Binchou-Tan

Information of Anime

Binchou-Tan is a small girl with no parents living in the mountains.  The show looks into the daily life activities of Binchou-Tan.  Binchou-Tan is a mascot of Alchemist, a company that distribute video games in Japan.

Storyline (CONTAINS SPOILERS)

Below is a summary of the storyline I have seen.  This section does contain some spoilers.  If you haven't seen the series yet & don't want to be spoiled, skip this section.  If you want to know the story & want to see how I viewed it, read on.

It's basically about the daily life of Binchou-Tan & her friends that she meets along the way.  They are short stories that don't link to one another & goes on what looks like a one year span.

The show ends with Binchou-Tan & friends celebrating the New Year.

My Personal Review

Binchou-Tan are short episodes that don't seem to tie together.  Each episode is roughly 12 minutes long.  It's drama with a lot of light comedy.

Animation

The character designs are what I expected.  It's the same design as you see from Alchemist's display & works.  The big head & large eyes with a small body.  The cuteness factor is indeed preserved.  However, start at episode three, the quality goes down a lot & it's really shocking.  With the introduction of new characters, the faces look very flat & square.  I have no idea how that sudden decrease of quality happened.  It was very disappointing as you see these changes in the character designs & the background as well.  It went from artsy to a plain children's cartoon.

The backgrounds are good.  It's like looking at an painting.  The details aren't really sharp, but it creates a very nice mood.  When the show does some rotating in a room or area, you can slightly see the fakeness of the 3D drawings.

The colour tones are amazing.  The background is very dull, but yet has the feeling that you are actually there.  Strangely enough, it doesn't look bad with the bright colour characters.  They actually fit together.  However, the bright colour on the characters aren't really bright.

The animation movements are pretty good.  Very smooth & at a realistic pace.  In one scene where Binchou-Tan trips, the fall is very real.  It's not sudden or in slow mo.  Also, the duck's feet kicking in the water is surprisingly natural.  However, there are the occasional superhuman speed movements in the series.  Most likely for comedy purposes.

Sound

The sound effects are realistic.  Hardly any silly sounds involved.  However, it tends to be on the quiet side at times.  But as the shows moves on, the sounds starts to become more on the childish side.

The seiyuus here aren't too bad.  Mainly because there's hardly any talking involved.  The most I hear is from the narrator, but it gets lessen as the show progresses.

The music is pretty much the key element to this show.  This is because there is hardly any talking.  The music consists of ballads & orchestra.  This is why I felt like I was watching the gentle side of Fantasia. However, it goes from on the cute side as the show progresses.  It's starting to feel like watching a kid's show.

Story

It's just about the daily activities of Binchou-Tan.  Plus, I have no idea what her size is.  When I 1st saw her on merchandises before the anime aired, I always assumed she was a sprite of some sort.  However, watching the anime, I got confused because of some of the forest animals & Binchou-Tan's house & supplies.  It makes her look like a human sized person.  Even when she stands next to other human adults, she's as small as a kid.  But, for some reason she decreases in size a lot.  So much, that she fits into water bottles, rice cookers, & shoes.  I'm really thinking she's a sprite or fairy than a human being.  The pace is slow & steady to enjoy as it seems to take place in an one year time span with the New Year as the ending point.

Overall Conclusion

My first impression about Binchou-Tan is that it isn't for everyone.  It's slow & the show doesn't go into anything drastic.  It may be one of those shows that you can relate to real life with some little comedy on the side.  Binchou-Tan is highly popular in Japan, but I have no idea why it is.

Binchou-Tan gets a 7/10.  The show is calmingly soothing with it's animation & music.  The length of the episode seems fair, but would want you to watch more.  The slow pace may not be for everyone & it doesn't really have a proper storyline.

Last updated on December 19, 2007