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「夢回廊」 (Yume Kairō)
“Dream Corridor”
Yumekui Merry has everything, plot, movement, charming characters, and an end goal in sight. So why is it so bereft of excitement? Is it the subject matter? The problems raised? The plot itself? Just me? This entire episode was just a repeat of what has been said over the past seven. Isana has no clue where to go in life, and it feels like she’s being preyed on by people, the same sentiments that I’ve had for several episodes. Akiyanagi and Rice-sensei are still being alluded as someone with ulterior evils, and that’s like the umpteenth time now. Engi is still mulling over her sister (I get it! You’re sad your sister is gone!), and Merry still likes donuts. Notice all those “still’s.”
The most entertainment I got out of this was Yui’s character development, which wasn’t even all that much. The characters of Yumekui have always been a highlight, and Yui followed the same route. She’s carefree, intelligent, happy, and stable, making an attractive persona. Her family is typically quirky, even though it feels they tried too hard to make that seem funny, and she’s completely sane in contrast, which is supposed to add to the joke. It’s interesting that even that is cliche, but Yui is nice to listen to. Come to think of it, most of the characters are nice to listen to, as they have soft smooth voices and never stray too far from being mellow. Character designs are pretty awesome too.
See, the problem is, they keep talking about this and that, but they never actually do anything that brings them a visible step closer. So in a way, yes, the pacing is too slow because it’s redundant. The demon this time was more talkative than usual, but nothing he said, again, was anything new. And we don’t even see the fight! Cliffhanger! One point I’ve been wondering about this entire series is why Dream Demons have such an obsession for our reality. Personally, I prefer dreams over reality, and if their dream world is as amazing as the ones I can conjure in my sleep, then there’s the huge question mark. What makes dream world so horrid? Also, Yumeji getting an injury that became this big of a deal because he didn’t bother using the stairs that could have taken only a couple seconds more of his time… facepalm’d.
From the preview, here’s what I’m going to predict. Mystletainn = Rice-sensei. Isana gets owned. Kawanami turns out to be a protector of Isana. Engi starts raging again. Yumeji finally realizes Merry’s actually killing demons. Okay, if that last one actually happens, I will be so disappointed, because there was no way nobody didn’t see that coming.
Preview
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Do you think that the animation would be superb to warrant a continuation of watching this series? This episode fails at even drawing us in with foreshadowing future events. Glad that this is only 12/13 ep series.
do want more stuff to happening. bored of build up.
This man speaks the truth.
The story while interesting is dragging up a little…
It’s probably the direction and the out of place music scores.
Remeber, Elcres is luring the Dream Deamons with his psychic beacon… So it is like MTV luring immigrants to the prosperity of McJobs 😛
Well, think about it like this.
We go to the ‘Dream World’ because it is much more exciting than our own world. Like as if anything that happens here is actually quite boring, which is why in our sleep we tend to go to the Dream World.
Perhaps it is the same for Dream Demons. They would want to come here to see what our world is like since their world is actually quite boring. However, unlike humans, Dream Demons didn’t really care about the human world until Pharos Elcres showed up, while we humans go to the Dream World unintentionally in our sleep.
Please correct or rebut me if I am wrong since this is just a theory.
As ewok40k said, the dream demons are being lured into our world be the lighthouse Heracles. This guy plans to make everyone in reality into dream demons.
Regarding Yumeji’s injury, in the manga, he didn’t jump down into the sand because Merry wasn’t even in the water when he found her but somewhere else. He hurt his foot after running up stairs.
So it makes a lot more sense here.
Unfortunately, they really streched that episode. Even without Isana talking to that Rice-sensei, in the manga all this was barely one chapter.
From the looks of it, they won’t finish the fight with Landsborough either, because it derails into anime original content from the next episode on.
What can I say, I think J.C.Staff could’ve done a lot better with the pacing and adoption of the original content. At least Merry and Yumeji are coherent.
Oh, actually, Yumeji ran DOWN stairs, exactly what he didn’t do in the anime and the reason why Kiiragi facepalmed. It’s all J.C.Staffs fault!
Merry is so cuuute.
“One point I’ve been wondering about this entire series is why Dream Demons have such an obsession for our reality.”
Clearly, it’s the fact that we have doughnuts.
doughnuts = gunpla The most mundane things seem to save our world from invasion.
Merry is about the only reason I’m still watching this series.
Yui is damn cute.
And, clearly Rice-sensei is possessed–it’s just not normal for a normal human to love rice that much!! 😛
There is one big reason I just can’t get into this anime series.
It is the music. It detracts from EVERY SINGLE scene. Battle music has no tension and excitement. Music during comedic times is either monotone or just little beeps and blips. The music tries to be mysterious in certain parts, but is just irritating.
Compare this to Madoka, which not only has a gorgeous soundtrack, it accentuates every scene.
i agree. The music is a bit too slow and drags the show down a lot. I really like the manga version, but cant get into the anime. I think the music is a large part of it.
