Asobi ni Ikuyo!

ChatterboxZombie | 30 Sep 2010 | tl;dr

Some people find it difficult to choose series from the upcoming season that they want to watch. They say never to judge a book by its cover, but on looks alone I decided I wanted to watch Asobi ni Ikuyo! It stood out on the page, a bright, colorful picture of a smiling cat-girl in a skin-tight space suit. A pretty style in character models and crisp looking art design. I admit I wasn’t expecting anything outstanding in terms of actual story or characters, but even then I was disappointed at the sheer scale of the mediocre use of conventions and development. What we have here is an occasionally pretty piece of eye candy, one that left a bland and boring aftertaste in my mouth.

Welcome to Okinawa, Japans sunny and tropical island community, and the home of Kio, our story’s male lead. One day Kio meets Elis, an intriguing girl bearing an unusual pair of cat ears and a tail. Elis is a Catian, and has come to earth, well, to play. Soon Elis is living with Kio to the horror of his Tsundere best friend and shy secret lover. Eventually more is revealed about the Catian race, and Kios home is turned into the Catian Embassy for earth. however later the Catian’s relationship with earth comes under threat by the presence of another alien race, all the while Elis and crew are enjoying the serene life of a cat-girl in Japans sunny southern district. With a flat pace and dull ending, Asobi isn’t really gripping or even very interesting, meaning coming back after each episode will be through your own individual reasons.

It starts off quite fun, with three individual factions wage war trying to get a hold of Elis for different reasons, there’s a good mix of mild action and swift character introductions. However as the story goes on it becomes more and more dull, falling into a very flat sequence in the middle. A predictable and uninteresting love triangle develops, and while it does lead to the odd interesting or awkward predicament as the flat chested Love interest has to compete with the Busty, clueless cat-girl, the series tends to take itself too seriously. The supposedly heart-felt moments feel melodramatic and in-genuine as the characters get teary eyed with elevated background music, and the stagnant, almost childish interaction between the characters often makes it difficult to even feel like there’s even any sincerity behind what the characters are saying. What tends to arise a dull, impersonal romantic comedy with the odd action scene and spoonful of ecchi.

The characters are a little hit and miss. While a few characters hit all the right tones for the moe-moe fans out there, the majority feel hollow and two-dimensional in their appeal. Kio makes for an especially weak male lead with a shallow and awkward emotional pallet. Elis as a female lead is remarkably inconsistent, showing signs of unexpectedly pure romantic intentions one minute and then flipping to being jumping off the walls childish the next. The two rival love interests, despite having an interesting set-up of romantic tag team feel very predictable and slate in their presentation and delivery, often only showing real emotion or depth in the odd flashback or action scene. Its hard to find any character to really sink your teeth into as they lack any real depth or personality, but the odd minor character at least offers some cheap laugh’s in the form of a mustached Uncle or Cat-loving cult leader.

The few action sequences that pop up are some definite highlights. While its obviously not the focus of the anime, they present some really entertaining scenes, including some awesome shoot-outs and vehicle chases. Gun fans will be presently surprised (as was I) at the usually accurate and interesting inclusion and use of real life gun models. One episode even details the effective methods of quick-loading a revolver, offering a nice change pace from the usually mindless dialogue that smothers the common episode layout. While the main focus placed on the romance feels very half-hearted and dull, these action sequences are generally fun and entertaining, making for some definite high lights in the series.

The episode structure is fairly segregated in terms of plot. Some of the events span across a set of two episodes but the majority of the shows are very self-contained and linear in their individual events. Uneventful character development episodes are numerous and boring, and a few of the episodes that take it upon themselves to widen the understanding of the Catians are remarkably flat and predictable. Over all it adds up to make a show that doesn’t have a lot of value. There’s no morals to be found, the events are dry and emotionless, and even as a possible slice of life it presents itself in a manner that is unappealing to many.

For a series that has some beautiful character designs, Asobi quickly reveals its ugly side. Character models, when not in direct focus appear awkward and shoddy in appearance, landscapes and settings are often scratchy and generic, and some of the animation quality drops really low at times, as movements become suddenly very sluggish and chunky every now and then. The series works well with color, having vibrant costumes and characters, but other than that the visual presentation is very disappointing, considering the occasionally gorgeous interpretations of characters and scenarios that would appear, almost taunting you with how good it could look.

The series has some nice voice work. The voices, while occasionally flat suit the characters well, and feel like they’re doing the best they can with the somewhat unadventurous characters and scenarios. The seiyu fan will appreciate a good performance by Kana Hanazawa, but there isn’t a whole lot else to say about it. The music offers some authentic and humble local music that helps add a good mood to the Okinawa setting, and the odd techno-alien sounding track makes for some interesting action scenes. Both the OP and various ending themes are well composed and catchy, and while the sound effects aren’t really impressive, overall the sound quality and music for the series are good.

Asobi ni Ikuyo can’t quite seem to make up its mind what it wants to be. While its obvious that it was never intended as a ground-breaking blockbuster, its sappy and predictable approach to its main focus, that is the romance aspect, is puzzling and disappointing. However the action scenes are actually fun and entertaining, leaving the romance aspects for dead. Its a classic case of hit and miss, with the main course being tasteless and the appetizers being delicious. With a dull story, boring characters and regrettably sloppy visual presentation, its hard to see why Asobi chose the path it did for a romantic comedy series.

Aliens have come to play, but there’s no new tricks to be found here.

Written by ChatterboxZombie.