Monday, March 12, 2018

[New][April 2017] Alice & Zouroku

I have never gone from 'eh, villain, just another shitty human' to
"BITCH I WILL FUCKING MURDER YOU!!"
so fast.


Last Seen: Episode 5

Summary: The “outside world.” It was filled with things she had never touched, scenery she had never seen, and people she had never met... In the face of such a broad new world, she was surprised, wavered, and her eyes were opened on the impulse of curiosity.
Sana.
She was born and raised at a facility called the “Laboratory”, without ever knowing anything about the outside world. This girl has the special power to materialize anything she imagines. Once free, she find's a grumpy old man she judges to be a 'good person', and offers him a deal: She will grant him any wish at all, if he helps her.
He flatly refuses.


First Impression: Expected Cute'sy nonsense on an 'Usagi Drop' scale. Got that, and so, SO much more!

My Opinion: What are you doing, why haven't you watched this? It came out in April. Why the hell did it take me so long to watch this? ... oh right, because the anime industry churns out truckloads of shitty copy paste trash that drowns all the gems to the bottom of the abyss.

Well, let me sum things up with this: In five episodes, this show managed to have the entirety of another anime's full plot line, and it was goddem fantastic every single step of the way, and it's not even over yet, my mind is so farking blown right now.
Meanwhile, I managed to somehow catch myself up on Black Clover, and the shit having dried, doesn't smell as bad anymore. It's alright I guess, but holy shit does putting it next to this show make you really appreciate the vast difference in production quality.

Alice & Zouroku goes for what I can only describe as an old-fashioned simple art style that looks like something you might have seen 5-10 years ago, but polished up to modern standards. I wouldn't be surprised if you pulled out a manga, said it was the original material, and took a screenshot of the anime and it looked exactly the same, just colored in. And yet...
The animation doesn't cut any corners for the fights I've seen, the CGI is in the background where it belongs, handling objects and set-pieces, and the characters are consistent. I'm not going to bother saying anything about Black Clover because I just can't be made to care anymore now that I have my precious gem. Having just recently gotten back on point writing here, this is a good feeling, a show filling me with so much inspiration to write.

But of course, I give this show a full fledged:

Recommendation
,

and I haven't even finished it yet. It's just that good.

To flesh it out some more though, don't be mislead by the simplistic and cutesy art and first impression. This show certainly surprised me with how smooth and mercilessly it refused to pull any punches, and sucker punched me in the gut. It's got a nice level of depth. It's not so far down it becomes Edge-lord'y but it's a nice comfortable level that conveys emotion and realism, without trying to grind your face in the grit, or break your sanity and will to live apart. But, it's only episode 5, eh? I've got more to see, but that will be in the end post.

1 comment:

Marcos said...

Thanks, I'll check it out.