「PVがつまらない!」 (PV ga Tsumaranai!)
“The PV Is Boring!”

Enjoyed your Christmas, everybody? We’re back with another episode of Amagi Brilliant Park, even though the plot more or less concluded last week. As expected, this week has no relevance to the overarching narrative that just got wrapped up, instead being more of a bonus story that you might expect to find as a DVD extra. Think of it as Amaburi‘s Christmas present to all the good little anime watchers of the world.

While all the resolutions were done in episode 12, episode 13 still made for a neat final episode, in its own way. If 12 was the dénouement, then 13 is the curtain call, celebrating all the understated talents that made the happy ending possible. In particular, the management takes a step back this week to let the grunts shine. In a way, the making of the promotional video is a metaphor for how Amaburi has come together, which makes this episode one of the more clever recap episodes I’ve seen. I may be reading too much into it, but after all the entertainment director Takemoto Yasuhiro has given me I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

If the original, generic PV is a display of Tricen’s boring personality, then the new and improved one, full of action, blood and emotion, is a showcase of all of Amaburi’s colourful ones. Those watching the PV as advertising material would likely think Amaburi a madhouse, which it totally is. That may not be a good look for attracting customers, but it’s made for great entertainment for the rest of us. The zany cast all pitching in their own slice of individuality was amusing simply because we got to see all their quirks played to the absurd, and we got to see it metastasise as one of those unintentionally surreal pastiches that the internet enjoys. Amaburi has always been fairly loose with exactly what genre it is for any specific episode, and it’s appropriate that the last one just lets them all fly. Don’t be so surprised, Seiya; Isuzu gets it. A PV for a theme park should be made of hopes and dreams, not mundane things like good sense and common decency.

Still, for all of this episode’s ridiculousness, it still manages to remain down to earth in its own way. Amaburi does like to play its magical fluff allegorically, and this week’s message is that everybody has their own private, quirky self. Sure, we already know about Koboli’s enthusiasm about, er, men, but how about Dornell’s enthusiasm about dams? We’ve always known A-san as a shameless AV star, but who knew B-san actually had a personal preference for gore? So the next time you check into the office, or the classroom, or the queue at the bank, just remember: that plain looking accountant could be a dedicated practitioner of extreme ironing in her free time. Or at least, imagine her to be. Life is more interesting if we dream a little bigger.

Final Impressions

A lot of the time adaptations are praised for being faithful to the source, but I personally do not always consider that to be the prime directive. From what I’ve heard, Amagi Brilliant Park the anime deviates from the original novel to a fairly significant degree. I haven’t read the original source so I can’t do a comparative analysis, but I’ve been more than satisfied with what I’ve seen from the anime. It felt planned, and it felt complete. There was a sense that the staff went into the adaptation aiming to make an adaptation, not just a promotional piece to boost light novel sales. As long as the adaptation understands the strengths of the original and uses that to remain true to the spirit of its source, then that’s good enough for me.

What came out of Amagi Brilliant Park the anime is, in my opinion, one of the strongest comedies of the year. Credit needs to be given to director Takemoto Yasuhiro and his team for having a keen sense of what exactly makes Amaburi funny and running the full distance with it. Props also for their skill at juggling a cast as large as Amaburi‘s, giving a wide variety of characters a chance to shine without overshadowing the central narrative. They managed to do all that, plus some romantic tension, plus occasional stints of drama, all within 13 episodes. I usually end an episode of Amaburi fairly impressed with how much they managed to get done in 23 minutes without things feeling rushed. Such is the advantage of having a good budget for your anime: you get to squeeze in all sorts of detail into the visuals and pack every minute with more substance.

The problem with Kyoto Animation’s business model, though, is that while they always make high-budget anime, they don’t make a lot of them. Indeed, while some studios are pushing out as many as four series for Winter 2015, KyoAni has not even one. I would like more from them, but especially more from Takemoto (and from Takemoto’s partner-in-crime, Ishihara). More Amaburi would be nice, but not immediately necessary, since Amaburi felt like a complete package as is. There are plenty of hooks for a sequel, but at the same time I feel that they planned to make do without one. That’s smart betting; give sufficient closure, without burning all your bridges.

