Amagi Brilliant Park / First Impressions

「時間がない!」 (Jikan ga Nai!)
“Not Enough Time!”

And in no time at all, here we are again!

While last week’s (or rather, earlier this week’s) introductory episode mostly set the mood with helpings of comedy, this week Amagi Brilliant Park has dialed back the gags in order to really push the plot along. Sure, there’s still some laughs to be had but more time was given to simple background exposition. Isuzu even felt the need to introduce her gun; fantasy just can’t help but want to explain everything. And perhaps they only have one episode to do it, so they better get all of it out of the way right now. We do get a lot done this episode, and a lot of that flowed naturally as part of the narrative progression. In the first episode we were introduced to the sorry state of Amaburi, and our hero was issued with a Call to Adventure. In this episode they get into detail, laying out the stakes and giving the hero an opportunity to reject the call, and then ultimately answer it.

Introducing: some blonde guy

The biggest thing that happened this episode was definitely the introduction of the villain, one Kurisu Takaya (Suwabe Junichi). He’s basically a corporate goon and doesn’t have much of a personality outside of being really smarmy. His spectacles, though, are certainly the most magical thing to have appeared in this show so far. Seriously, I’ve never seen their like before. Is it magnets? Is it Velcro? Is it Lego Glasses? I found myself completely fascinated. Unfortunately it’s unlikely he’ll be showing up much because he’s not really the source of Amaburi’s problems. He’s right. It should have, by all rights, gone out of business long ago. His main role, rather, is to stir our hero into action. That’s why he’s an antagonist—he antagonises, which creates motivation for the protagonist. Curiously, Seiya seems to have internalised this because he also goes out of his way to play the villain, recognising the need for a bad cop to balance out Latifa’s apologetic good cop. As Machiavelli would say, though, if a prince cannot inspire love he should at least inspire fear, but should never inspire hate. How will Seiya’s gambit play out? At the moment, poorly. But having the cast eventually begrudgingly accept him is part of character development.

Padding out the cast

Seiya’s encounter with Kurisu Takaya isn’t his only bit of development; the cartoonish narcissist also demonstrates that he has the walk to back up his talk. After his routine blowing his own trumpet (to himself) in Episode 01, here he demonstrates that he may well be as brilliant as he claims, performing a surprisingly accurate Fermi estimation with only minimal data. He’s so good that he even surprises Isuzu, who was until that point completely unflappable. So she’s not emotionless, just inexpressive, perhaps having served too long as the stoic retainer. Or maybe she took Mao Zedong too literally about stuff growing out of the barrel of a gun.

The supporting cast also gets a good showing. There’s more of the Elementario (they sing the ED, if that wasn’t apparent) being very present but not very relevant. More significant to the narrative is the introduction of Macaroon (Shiraishi Ryoko) and Tiramie (Nonaka Ai), the faeries of music and flowers respectively. Supposedly, anyway. They represent the blue-collared working class of Amaburi, and a window into the strange ways these fey have integrated into our mundane society. The staff of Amaburi is actually very colourful; I’m sure someone had heaps of fun with all those designs. I actually won’t mind seeing Amagi Brilliant Park play around with more of them.

Oracles of the future

Personally, I don’t care much for exposition. That may be just me; I find less interest in the details of how things work by themselves and more in how they work in relation to the world. If you just show me the effect, and that effect is consistent, then I’m satisfied. But while I didn’t need the technobabble we got this episode, I suppose I didn’t mind it that much either. They’re faeries, they can be born from the laughter of children or whatever. If you really need me to know that to set up for story later then I’ll accept it. However, the more important message of this episode, to me, was that despite the Amaburi staff’s lack of business acumen, entertainment chops, or even proper work ethic, they still have some pride in their work—we can call that ‘heart’. How can children believe in your fairy tale if you do not? It’s fitting that Seiya makes it a point to give the cast something to believe in as well, even if the quota is a practical impossibility.

What, then, does Seiya believe in? He’s intelligent and charismatic, and had a promising career as an actor, but he threw it all away. How did he become such a cynical misanthropist? We’ll undoubtedly get deeper into that in the future. I suspect that if Seiya means to revive the park, he will also need to revive something in himself.

