First Impressions / Series Introduction / Snapshots

「布団に移るものを知らない」 (Futon ni Utsuru Mono wo Shiranai)
“I Don’t Know What That Thing Moving About the Futon is”

Well if this first episode was any indication, it looks like I wasn’t too far off the mark about how Cube x Cursed x Curious (a.k.a. C Cube) would tread into romantic-comedy territory more than anything else. The premise involving cursed items that manifest themselves into a human consciousness was just sort of slipped in — between all the naked and underwear shots of our blue-haired cube girl, Fear (Tamura Yukari). I can’t imagine anyone was really paying attention to what curse-resilient high schooler Yachi Haruaki (Kaji Yuuki) had to say about the cursed items that his overseas father sends to him, but talk about them was in there somewhere.

So far, the plot device comes off fairly gimmicky, simply because the story itself has made it out to be an everyday thing for Haruaki. That thought was quickly confirmed by the introduction of Muramasa Konoha (Chihara Minori), Haruaki’s curse-freed friend whom Fear immediately disliked because she referred to her as a kid. From that point on, it was nothing short of the two girls chirping back and forth at one another, much like one would expect from any high school comedy. Quite honestly, I didn’t find the slapstick delivery too funny, but I did enjoy seeing C3’s stylistic touches, from the goofy pencil-shaded faces to the super-deformed characters emitting murderous auras. Oddly enough, I was most amused by the Rubik’s Cube, even though Haruaki wasn’t trying to make fun of Fear when he gave it to her to play with. (If anyone deserves to be laughed at, it’s the shopping district shop owner for only making one correct side.)

I question whether it was necessary to devote as much time as they did to Fear wrecking Haruaki’s place while trying to do a good deed, but I could see what the story was going for by showing her naivety (and underwear) and reminding Haruaki (and us) that she’s not human and that he has to be patient with her like he was with Konoha. It wasn’t quite enough for me to be completely understanding of her carnage, but it did much me soften up to the sound of the high-pitched whiny voice that Yukarin uses for Fear. Her opening theme “Endless Story” (shown as an ED this episode) is a different story, as I didn’t even realize it was Yukarin singing at first. I could definitely get used to hearing more songs like this from her. It comes with a pretty good opening sequence too, with sakura (cherry blossom) petals fluttering about everywhere. While it’s really easy to spot SILVER LINK’s influences, right down to the same character designer as Bakatest, the opening sequence isn’t something I would’ve expected from them.

Seeing as Haruka’s class president, Ueno Kirika (Kitamura Eri), has yet to show up, plus all the other characters and organizations interested in cursed items, it’s far too early to tell if C3 will be anything like Kore wa Zombie Desu ka (as per my impressions in the season preview). The series has shown that it has a somewhat similar comedic element, so I plan to check out some more episodes to see where it’s headed. Your mileage will vary.

* Full-length images: 02, 10, 11, 16, 23, 26, 28.

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「Endless Story」 by 田村ゆかり (Tamura Yukari)
Watch the ED!: Streaming ▼

Preview & End Card

56 Comments

  14. to all the nay sayers, its the first episode. yes you can pretty much see where things are going with just the first one however i say give an anime at least 2 or 3 episodes before making a decision to drop it. remember madoka, i know people who thought to drop it after ep 2 and then ep 3 happened.

    Alcren
    Reply

      1. Yeah, but this is bad on a different level. The animation is bad (shots are interesting, but the actual animation itself, especially the backgrounds are rubbish and lots of gradients), the story assumes we are all already family with the usual tropes, so they can just jump right in and pretend like we already care about the characters, etc.

        Definitely a skip for me.

        Foofiebeast
        Reply

  15. Much like Softenni from Spring season, I’ll admit I was entertained a lot more than I should have been, especially from the “cleaning” house scene. I’ll probably be following this.

    At the very least, I do genuinely enjoy the chinese-esque opening.

    Soiyeruda
    Reply

  17. I was hoping Subaru from Ro-Kyu-Bu! would be able to find work…
    …is it the same voice actor? He almost looks the same, too…

    So far for the first episode, I’m reminded of Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko,
    except the futon is replaced by a cube (and some extra fan service –
    just sayin’, not hatin’). But it doesn’t seem to have the initial impact
    of Dragon Crisis!

