Since my Assassination Classroom review went well I thought I'd discuss a recent anime series that I have discovered called Myriad Colors Phantom World. It is an anime adapted from the light novel, I personally haven't read the light novel so I'm just going to talk about the anime atm.
Plot:
A mysterious incident 10 years prior changed how humans perceive the
world, allowing them to see creatures long thought imaginary. These
formerly mythical beings, called Phantoms, come in all sorts of shapes
and sizes. The incident also imbued certain people with special
abilities. Haruhiko Ichijo possesses a special ability allowing him to
seal Phantoms by drawing them in a sketchbook. Along with his classmate
Mai Kawakami, Haruhiko is a member of the Hosea Academy Neural Error
Corrections Club, where students accept jobs handling Phantoms in
exchange for useful household goods. Unfortunately for them, Team E
(consisting only of Haruhiko and Mai) have the worst performance record
out of all teams. In an effort to change this, Haruhiko and Mai set out
to find more members to join their team.
Basically its a gotta catch em all kind of situation. Personally I see it as an high school anime version of Ghostbusters. My first impression after reading 13 episodes of it is....it was ok.
The animation looked good but too bad the story that went with it left little to be desired. There was world building potential but the anime felt too rushed. Like it was suffering from a case of ADD. It would develop some backstory to the characters but not enough to get you emotionally attached to them. There were also some episodes I felt could have had potential for a future character arc but was quickly dropped. For instance in one episode the main cast discovered that one of the classmates is a Phantom but ended up befriending her in the end. It would have been interesting to see her as a recurring character but she was never heard from again the next episode.
Every episode felt like one filler after another, least until the final two episodes. Which, to me, was an ass puller. They introduce the big bad without any build. Up until then the series honestly lacked a serious antagonist for the main cast.
Also I never honestly got a sense of danger from any of the main cast. Cause most of the other phantoms they come across don't appear dangerous to begin with so you never get a sense that they're fighting for their lives. I also never got the underdog appeal either. The plot synopsis says they are but they hardly scream social outcast. Just about the whole school likes them. Even their headmaster. It wasn't like Class E's situation in Assassination Classroom.
Characters:
One word to describe the characters, forgettable. The only character that stood out to me was Koito and Mai. The former because I like her Black Canary powers and her backstory was interesting and Mai because she's a badass and she's hot.
Haruhiko's basically Tenchi but take away anything that made Tenchi interesting and make him as dull as wood. His whole character from time to time is reacting to things or providing exposition. Like when the other characters are fighting he reacts like he's providing color commentary. The only time I found myself remotely interested in him was during an episode where he was de-aged to a kid.
He basically represents everything I hate concerning main characters in harem animes. In that he makes me wished the girls were the main characters but heaven forbid we'd have a harem anime where the cast are entirely female. The only harem animes that worked were Negima and Tenchi. Helps that the characters were diverse, character wise.
Ruru. A pixie like Phantom who operates as the groups comedy sidekick. Thats all she is. She provides NOTHING but comic relief. Even Xander Harris of Buffy actually provides some use.
Overall: I wouldn't recommend this. While the potential for world building is there it provides nothing new to the table and I was left with nothing but unanswered questions instead of world building. It also lacked an emotional punch that would make me intrigued on the characters struggles because I felt that, with the exception of the final two episodes, there was hardly any obstacles the characters faced. Sure there were villain of the week but its like the villains of the MCU sans Loki and Hydra. Good guys trumps them and look no worse for wear after.
The animation was pretty good though.
So overall I'd give it a D
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