 

Full-length images: 04, 05, 23.

 

Preview

70 Comments

  4. It was nice seeing that Isuzu isn’t the super emotionless type. While emotionless works sometimes (Nagato Yuki?), I think it wouldn’t have fit Isuzu as well as what the show actually presented.

    Kraft
    Reply

  5. Well, it is a Fresh Kaze, because he is not the Divine Hero dont fall from the Sky, or after saw the Princess he fallen in Love and because of that he do all what she wants. He is doing it on his own way.

    Interesting that they broke out of this cliché of the White Knight in shining Armor. More the Code Geass path

    I like it

    Germanguy
    Reply

  7. Seiya’s coming to Amagi Brilliant Park reminds me of Steve Jobs coming back to Apple. Both of them are jerkass with a heart of gold. Even the strategy was similar – the my way or the highway.

    https://randomc.net/image/Amagi%20Brilliant%20Park/Amagi%20Brilliant%20Park%20-%2002%20-%20Large%2028.jpg

    https://randomc.net/image/Amagi%20Brilliant%20Park/Amagi%20Brilliant%20Park%20-%2002%20-%20Large%2029.jpg

    Well, glad that he is taking this seriously.

    https://randomc.net/image/Amagi%20Brilliant%20Park/Amagi%20Brilliant%20Park%20-%2002%20-%20Large%2031.jpg

    By the way, that clean-up order reminds me of the mayoralty of Rudy Giuliani when he cleans up New York physically. It’s an excellent first step.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayoralty_of_Rudy_Giuliani

    https://randomc.net/image/Amagi%20Brilliant%20Park/Amagi%20Brilliant%20Park%20-%2002%20-%20Large%2036.jpg

    KF
    Reply

    1. Someone needs to make a GIF of Seiya’s “Y’all suck” speech, and possibly add funny captions to it or something.

      And I agree that sprucing up the place is the best first move he could make; the place’s a total wreck. When you go to a theme park, what’s the first thing you see? The facade of course. And then when you enter, you see the buildings, the facilities, the decor. If the paint is peeling and the algae is running amok, you’re gonna stop right in your tracks and make a 180, right?

      Hanabira.Kage
      Reply

    1. Yeah, it’s a thing. I’ve seen it on both Japanese and US regular TV here and there, for reading glasses. Hino Shouhei, (火野正平) who’s been in dramas and movies in Japan since the early 70s, wears them a lot on his show にっぽん縦断こころ旅 (The heart’s journey across Japan), where he bicycles around the country, and goes to places special to viewers, then reads their letters… with exactly this style of glasses. (I watch it every now and then, because it’s relaxing.) Dunno if it’s a shout-out to Mr. Hino, or just a fashion thing.

      Totally digging Amagi, too. Can’t wait until the next ep, whenever that is.

      s_w
      Reply

    2. Thanks guys (and @Crook, below). The world sure has sure gotten amazing. Even reading glasses!

      (That said, as far as I’m concerned, magnets are as close our world gets to magic. They stick to fridges! That’s magical.)

      Passerby
      Reply

      1. Magnets, well their function, are awesome. They produce our Electricity, as we know. The Power Cables is just a transportation of Magnet impulse

        Our modern World depends on this Magnetism

        Germanguy
        Reply

  10. I can’t take it anymore… this feels waaaay to much like an Adam Sandler movie. It’s got some good points, but all I feel is bitterness that this isn’t another season of Full Metal Panic.

    Hochmeister
    Reply

    1. If it’ll make you feel better, Isuzu can be Sousuke-lite, Seiya can be Chidori+, and Latifa can be Princess Tessa. It all works out. Amagi Brilliant Park definitely inherited the soul of FMP (and in Bonta-kun’s case, even gained a soul).

      Passerby
      Reply

      1. So I just watched the first two episodes and I really enjoyed them. The first one had me laughing heartily and I like the development in the second. Definitely going to stick with this. Thanks again to your posts Passerby.