My point is, I don’t care what Takemoto directs, I just want him to make something. More Amaburi would be very welcome, though. I’ve greatly enjoyed blogging it this season, and I hope you’ve all enjoyed the ride too. Maybe we’ll see be here again when Takemoto and Gatoh Shouji join forces once more, which would be grand. As I noted for the autumn preview: when those two get together, only good things happen. With Amaburi, the evidence has remained consistent.

 

Full-length images: 13, 18, 19, 26.

 

71 Comments

  1. https://randomc.net/image/Amagi%20Brilliant%20Park/Amagi%20Brilliant%20Park%20-%2013%20-%20Large%2007.jpg
    https://randomc.net/image/Amagi%20Brilliant%20Park/Amagi%20Brilliant%20Park%20-%2013%20-%20Large%2037.jpg

    Remember kids.
    Never pick water based pokemon for starter.
    KyoAni hates Totodile.

    (and from Takemoto’s partner-in-crime, Ishihara)

    You mean Gatoh? Ishihara rarely partners up with Takemoto except for that one instance in Disappearance.

    Anyway that horse birth was really wow. I didn’t expect that. Meanwhile Shirobako used horses as reference too. Imagine if they dealt with this cut.

    https://randomc.net/image/Amagi%20Brilliant%20Park/Amagi%20Brilliant%20Park%20-%2013%20-%20Large%2038.jpg

    I will really miss Amagi. Good news is that they saved some materials that would’ve brightened this season up. So if they indeed start season 2, it’ll be great expecting those to show up.

    Time to wait for KyoAni’s next project! My Haruhi S3 theory sunk when both the main staff of Haruhi showed up here. Oh well.

    megalith
    1. I meant Ishihara. On my part, Kyoto Animation has two directors I look out for: Takemoto and Ishihara. They’re mainly separate entities, but do have their stylistic similarities and do duck into each others shows once in a while. And, hey, Disappearance was great.

      1. Oh. Well then, you should look forward to the next project. Ishihara is working on it, together with Yamada.

        Personally I prefer Yamada over Ishihara. Lately Ishihara hasn’t been hitting the spot for me. Still like his taste comedic sense though. Yamada excels with photography/cinematography. Others might give her flack for Tamako Market, but I think it stayed true to it’s premise. Tamako Love Story gave what most people were asking for. Worked pretty good.

        Anyway, Takemoto does indeed need to work on another show soon. This guy needs to step up more. Though you can’t really blame KyoAni for sticking true to their practice. At least it’s not like the old days of 1 show per year.

        I’d rather have them make a quality release than let’s say kill themselves like SHAFT or say screw quality like JC Staff or Deen. The worse time they almost kill themselves(and it showed) was during K-ON S1 was airing and they did Munto TV and Haruhi on the sides. They hadn’t been able to adjust the arstyle which is why consistency fell off on both shows. They’re a decently sized studio but they’re no Bones/Sunrise.

        megalith
      1. Of course, everybody deserves the (glorious) shit he likes ^_^ (semiserious here)

        So, you wouldn’t mind if I leave you all the Yuis and Mios and grab one Koboly and several Latifas for myself?

        Solaris
  2. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think the extreme ironing gag might be a reference to a gag in K-on. I seem to have a fuzzy recollection of Yui misunderstanding something the other girls were talking about.

    On to the whole episode, I think it was a pretty great send off to one off the most entertaining series of the Fall 2014 season. The most outrageous idea I thought was probably AV-sans idea to include footage of the birth of a horse. I know its supposed to be an emotional scene, but I just couldn’t get away from how absurd it felt after all the scenes of overkill military prowess of the 3 mascots, extreme ironing accountant, a heavy metal music performance, masked wrestling etc. The anime isn’t what I would call a great anime, but I sure enjoyed watching all the episodes every week.

