Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight!
Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight! (Hence forth known as Manabi Straight) shall be the first victim of my boredom as I get this blog rolling. Oh yeah, being reviews and such expect spoilers and lots of them. I'll try and keep 'em behind the cut just for you though.
For the most part I’ll probably be talking about single episodes but every so often (or whenever the fates decide) I’ll be covering a whole series in one go. Yeah, I’m just that god dammed cool.
So let’s start with the plot. Always a good starting point I guess. Within the last few decades (current year 2035) the birth rate in Japan has been dropping (too much fappin’ to hentai I guess) and thus fewer kids are going to school. At the same time young people have been able to drop out and still make a good living so those who stay in school tend to be more focused on studies than normal.
Enter Amamyia Manabi.
She quickly makes an impression by crashing into the school swim meet only to join in with it and subsequently lose. The next day at an assembly a little shy girl, Mikan, who Manabi had met yesterday is trying to recruit people into the student council.
Through a course of events that reminded me of certain Disney shows Manabi becomes the de-facto President. Thus begins her mission to brighten up school life.
The first half of the series concentrates on either Manabi trying to get things more interesting (making a nicer student council room and an inter-school Volleyball league) or the five characters and their different relationships. Oddly, despite Manabi being the main character most relationships focus on Mikan. The second half has more of a continuing plot, that of trying to get the summer fair up and running. Through this they have to deal with: Mei having a nervous breakdown, the council room exploding, a school merger which threatens to cancel everything and trying to get 70% of the students signing a petition. This is (or was to me) more interesting than it sounds.
So who are these lil’ girls?
Manabi has an infectious enthusiasm which even brought a smile to my face. While not the sharpest tool in the box she is very inspired and is very friendly. Most of the time she is trying to excite her comrades by yelling “Go straight ahead.” Oddly enough this often seems to work. She’s also a pretty kick ass singer.
The most naive member of the council, Mikan is very shy and unsure of thing. I’m pretty sure she’s a lesbian or at least has a Kaorin like crush on the Council President of another, better off, Student council. She cries a lot as well. She was the only first year to join the and the rest graduated that year leaving her to run the show by herself. Over the series she becomes more confident and determined to look after herself. To this end she finally does a Chiyo and heads to America in a very nice last episode.
The most mature member of council and by far the cleverest is Miss Mei. Well she isn’t really a member for most of the series but “happens to be in the area” whenever they are planning something. Due to some good old childhood trauma (a staple of any anime) left her feeling like people would try and use her if she was given any responsibility. Over all though, despite her being cold at first she does what every good tsundere does and becomes a vital member of the council.
Mutsuki (aka: Muuchi) is the sporty one. Despite being rather generic she was still a good laugh. A victim of one of the rare fan service shots that creeped me out the most. On the whole she does the grunt work of the council and helps snare Mei, being a long time friend of hers. (Yeah, I like Muuchi but I can’t think of much to say about her…)
Ah sweet Momoha (aka: Momo), how you cracked me up. While she is not a member of the council she spends most of her time filming the rest of them (apparently for the student Journalism club.) despite being quite and mostly in the background she, like all the others, has some very funny moments (calling Mei a tsundere and trying to scare everyone when they enter the old dorms.)
Other characters include Manabi's brother, the older and altogether more competent Student President of Aikoh High (whom Mikan is gay for), long suffering but kind hearted Shimoji the Home room teacher, the evil Super Intendant and the Principle who has lost heart.
Normally with shows like this it's only one or two characters who get any real screen time (see Haibane remnei who had some criminally under used characters) but this show uses all of them well. While it does focus on Manabi, Mei and Mikan everyone gets a good amount of time, jokes and usefulness.
The animation deserves quite a bit of attention as well. The colouring is vivid and stylish. It has a mix of blended, earthy shading with some more traditional cel shading. The movement is liquidy good and remains so throughout and the computer screens and digital effects are easily on par with Ergo Proxy. Also, to continue this love fest, the backgrounds are detailed and pretty, much like myself. I could talk about it for ages without actually saying anything of use. The only thing that could have made it better would be wide screen. The only other show that comes to mind that has a similar art style was Pale Cocoon, a one episode OVA (you folks should check it out). I guess my only big problem was apparent age. The girls look about 10 but are, allegedly, 15-16. Mei kind of makes this believable but damn, Manabi and Mikan look far too young. This makes the small amounts of fanservice creepy. Still, it hardly ruins anything, just something I didn't care for.
MUSIC! Music is nice to talk about, that's why there's a place to say what I'm listening too. The incidental music was nice enough, non invasive while keeping with the mood of the show. The clapping rhythm that reminds me of The Bride fight with O-ren Ishii in Kill Bill was very cool and had me tapping my fingers along with it. Over the course of the series are several songs which are all sung well. Not what I would normally listen to but bright and cheery without being overtly irritating. The music of episode 11 (the school festival) was probably the best. Sadly nothing will be beating the Live Alive episode of Haruhi Suzumiya any time soon but this was a good effort.
Choice moments:
Momo’s biohazard suit, “Shimoji” (the homeroom teacher) getting tortured by Muchii, Muchii’s “security” methods in episode 11.
Studio: Unfotable
Episodes: 12 (an OVA is coming in october)
Plot: 7/10
Characters: 9/10
Animation: 10/10
Voice acting: 8.5/10
Subs (I used eclipse subs ): 9/10
Well that’s animu entry one done. Hopefully I’ll get better at this.
