Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica

Information of Anime

In the continent of Polyphonica, spirits exist & live by the music played by humans called Dantists using instruments called Commandia.  The show follows the lives of a new Dantist named Phoron Tatara & his spirit Corticarte Apa Lagranges.

Storyline (CONTAINS SPOILERS)

Below is a summary of the storyline I've seen.  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.

Phoron & Corticarte (or Corti for short) first met when Phoron was singing on the rooftop of an orphanage that he was living in.  Corti was enchanted by his singing & wanted to make him her own by making a contract.  The viewers are then shown the present where the two perform tasks for an organization called the Divine Song Association that focuses on resolving issues between spirits & humans.  The company wants both sides to live together in peace.  Some of the tasks are big while some are small.  Corticarte is a powerful spirit that has limited her powers in a teenager form.  She is at her best when she transforms into her adult form.  The reason for her small form is due to the forgotten contract that Phoron made to her when he was a young orphan. With each mission, Phoron & Corti get closer & closer to each other's soul though their Commandia.

The entire show focuses & explains more about the relationship between humans & spirits to the end.

My Personal Review

Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica is a bit different than I expected.  It's a light anime show with love & comedy on the side.  Although it has music as a theme, it actually doesn't play a big part here.

Animation

The character designs are pretty nice.  However, most of the female characters look the same in terms of the facial structures.  Corticarte is different.  She is drawn beautifully.  However, her two forms are too similar which makes it weak.  Only her body makes a transformation.  The clothing designs are quite appealling for both genders.  I really like Corticarte's clothing when she in adult form the most.  Very elegant, noble, & sexy.  Makes me want to buy a PVC figurine of her.  But the outlines look very blurry even for thick outlines.  It's like some of the lines were lightly erased all over.  However, the quality goes down a lot as the show progresses.  The body proportions are off, the faces look demented, & the eyes are uneven.  Tells you how much time & money was put into this show.

The backgrounds are okay.  Not a lot of details.  Very simple & a bit blurry in some areas.  The characters are the real stealers for the show.

The colours are bright with some dullness.  It doesn't clash between the background & the characters, making the colour balance just right.

In terms of the animation movement, it's mainly realistic with minor silly stuff.  There are some noticeable choppy frames found in some scenes.  These occur mainly when the characters are walking.  You can see some heavy cycling at times.  What's worse is the music performance.  The singing looks look open mouths & the playing of the instruments aren't what they look like.

Sound

The sound effects are a mixture of real & silly sides.  Most of the time it's real like sounds.  However, it goes off cue a lot; particularly in the song playing.

The seiyuus here are okay.  They fit & portrait their characters well.  However, none of them gave me a good impression in wanting to like the characters.  Voice projections were a bit of a problem.  When Phoron & Corti are riding on a bike & talking to each other, it doesn't sound like they are on it.  It's like a normal environment conversation.  No loud voices or muffed ones since they are wearing helmets.

The music is ballads to fit the theme.  Some of them are quite nice & makes the anime feel light at times.

Story

Basically, Phoron & Corticarte working together on their missions.  Their work makes people realize how spirits & human can live together in harmony.  Surprisingly, character development doesn't play a major role here.  It's stable throughout.  The bond between these two goes up & down a bit as Phoron thinks about the meaning of Commandias.  Other than this, the whole show is focused on the relationship between humans & spirits.  So focused, that it lacked a storyline.  It was mainly short stories in the entire show with no direction at all.

Overall Conclusion

Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica took me by surprise.  It's light & kind of heartwarming to watch.  I actually didn't expect the anime to be like this.  I was expecting something else.  However, this kind of show may not appeal to many despite it having some action & suspense scenarios.  Even I have this feeling of putting this anime aside & watching something else before it.  But I do suggest watching this one regardless of its slow soothing pace.  However, it can be disappointing with its lack of direction & storyline.  I'm basically contradiction myself in this paragraph.

Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica scores a 6.5/10. The show is lighthearted & is enjoyable for all genders as it is kind of relaxing to watch.  However, it can be slow & boring to some because of its lack of story & direction.  The ending would be the major disappointment though.

Last updated on January 16, 2008