      1. Okok, i think i get the idea. This Stone Statue has a rumor to be an Art of some Alien in the ancient time, now exchange this Stone Statue in this Scene with a Stone Monolith or a Spaceship with this Youtube Music (Also sprach Zaratrusta) and Voila!. 2001 the Movie reference

        WorldwideDepp
  3. random viewer
  4. I gotta admit…. I was underwhelmed. For a bonus episode that took place whenever in the story, if at ail (Dornell STILL lives in the cell underground, yet that’s when Seiya is already working there and yet he still has all his comic stuff?!), I feel it ran with a story I seen done better and funnier in other shows- didn’t The Muppet Show do something like this?? Kyo Ani made it go on a bit too slow for me. I never laughed and it was utterly predictable. You could just skip this episode and it has no different an effect on your experience with the show. I wish they had at least inserted this episode somewhere in the middle of the show and change a few things around to match the chronology of where in the story it is.

    starss
    1. Well, If you noticed, there are much more spaces over there. And the things he has over there is different from back then. I’m sure Donnell has just started buying back some of his stuff.

      kerfirou
  5. Episode 13 definitely had an “OVA” vibe to it which was no surprise given EP 12 conclusory nature. There were some LOL moments (e.g. Ruby’s college club activity), and it did fit well within Amagi’s style of comedy. Still, Ep. 13 doesn’t rank particularly high for me compared to other episodes. Of course humor is subjective so JMO on that. Last week I posted that I wondered whether it might have been better to use both episodes (12 & 13) for the ending rather than wrap up everything in one episode with an “OVA” type last episode. Having watched Episode 13, for me the answer is yes. While I enjoyed last week’s episode, there was still a rushed feeling for certain parts which could have been alleviated by spreading things out over the final two episodes, leaving this episode’s content for an OVA or BD/DVD extra.

    All in all, Amagai Brilliant Park was a nice surprise for me, and I’m definitely glad I picked up the series. Even if there was a lull (IMO) with a couple of episodes, this was one of the more consistent series I watched this season. Perhaps all year. Voice acting was solid as was overall execution. Again, one thing I liked a lot was that most, if not all, of the large cast was constantly kept in mind. Even if it was just for a moment or two, the side characters (many of which I liked) got a little screen time here and there rather than be completely forgotten. Not only that, but it was done in a seamless manner. Kudos to the show for doing so. It honestly made an appreciable difference in my level of enjoyment. There were some items which I thought were insufficiently addressed over the course of the season, but flaws aside, I consider Amagi a good, solidly entertaining show. I’m definitely up for a second season.

    “It felt planned, and it felt complete.”

    While I agree with the first part of that statement (i.e. “planned”), I don’t agree with the second – certainly not in terms of the whole story. There are quite a few loose ends remaining such as Latifa’s curse, Seiya’s background/childhood stardom, the hints of romance between Seiya and Isuzu — actually IMO Isuzu could have used some more character background/depth as well. Same could be said for the Elementario girls and perhaps some other denizens of Maple Land. In addition, Takaya (evil wizard guy) is still hanging around somewhere. So if by “complete” one means “end of volume/chapter/book #X”, sure. But the story as a whole? Nope. Amagi Season 1 sets up well for a second season IMO because there are several, material unresolved plot lines.

    I’ll leave aside a general discussion of the benefits and detriments of a “faithful” adaptation, but in terms of Amagi, my impression is that this was pretty close to the source material in terms of content. Changes were for the most part in terms of order of presentation (i.e. some thing brought in from later volumes) though I’m not 100% certain so LN readers feel free to correct me if I’m wrong here. As noted above, I do think the adaptation had room for improvement. For example, Seiya’s childhood stardom was just thrown out there and… nothing. I kept expecting his past to play some part in all of this, but nope. The anime just left that part of the story hanging. You could take it out entirely and it wouldn’t make any appreciable difference while I would think it plays a meaningful role in the LN. I haven’t read the LN (would like to) so I can’t say definitively whether sticking closer to the source material would have improved the adaptation or not, but it certainly seems possible.

    1. When a I said ‘complete’, I meant from the point of view of this anime. It has done what it has set out to do. The park is saved, the villain is thwarted, the hero has grown. Sure, there is plenty of room for more stories about Amagi Brilliant Park, but this particular one is done. And I don’t think one should conflate open-ended with incomplete. I don’t even feel that Seiya and Isuzu were that undeveloped. Their back-stories were not used for any particular plot point, but rather to simply explain how they got the way they are, and I think that’s fine.

