OP Sequence

OP: 「Touch Tap Baby」 by Hacka Doll (Miyu Takagi, Kaya Okuno, Nanami Yamashita)

“Personal Entertainment AI! HackaDoll!”


「パーソナルエンタメAI!ハッカドール!」 (Pasonaru Entame AI! Hakka Doru!)

Are Trigger Saving Anime Yet?:

Apologies for starting with the “Saving Anime” nonsense, but it’s Trigger, and I can’t help myself. If you still hold onto the idea that they are going to revolutionise this upcoming generation of anime, then perhaps this will finally make you come to your senses. Hacka Doll THE Animation doesn’t strive to be different – in fact, it shows that Trigger are willing to produce a series whose sole purpose is to advertise an anime news app. Hardly revolutionary, eh? When I initially read the premise I decided I’d pass on this one, if only because of how it clearly exists to market that particular app and make it more popular. I have no interest in using it, but I’m sure if you’re looking for anime, manga, cosplay, games, light novels, or seiyuu updates, then this might take your fancy. However, I decided to give this a shot and see if it was worth much past its rather limited premise, and I’m happy to report this was actually quite good! Much better than I would have originally thought.

Light & Fun:

The characters themselves aren’t anything to remember (partially because they don’t even have official names), with each embodying a particular ‘type’ or trope. Hacka Doll No. 1 (Takagi Miyu) is the spunky, outgoing blonde; Hacka Doll No. 2 (Okuno Kaya) is more sensible, and rather well endowed; and Hacka Doll No. 3 (Yamashita Nanami) who is as lazy as can be, barely keeping her eyes open throughout the episode. Together, they personify the Personal Entertainment AI that target the users of the app and alters their news feed to their activities and interests. That’s the basic premise, and I’m quite surprised at how much they got out of it with this premiere.

Their first target is a young girl with a liking for BL and a passion for art. As such, the girls recommend a good yaoi to enjoy, and encourage her to produce her own doujins for comiket. I got a few chuckles out of it, but I’m sure any newcomer to anime would be oblivious to the references here – though Trigger are undoubtably aiming this at the seasoned fans who may or may not be familiar with the app already. If you can accept how blatant the advertising is here, then there’s very little to actually complain about. It’s funny, zany, and very easy to enjoy. The art is clean and colourful, and if you’ve watched Kill la Kill then you can expect the same sort of slapstick humour. If I were to highlight some of my favourite moments of the episode, I’d say the BL recommendation, the Hacka Dolls finding the drawings of near-naked men, and the classic trigger 4:3 flashback. If I can get as many laughs in the upcoming episodes as I did with this one, then this may well prove itself to be a fun watch week-by-week.

Overview – First Impressions:

Considering I wasn’t going to watch this in the first place, this definitely exceeded my expectations. It will be interesting to see how they incorporate the customisable news-feed with all the users they’re bound to encounter; I imagine each episode will focus on a different person with different interests, which will hopefully prevent the humour from becoming repetitive. I also expect the visuals will continue to impress (even if the animation is rather limited) considering it’s only an 8-minute short. Going by this first episode, it definitely shows some promise and is worth a shot.

Note: There are currently no plans to blog Hacka Dolls THE Animation on a weekly basis.

ED Sequence

ED: 「Happy Days Refrain」 by Hacka Doll (Miyu Takagi, Kaya Okuno, Nanami Yamashita)

14 Comments

  1. I enjoyed it, certainly this is my new short runtime anime after Wakaba Girl ended lol. You can also tell its a Trigger series, it has that hyper feel to it(Hacka Doll No 1 lol).

    Lyfe
  2. Count me too as surprised on how enjoyable this first episode was. If this series keeps it up, this will join Muromi-san, Tonari no Seki-kun, and Wakaba Girl as one of my favorite short animes.

    Zhinvu
    1. I think a lot of people will feel the same way. Even though it’s made by Trigger, the promo material didn’t make it a “must watch” show for this season. I’m glad it was a pleasant surprise. Nothing amazing, just good, solid fun.

      Samu
  3. Okay. This is intriguing, has clearly great animation, and is another TRIGGER original, but the bright girly colors and subject matter is making me hesitate to watch this.

    starss

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