Anime: Kono Minikuku mo Utsukushii Sekai

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Kono Minikuku mo Utsukushii Sekai, or Konomini for short, attempts to combine a harem ecchi/comedy with a dramatic “End of the World” tragedy. It’s almost impossible to imagine, really. Love Hina combined with Saikano. Blue Gender combined with Tenchi Muyo!. It seems like an inspired idea in theory. In execution, however, it falls short. Very short. Konomini is a train-wreck of an anime, with genres that blend together like oil and water, leaving the viewer confused as to how they’re supposed to feel.

This is not to say that it’s impossible for an anime series with both comedic and dramatic elements to work. However, when those elements are as extreme as they are in Konomini, with random ecchi humor, followed by dire warnings about the possible extinction of the human race, the possibility of those two elements blending harmoniously is less than zero.

One positive aspect of Konomini is it’s not hard on the eyes. Characters are attractively drawn, with believable and fluid movements. The drawing style is reminiscent of Elfen Lied, with both Hikari and Akari looking exactly like Lucy/Nyuu. There is a lot of CGI work, but it blends well with the hand-drawn images. I especially liked the “red butterfly swarm” scene towards the end of the series. The backgrounds are a toss up, with some scenes filled with small details, and others appearing washed out. All in all, animation is Konomini’s strongest attribute.

The opening theme, "Metamorphose", by Youko Takahashi is a pleasant and catchy soft rock song, which reminded me of some of the “I’ve” girls’ work (for all I know, Youko is one of the “I’ve” girls). The ending theme is not on the same level as the opening theme, and is easily skippable. The background music, Seiyuu (voice actors), and sound effects all fall into the same category, getting the job done without drawing attention to themselves, which I consider to be a good thing.

The characters are likable enough, though there are far too many of them for a twelve episode series. Hikari and Akari play as a more naïve version of Mizuho from Onegai Teacher, learning Earth’s customs with wide-eyed enthusiasm. Takeru, the main male lead, is a carbon copy of Tenchi from Tenchi Muyo, a man with psychotically powerful abilities, coupled with a penchant for romantic bungling. Imagine Hugh Grant playing Wolverine from X-Men, and you’ll get the idea.

The rest of the cast is either annoying, superfluous, or both. The two horny friends of Takeru and Ryou play very cliché roles, adding nothing to the series but stale humor. Mari is your typical harem anime cousin, who is madly in love with Takeru, but can’t do anything about it but be jealous. There are quite a few side characters, none of whom are able to worm their way out of their respective cliches.

The story is where everything falls apart. Hikari and Akari come to Earth in a pillar of light, and are met by Takeru and his best friend, Ryou. Before they can exchange proper greetings, a giant monster comes out of the forest to attack them. Takeru changes into a monster-like guy and kills it. How did Takeru change? Who or what are Hikari and Akari? Why did they come to Earth? Don’t expect any answers until the end of the series.

The first 10 episodes are your standard harem/ecchi/comedy. Only problem being, the comedy isn’t funny, and the ecchi is used as arousal-based fanservice rather than for humor. Everything in the first 10 episodes has been done before, and done better.

Then there is the climax, where the “End of the World” angle finally breaks loose. Unfortunately, this angle is built on air. Since the previous episodes are harem/ecchi/comedy, the depressing climax feels terribly out of place.

There really isn’t much else to say about Konomini. The comedy detracts from the tragedy, which detracts from the comedy. That these two elements are weak and cliché on their own is bad enough, but combining them into one anime is a tragic miscalculation on the part of the creators. The overall experience reminded me of Pearl Harbor, with its shameless combining of Saving Private Ryan and Titanic in a transparent attempt to make more money. Pearl Harbor was a failure, and so is Konomini. I suggest avoiding both at all costs.

ANIMATION

Okay, first up: This series features two young women gallavanting around without clothes on quite often. You have been forewarned.

Character designs: nothing too spectacular. Hikari's outfit is kinda cute. Takeru is your basic anime hero. Akari is even cuter and sweeter looking. Ryou is your cool looking bishonen. And yes, there is a trio of girls who hang out together and are obsessed with one of the two male leads, as well as two sex-starved male friends, shades of Mahoromatic.

Monster designs: This was actually kinda neat. A lot of the monsters have a pretty neat "Cambrian life form" vibe to them. And Takeru's transformation sequence gave me good "Go Nagai" feelings. ;) I wish we'd seen more of them.

SOUND

Ayako Kawasumi does the voice of Hikari, which I didn't notice until after I finished watching, strangely enough. The other voice actors are also decent, but nothing too spectacular in comparison.

OP: Enjoyable enough, not worth watching. I usually skipped it over.

End theme: Even more skippable.

STORY

Okay. So every six million years or so, a major extinction event hits the Earth. One of those ended the Cambrian era. Another killed the dinosaurs. This series' premise is that this is not due to asteroid impacts or a solar cycle, but something darker and more sinister, which somehow involves two girls who appeared in shafts of light to two male friends, Ryou and Takeru. I won't give it away here, but you should be able to figure it out pretty quickly.

It's an interesting story. And that's the problem, because throughout most of the series, the creators IGNORED that story and decided instead to tell the story of an "innocent discovering the world." CHOBITS did it much better, thank you very much. Takeru doesn't even transform again until around episode 9 or so.

In other words, it would have been a great story if they had bothered to tell it instead of gallavanting off on stereotypical "romance comedy" storylines (school, the beach, an onsen, camping, etc.) Even the subplots (including Mari trying to deal with the sudden entrance of a stranger who is stealing away the guy she likes) would have been more compelling if they had stuck to the core story. But that's just my opinion.

