「宇宙人 – Anytime」 (Uchujin)
“Alien – Anytime”

In a sort of anti-climatic way, A-channel comes to a close. But I suppose going out on such a low key fits this show perfectly. With the main cast of characters all getting at least a few seconds of screen time, it felt pretty satisfying for an ending.

The key point this episode had to be Yuuko tripping and revealing her pure white pantsu to everyone. Unlike a certain bass player whose pantsu could be confused with a bowl of rice, it was great how she didn’t immediately get up, giving our three judges time to give their respective points (;

But throughout the episode, I was happy to see that things kept that “A-Channel” feel to things. More specifically, I was overjoyed to see Miho and Yutaka make their way back onto the show. That bit of friendship building when Yutaka nearly fell off the tree really reinforced the fact that the three have become really good friends. Which was really surprising since as side characters, I never thought that they’d get big important moments like that.

Seeing how this is a slice of life that really sticks to its guns, how about we start the final impressions quickly?

INS11: 「未確認飛行ガール」 by ナギ (Nagi) & ユー子 (Yuuko)
Watch the 11th INS: Streaming ▼

ED2 Sequence

ED2: 「はるかぜの化学」 (Harukaze no Kagaku) by 福原香織, 悠木碧, 内山夕実, 美菜子寿 (Fukuhara Kaori, Yuuki Aoi, Uchiyama Yumi, Kotobuki Minako)
Watch the 2nd ED!: Streaming ▼

 

Final Impressions:

The one thing that still sticks about this show is how the characters have changed since we’ve met them back in episode one. Just like how bonds develop over time in real life, A-channel let us into the lives of four girls who strengthened their bonds over time.

Remember when Tooru couldn’t stand anyone being within a meter of Run? You can’t forget how pissed off she’d get when Yuuko would happen to get a little too close to Run, causing her to do something not necessarily evil but something that would bring some sort of misfortune to her. But after one year of becoming friends, it’s clear just how much Tooru cares for Yuuko. Even if she still randomly smacks her boobs, I’m sure it’s all out of love.

On the other hand, Nagi would probably be a great example of how friends are in real life. I love it when she gets on Run’s case for being… herself. In the real world, being that big of an airhead usually has some pretty serious repercussions. Whether or not people noticed it, Nagi would be the only one who’d normally voice her opinion when things started to go awry. And it’s not like she did it for her own self gratification — I’m sure that she also cares a lot for Run when she isn’t angering her.

Another great thing that A-channel has going for it has to be the great variety of side characters. Yutaka and Miho always seem to make my day whenever they manage to make it on screen. Something about Yutaka’s child like attitude and Miho’s seriousness just seem to mesh well with Tooru’s normal attitude. That and I can remember their name on a moment’s notice which says a lot about how memorable they are.

With Satou, Kitou, and Kamade-sensei, they round out the cast with someone super creepy, super energetic, and super “I don’t care”. While the possibility of Satou and Kitou dating each other was never explored, I can’t imagine how funny it’d be to watch Kamade mess with two if something did happen. Now that I think about it, Kitou would probably let her fierce passion as a teacher leak out even considering dating Satou. Then again, feelings can do mysterious things to people!

At the end of the day, A-Channel is a show that you can watch for fun if you want something that’ll occasionally make you laugh and feel all fuzzy inside. With a solid cast of characters to spend time with and a new insert song every single week, there’s always something to look forward too. Would I recommend someone to watch this show? Probably. I’d have some reservations with someone saying this show was amazing, but I’d accept a pretty good.

21 Comments

  1. The one thing that really resonated with me was Tooru’s feelings about time going on and the future. Overall, I’m going to miss this series seeing how it just made me smile every wee.

    drcnch
  2. A slice of life show with an insert song per episode that beats K-ON’s grand total surly cannot be that bad.

    And so 12 episodes nicely covers all 12 months in a school year for our girls, if season 2 ever gets made, expect an Azu-nyan style tear-jerking finale from Tohru as she bids her beloved seniors farewell.

    PS The scene with Tohru looking completely flustered as Run had to pick the tree leaves on her head in front of her friends was just too cute. Like Yutaka and Miho, I was left mesmerized. lol

    Kinny Riddle
  3. I’d surely recommend this to a friend if they wanted something charming to watch.

    This episode didn’t really feel like the end but instead, just another episode- which is a good thing. 😀 Would love another season sometime next year if the ban doesn’t get in the way.

  4. This series and Nichijou stand out as the BEST of the slice of life shows this season. Both shows have memorable characters and a good amount of comedy. This show was more cute and warm fuzzy feeling then out and out LOL moments like Nichijou. A Channel was consistant in its delivery and really didn’t have a dead episode. Nichijou has some momentum killer moments mixed in with great LOL moments and some skits that fall a little flat so that evens the shows out. If I had to pick which of ther 2 was the best slice of life comedy I would say its a tie.

    Everyone compares this show to K-On and rightly so. They both gave off a “cute” feeling and were fun to watch each week. The 4 girls and their side characters were fun to watch. The animation style was great and yet it was a little different then other series. I would guess they had “thinner bodies then their head” as a way to describe the animation style.

    Comparing A Channel to K-on we even got a theme where Tooru was lamenting the future loss of her cherished Run (and Yuuko and Nagi to a lesser degree) just like Azusa was worried about her friends and club members graduating and her being left behind. In K-Ons case she picked up 2 members from her friends (Ui and the other girl whos name I forget). A Channel showed us that Yukata and Miho will probably fill that role.

    I would love to see a 2nd season but if there is one it would probably be in the future. The anime is pretty caught up to the manga. In fact this week the manga covered the scene in the restaurant where the girls were collecting the tickets to win a prize so thats how close they are to each other. At least the translated manga episodes are at this point (Chapters 17 and 18 just got translated). K-On was supposed to end but recently the manga started back up with the girls going to college and joining a club in college as well as Azusa and her efforts to keep the light music club going. I have no doubt that down the road K-On will be back so A Channel should as well. They just need some time for the manga to get some new chapters published.

    Karmafan
  5. Nichijou’s style were mostly load lots of gags and hope that some of it scores a hit. That makes for some really dull moments (and lately have been more frequently on the dull side).

    A-Channel, while more focused on the warm and fuzzy sentiment and less on humor, at least consistently delivers in the “feel good” factor in all its episodes. Where there are humor, it scores spot on (Run mumbling due to biting her tongue was a winner in this episode).

    Overall, I’m more keen to recommend A-Channel than Nichijou due to this.

    Kimberly
  6. I’m definitely going to miss my weekly dose boob slapping and glass full of moe.
    I’m quite surprised that A-Channel didn’t become as big of a hit as I thought it would. It seems to have the right ingredients and not to mention the excellent set of insert songs that makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside.

    Thanks for blogging this show, Takaii and I hope you stay with RandomC for a very very long time 🙂

    Seishun Otoko

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