      1. @Passerby:

        Well, it all comes down to personal impression, and while I can understand your point about it not ending on some cliff-hanger, to me this feels more “end of chapter/arc/volume” than “complete”, and I don’t think I’m “conflating” anything here. “Complete” IMO is just too strong of a word. The park is saved… for another year, a point which is driven home by the anime with the brief showing of the visitor count being reset to 500k with 365 days to go. Frankly, I never did get an entirely clear idea if Latifa’s curse is ended, or, as I suspect, simply a year’s grace period due to the extra mana (or whatever it’s called). Another plot line unresolved or at least not fully explained.

        Girls und Panzer is an anime which I think is “complete” in terms of ending whereas Amagi’s ending reminds me of how Mondaiji-tachi anime ended = “end of arc” ending. While I agree with you that Amagi was not (thankfully) thrown together as nothing more than an ultra-expensive ad for the LN, the fact remains that if I want to know how the entire story plays out, I’m gonna have to read the LN. And there’s nothing wrong with that at all. One of my favorite series is Spice and Wolf, and the anime sure wasn’t “complete” in terms of the whole story. (*sigh* given up on any chance of Season 3 :/) Even so, I really enjoyed the parts of Spice and Wolf that were adapted.

        I liked Amagi. FWIW, the show was in my top 3 for this season, but when I’m left wanting more detail/explanation rather than just “more story/the adventure continues/etc.” I can’t describe that as “complete”. “…give sufficient closure, without burning all your bridges. That I think is a more accurate and fair description. Not complete, but provides sufficient resolution rather than leave viewers hanging like some series.

        “Their back-stories were not used for any particular plot point, but rather to simply explain how they got the way they are, and I think that’s fine.”

        I think that’s over-simplifying things a bit – particularly when it comes to Seiya. Perhaps enough was given to fill in some of the blanks, but not all. What happened to his parents for example? Did I miss something? They just dumped him on his aunt for… reasons? Not a childhood star anymore so don’t want him anymore? IMO, there was too much made of his past acting career to simply brush it off as “that’s why he’s the way his is”. Perhaps I’m mistaken, but I would be surprised if there was nothing more to that plot line in the LN. As I mentioned above, I think you could take out the whole childhood star part out of the anime and leave him as a very good looking, top student-athlete which would sufficiently explain his “arrogant” persona if that’s all which is required. As for Isuzu, what we got was sufficient on one level, but hardly what I would call any real depth of character. Here again, I wonder if such details are in the LN, but left out of the anime.

      2. It could be that you’re looking for more out of a story than I am. Around half way through the series I stopped expecting them to go very deeply into Seiya’s past, simply because we didn’t need much more than that for the central conflict. We knew that his child actor background was the source of his misanthropy and his nihilist philosophy, and that’s the important part. Sure, there is room to further into his history, but isn’t there always? We never learn everything about everyone, not even in anime.

        Consider Star Wars for a bit, because I assume everyone to have watched that, and they’re making a sequel for it. The trilogy can be considered ‘complete’, despite the sequel, because they did everything they set out to do: destroy the Death Star, defeat Darth Vader, blah. There was certainly more we can learn about Luke and Vader, or about the rebels bringing down the rest of the Empire and setting up the New Republic, or Han and Leia starting a family. Indeed, there are prequels, and lots of side material, about all that. But Luke’s journey, and central narrative of the original trilogy, was complete. I’d even argue that Episode V was, in itself, complete, but you may consider it more a ‘chapter’. In any case, any good setting always has more story to tell than there is episode time to cover. That’s why all stories need to have a set scope. As long as it fulfills that scope, I personally consider it complete.

      3. @Passerby: — “It could be that you’re looking for more out of a story than I am.”

        Quite possibly. Most likely really. In a sense for me Amagi is a somewhat of a victim of its own success. It turned out much better than I anticipated. There was more to the story than just “wacky comedy hijinks” which IMO is a credit to the original story and adaptation. Had I approached this with say a “comedy hijinks” mindset, then yeah, I’d probably just give a pass on the aforementioned issues.

