Norn9 ノルン＋ノネット (Might contain spoiler from the game)
Episode 1
To be perfectly honest, I had no hope for this adaption, especially because I had played and finished the game (the PSP one) and from my understanding, except the story is heavily modified and/or the anime will have 2 cour, then I'm afraid it won't translate well into animation. Well, I was right BUT I also never expected to be impressed by such quality for an otome game anime adaption.
My absolute favorite scene from this episode
The prologue is a bit different from what I remember. Most noticeble, Sorata isn't present yet. Which for some people is considered outrageous. I've also noticed people moaning over the focus on Koharu and (possibly) Kakeru route for this episode and most likely the rest of the anime. Personally I think writing the focus on Koharu is the logical move : she can represent us (the viewers) the best because, like her, we know nothing about the world, special ability, purpose... we know nothing. So, we're expected to learn about them all through Koharu and the events that will happen around her. As for Kakeru, well... he IS the main guy out of the main guys (just like Koharu is the main girl out of the main girls) and he does play a part, maybe not so much in the main plot that's the focus of Norn9 but he is somewhat connected to her past life before she was finally picked up by the Norn.
The beautiful Norn ship
The episode plays out beautifully in my opinion, completely surprising me who had close to none expectation of this anime. The music are superb, composed by Kevin Penkin who did the music for the game (it's kinda rare we get to have the same composer from the game for its anime adaption). They are so good I keep on replaying certain scenes just to hear the BGM.
Click to viewThe Swedish song at the beginning, sung by a Swedish singer Maria Andersson, is kinda spoiling the ending a bit imo. The second part is the OP "Kazakiri" by Yanagi Nagi
The characters are more or less true to their game self. I've read people complaining Kakeru is way too OOC (he's shown as the somewhat nice guy in the anime but in the game he's actually a bit of a jerk) and Koharu too dumb. As someone who's played the game, I see nothing too different from Kakeru.[This part contains a bit of a spoiler and rant]
Sure, he's a bit of a bully to Senri and schemes a lot. Whenever he does something good most often than not he has hidden intentions. He likes to act good in front of Koharu (basically how guys normally do in front of their crushes) and readily admit it. All those characteristics make some people hate him so when he's portrayed as the perfect bishie in this episode people hate him even more lol. Well, to be fair, Kakeru IS kind to Koharu. Sure, he teases her a lot but he doesn't bully her like he does Senri, not to that extreme anyways. Besides, everything he does is always with good intention, though he does go overboard sometimes to the extent of having fun on the other's expenses. On Senri's case there's a reason for it but it's too much of a spoiler I'm not explaining any further. So yeah, this has been grating on my mind a lot because I feel like people are making him the scum of the earth or something XD . Also, if he were really the jerk people are making him out to be, would the other characters on Norn have trusted him enough to the extent he became their somewhat-de-facto leader?
It seems like I'm Kakeru-biased where actually my favorite character now is Heishi XD.
The Purest of Them All, Otomaru Heishi
Then again, the impression I get from the game might differ from other people. There's also the case of english localization being a little different (in term of wording) from its japanese original.
Lastly, the visual. This part is a bit hard to be reviewed because... well, too many things to explain and then there'll be tons of pict. I'd just say, the visual and animation are actually the ones that exceed my expectations the most. They capture the fantasy-like setting perfectly which I'm forever thankful for. For the most important part, the visuals are almost as beautiful as the game's, which was something I doubt at first, seeing the game really excels on visuals (and music).
This shot is beautiful *sobs*
Weeeeee I want to swim in sparkly lake too XD
Well, even though I spent such a long time gushing over the beautiful visuals of this episode, actually there's not much stuff happening (it's episode one
). Next episode will pick up the action it seems. There's currently no further info yet concerning the number of episodes. The thing with Norn9 is, there are so many characters with their own story and everything is important to the actual plot of Norn9 (you need to complete all the routes to fully understand the main story in the game) I'm worried there won't be enough space to fit them all in a one cour show, two-cour is preferable but seems unlikely (and a bit too many episodes, unless they're dragging the show). I really hope all the main stories will be animated faithfully. It'd be a shame if this anime would have bad writing especially since it already has great music and beautiful visuals.
This episode rant review is becoming a bit too long
Thanks for reading anyways!
BONUS IMAGE
Kakeru the Tree Hugger is now the running joke in the fandom XD