists mostly of the show’s title with a small image of Natsuno at the bottom. The back follows the standard format with the story synopsis taking up the majority of real estate. It’s flanked by various characters from the show and screenshots. Beneath it lies the cast and crew credits and DVD specifications.
Menu:
The menu is pretty standard. The majority of screen space is taken up by a picture of one of the characters. The episodes, language options, and extras pop in from the side in a menu separate from the pictures. It’s easy to navigate and aesthetically pleasing, but it doesn’t break the mold, either. Oddly enough, no music plays in the background.
Extras:
The Blu-ray comes with the standard set of extras: clean Op/Ed and Sentai trailers. Nothing to make or break your decision to buy this.
If one were to list some of my favorite things, it wouldn’t be raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens, instead it would be something like books and dachshunds and bright pretty women. Taking that into consideration, you would think that Dog & Scissors was tailor-made for me. While it does contain those items, the anime is a hot mess—more so than most anime out there, and mostly I just spent my time wondering why I was watching it instead of doing something more useful, like cleaning the lint trap in my dryer.
Based on the light novel series written by Shunsuke Sarai and illustrated by Tetsuhiro Nabeshima, Dog & Scissors tells the story of Kazuhito Harumi and Kirihime Natsuno. The former is a young boy reincarnated as a dachshund and the latter is one of Japan’s three greatest rising novelists. Their relationship is complicated, to say the least.
Harumi lived to read. He loved reading so much that he elected to stay in Tokyo (where all the good bookstores reside) instead of moving away with his family. One day, sitting in a café, a man comes in with a gun. The only patrons were Harumi and a young woman writing. The woman pays not attention to the robber, angering him, and Harumi selflessly sacrifices himself to save this stranger. As his spirit drifts into the afterlife, he thinks about all the books he wouldn’t be able to read now (I guess Heaven doesn’t feature a library), especially the final book in the Deadly Sins series written by his favorite novelist, Shinobu Akiyama. Harumi’s desire overcomes the laws of time and space and he finds himself reincarnated as a dachshund in a Tokyo pet store. Why he returns as a dachshund is never addressed, but considering how difficult I’m sure it would be for him to read in that form, I’m guessing that the powers that be were irritated with his whining. That’s just speculation on my part, though. Regardless of the reason, he now lives the life of a dog, bookless, voiceless, and alone.
Until, that is, the young woman whose life he saves walks into the pet store. For weeks she heard his complaining about not being able to read and she finally tracked him down to shut him up. Realizing who he is, she adopts him and brings him home to alternately pamper and torture him. Her favorite instrument of torture are a pair of scissors she keeps holstered to her thigh, so Harumi gets some pretty wild haircuts.
(On a side note: what’s the deal with scissors in anime? This is the second title in a row that I’ve watched where scissors played a large role. Is there some tradition in Japan concerning scissors? Were scissors used as weapons? I know two doesn’t necessarily make a pattern, but it makes me wonder. If you know, drop me a line.)
Shockingly, the plot becomes pretty nonsensical after that. All Harumi wants to do is read, but Natsuno (whom we learn is actually Shinobu Akiyama) leads an odd life that seems to attract weirdos to her. Her agent/editor is a masochist who desires constant abuse from Natsuno; Harumi’s sister shows up, believing that her brother has been reborn as a dog, and fights Natsuno for him, using some kind of chainsaw curry-making machine; one of her rivals is a pop idol who walks around with an army of klieg lights and men in dark suits and challenges Natsuno to ridiculous contests; and I could go on, but I think you get the deal.
At times, Dog & Scissors skirts coherence, but mostly it’s just all over the place and often flirts with incest and bestiality, which doesn’t really do it for me. Harumi’s sister definitely has a thing for “Big Brother” and Natsuno, despite her constant punishments, wants nothing more than to marry Harumi, dog body and all. Ultimately, the show is weird and wacky like 90% of anime out there, but it’s not my kind of weird and wacky. Plus, the older I get, the more I get irritated with sitcomesque stories that hinge upon people not expressing their desires in a clear manner. If they were just upfront with what they wanted and expected, then the story wouldn’t happen. I didn’t like that when I was a kid watching Three’s Company and I like it even less as an adult.
In Summary:
Dog & Scissors is a hot mess, but not in a fun way. It’s just weird and scattered all over the place, unsure of what it wants to be. Criticizing anime for not making sense seems like a losing battle, but there are limits, and this title illustrates that beautifully. Dr. Josh wants to see this show after class, but in the meantime I give this a….
Features:
Japanese DTS-HD MA 2.0 Language, English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Language, English Subtitles, Clean Opening, Clean Closing
Content Grade: D
Audio Grade: A
Video Grade: A
Packaging Grade: B
Menu Grade: C
Extras Grade: C
Released By: Sentai Filmworks
Release Date: January 6th, 2015
MSRP: $59.98
Running Time: 300 minutes
Video Encoding: 1080p AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Panasonic Viera TH42PX50U 42” Plasma HDTV, Sony BPD-S3050 BluRay Player w/HDMI Connection
