Akikan! 11: Sudden Drama Fails to Mask Failure

Posted: March 25, 2009 | Author: flomu | Filed under: Uncategorized |2 Comments »

FAIL-O-METER
This episode was nowhere near the nightmare of episode 10, but it was still horrible.  The fail here is equal in size to Eiken boobs, and that’s saying something.

The biggest surprise I got from this episode wasn’t the plotline, actually.
Rather, it was the lack of the horrible art and animation that I’ve seen in the past ten episodes.

The only glaringly bad artistic error I found was this…

At first glance, it seems like a normal screenshot. And then you notice that the entire eye is on top of the hair…. >__>;

She looks a bit different…

In other news, we get some pretty unique things this episode:

1. Actual art!
2. Actual animation!
3. Sudden insertion of plotline to bring the series to a definite conclusion by episode 12!
4. Sudden drama!
5. Some very badly done scenes! (not unique)

So #1 and #2 have already been somewhat discussed, so I’ll move on to 3 and 4…

Screw you guys, just give me some comedy!

The bottom line is that Akikan! is not meant for drama.

I don’t care how good (or laughably bad) the drama is, because Akikan! and drama should rarely belong in the same sentence.

We get all these episodes of LOLPERVERT comedy, one huge filler episode, and now we are pushed into the midst of a monsoon of utterly pointless drama that offsets all of the dirty humor that has come to characterize this series.

So… why? Why would anybody even think of putting a huge waste of effort dramatic episode right here? 

 

Well, episode 12 is the end of the series, so you’ve got to have some kind of conclusion, right?

So, think Kannagi and To Aru Majutsu no Index for a second.
Kannagi shifted from a brilliant comedy to a brilliant drama in the last few episodes, mostly to give the viewers at least a bit of a sense of closure (of course, the drama had been building up for the entire series, unlike Akikan!)
To Aru Majutsu no Index ended with a bunch of questions and gave no sense of closure (much like Code Geass S1).  However, this obviously forecasted a second season.

Akikan! will have no such second season.  Or at least, I doubt the masses would want another one.
Akikan! has dealt with nothing but gags and the like for most of the series, so there’s not much in drama to fall back on for a conclusion.

Thus the most logical thing to do is drag a bunch of plot, drama, and action out of thin air to force a conclusion, right?
Well, no.  I think passing up a conclusion would be better in this case.
Akikan! isn’t exactly the refined comedy that Kannagi was, so why bother attempting to bring about a refined conclusion?

Phooey.

 

And now we arrive at the best (or rather, worst) aspect of this episode – the horribly thought up scenes and dialogue!

This is quite reminiscent of DBZ-style fighting.  Never knew Yell had it in her!

 

“Oh Yell, you’re protecting me…”

“…from this huge explosion…”

“…and somehow we managed to end up in these positions… o_o”

 

“I talk in a zoomed up scene to show significant plot details!”

“I’m cool like that too!”

“Hah, my face is the most cut-off!”

Indeed, what the hell is this?

When I first saw Airin-kun’s half-face portrait, I knew that a slew of the same type of shot was going to follow.
Two or even three of these shots in a row are good for emphasis, but…

1. No matter what technique is used, I doubt Akikan! can be taken seriously.
2. Six half-face portrait shots in a row is ridiculous.
3. It’s annoying.
   When you have Airin-kun’s face on the left, then Kakeru on the right, Melon on the left, etc., you might as well put Theodore Roosevelt and a herd of cattle stampeding in from the bottom left corner under the Moon from Majora’s Mask.  It’s simply not a good idea!

So after a minute or so of half-face portraits, we are rewarded with a picture that totally kills the dramatic feel that the shots had tried to set up.

I’m not arguing with an insertion of comedic relief, but can Akikan! focus on one thing?
It’s either comedy or drama, not both!  If this is meant to be a dramatic episode, at least relent on the random jokes during what should be a dramatic moment.

But from a personal standpoint, I liked this scene.
The intense boredom that the “strongest Akikan” dialogue set up was just too much, and only a scene like this could have made me laugh and continue watching.

You can’t really see here, but there’s a Budoko grape bomb heading near Melon in this screenshot.

Note that Kakeru and Melon are sitting down.

This is the very next scene.

Note that…

1. Kakeru and Melon should have died, but are still alive.
2. Kakeru and Melon are running on their feet.

Basically, Kakeru and Melon have mysteriously avoided the bomb and stood up in the few milliseconds between this scene and the scene before.

And this is the very next scene.
Note that Kakeru and Melon are again seated!

No duh?
Please, save me a speech about why they are obviously not the real deal.
Anything but that.  Please, just not a speech justifying your clai-

 
Why….?? 
I’ll just let Melon do the talking, then…

aka “Just shut up already!”

“Hahah! I break out in stereotypical evil laughter when I explain my powers!”

Seriously, there’s no need for the maniacal laughter and the hair breezing out effects when a villain is explaining her powers for the first time.

And finally… 

The fading-away effect for the villain is unnecessary and shows lack of effort.

It’s as if they just went “Whatever, this’ll look cool and won’t require us to do anymore frames!”

 

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