This one genuinely, thoroughly puzzles me. Why is Tezuka Productions working on what appears based on one episode to be a totally generic harem romcom? And why is the director of shows like Black Jack and Testuwan Atom and Gologo 13 directing it? I’m not knocking them for taking the business, and it’s not like the first episode was terrible or anything – it just strikes me as really, really odd. I suppose Dagashi Kashi 2 was a sort of branching out for Kuwahara Satoshi and the studio, but I’m still intrigued and confused.
That being said, it’s that very weird combination – and the fact that the manga seems to be pretty decently regarded – that convinced me to preview this and watch the premiere. And truth be told it isn’t that bad, really, but I struggled to find anything distinctive about it that would have made Tezuka (and the readers giving the manga high marks) regard it as not a mass-produced model. You’ve got your brainiac loner who gets thrown into a love hexagon with five busty and loaded girls who happen to be quintuplets. They each check a trope off on the character chart, and you’ve even got a lolimouto with hints of brocon thrown into the mix. Again, not badly executed but – what gives here?
The best I can say about the premiere of Gotoubun no Hanayome is that while it seems utterly grounded in tropes, it doesn’t push any of them to the point of being offensive. It gets close a few times (particularly with the tsundere and the imouto archetype characters) but never crosses my personal line in the sand. “Harmless” being the best you can say about a first episode is pretty thin gruel, but even that meager succor places it well above most of its genre brethren. Still – is that really all there is to it?
I haven’t discounted the possibility that this premiere could be a ruse, a false front the series is putting on to make us think it’s strictly recycled plastic, only to throw some weird twists at us later that make me say “Oh! So that’s why.” But if it doesn’t Gotoubun no Hanayome is certainly a head-scratcher, one of the weirdest combinations of material, studio and staff I’ve seen in a pretty long time. Unless it just turns out to be so sensitive and smartly-written that it can take such a mundane and overused premise and make it stand out, which I suppose is no more outlandish a proposition than the first one. We’ll see, I guess, but the leash is not going to be real long for me with this show – curiosity only takes you so far.
Sam
January 12, 2019 at 4:07 pmWelp.. I don’t want to judge by one episode, but I gotta say I find this adaptation dreadfully mediocre. While it’s not like the source material is a masterpiece rom-com nor is it made of some “deep/profound” stuff, I read it regularly as it’s a bit different enough (not “a mass-produced model” as you say), visually pleasing, nicely produced, and so on. Think I’ve written how it is my guilty pleasure.
Had a bit of hope going in as recent adaptations (Koi wa Ameagari no You ni, Hinamatsuri, and Golden Kamui.. even Ajin wasn’t too bad) I was following and recommended here were good enough, but this. 🙁
IMO they made this into as generic, even shallower, cliché fan-serviced ridden harem anime as possible to appeal even harder (or daresay, almost exclusively) to hardcore otakus. Everything seemed a bit off to me, starting with drawing, the way camera moved, voice acting, etc. The fan-serviced elements are present in the source material, sure, that’s a part of the reason why it is popular, but seems like they(production team) made a decision on direction of this adaptation and I am no fan. It’s a pity I may not even watch this going forward.
Probably Kaguya-sama may be a safer bet for a decent adaptation as that one is more of a pure gag manga and I may check that out even if I’ve got a bit tired of its mostly one gag premise nowadays. Suppose I’d need to wait for next adaptation of “non mass-produced model” – stuff like recently announced “Dorohedoro” adaptation, or inevitable(I think) “Dungeon Meshi”, “Fumetsu no Anata e”. All very good ones with good reputation/reviews btw.
Guardian Enzo
January 12, 2019 at 4:19 pmDungeon Meshi has been inevitable for so long that I’m starting to think it’s evitable.
zeroyuki92
January 12, 2019 at 4:45 pmGotoubun is basically precisely what you guess. A decent-at-best romcom, which has “it’s not really offensive or stupid” as its strength. If you compare it to other romcom (e.g the similarly themed Benkyou Dekinai), it is:
1. Works as some kind of GTO-like romcom where MC tried to ‘conquer’ the sisters one by one in order to make them agree to study under him (with romance as a side effect)
2. Actually has some kind of central plot (study related) and structured with slightly long arcs instead of independent episodic skits.
3. The MC is much less interested in romance compared to others.
In the end, it is basically still a normal harem romcom where avid fans will continuesly argue about who is the best girl. Don’t expect anything else
Haak
January 12, 2019 at 5:50 pmAs someone who read the manga, my main attraction to it was largely the artwork which won’t carry over. Otherwise it’s pretty much boilerplate stuff that I ultimately find myself speed reading through when I’m bored.
Guardian Enzo
January 12, 2019 at 5:55 pmSo no real explanation for why the hell Tezuka would be picked to animate this, huh?
TheYepMan
January 13, 2019 at 1:04 pmWell, not a *satisfying* explanation, at least. But well, consider why MAPPA was born, its initial mission, and then the reason why its creator had to go and found another studio (M2) to continue that mission.
My guess with those, as well as my guess with this show, is that it’s all about sweet, sweet money. It’s highly likely that even if this show is “non-threatening but still trash” it’ll get a lot of eyeballs, and a lot of money as a result. And studios want easy money. Especially Japanese easy money (see: Trigger, GRIDMAN. Even though I liked it for the most part, one has to admit it was laser-guided Japan-centric nostalgia for the sake of cashgrab and nothing else).
So yeah. This show’s gonna make money, so they seized the chance while they had it. Money is more valuable than reputation after all, and very few people give a fuck about reputation in the anime industry.