        RifuloftheWest
        Reply

  12. We have two pairs of those glasses at home as well. They look awkwardly big but are actually pretty handy. They connect with a magnet in the middle (between the two lenses), if that question wasn’t already answered.

    Crook
    Reply

    2. As long as the parents don’t mind, then the kids won’t mind too. I know I’d view Tinkerbell in Tokyo Disneyland differently now than when I was a kid. I realized that when I read a manga called Saint Young Men. When they referred to Tinkerbell’s clothing, a light bulb popped and I thought to myself: I should’ve took more pictures back then.

      theirs
      Reply

    3. Many Religious Pictures of Angels are some kind of that, too. There is even Pictures where the wind just blow the Piece of Cloth in the same Positions you will expect in a Anime, not to reveal to much… But, there are Pictures of little Child Angels where they are naked, to demonstrate the innocent of Children hearts…

      So no, not the Anime invented this Censorship. It is long ago to avoid censoring from the Church

      Of course there are exceptions. Just one name: Michelangelo and statues

      Germanguy
      Reply

      1. i think, in that time we dont know, that we hurting the other Person. We thought it of some kind of Fun play, to imitate a Hero Figure in our Mind, with out thinking of the others.

        Germanguy
        Reply

    2. Damn those kids. Now if only those actually were costumes and stuff, they could slot hard metal plates into it to protect themselves.

      …I didn’t suggest that so the kids would hurt themselves, most definitely not. Uh-uh.

      Hanabira.Kage
      Reply

  16. This feels like a really good follow-up episode. Doesn’t feel like the flow is unbroken or unnatural even though we went from the revelation that Seiya was bestowed magic straight into his testing. My optimism is still up for the 2nd episode, and I’d take that personally as a good thing that this series might just be done right. 😀

    I also like how they show little quirks in seemingly unimportant scenes. Look at that castle – That sure as hell doesn’t look like it comes out of a fairytale. Probably looked more at home in a medieval wartime setting worth of Madan no Ou. The little scenes of our three favorite mascots also shows a work ethic difference.

    They gave more depth to Isuzu too other than being everyone’s favorite fanservice (which she still is, especially in that business wear :3) Makes me glad that she isn’t an exact copy of Sagara Sousuke, and the diligent effort she makes to represent Latifa, her helplessness and that desperation in begging Seiya for help shows it perfectly just how she was awkward when it came to communicating her thoughts across.

    And the side characters are not forgotten too, with Tiramie and Macaron given their own sets of quirky personalities. Even after reading through this part of the LN, I still find it weird and entertaining that the three cute mascots act and talk like blue-collared oji-sans with their everyday woes at work and random topics (with a particularly perverted one at that). Don’t let your mascot-loving kids watch this show, people. You’ll shatter their dreams. :p

    The one little issue one might have with the setup is how literally everyone from Maple Land has zero business acumen or bother to read up/research on managing a theme park. That could possibly be due to a stubborn pride embodied by how Moffuru refuses to accept help from ‘Earthlings’.

    The anime might have done something right, though, in deviating from the LN in terms of the target.

    Show Spoiler ▼

    Owaranai
    Reply

    2. That thing in the Spoiler…

      Do you think, the Opposite side will stand bye and let it be happening? Of course not. They surely will play the “Power plays”… There are 3 Boys in the OP that dont look really friendly…

      So pieces for Drama is there, it is the question in how the Studio will use it

      Germanguy
      Reply

      1. Example (out of my Mind):

        Why there is still the wrong Bus-stop name, for this Love-hotel?
        Why it still take so much time to rearrange it? They have surly their hands in this Game.

        Look for these little “Dark Side” Gaps, that the Anime hidden very well until now

        Germanguy
        Reply

      2. “oh, you are a Smart one. Would you like to work for our Company?”

        A Offerer you can not deny (Hint!)

        “If you play with the fools, you will turn into some yourself!”

        (Hint!)

