(L) A Channel

[Dop]

I kind of enjoyed that but it does need a few episodes to develop, I think, as this one was introducing the characters rather than having much in the way of plot...

When it comes to Tooru, was I the only person reminded of Guchuko?

[Dist]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

It doesn't have much plot, since it comes from a 4-panel comic, but it has characters and humor in spades, for me.

Sense of humor is very individual and hard to define. Not something we can debate, really. My favorite comedy shows are Ichigo Mashimaro and Seitokai no Ichizon. If you hated both this and Nichijou, perhaps you didn't like those either? I see people praising Mitsudomoe, Minami-ke, and AzuDai, none of which did a lot for me, but which I would never call bad shows, since other people love them and I just didn't get them.

AzuDai is one of those that I never found funny either, boring characters etc. However, I did like Lucky Star which some people find weird .. Seitokai no Ichizon wasn't really bad but I just found it boring. I do however, like Ichigo Mashimaro (manga>anime) and Mitsudomoe, and I absolutely love Minami-Ke.

The lack of plot wasn't really what turned me down .. I mean does K-On have much of a plot ? Not really. But K-On is one of my fave series. It's just uhh, the comedy .. or lack of it. I may give it a few more episodes to see if it gets better but I doubt it.

[Kaoru Chujo]

The manga was definitely made to capitalize on the (manga) success of K-On: it is in one of the same company's magazines (Manga Time Kirara Carat vs. Manga Time Kirara), and started in late 2008, about a year after K-On.

But I think the specific comparisons to Yui and Mio are exaggerated. Yuuko is more confident and forward than Mio. The biggest similarity is being tall and having dark hair. Yui and Run are both sweet klutzes, but that is a common anime type, and Run gives me a quite different feeling from Yui, more confident and oblivious. Can you imagine Yui telling boys Mio's "three sizes"?

Now, I am not a big fan of K-On, myself. I lost interest about halfway through the first series. Same for the other comparison to this show, Saki. But the humor here is far different from either, and the yuri tinge is much stronger than in K-On. So maybe this show will last for me. I like Yuuki Aoi's work much more than that of any of the K-On seiyuus, good as some of them are. She brings something special to the smallest moments.

And thanks to Dist for answering my question about various comedy shows. Proves once again that we are hard to categorize, and each like a different cross-section of shows. We agree on some shows, and disagree on others.

[Dreamchaser]

Hm, must say that I got a lot of K-on vibes watching the first episode. I feel as if there was something lacking in the animation and the characters didn't catch my eye at first glance. All in all I got a kind of "meh"-impression of it. It was cute, especially Tooru. But I keep seeing the K-on connection. Imho Run is a more boring version of Yui and the long black haired girl (can't remember her name) feels like a Mio without quite grasping the character.

The jokes weren't amazing but at least it made me smile a few times. However I found the music during the episode to be somewhat illfitting. This series is clearly not the strongest of the ones already airing but I think I might give this a few more episodes hoping that it can live up to its potential.

[broken270]

Spoiler:

We have Tooru, Run, Nagi, and Yuuko. Tooru is the girl who is somewhat attached to Run, and his jealous of anyone who tries to get close to her (because Run is only her her and her only). In the event she finds out that she is getting too friendly to someone, violence is somewhat resorted, seeing as she is carrying an aluminum bat and shooing the boys away from her. In the case for Yuuko, she just got a bad impression, since she just saw her on top of Run on a bed. Also, having a model-like physique also heightens her jealousy. Also, her fondness with sweets is quite off-the-charts. Run is your typical airhead girl. In fact, I'm surprised she is still alive. If it were not for her friends, she could have been hit by a car or fall off three stories high. She probably does not have a wide attention span and she seems to doze off here and there. Yuuko is the kind of girl that thies her best to make those around her as happy as possible. She tries to reason and be friends with Tooru, but it usually ends up in...contact? Nagi is the type who knows just about everything and has good informational/logical sense.

[Kaoru Chujo]

There's a weekly (?) online TV program starring all the main seiyuus except for Ao-chan (Kaorin, Mina-chan, and Uchiyama Yumi). "Channel 3" on that page means episode 3. Ao-chan is probably busy with college. She is starting her second year around now.

Here's a drawing of Run done by her seiyuu, Fukuhara Kaori. She says she got help from the mangaka with how to use the drawing tools, but had difficulty anyway:



I can't help saying that I found the animation excellent and the characters more interesting than K-On, but hey, chacun à son goût.

[Xacual]

I enjoyed the first episode, I didn't really find much in the way of comparing it to other series because honestly K-On and Lucky Star are hardly the first slice of life starring high school girls. Other than some of Run's antics I thought the scenarios in the episode were quire believable and the episode did a good job in introducing the characters and establishing their dynamics among the group.

[andyjay729]

"[QUOTE=Kaoru Chujo;3561686]Fulfilling its promise. Not laugh-out-loud funny, but at a constant level of enjoyably uncomfortable amusement.

