First Impression: Animegataris

Synopsis

Minoa Asagaya was just a normal girl starting off her first year of high school. One day as she tells her friend that she is looking for an anime that she believe that she saw as a child and catches the attention of class rich girl and anime/manga Arisu Kamiigusa. Though a novice on anime, Minoa is the one to make the suggestion in reforming the anime club in interest of discussing more with Arisu. But while this goes on, something much bigger seems to be on the rise.

The Good

Once you reach the end of the episode, that’s when you truly notice the highlight of the episode, and that is the foreshadowing. Most often, the foreshadowing doesn’t show itself right off the bat, and when it does, it’s usually a rather subtle symbol or something like it. Here we not only get an established characterization for majority of the characters but also a hint of mystery mixed in it as well.

When you read the full summary alone, you would think that the series would turn out rather wacky right off the bat. Surprisingly, the episode actually gives some rather wholesome scenes inbetween the show of plot and comedy. With other anime series, the otaku character or those who have a fondness for anime/manga are often made into comedy characters or plain weird characters. There is some points of that found in the episode, but for the most part, it is rather enjoyable given how the characters play off one another.

The Bad

As the first episode of a series, there is only so much you can judge on lie with any other media piece. However, there are some not so great points about the series that can be pointed out early on. First off is the opening and ending theme of the series, while the visuals are cute and all, the general tone and beat of the theme songs could have worked out better. The same can be said for the general design of the art. While it does keep to modern standard of anime art styles, there are some parts of the overall background and character design that missed a mark.

It may be considered as nitpicking, and true, it may be the personal opinion of this writer. On the other hand, barring the nitpicks on the art and music, the episode itself is pretty standard for the most part. There’s some parts that can be considered of interest, bt overall it really depends on the amount of interest the viewer has and their taste for these types of anime.

Conclusion

For the most part, the episode a rather generic comedy anime involving characters who love anime/manga and such, but surprisingly, it is not purely comedy and wackiness abound. There is some good wholesome scenes mixed in with the comedy and the characterization is rather good as well. One of the main highlights as stated is the foreshadowing shown towards the end, so for the most part, it is interesting enough to catch certain viewers attention but will also depend on their taste and interest as well.

Rating: 6/10