        Germanguy
        Reply

  18. This ep hit me hard. I know how harsh it is to see the place you loved to work at, the place who you grew friendships with, die a slow death and then have that awkward meeting where the head frustratingly announces that they’re closing and letting everyone out into the fuckin streets!! I know that moment! ;__; So this so has me by the balls, and I’ll be following it til the last episode.

    starss
    Reply

  20. Well, I don’t think we got a lot of character development, but this episode did move along the plot rather well. We’re basically finishing up the appetizer and moving onto the main meal. I feel like the anime is still lacking something with its rather straightforward goal and (for now) flat characters, but it still has plenty of time to change that.

    However, as before, I personally find the show to be rather enjoyable.

    TripleSRank
    Reply

  21. I was bit touched when Kanie realised the bench he was sitting on was deliberately curved on each edges to prevent injuring little children while lamenting “they got their priority wrong”. A nice subtle hint which makes his change of heart more believable imo.

    Amiluhur
    Reply

  24. Funny how I tend to do the same thing in RCT. After a scenario starts, do a survey and then close it off to do construction work. Let’s see at what stage does Seiya decide to open the park again. Boy, the gaming nostalgia is strong in this one. Definitely on my watch list.

    Still strange seeing Bonta-kun say anything other than fu and mo.

    theirs
    Reply

  27. https://randomc.net/image/Amagi%20Brilliant%20Park/Amagi%20Brilliant%20Park%20-%2002%20-%20Large%2027.jpg
    yeah that little girl really give serious kick xD
    https://randomc.net/image/Amagi%20Brilliant%20Park/Amagi%20Brilliant%20Park%20-%2002%20-%20Large%2027.jpg
    almost laugh ^^!
    https://randomc.net/image/Amagi%20Brilliant%20Park/Amagi%20Brilliant%20Park%20-%2002%20-%20Large%2029.jpg
    (As Machiavelli would say, though, if a prince cannot inspire love he should at least inspire fear, but should never inspire hate) mm mm agree agree but main character inspire hate xD

    syncmaster
    Reply

  28. My main problem with this show so far is, why do they even need the magical background? If you wanted your mascots to act like grumpy adults, you could do that just fine by putting actual humans inside the suits. If you wanted Seiya to read minds, you could just abuse his many talents and make him good at reading people (kinda like another genius protagonist this year). And of course, you don’t need a whole kingdom fueled by hopes and dreams to justify a theme park reconstruction. Because of that lack of purpose, all this fluff just makes the show more infantile, even though it still shows a very mature side here and there (and I don’t even mean Isuzu’s backside). They better find a good reason to keep that plotline going, or it will pull down an otherwise perfectly fine story.

    SingerOfW
    Reply

    1. i can’t speak for the author and have no read ahead in the story, but I suspect the fantasy setting is used because Disney fairytale magic is the opposite of jaded cynicism. Theme parks are presented in Amaburi as little bastions of hopes and dreams, sheltered from the cold reality outside. All you need to do is believe. That’s why we’re invited to see the park as infants will: the mascots are real, magic is real, hopes and dreams are real.

      Remember, every time you say you don’t believe in faeries, a faerie drops down dead.

      Passerby
      Reply

    2. Well, there’s the detail of the magical beings completely disappearing and ceasing to exist if they don’t get enough customers, which makes bad business even MORE fatal for them than for regular employees.

      starss
      Reply

    3. all this fluff just makes the show more infantile, even though it still shows a very mature side here and there

      That’s the point. The juxtaposition of the two themes is what makes it ironic, which some people find very enjoyable.

      bolton
      Reply

  30. I just can’t resist Kyo Ani’s animations, for some reason. They look so easy on the eye to me. And Bonta-kun meets Lelouch. Love it. But yes, please bring FMP back please. PLEASE. PLEASE!!! Sousuke-kun!

    Teabie
    Reply

  31. Shameless Elementario Appreciation Post:
    Show Spoiler ▼

    Giorno Giovanna
    Reply

  32. waiting for someone to make a parody on niconico where the MC says “I’m let you finish Hime-sama but Disneyland was the best theme park of all time” someone make this happen please XD

    shen
    Reply

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