I get more of a "Are you sure drugs are illegal in Japan" vibe, a la Bobobo-bo Bobo-bo and Penguindrum.

Not bad per se. Just hard to get a read on. More like I don't even know how to react to some of that. The bread........... Ha ha.

I ate a protein bar while watching the first episode. I'm reasonably sure someone added a hallucinogenic drug to the bar's ingredients. That was trippy!:eyespin:

End of the World Party 01 - Chickens Don't Clap!

The color palette and the design of the world calls to mind Super Mario Bros. That sort of pastoral pastel wonderland where the goal is to survive. For reasons even I haven't fully identified, I'm fascinated with stories about the end of the world, or rather, after the world has ended. I'm also not very used to stories where the characters don't have proper names. It does work with the fairy tale atmosphere going on in the world, just not sure how it will affect the flow of discussion. Nakahara's character does make for a nice starring role, though. She has that right mix of baffled and crafty.

That's concepts and characters down, all that remains is comedy. And this series has it, and it works. It's a drier, more surreal kind of comedy, but that kind of comedy runs through its veins and forms its lifeblood. That's what's going to keep me tethered to this series. Now, onward to World 1-2.

Episode 01
 

An interesting first episode and I'm curious to see more. The main heroine is pretty cynicial which I like, she's like Kyon from the Haruhi anime.

It certainly doesn't feel like it's the end of the world. As everyone doesn't seem to have much of a gloom and doom feel about them other than the food shortage problem the village is facing. How can there be a global food shortage problem with a decline in human population due to low birth rates?

I recognized Sasaki Nozomi's voice as one of the fairies, then in the end credits discovered that all the fairy voices were seiyuu I want to hear: Kobayashi Yumiko (PuniPuni Poemi), Aoki Sayaka (Kyon's imouto), Akesaka Satomi (Arsene in Milky Holmes), Kanemoto Hisako (Squid Girl), and Sasaki Nozomi (Nanami in Bokura ga Ita).

The set-up is interesting, Nakahara Mai and her grandfather (Ishizuka Unshou - Lehm in Jormungand) were good, and the art direction was nice. But Kishi Seiji seems to be maintaining his record with me of never producing anything I like. Just seems incompetent to me: no flow or pace at all. I love weird, but this seemed messy and awkward to me, like all his stuff.

But I'll be back next week to try to understand. The OP visuals were good, but I usually like nano.RIPE more.

I like this quote from Midonin: "Nakahara's character does make for a nice starring role, though. She has that right mix of baffled and crafty."

I usualy have trouble with 1st episodes of Kishi Seiji shows but while I was a bit lost at times I enjoyed this a whole lot andI'm sold on this,love the fun it takes at corporate culture,the world looks bright and colorful but there's definatly a darker side to it,that goes for our main protag as well.

Now who voiced the bread at the end ?I recognize that voice but can't remember from where.

LOVE the artwork
LOVE the setting
LOVE the character designs (DERP faces FTW)
LOVE the heroine (she is so cute! Want a figure of her! Love the little mute boy too-THEY'RE BOTH ADORABLE.



The final couple minutes had me LOLING so hard. :heh:

Definitely following. This is Nick Jr 80s feel anime.....ON CRACK. :D

Had no idea what I was gonna watch but I loved every bit of this episode. Kept me smiling and that loaf scene near the end had me on the floor.
Great art and funny scenes, I'm sold!

Catchy OP with its dance so here are some freebies from it.
http://forums.animesuki.com/picture....ictureid=46173 http://forums.animesuki.com/picture....ictureid=46175

Personally, I found myself with low hopes after watching the trailers because the promotional artwork gave me the impression that this would have a good story, only for the trailers to turn my first impressions upside down by coming across as sophomoric, crude, and just kinda all-around unappealing.

