Fukumenkei Noise – 02
I’m normally one for defending shoujo (especially romances) against some of its detractors. But a series like Fukumenkei Noise seems almost like a parody of the shoujo romance genre, so perfectly does it play into the caricature those detractors paint of it. It’s not all bad by any means, but the drama in this show just feels way too manufactured – and non-stop – for me. It forms a kind of perfect contrast with the naturalistic and unforced Tsuki ga Kirei which, while no shoujo, is certainly a romance.
I have another problem here too, which is that I find Alice (or Nino, whatever) to be rather annoying. I kind of agree with Baldy about her, to be honest – I think she is rather loud and obnoxious. And all that “La La La” and repetition of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” was immensely grating on my nerves by the end of of the episode. But that’s just personal opinion, I’m sure many readers like the character fine. I do have to wonder, though – are there actually fans of the manga who don’t think Yuzu is a way better character than Momo? I admit I have a near-perfect track record in rooting for the losing guy in shoujo love triangles, but this one seems like such a slam-dunk I find it hard to imagine how anyone sees it differently.
ID-0 – 02
I really wanted to like ID-0, too. It’s a “pure” anime sci-fi, with a terrific pedigree as far as the staff is concerned. But honestly, I barely made it through the second episode. I find the characters to be completely two-dimensional and the visuals to be singularly uninspired. It clearly makes an effort to match the form of classic sci-fi but doesn’t deliver any of the substance, which basically just works to make me hungry for a better show in the same style.
It’s easy for me to pick out what it is about Fukumenkei Noise that sours the pot, but ID-0 is harder to explain. It goes through the right motions (apart from the CGI character animation), and it has a director and writer who really should be able to deliver a story that feels authentic. But the whole thing is hollow – there’s just no meat on the bones, and no matter how good the bone structure is, without anything else it’s just a skeleton. Maya is especially a cliche, but the whole salvage crew is like a bad photocopy of the cast of a real series. This one is a shame – well, these both are – but I don’t see myself going any further with it.
Flower
April 18, 2017 at 10:36 pmYeah … I dropped both of them after ep 1, and interestingly for some (not all) of the same reasons.
One difference for me is the Fukumenkai Noise was the series I really wanted to like, but … again, perhaps because of the “real” factor vibes from Tsuki ga Kirei I just … couldn’t “resonate” to the shortcomings of the series. The lead chara did not bother me as much, it was the overall … erm … ambiance, I guess? Tenor?
ID-0’s first ep just … didn’t grab me on any front for some reason, unfortunately. I couldn’t even finish it. :\
Yukie
April 19, 2017 at 1:39 amI think your comments on Fukumenkei are quite generous. I used to read a lot of shoujo manga back in middle school but became less interested in the genre after that period, so I’m not sure if my assessment of the show is completely correct.
Nonetheless, I found the first episode of Fukumenkei to be rather old-fashioned (even by the standards from way back then) despite it being a recent manga. There’s the quintessential shoujo stereotypes: we have the osananajimi (two of them!), childhood promises/traumas, a love triangle, and a heroine who has a gift that draws the people (especially men) around her.
Then there are the more debilitating detractions:
-The heroine’s motivations and trauma are baffling to me. Maybe Momo and Yuzu didn’t abandon her but rather could not tell her why they had to leave because she’s always interrupting them with her singing? (I laughed out loud when she told Momo that even her Mom found her annoying.)
-I was initially piqued by the possibility of good music, but instead I found myself fast-forwarding through all the “music” we got in these two episodes. The OP and ED were also quite meh.
Sorry for raging in the comment section. Maybe the story gets better later on or maybe this manga is aimed at a younger audience…but I can’t help but think there’s some better shoujo manga out there that’s not getting adapted.
Javi
April 19, 2017 at 4:30 amNot surprisingly, I’d beg to differ once again. I believe the second episode 2 of ID-0 started to add more substance to the sci-fi, the so-called “meat” you’re asking for here, precisely by giving some screen time to the larger implications of transferring your mind into a machine body. That’s a good thing in my book and a worthwhile improvement over the first episode.
This was done not only at the theoretical level but also by providing a concrete example that this type of mind transfer process can become permanent with potentially dangerous results, as seen in the case of Ido. The second episode even introduced some initial foreshadowing about further complications related to their effects on memories, which involves not just one but at least two characters. The status of other individuals also remains in question at this time.
ID-0 is still effectively a space adventure series, rather than belonging to other varieties of science fiction with more consistently “mature” priorities, yet I believe both of these topics and other derived issues will continue to be gradually addressed as the show goes on. There’s enough small hints in terms of the overall framing and specific conversations in order to conclude such a thing. In other words, the show isn’t going to treat those elements as purely throwaway but will keep developing them, one way or another. This is just the first step. With this in mind, can you tell me what’s the problem with that?
Similarly, I feel the cast of characters has room to grow but the series has already indicated that they won’t remain static. Quite the opposite. Maya and Ido had some decent chemistry during the mining operation. The show took initial steps towards their character development through her concern for his condition and his giving her some recognition after working together. I don’t think it’s somehow outstanding or anything, but this seems entirely valid and competent for a TV series that still has ten episodes left.
In light of this, calling a character’s initial starting position “cliche” might be technically valid (you could say that about the vast majority of shows in existence) yet also seems to suggest either some sort of particular pet-peeve or simple impatience is what’s really affecting you here. Objectively speaking, all signs suggest Maya isn’t going to remain the same throughout the entire story and there are definitely a couple of mysteries related to Ido as well as the other characters. Just calling them “photocopies” when the series is inevitably going to do more with them, which means three will almost certainly be quantifiable improvements in the long run, sounds more cynical than analytical to me.
John
April 19, 2017 at 5:20 amI dropped both after episode 1. Because of the lalala and twinkle twinkle bits, I mentally refer to fukumenkei noise as fuyukai noise.