Fluff of the new season #1 – Umisho – quite possibly unwatchable…
Posted on | August 2, 2007 | 12 Comments |
| Big breasts != good fanservice. How many times do I have to tell you! I mean, have you even watched Eiken???
For lack of better stuff to blog about, this week I have mainly been catching up on the new seasons stuff. In my last post I said that I would be watching Umisho, an anime about a swim team mainly made up of girls but coached by a guy who doesn’t know how to swim since he got nearly drowned by a mermaid (who comes up with these things O_O)
Yes I know four episodes are out. It surprises me a little that Ayu-anime are fansubbing such a fanservicey and shallow series, as they are usually responsible for the more serious subs in my anime folder. Anyway, it’s good to see them make a comeback.
| Yeah the breasts are nice, but what’s with that eye thing? He should take less lessons on “How to ruin fanservice shots”
Most people will know that I love fluffy anime, especially if it has fanservice and definitely if it has yuri fanservice. I mean, I watched the entire series of Ikkitousen, for heavens sake. So it makes perfect sensse that when a series so dedicated to fanservice such as Umisho comes along, I am almost obliged to watch it. So what did I make of the first episode?
Virtually unwatchable.
| Wow. Pants. Incidentally, I am thinking this all through the episode, even in the bits without the fanservice…
I even found myself doing other things while the ep was playing and not being too bothered about the lines I missed. But what exactly could be wrong with fanservicey anime? Surely “It’s all good” is the philosophy that should be undertaken in these circumstances?
In the first episode we meet 4 of the cast (low by most standards). First we have the protagonist (weedy teenage non-swimmer) and the sempai (big breasted eye candy). Later on we meet the kouhai (short incoherent loli) and the female lead (ditzy annoying exhibitionist). Yes there are panty shots, yes there are scenes of poorly concealed nudity but somehow there’s something about Umisho that stops even a veteran fanservice fan such as myself enjoying the nubile nekkidness.
| “In this country we don’t have bras, we pay lolis to hold them up for us, you idiot!”
Firstly, the art is terrible. I’ve never really been a fan of the pinprick eyes, especially on girls (yeah, I know, I like my anime girls impossibly proportioned…in the eye department of course); in fact it was that that put me off watching Seto no Hanayome last season. The character designs are lacklustre and plain and they didn’t even bother with the other male on the swim team (cross between the landlady in Sumomomo momomo and Hey Arnold O_o). Tip to animators – only SHAFT can pull the “poorly drawn background characters” thing off.
Secondly, all the voices grate on my nerves – especially the female lead. Something about her voice makes me want to stab it with a two foot knitting needle. The big breasted sempai can’t seem to decide whether she wants to be a posh well bred iincho type or a cool upperclassman and generally comes off as unlovable. Needless to say that the incomprehensible loli’s voice is…erm…incomprehensible.
Lastly, if the OP sequence is anything to go by, the other main characters that should be introduced in subsequent episodes are as plain and uninteresting looking as their introduced counterparts. Apart from perhaps with slightly larger breasts. And jockstraps. *shiver*. So all in all, we are left with a fanservice anime that fails on account of the poor quality fanservice, left hanging from a precariously thin thread of “good storyline and interesting characters” which will snap, sending it down the deep dark, bottomless pit of “NEVER EVER AGAIN”.
It’s a shame – I was looking forward to some fanservicey anime this season, but it seems I will have to settle for Moe-tan and Doujin work with a little ZnTII on the side. I’m not sure what it is, but I seem to be slating more anime here now than I ever did before my break! Something must be wrong in Japan…
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12 Responses to “Fluff of the new season #1 – Umisho – quite possibly unwatchable…”
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August 2nd, 2007 @ 7:09 pm
You have something strange in your blog source:
This is not allowed, since the span element cannot be empty.
Anyways: I actually enjoy watching Umisho. Yes, it has blatantly fanservice and yes, the story is pretty much forgettable. But something makes me like it nevertheless. Be it the fresh colors or that I just need a summer series in the summer. Whatever, I like it.
August 2nd, 2007 @ 7:09 pm
LOL, thought this would happen:
<span style=”font-style: italic” />
August 2nd, 2007 @ 11:57 pm
I can see why it’s unwatchable… If I wanted badly drawn fanservice shots I’d hang out on /e/ :P
August 3rd, 2007 @ 9:46 am
Thanks Ashura – curiously – why were you looking at my source code? And Wordpress always does that for some reason especially if there are a lot of tags. Something wrong in the autocorrect when posting…
Of course you are free to like Umisho! Just not my kind of fanservice…
August 3rd, 2007 @ 10:39 pm
(Insert random post of how the show (and maybe the manga) is bad becaase it doesn’t base itself off anything)
August 8th, 2007 @ 12:05 am
Oddly enough I can’t watch this series because I once nearly did drown and the intro to ep1 nearly gave me a panic attack. :-/
August 9th, 2007 @ 5:22 pm
»Thanks Ashura – curiously – why were you looking at my source code?«
Because of the bad formatting. I suspected something like this. (And your comment just now did it again.)
August 13th, 2007 @ 5:04 am
I find this show VERY watchable and the characters likeable. Anything with mermaids, unless they’re yakuza mermaids, will always pull me in.
And despite the VERY disturbing SHAVING episode…I give this one two thumbs up.
August 17th, 2007 @ 11:37 pm
This anime rocks, its amazingly funny.
Stop with the “im too leet anime fan” attitude, this is quality stuff.
August 19th, 2007 @ 1:59 am
In general, I think Yuribou is probably the last person to take a “leet anime fan” stance.
I’ve only watched the first episode so far (as time allowed), but I liked what I saw. It’s clearly no masterpiece, but I find the art very appealing. It’s like it’s… squeaky clean. Hot. That said, I can’t see myself sticking with it for the long haul. It’s not _that_ good.
And YES, I’m aware that I’m commenting on a fairly old blog post.
November 1st, 2007 @ 7:34 am
its very good series i got all 13 episodes
if u guys want them
i have upload them on Megaupload
email me if u want the links
my email is vietquoc.hochau@hotmail.com
November 14th, 2007 @ 6:17 am
I think you’re totally wrong with your description of the anime, sure it hadn’t a very interesting storyline…well actually I don’t think a sport anime can have a interesting story line…the design was really nice, it appealed to me a lot, so colorful and different.
Fan service mm sure there’s a lot, not bad though.
And finally it was funny, especially all the part where the team captain(the speedo guy) says you idiot! screaming, that was random.