Thankfully my doubts turned out completely unjustified because this is a damn good show. It's not flat-out weird like the trailer made me imagine it might be, it's just a nice story with an endearingly perverted and quirky edge. I love the fact that there's title cards at the beginning of the episode and eyecatches at the middle, that's something which gave anime a lot of personality and charm during the '80s and '90s but has sadly started to fall by the wayside in recent years. (I miss proper 'Next Episode' previews, as an aside; the new trend of Next Episode previews being a static image is lame.) Mediator's a really fun protagonist, her cynical nature is pretty sexy (And she does indeed look much better with longer hair than short), and I like the way the badass old grandpa looks in his military outfit. The bright, colorful, simplistic artwork with its minimalistic shading is very refreshing and easy on my eyes. Definitely a show I'll enjoy watching every week. I also eagerly await whatever nicknames the silly 2chan folks think up for Mediator, Assistant, and Grandpa. :heh:

And I agree with Kaihan that the opening is very catchy. Time to go and watch it a few more times...

This would've been much higher on my priority list if I'd made myself aware that Seiji Kishi was directing. I loved his work on Sunred, and despite coming from a different source, I can see the similarities between that show and this one. Both are domestic stories with a cast full of archetypes, yet populated by weird people (fairies/the cast of a Sentai series) - it's something he works well with.

I want to call the heroine Mai, but that's uncreative. And I don't even know if their city is in (what was) Japan. If it is, then I suspect So Ra no Wo To is happening several thousand miles away offscreen.

ok, finished the ep
I have no idea why they put vol 4 in the 1st ep
this will skip a lot of plot and character development
the only reason I can think of is the impact (suicide bread!)
but generally I don't think it is a good idea

put this aside
the OP, not good but suit the style
the ED, I don't know, unique?
the artwork, I have seen some complaints (people think it is too childish) but I think it suits the story well
the VA, the novel is written in 1st person which has a lot of monologues by our heroine
However, Mai talks monotonically and it was a little boring
she should put more emotions in it
the fairies' VA are good, really adorable

they skipped so much content
something should be explained if they do it from the beginning (vol 1)
e.g. why the girl's (and the adults) call our heroine "sensei"?
why assistant-san doesn't talk?
she doesn't like her short hair but why she cut her hair? (it is the aftermath of a major plot event)
so on...
I don't know how they would re-arrange the plot

conclusion
satisfied but I don't know where they are heading to

So does anyone know the targeted demographic of this show? :heh:

ok, i got the ep list
ep 1,2 the fairies' secret factory (vol 4)
ep 3,4 the fairies' subculture (vol 6)
ep 5,6 the fairies go back home (vol 3)
ep 7,8 the fairies' time management (vol 2)
ep 9 the fairies' drifting life (vol 4)
ep 10 the fairies' earth (vol 1)
ep 11,12 the fairies' secret tea party (vol 5)

very strange arrangement
I don't know what to expect

That was definitely one of the odder first episodes I've seen in some time. Had some laughs, wondered what the heck was going on at times, but overall it wasn't bad. Gotta love the lead's monologues. Has a personal comment lined up for everything. Did enjoy her trying to cover up the chicken incident via a variety of techniques :).

At the very least this show should be good for a few laughs. Though it really was just extremely weird.
The insane :heh:?

I had no prior knowledge about this show, just watched it on a whim and I have got to say that I am HOOKED!

I love it when my sleeper picks pan out, and the stars were aligned for this to be really good - the right writer and director with the right source material, and the right animation director. Even the music seemed a perfect fit.

It was every bit as trippy and hilarious as I'd hoped, and I got real Tsuritama vibes both from the pop-up storybook visuals and the relentless comedic energy. But don't mistake the fact that there's some serious social commentary going on inside all the random, too.

"If you pity my existence at all, please eat me!"

So, Nakahara's basically playing the main character as a more cynical Nagisa Furukawa? Sign me up please! I love how on the surface she sounds cute and harmless, but she can be manipulative and crafty when she wants to sound like it. I expected no less from Ms. "Kana Kana?"

I must say though, for a show with no shipping in sight, I'm oddly attracted to it. Then again, combining the kawaii factor of say, Snow Fairy Sugar, and combining it with the interesting world of say, Ergo Proxy, makes for a unique show to watch. But I do wonder, if humanity really is on the verge of extinction, why is atmosphere more like the former show rather than the latter? That's probably my beef with the show, as the circumstances don't really match the tone. :heh:

The OP is forgettable, but the ED sounds very charming to me for some reason. Will post my thoughts about the episode at a later time.