        “The trilogy can be considered ‘complete’, despite the sequel, because they did everything they set out to do: destroy the Death Star, defeat Darth Vader, blah.”

        Definitely agree that the Star Wars Trilogy (i.e. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi) is “complete”, but I also think there’s a marked difference here, and I’m not talking about the characters/world setting back story or future events. By the end of Return of the Jedi, everything was wrapped up. Han saved, evil emperor & empire defeated, Vadar & Luke’s relationship had a finite resolution, etc., etc.

        Contrast that with Amagi. Again, the park is saved for now – still have to get 500k visitors every year. Latifa’s curse is NOT cured unless I’m misunderstanding something. If I were to use Star Wars for comparison, I’d say that Amagi Season 1 was akin to Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. OK, immediate threat taken care of and there is certainly closure in that regard (sufficiently so), but several outstanding material issues/plot lines remain = it’s not truly “complete” IMO. It’s the difference between winning a battle and winning a war. Return of the Jedi “completes” the Trilogy’s story, and yeah, I definitely would not consider Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back “complete” given all the cliff-hangers.

        This really is not a big issue for me. As you suggest, the entire issue seems to come down to us taking a different approach on the matter so I’m happy to “agree to disagree” on this one. Furthermore, again, I DO agree with you that Episode 12 provides sufficient resolution or “closure” for the viewer. Lastly, forgot to add this to my original post – thanks for taking the time to blog the show. It was a good one.

      4. Pedantry: The war didn’t end with Return of the Jedi! They still have to form the New Republic, take Coruscant, and kill all the Grand Admirals! And what about Luke and Leia? How in the blazes are they siblings? What did Obi Wan know? What was his history with Yoda and Darth Vader? They didn’t tell us! Argh!

        …Yet I still didn’t feel much for the prequels, nor am I really keen for the new JJ Abrahams movie. Funny that.

  6. … I would legitimately go to that crazy ass amusement park as shown in the leaked PV. STG.

    Might actually DIE in the process, but hey, at least it was all in good fun. Hopes and dreams indeed!

    Murasaki
  7. For those who may be a bit “eh” with this episode, one bright side we can take is that at least, being an actual filler this time, it was done after the main plot was completed rather than shoved randomly in the middle thus causing the plot and development to come grinding to a screeching halt…

    *looks at “idol” episode of Kyoukai no Kanata*

    HalfDemonInuyasha
  8. That was definitely a fun ride. A second season is definitely welcomed since Latifah is still cursed, and more Isuzu and Sylphy is also welcomed.

    https://randomc.net/image/Amagi%20Brilliant%20Park/Amagi%20Brilliant%20Park%20-%2013%20-%20Large%2013.jpg
    And Sylphy just continues being herself. Please don’t ever change.

    https://randomc.net/image/Amagi%20Brilliant%20Park/Amagi%20Brilliant%20Park%20-%2013%20-%20Large%2038.jpg
    While it was a touching moment, the horse giving birth was a little bit stomach-churning.

    https://randomc.net/image/Amagi%20Brilliant%20Park/Amagi%20Brilliant%20Park%20-%2013%20-%20Large%2039.jpg
    It’s nice to see Isuzu showing more emotions than just a serious face.

    And since you mentioned Gatoh, Passerby, I wonder if you heard of one of Gatoh’s statements in an interview,Show Spoiler ▼

    Zhinvu
      1. that’s an editor’s job…
        at least it’s not something like
        “man, change the main protagonist into a male, it’s better that way”
        which made a certain famous writer remake his manuscript from scratch…
        but heck, it all went well though…
        although the title of that manuscript will shake half of the world…
        hint hint: UBW

        holycrazy
      2. @assassin You can find it in youtube, it’s very famous actually, it’s a short 10 min or so episode called Fate Prototype, and it looked really cool :p
        Not only Saber was a guy, but the lead was a shy girl with glasses… One can only wonder what it would have been 🙂

        Kiritsugu
  9. So the show didn’t end with a huge bang or a huge whimper. It just came and went. Eh, at least it wasn’t that bad a finale, though i kinda expected to get a bit more chemistry between Seiya and Sento.

    Bing
  10. That was Amaburi at it’s zaniest best, ladies and gentlemen, and even the mess Tricen made of the entire video was hilarious.