    I’m reserving judgement for now…

    mac65
    Reply

      1. Well, I agree that it was not clumsiness (that was my anger talking). I mean, If I don’t know how to do stuff, then I won’t do it and ask for the “how to”. Not just blatantly wing it like what she did.

        TJsama
        Reply

  23. (If anyone deserves to be laughed at, it’s the shopping district shop owner for only making one correct side.)

    That right, and he even need 20 second to do it. That is stupid, even a 5 years old can do it faster.

    lkaze
    Reply

  24. catch viewers with cutesy episode and then turn the series up in the death. Ill give it a few episode. With the baka test similarity I was hoping for something akin to that to replace my lost favorite series of last season. It doesn’t help that the subtitles I watched were horrible but this show hasnt left a big impression on me. Give it a few more episodes.

    bijyu
    Reply

  25. Lol! Right at the introduction, I was like “Nanoha?” and I then realized the person who voiced Fear was Tamura Yukari.

    Anyways this so far seems pretty interesting. Liked how Fear was trying to help out with catastrophic effect. It’s also nice that she tried to help out pretty much on her first day of staying there.

    Silver
    Reply

  31. Ehhh. I couldn’t even make it through the entire first episode. Even with promises of “oh, it will get dark later!” I don’t see myself keeping up with this series. It’s being compared to Madoka already, but the difference between the two, in my opinion, is that Madoka actually had some interesting aspects even while being played (mostly) straight. I probably would have continued to watch it as a played-straight, slightly darker than normal (the creepy witch labyrinths were there from the very beginning) magical girl series. But C3 seems to be just piggybacking off Denpa Onna and Madoka and some other series, creating this weird conglomerate that doesn’t quite work. The pacing was also way too fast, like they were trying to get through the light and fluffy parts as fast as they can in order to get to the dark ~twist~ the ending and OP allude to.

    Ann
    Reply

      1. I was just reading over some of the above comments, plus that one scene in the end OP sequences where they’re all in the rain. I haven’t read any of the manga or any related discussions. I was thinking simple comedy too, until I saw that one scene in the OP, but who knows. I just know if it takes the grimmdark route I won’t be surprised, which kind of defeats the purpose.

        Ann
        Reply

    2. I think it’s being compared to Madoka in the sense that the story looks meh right now, but later on, the series will take a dark turn and become a lot more serious.

      I can’t see this show comparing to Madoka in that sense, just based off this first episode. Madoka never tried to go for cheap laughs even in its first 2 episodes, and it’s quite obvious that C^3 will remain a comedy, even when it gets to the srs bsns.

      Soiyeruda
      Reply

  32. What appears to be a generic romcom? Good enough I suppose, though definitely not going to be anywhere near the top of the priority list. Promise of it getting dark (and maybe even serious later) would be a bonus. This episode didn’t really either impress or disappoint. I think this series falls squarely into the watch if you have free time category.

    Delwack
    Reply

  35. The OP reminded me of an other anime opening. Possibly FullMetal Alchemist Brotherhood Opening 5?
    After Yukaria Tamura’s role as Suzuha in Steins; Gate now her giving her voice to another loli feels like a step back.
    Don’t know for how long I’ll continue to watch this, since this first episode felt so bland/rushed, but at least there were some nice pantsu scenes.

    boingman
    Reply

  36. I’ll believe the word on the street that there’s a good/darker plot down the line and stick with it for a bit, even though this intro ep. didn’t really grab me. I will thank Fear for giving me some Togame vibes though and reminding me that I’ve been meaning to do a full re-watch of Katanagatari :p

    Xin
    Reply

  39. i wonder why episode 2 and 3 wasnt covered? C3 have just gotten cooler… and the bad ass fear is bad ass… i always like superbly cute innocent anime girls, with a bloody murderous ego… fear kubrick is one hella exmaple.

    Animekami
    Reply

    1. Yes I agree. Divine please review episode 2 and 3, because IMHO C3 is just another under estimated anime, I thought it was just another harem comedy genre, but it actually has serious plot with bloody stuffs which I like.

      ay ya ya ya ya
      Reply

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