I thought Yuuki Aoi continued to demonstrate her brilliance, even if in very few words and a few grunts. But Kotobuki Minako as the dark-haired girl from the Kansai (Mina-chan is actually from Kobe, so the Kansai accent is natural) made the strongest impression. Nice seiyuu work all round. Who couldn't like Fukuhara Kaori's fresh and imperturbably incompetent Run?"


I was afraid this show would be a bit mediocre, but I enjoyed. I actually liked the CGI; they blended it in with the with drawings very well and didn't seem to out of place, but of course YMMV.

I actually think that if you liked Minami-ke you'd also like this. The pace in both shows seems to alternate between slow and subtle to zany and over the top. And Yuuki Aoi's Tooru reminds me a little of Chiaki Minami.

PS: Tsukasa Hiiragi is like a Mensa member compared with Run, but I still love them both.

[Lord of Fire]

So Tsukasa = Run? No wonder I got such a Lucky Star vibe from this.

Still, I agree that this show, though not overly hilarious (yet), has already amused me more than Nichijou.

[SaintessHeart]

Wait, so Minako Kotobuki is playing the role of the sweets girl again? Along with her yuri vibes?

P.S And I was hoping that Tooru was voiced by Minori Chihara, but then again, she's a brocon.

[wingman32x]

This was a pretty good first episode. I've taken a liking to both Tooru and Yuuko so far. I love the little psuedo rivalry they have going on. It's pretty funny. Run was okay, but I'm not sure what to think of her yet. Same goes for Nagi. Overall I think this has the potential to be a great comedy series. The "Sweet" moments were layed on thick at times IMO, but that's the only little gripe I have so far.

[Triple_R]

Just watched this. Pretty good first episode.

Run makes me think of a cross between Yui Hirasawa and Madoka Kaname.

The Yui similarities are obvious, but there's a certain careful gentleness to how Run approaches Tooru that really makes me think of Madoka.

[Pellissier]

Two gifs that weren't included in the previous batch.



Av-sig Combo:

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I can add your name in the sig if you wish.

[MartianMage]

Just watched ep1. It's a pretty good and cute episode. Tooru's obsession and boob slapping is quite amusing.

[Seihai]

I find Tooru's obsession a little too silly, and Run, in fact, is also a bit silly. On the other hand this is still a cute watch and the character interactions with the other two girls are rather entertaining.

[Kotohono]

Originally Posted by Pellissier

Two gifs that weren't included in the previous batch.



I can add your name in the sig if you wish.

Going to claim just the avatar one, and leave the combo, thanks .

[Kaoru Chujo]

I seem to like this show more than a lot of people do. Some people can't see why anyone would like it. So I've made a blog post trying to show myself and others why I like the show as much as I do. It's basically a series of screenshots with comments saying what strikes me in various scenes.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Description of ep2 from 2channel:

Episode 2: Bath on a Rainy Day
After school, it suddenly starts to rain. Run and the others temporarily return to school. Since they don't have umbrellas, they decide not to go home right away. But Nagi lives nearby and suggests they wait at her place. They get soaked running there and take a bath together while their clothes dry....

A fanservice episode, it appears.

(Double post because of time having passed and the subjects being quite different.)

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

I seem to like this show more than a lot of people do. Some people can't see why anyone would like it. So I've made a blog post trying to show myself and others why I like the show as much as I do. It's basically a series of screenshots with comments saying what strikes me in various scenes.

That was an excellent blog post. I myself found that A Channel somehow resonated with me, but I couldn't quite put my finger on why (aside from how Jun's character appealed to me).

You're right in that this episode had excellent directing behind it, and had a lot of nice animation/artwork/background sequences that came across well. So that's probably another key reason why this show resonated with me more than I thought it would.

I think that A Channel's relative lack of popularity (especially in comparison to Nichijou) is due to these reasons:

1. Nichijou is being handled by the famous Kyoto Animation. A Channel is being handled by total newcomer Studio Gokumi who has only one other anime project (the OAV Koe de Oshigoto!) to their name prior to this work. While I don't think that the anime studio behind an anime work is a completely overriding factor in an anime's popularity (or lack thereof), I do think that it often plays an important factor.

2. I've found that slice of life/school life animes tend to need to have a series premise that goes beyond relationships alone. Even K-On!, for example, had the Light Music Club angle. There's nothing similar to that here in A Channel. It appears to be all about relationships, and feelings. There's nothing (yet) particularly standout about any of these characters aside from their relationships with, and feelings for, one another. While that can be the core of even very popular animes (like K-On!), I think that you need to frame it in something a bit more firm and specific than that, even if it's just the entire female cast being part of a specific school club.


I did like this first episode, and you did an excellent job of summing up why you liked it a lot, but I have to really wonder where it can go from here. Episode 1 really could work as a total stand-alone OAV, imo.

[Qikz]

I really liked the first episode. Really nice OP and ED, a nice set of characters and pretty moe to boot. Looking forward to seeing more of it.