    While the ONLY criticism I had of this episode was that it didn’t have as much impact (and no more SeiyaIsuzu shipping), we’re talking about it coming off from the finale that ended with an awesome bang last week.

    Now that you mentioned it, we really do need to give credit where it’s due in terms of character and screen-time management. When you compare to other shows that couldn’t even handle character development properly with a grand total of 4-5 characters in the cast, props must be given to the directors for making sure the craziest get their screen time yet not making it lopsided such that the main ones get shafted (I don’t get all the references, but to me Ashe’s sky-dive ironing and the dragon’s involvement in his high school’s Tea Club really took the cake, with Koboli’s fujoshi acting up earning a honorable (?) mention). A whole truckload of fun there.

    As a LN reader who’s nearly done with volume 3 thus far, most of the scenes shown here are very familiar, but definitely in the “wrong” sequence. I hesitate to call out on the ‘erroneous’ sequence simple because of how KyoAni have magically pieced together these various scenes and added their own neat touches to highlight the theme park lives of our fantastic denizens + 1 narcissistic high school male. I might even go as far as to say that some of the portrayals of various characters made them more likable than in the LN, especially Isuzu and Seiya. The pacing was great, space was given to the various characters to grow and develop and the show stuck to its guns of being comedic in nature with dashes of drama, action and heartwarming moments.

    I hate sweeping statements, but to me Amaburi has got to be the best show this season that is completed, and probably one of the best shows to elicit laughter from me in a public place when I watched it.

    Bring on season 2, please. I would really love to see an awesome sequel with Gatoh and Takemoto planning it out and bringing the mojo on again.

    https://randomc.net/image/Amagi%20Brilliant%20Park/Amagi%20Brilliant%20Park%20-%2013%20-%2035.jpg

    Posted just because I found another girl to fanboy over. :p

    Owaranai
    1. Oh yes, that was a pretty fun segment, though

      Show Spoiler ▼

      Since that wasn’t technically in the show, I thought I could elaborate just a bit there. :p

      Owaranai
  11. Among all the footages, Ashe sky diving and ironing really blown me lol. Hahaha!

    Though not much of Isuzu’s fanservice, sexy sleeping Muse is good enough for me ^^ lol at Sylphy, did she just used pencil to press her phone screen??? So little Kanie and Latifa screen time…hurm…oh well, KyoAni is just doing what a KyoAni best in lol…

    Will there be season two???? Oh please let it be season two! I want more Amaburi and Isuzu puriss!

    onion warrior
  12. This is one of the two shows I look forward to watch every week. The comedy somehow works and out of that huge cast of characters, most of them are interesting and none annoying. Really gonna miss them.

    Speaking of characters, my favorite has got to be Tiramie. That traitorous lecherous cat is just hilarious. Probably my favorite traitor of all time. A really good example of a pervert too (remeber that AV?). Hmm, those words seem overly negative for a favorite character. Oh well.

    It seems pointing a gun at a boy to get a date is a sign of good things to come.

    theirs
  13. Well, it’s to late but anyhow.

    my Idea for a PV for the Park, would begin with the “Welcome to Amagi Brlliant Park” Open from the 4 Element fairy’s in
    Episode 10 start time: 1.18
    When they put the Lights on with a delay on the Attractions, i would use this Scene to blend in the Logo Name on the PV. I would use the same kind of Children laughs and show fun, some Main Attraction would made a peek entry in the PV. Some Anchors would the the Fairy’s Show, where they ask the guests “are you happy?” and the respond of the Kids. Perhaps at last scene

    WorldwideDepp
    1. the Message:

      For Kids:
      See how much Fun the other ones have, come join us (Are you Happy?), too in Amagi Brilliant Park

      For Parents:
      The Show’s Attraction is also for your liking. We have Pirates, Fairy’s Theater

      WorldwideDepp
  14. The reasoning behind this horrible PV is due to the employees all have a unique characteristics, plus they aren’t human so the employees at Amagi Brilliant Park put in what they consider cool. Although it seemed out of place really right after the main event on EP 12, I got a good laugh out of it.

    Bunn28

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