For the most part I’ll probably be talking about single episodes but every so often (or whenever the fates decide) I’ll be covering a whole series in one go. Yeah, I’m just that god dammed cool.
So let’s start with the plot. Always a good starting point I guess. Within the last few decades (current year 2035) the birth rate in Japan has been dropping (too much fappin’ to hentai I guess) and thus fewer kids are going to school. At the same time young people have been able to drop out and still make a good living so those who stay in school tend to be more focused on studies than normal.
Enter Amamyia Manabi.
She quickly makes an impression by crashing into the school swim meet only to join in with it and subsequently lose. The next day at an assembly a little shy girl, Mikan, who Manabi had met yesterday is trying to recruit people into the student council.
Through a course of events that reminded me of certain Disney shows Manabi becomes the de-facto President. Thus begins her mission to brighten up school life.
The first half of the series concentrates on either Manabi trying to get things more interesting (making a nicer student council room and an inter-school Volleyball league) or the five characters and their different relationships. Oddly, despite Manabi being the main character most relationships focus on Mikan. The second half has more of a continuing plot, that of trying to get the summer fair up and running. Through this they have to deal with: Mei having a nervous breakdown, the council room exploding, a school merger which threatens to cancel everything and trying to get 70% of the students signing a petition. This is (or was to me) more interesting than it sounds.
So who are these lil’ girls?
Manabi has an infectious enthusiasm which even brought a smile to my face. While not the sharpest tool in the box she is very inspired and is very friendly. Most of the time she is trying to excite her comrades by yelling “Go straight ahead.” Oddly enough this often seems to work. She’s also a pretty kick ass singer.
The most naive member of the council, Mikan is very shy and unsure of thing. I’m pretty sure she’s a lesbian or at least has a Kaorin like crush on the Council President of another, better off, Student council. She cries a lot as well. She was the only first year to join the and the rest graduated that year leaving her to run the show by herself. Over the series she becomes more confident and determined to look after herself. To this end she finally does a Chiyo and heads to America in a very nice last episode.
The most mature member of council and by far the cleverest is Miss Mei. Well she isn’t really a member for most of the series but “happens to be in the area” whenever they are planning something. Due to some good old childhood trauma (a staple of any anime) left her feeling like people would try and use her if she was given any responsibility. Over all though, despite her being cold at first she does what every good tsundere does and becomes a vital member of the council.
Mutsuki (aka: Muuchi) is the sporty one. Despite being rather generic she was still a good laugh. A victim of one of the rare fan service shots that creeped me out the most. On the whole she does the grunt work of the council and helps snare Mei, being a long time friend of hers. (Yeah, I like Muuchi but I can’t think of much to say about her…)
Ah sweet Momoha (aka: Momo), how you cracked me up. While she is not a member of the council she spends most of her time filming the rest of them (apparently for the student Journalism club.) despite being quite and mostly in the background she, like all the others, has some very funny moments (calling Mei a tsundere and trying to scare everyone when they enter the old dorms.)
Other characters include Manabi's brother, the older and altogether more competent Student President of Aikoh High (whom Mikan is gay for), long suffering but kind hearted Shimoji the Home room teacher, the evil Super Intendant and the Principle who has lost heart.
Normally with shows like this it's only one or two characters who get any real screen time (see Haibane remnei who had some criminally under used characters) but this show uses all of them well. While it does focus on Manabi, Mei and Mikan everyone gets a good amount of time, jokes and usefulness.
The animation deserves quite a bit of attention as well. The colouring is vivid and stylish. It has a mix of blended, earthy shading with some more traditional cel shading. The movement is liquidy good and remains so throughout and the computer screens and digital effects are easily on par with Ergo Proxy. Also, to continue this love fest, the backgrounds are detailed and pretty, much like myself. I could talk about it for ages without actually saying anything of use. The only thing that could have made it better would be wide screen. The only other show that comes to mind that has a similar art style was Pale Cocoon, a one episode OVA (you folks should check it out). I guess my only big problem was apparent age. The girls look about 10 but are, allegedly, 15-16. Mei kind of makes this believable but damn, Manabi and Mikan look far too young. This makes the small amounts of fanservice creepy. Still, it hardly ruins anything, just something I didn't care for.
MUSIC! Music is nice to talk about, that's why there's a place to say what I'm listening too. The incidental music was nice enough, non invasive while keeping with the mood of the show. The clapping rhythm that reminds me of The Bride fight with O-ren Ishii in Kill Bill was very cool and had me tapping my fingers along with it. Over the course of the series are several songs which are all sung well. Not what I would normally listen to but bright and cheery without being overtly irritating. The music of episode 11 (the school festival) was probably the best. Sadly nothing will be beating the Live Alive episode of Haruhi Suzumiya any time soon but this was a good effort.
Choice moments:
Momo’s biohazard suit, “Shimoji” (the homeroom teacher) getting tortured by Muchii, Muchii’s “security” methods in episode 11.
Studio: Unfotable
Episodes: 12 (an OVA is coming in october)
Plot: 7/10
Characters: 9/10
Animation: 10/10
Voice acting: 8.5/10
Subs (I used eclipse subs ): 9/10
Well that’s animu entry one done. Hopefully I’ll get better at this.