CHARACTER

Akari and Hikari are the two female leads: the "Perfect Innocents" I mentioned earlier. Their pasts are total mysteries, but they are somehow involved with a sudden spate of monster attacks in the area.

Ryou and Takeru are their counterparts, each of whom takes in one of the "sisters" into their households. These friends share a sad fact in common: both lost their parents, but they respond to this fact in totally different ways. It is their response to this tragedy that is the driving force behind one of the major conflicts in the story, and one of the reasons why the character rating is as high as it is.

Mari, on the other hand. . . this is another case where the romantic rival is more appealing than the lead couple. Mari is a plain, ordinary girl, and she is so totally outmatched by this newcomer (Hikari) that it breaks your heart to watch it, even as you're trying to yell at her to GET ON WITH IT AND TELL HIM ALREADY. Takeru had no idea what he was missing out on, if you ask me. Her situation at the end of the series is a bit sad, but at least there is room for hope that Takeru will eventually get his head out of his ass and go for it.

Which brings me to Hikari. I wanted to like this character because I am such a fan of her seiyuu, but quite frankly, this is not one of Ms. Kawasumi's best roles. Even the moments where this character struggles with her darker side were eclipsed by Akari, whose own struggles with how she should respond to her sister's dark fate were much more compelling.

Other than that. . . we have a pair of male friends and a trio of female friends who could have been ripped straight from Mahoromatic. Jennifer is basically Shikijo-Sensei without a teaching license/ Misato from Evangelion as an exhibitionist American/ Jessica Simpson with a PhD. And what was up with that weird robot and the flying ghost-thing? Up until the final episode, I could really have done without them.

VALUE

Um, I can't really recommend this series for a second view-through. Once was enough.

ENJOYMENT

It was okay, and I'm not sorry I watched it, but there are better anime out there that illustrate the same themes much more effectively: CHOBITS for the "innocent discovering the world," anything by Miyazaki for the environmental message, "Onegai Teacher," or even "Evangelion" for the "dealing with tragedies from the past" storyline.

I will admit, though, the symbolism of the red butterflies was quite stunning.

Oh, minor spoilers ahead. Skip them if you like.





MINOR SPOILER

In a review I wrote for Season 2 of Mahoromatic, I listed this anime as one of the anime series that exemplified what I think of as the Gainax Effect: the tendency of anime series to start off happy and cheerful, then suddenly descend into apocalyptic darkness.

Which isn't quite fair, because unlike Mahoromatic, I liked the ending of this series, seeing as how it didn't totally abuse the characters and make its fans suffer. It's bittersweet, but you do get the feeling that everyone has a chance for a happy ending.

Another of GAINAX's ecchi animes - although this time they attempted to add a meaningful story to it. The biggest shame is it's inability to provide story, so roughly 7 or so of these episodes are silly comedy or ecchi.

A world near destruction...

Though life as an orphan is very difficult for Takeru, he and his friends are able to live their lives together as a family in an orphan home. One evening, Takeru stumbles upon Hikari, whom he discovers is an alien. Though life gets more exciting for him with Hikari around, many encounters with giant, fierce monsters seems to invade his new lifestyle.

Trying to make the above summary without spoiling takes a lot of effort, due to the mess which connects this story together. Basically it's a romance connected with super powers. Not much more to say except a multitude of cute girls and a couple of ridiculous moments in comedy. Setting a very bright and straightforward mood, Kono Minikuku Mo Utsukushii Sekai can be a great anime to watch when in need of boobies and incredible powers.

Insightful characters. Insightless intentions with them.

Because of the need for the directors to somehow make Hikari and Akari innocent enough to walk around naked unashamed, as ravishing as they are, the amount of depth in their characters is lost at almost every moment they are nude. Only in the last episode is this an exception, otherwise there is some sort of comedic routine bound to roll into the scene and take over.
Takeru appears very surface in character until the end as well, but I can forgive since the anime attempts to make him deeper towards the conclusion. In summation, I would conclude this anime to lack the insight it might have had about human compassion, love, and forgiveness. (And yes, though these three elements of this anime are very common in other animes, the setting for this one is one of a few that is appropriate for this sort of story. Therefore, I justify my opinion with examples of animes like Happy Lesson or .hack//SIGN, which I believe have significantly weaker settings to portray this sort of story.)

Great animation and music. Nothing less from GAINAX.

Well yeah, GAINAX is responsible for animes like FLCL, which has a crazy animation as a given. For our young audiences out there, the female structures aren't forgiving at all. In fact, they go far enough in the anime as to even measure the proportions to brag of their beautifully animated, teenage girls. There's a limit on pantsu shots, but it gets even more unforgiving with blatant nudity and sexual connotations. And last, the most unforgiving element is the superhero transformation that occurs - something worth watching everytime.

Note: In the above paragraph, "unforgiving" is good in this circumstance (at least for me.) Thank you. ^_^;

An interesting melody is implied in the opening song. It's not the best of songs, but an addicting one after being heard 3-4 times. I found myself downloading it and playing it in my car for a while, so don't be ashamed if you are doing so yourself in time. The ending theme is a great "I've" sounding dance beat worth getting as well.
The BGM isn't all that super, but getting an OST isn't necessarily a bad idea, either. I would rather listen to some of the BGM in this anime than in many others with music I have listened to and appreciated as well. Altogether, there aren't any real negatives for the music in this anime.

Ecchi for ecchi lovers.

The story isn't worth downloading the entire anime itself. Hell, if one is anxious enough to see the story, it is worth just downloading episode 1 and the last 3 episodes...a little bit of assumption of everything going on in between and the story can be almost as good. Otherwise, if you aren't willing to do that, nor do you like ecchi, than this is an anime you'd have to skip.