First Impressions / Series Introduction / Snapshots

「伝統・オア・アライブ」 (Dentou oa Araibu)
“Tradition or Alive”

Having read the chapter that this first four-minute episode covered, I have to say a lot of the humor was lost in the fast-lipped dialogue. We’re quickly told how Usami Hajime (Oohashi Ayumu) and Arima Sayo (Katou Emiri) stumble upon the Traditional Arts & Crafts Preservation Club in some introductory preamble too, which didn’t really help ease the viewer into the premise. I can’t say that’s all that unexpected for one of DLE’s Flash-based anime shorts, though I will say that the style of this type of adaptation doesn’t look all that bad. The characters are still hand-drawn, so the other things that really distinguish it from a “traditional” anime are the photographic backdrops and stiffer character movements. Style-wise, it does look (and sound) like an anime.

Surprisingly, also lost in the brevity of the format was a sense of the cast involved, which includes the likes of Omigawa Chiaki, Taketatsu Ayana, and Hayami Nobuyuki as toothpick maker Sassa Maria, rain gutter maker Houjou Ema, and club president Toba Ichirou respectively, all of whom made appearances in this first episode. (Less notable is Satou Kanami as vice-president Chousokabe Aya.) I figured I would’ve picked out their voices almost immediately, but I didn’t catch on until much later in the skit. That was almost entirely due to the fact that I so focused on what was being said at a mile a minute rather than who was saying it.

Based on this first showing, I’ll probably check back for a couple of more episodes, but I don’t intend to continue watching if the humor keeps missing a beat because of the short format. If you watch this episode and don’t find it all that funny, I recommend giving the manga a peek just to see how different it is. Until DLE gets the go ahead to use Flash-based animation in full twenty-minute episodes (which I don’t see happening anytime soon), the most their adaptations will probably strive for is some random laughs. That’s worth keeping in mind when watching their Yuruani “loose anime” shorts.

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「ワニとシャンプー」 (Wani to Shampoo) by ももいろクローバーZ (Momoiro Clover Z)

24 Comments

  5. I like the photographic backgrounds actually, works very well with the flash animation characters. The humour was ‘meh’, nothing stood out as hilarious but I chuckled a few times and I’ll still watch it till the end like the other Flash anime over the past few seasons. 🙂

    Kurofaise
    Reply

  6. I certainly felt the “cromartie feeling” whilst watching this. I guess with the same mangaka it’s a given.

    I’ll keep watching, since i found it sorta funny and four minutes isn’t a huge investment of time in my day. Compared to nichijou which is 20 minutes of (in my opinion) immense exaggeration which really isn’t that funny after the 10th time.

    Pepper
    Reply

  12. I enjoyed the concept, and probably can overlook the crude animation production. As @Croos said above, it was funny to see people mocking others when their own specialty was rather silly, but I also enjoyed the president’s attempt to be inclusive of applying glue, it was an amusing satirization of people who want to be inclusive of “toothpick incising” and such in the first place. Not the funniest show I’ve ever seen, but I’ll check out a few more episodes for sure.

    Joojoobees
    Reply

  14. After watching Honto ni Atta! Reibai Sensei and getting hooked on Fireball Charming I was expecting a little more with the funnies. 5 minutes isn’t much but I feel like it could’ve been five minutes of Sacred Seven or something more worthwhile.. :\

    Shirt
    Reply

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