Hi Kiiragi, this is merely a suggestion, but maybe you should drop Merry and put out earlier posts on the awesome Gosick instead? 🙂
I’m not later than usual on GOSICK, and I can’t really post until raws without watermarks come out. That usually occurs one day after it airs, sometimes even later. This is why I post almost always one day after a show airs.
Show Spoiler ▼
Afaik there is no Light Novel for Yumekui Merry
It’s based on the manga
John Doe doesn’t have a real vessel.
Show Spoiler ▼
The sole good track in this show is the OP. The ED isn’t too bad either.
The rest of the music is boring and monotonous, and the story hasn’t advanced a whole lot. This show has charming characters, but the plot and the execution have been slow and boring. For the most part, the fighting scenes have been lacking as well.
I’m still watching it for the characters and in hopes that it picks up because it’s definitely got potential.
Just read the manga, basically all the flaws you mentioned are anime only.
Like virox said, many of the flaws here is anime only so that’s rather disappointing. However, I still enjoy it so I think it’s still pretty good but the pacing could definitely have been much better. Even the manga right now is just making me crazy with excitement but I’m still worried about the anime original stuff they are planning.
Merry and her band of doughnuts is very cute. That’s the bright side.
For some reason Rice Sensei really, I mean Really bothers me. Not simply because he is alluded to be a possible antagonist, but something about his character I find very unsettling…
He disturbs me only slightly less than this little guy, only because the latter has had more evil intentions come to light. Another character that I’m curious about is Yumeji’s buddy Taketeru Akiyanagi. He seems rather harmless, writing all those poems and tagging along and whatnot; but I wonder if his eyes carry any significance. Navels aside, this show seems to place heavily emphasis on the characters eyes, dream demon and humans alike. All the dream demons (and they’re human vessel counterparts during the dream sequences) have uniquely shaped pupils, Merry included with her cute rectangles. Takateru is the only character (that I’ve noticed) who has pitch black eyes. The other characters, main or otherwise, have fairly normal eyes- unless they where attacked and subsequently had they’re dreams crushed. Perhaps I’m reading waaay too much into it, the plot after all is moving at such a slow speed it gives me time to speculate over dumb stuff like this 😛
Despite all the short comings, I still enjoy this show. The characters, design, and production value are enough to keep me watching till the end (I’ve watched worse shows for less >_<).
Thanks to Kiiragi for the lovely reviews each week, and all you internet peeps who read my absurd comments/rants.
At least the fanservice could have been good…sigh
The action should be picking up soon since they have been doing a couple chapters an episode. The manga in its own fashion also started slow Show Spoiler ▼
With only a few episodes left on this anime I highly doubt they would reach the “interesting” parts of the manga. It’s pretty obvious they are going for an anime original ending. I’ve read the manga and it reaaally starts slow.
Show Spoiler ▼
Show Spoiler ▼
I do not have problems with the plot of this show at all. Up till now I think they’re doing a great job.
Boring episode was booooring.
well next episode will reveal some stuff that might be shocking if you couldnt guess it from the earlier episodes.
from the way the anime is pacing, its following the manga alright even with some alterations but because of that, they are definitely gonna make a anime original ending unless they can get more eps or seasons.
The translation of the manga is just getting good, so the anime is kind of disappointing in comparison. The pacing is fairly slow definitely. However, I still like the series and will continue to watch it. It’s the little things like Merry playing with the donut lion or Engi honestly apologizing. The series is kind of slice of life like but not really, and that is fine to me.
Ahh, this series and Gosick has the complete opposite in terms of pacing.
So the main reason why Yumekui series keeps its animation values is because without it the show will lose more of the reduced audience it has, and that audience is the indicator of the DVD/BD sales…. I heard the pre-sales are rather low.
Pre-order rankings aren’t too bad (consistent from day to day). Granted, the show won’t do big numbers, but the season as a whole is pretty weak, with only Madoka Magica and Infinite Stratos drawing much attention. Yumekui Merry is a distant third after those two, so it’s still ahead of almost every show debuting this winter.
As for the stable quality, there’s an outstanding director on this series, hence the strong schedule and budget management (it’s not a big series for any of the companies involved and resources are tight. However, Yamauchi has placed a lot of importance on the series himself). In terms of staffing, Yumekui Merry is about as personalized as any series will get with just a few individuals pouring all their attention into the show (one scriptwriter, two background artists, and a director who has storyboarded/directed half the episodes himself) instead of offloading it to others. He’s almost developing this like an indie effort, which is rare in today’s industry.
I sure would like to know your sources. I’m at this point starts to get interested with those tiny details.
no way nobody didn’t see that coming.
i don’t think i didn’t understand you at all
I liked it. It had humor and character development and you just can’t ignore the subtle fan service. Does Isana look a little weird to anyone else? Maybe it’s just her character design.
I like this series.(just killing time anyway).
While I agree this series is on the slow-poke of things, it’s entertaining enough and good at what it is doing. It’s all ok for a 12 episode format.
glad to see I’m not the only one who probably watches this show last on their DL playlist.
such an underrated show.