[Categories: Anime Reviews]
This Ugly Yet Beautiful World 5-8
This is a show that I wanted to like. Unfortunately it’s turning out to be a Gainax-by-numbers of sorts, not least because its production was pretty much a Mahoromatic staff reunion - this alone makes it an odd viewing experience at times because you have to remind yourself that it’s a separate series. As Hikari and Akari experience the joys of life on Earth, the relationship between Hikari and Takeru starts to develop further and a new character, in the form of a mecha named Ionios, appears. There’s an especially interesting scene towards the end too, which gives hints to the background and finally justifies the infuriating Jennifer’s place in it all.
I could write these episodes off simply as “they didn’t really click with me” but it would be more informative to explain in detail exactly why TUYBW isn’t working as a whole. The truth is, the concepts and situations are so formulaic that this could be a parody of the sci-fi romance genre - except that this is very much a sci-fi romance. The humour comes from the situations and fanservice, which unfortunately didn’t really make me laugh much. Even the nudity doesn’t feel necessary any more - it’s pure fan service for fan service’s sake, which bored me after a while.
If Hikari hides a darker side, is Akari the inverse of her ‘evil twin’? Ot perhaps they are two halves of the same entity? There’s plenty of food for thought there, at least. Strangely the relationship between the two of them had my attention more than those of the other characters, although I’ve been wishing good fortune on Mari all along; fully aware that it’s all been done before, I still have a passing interest in the relationships between the cast members and the things that happen to them. Since this is supposed to be an apocalyptic and dramatic series, I can only assume that the trivial and everyday events will take on much greater significance in the final episodes so for this reason alone I tried to make mental notes of the dialogue that flowed between them as best I could.
All this is frustrating because I can sort-of see how this series could be truly great - or at least, better than Mahoromatic was. It has some great moments of character interaction too, which will deliver some heart-rending emotional clout - sadly I’m losing faith in the possibility that they will be used in this way. We’re two thirds of the way through the series already, yet the story is still stuck in ‘hot springs episode’ mode. Unless we’re treated to an extra-special and un-Gainax style ending, this could prove to be a disappointment with only appealing character designs and high production values to remember it by.
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