 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Review: Zettai Shonen |
|
|
|
Zettai Shonen is a twenty-six episode series. This review is based on the [Triad] translation.
Story: Zettai Shonen is divided into two parts. The first part takes place in Tana, a small town some distance from Yokohama. A boy named Ayumu has come to Tana to stay with his father, the town veterinarian. He can't remember the last time he came to visit, when he was maybe three or four, but he meets a young boy, Wakkun, who claims to know him from that time. The boy doesn't seem to have a home, and he disappears when Ayumu's not around. |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Miki, Miku, and Ayumu in Tana |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
Left: Wakkun and a Material Fairy. Right: Okaka-baba. |
|
|
|
 |
|
Soon, a local reporter gets wind of some weird sightings in and around Tana, lights which can only be seen in their true form in the eyes of animals, and comes to investigate. Ayumu doesn't want to tell her anything, nor does a little girl, Miku, who seems to know what's going on, but another boy about Ayumu's age regales her with stories of kappa in the river where Wakkun plays, and a fight between a local cat, Okaka-baba, and one of the kappa.
Left: one of the lights reflected in the eyes of a dog. |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
The second part takes place in Yokohama, a year and a half later. Teenagers have been spreading rumors and pictures of beings resembling some seen in Tana. One teenager, Kisa, adopts one such creature. Her friends start seeing them around and trying to investigate. The reporter from Tana, Sukawara, who has quit her job at the local TV station, shows up to investigate what has become her passion. Ayumu has moved back to Yokohama, and gets involved, contacting Kisa.
Right: Kisa with the creature and Shigeki. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The stories each stand on their own fairly well, although the second would be more confusing without the first, and the first was my favorite. Each story has romantic subplots, and the second is full of angsty teenaged relationships. It's one of these anime that doesn't make very much sense until the end (although it has nothing on say FLCL, Magical Play, or The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya in that respect). That said, the explanation ends up being fairly good. Also, to help it alone, there are some explanations/speculations given by the animals that host the episode previews. |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Characters:
The characters in general are pretty interesting. Ayumu is kind of boring to start out with, not initially having much of a backbone, but he gets better. Wakkun is cute, and the other residents of Tana all have their appeal. Kisa, too, starts out pretty lame. She's very depressed, for reasons that are gradually revealed. Her friends are something of busybodies, but Reizo is a fairly sympathetic character.
Art: The art is alright. Most of the time, it's not terribly detailed, even for anime, but the intro is better and nicely stylized, and the CG that is used for the mysterious beings I mentioned is nice enough. The episode previews are a little bit more SD. |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
From left to right: Taruto, Roku, and Okaka-baba as seen in the episode previews. |
|
|
|
|
|
Music: I like the intro and the outro. Besides that, there's just background noises, music during a festival, and a certain ringtone shared by various characters. The background noises are realistic enough, and the absense of background music prevents the show from seeming too artificial, so it's definitely an artistic choice.
Voicing: It's appropriate and not annoying. I wouldn't say any of the voices stick out as unusual or anything, either. I'm not going to give this one a numerical score, since I've realized that I'm not a connoisseur of voice acting in the least.
So, to recap, breaking it all down into numbers:
Story: 8/10. Intriguing, well though-out, but slow-paced and not everyone's thing.
Characters: 6/10. The various main characters are kind of unappealing. I like spunk, and you see that more in the minor characters.
Art: 6/10. Mostly average.
Music: 6/10.
Overall: 7/10. Worth a watch, if you like slice-of-life types of shows, but nothing spectacular. There are some funny bits at the end, in the episode previews, hosted by various animals. |
|