Let’s begin with the story, taken from the back of the box:
“On the Mediterranean Sea, there lies the beautiful kingdom of Genes. It is ruled by three lovely, mostly innocent princesses and the power of technology. The surrounding kingdoms all fall one by one to a mysterious Giant Robot. Worse yet, the Robot is under the control of several decidedly unattractive Old Guys. When they set their sights on Genes, the Fate of the World, rests on the maid-outfit clad shoulders of Kana, the second princess. Born with a special knack for robot technology, Kana and her android companion Rincle are the last line of defense for Genes.”
Though the story seems a little serious at first, after watching the first couples minutes of the first episode, it’s very apparent that it decides to take the humorous approach to the mecha genre. There’s nothing in the way of truly serious moments, as the whole series is nothing but one giant parody. Speaking of parody...
This goes into the second positive of the show. Unlike some parody shows, where the jabs they take can sometimes seem cruel, there’s nothing meanspirited within Kiremeki Project. When the show takes a stab at the mecha genre, turning it into a goofy farce where the villains (Most of them, anyway) are average & less threatening, almost to the point where you can actually sympathize & like them, and the heros are princesses. Yeah, the princess hero is a bit overdone sometimes, but the show doesn’t really bring out the princess trait (Though one of them is a bit full of herself). One of the princesses, in fact, is rather shy & vulnerable, but over the course of the show, she manages to come out of her shell and becomes more sociable. The magical girl genre is also parodied at times, with one of the princesses sometimes becoming a magical girl/superhero hybrid.
This leads into the third positive of Kiremeki Project. The cast within this show is unique in that I liked everybody, and I mean everybody. The good guys brings something to the table, and the bad guys drop something off as well. Each of the princesses fit a particular niche & role within the movie. They are:
Nene (12 years old, but I call BS on this. Just watch an episode, and you’ll see why): The fan service provider of the show, Nene tends to whine & complain a fair amount of the time, but ultimately has good intentions. I say she provides the fan service, because when she transforms into her superhero outfit, there’s a good view of her cleavage, and her panty-covered bottom is very much in your face a lot of the time.
Kana (14 years old): The princess that has the most screen time in the show. It’s ironic that she’s a princess, because she doesn’t act like one. She rather shy, not very good when interacting with people (Save for her sisters, servants, and robot friend Rincle), and is only happy when she’s in her robot workshop. As the show goes on, she slowly becomes more active among other people, and when it reaches the last episode, she’s no longer the shy girl that she once was.
Krone (18 years old): The princess that has the least screentime. Unlike Nene or Kana, Krone doesn’t fight, but instead commands the military of Genes. She also happens to be the most mature of the three, which is ironic because her top men are four bishounen aides slash servants that act like goofballs.
There’s other good guys as well. Chief among them are Rincle, and her younger but larger (Height-wise) sister Junerin. Rincle is the perfect example of a hyperactive friend: hyper (Obviously), silly, spastic, annoying, etc. She’s one of the few individuals that Kana can feel normal & safe around, and can also turn into various vehicles & tools when needed. Junerin is a bit different. She’s about as tall as a skyscraper, permanently has a smile on her face (More on this later), and she doesn’t speak. Instead, she communicates to Kana through e-mails to her cellphone, and in turn Kana communicates commands & such through the same device.
The bad guys are an interesting bunch as well, in that they really aren’t that threatening. Instead, they’re just a group of average joe-schmoes who think they’re doing something right, but their goals are being twisted behind the scenes by their boss. There’s Honda (Engineer and primary designer of Big Mighty, the robot they pilot), Ohya (Commander), Nakajima (Pilot), and Matsushita (electronics). Again, these guys aren’t intimidating. In fact, they’re all quite likable, especially Ohya. He’s very much a little guy, but has a big heart. The rest of the crew follow him, simply because of his passion, spirit, and loyalty to his comrades. Ohya is also a component for a rather major plot point, but I’ll get to that later.
Kirameki Project’s fourth positive is it’s animation. For starters, the color scheme is nice & colorful. Everything feels warm & pleasing, and there isn’t a dark shade of black to be found, save for the few nighttime scenes towards the end of the show (Though these scenes don’t feel sinister). As for the animation itself, I didn’t mind it. There’s a moment or two where the character look a little rough around the edges, but the characters more around alright without problems. There’s also some CG effects used during the robot fight scenes, but I’ll get to that in a bit.
The last positive of Kirameki project is it’s availability & pricing. I bought a used collection at FYE for about $12 dollars, which wasn’t that bad. Over on amazon, the complete collection is relatively available, as well as the two DVDs containing the episodes. New copies of the individual DVDs range from a mere 25 cents to $4 dollars, while used copies range from $2 dollars to 4$ dollars. New copies of the complete collection start at $11.35 in pricing, while the used copies start at the slightly less expensive $11.00. This is another show that won’t make your wallet bleed.***
Sadly, Kirameki Project has some baggage, some of which is heavier than others. For starters, there are only 5 episodes, each ranging at about 30 minutes. Because of the short length, the show had a bit of a rushed feeling to it. In fact, I took out 2 ½ hours of a day to watch the entire show. While that amount of time might look long to some people, the show went by at a very fast pace. I really felt that Kirameki Project should have been longer, perhaps having 6 to 8 episodes instead of 5, and still keeping the episodes to 30 minutes.
The next positive of Kirameki Project is the lack of a dub track. This is the third show I’ve reviewed so far that doesn’t have a dub track, the first was Step Up Love Story in February of last year (Click on “***” to read the review), and the second was Otaku no Video in April of last year (Click on “***” to read the review). The same problem in those reviews crops up here: the subs make it difficult to read & watch what’s going on at the same time. Even if a included dub was bad, I’d take a bad dub & subs, over subs only any day of the week.
The third negative of the show was it’s use of CG. Now, I will say that the show keeps the CG to the robot fight scenes. Okay, fair enough. This is something I can live with. However, the CG feels weird when it’s put up against the normal animation of the show. It’s almost as if two different studios worked on the show, and put both pieces together in a rough manner. I should also point out the CG effect used for Junerin. Simply put, she was perhaps one of the creepiest things I’ve ever seen in a non-horror anime. She’s basically a small skyscrapper-sized robot, designed to look like a maid that wears pink clothing & carries a pink purse, and has locks of blonde metallic hair. To add to this creepfest, she’s has the most striking blue eyes, and has a permanent smile on her face. This mass of CG terror will haunt me for the rest of the year, unless I dive into a bottle of Jagermeister. If you don't believe me that Junerin is nightmare fuel, then here's a picture for you:
The last negative of Kirameki Project is this one plot point that’s not really followed through. At one point about halfway/three-fourts through the show, Ohya discovers a key-like object at his apartment with the seal of Genes on it. Later when he’s in Kana’s room, he discovers another key-like object on one of the book shelves that has the exact same seal. It was revealed earlier that Kana’s father was Japanese, and she never knew her father. There’s almost a point where Kana asks if Ohya is her father, but instead begins asking him a string of questions about robots. Though this plot point is silently resolved at the end, I really wished that they just showed the resolution to this plot point, even if it’s just for a couple seconds.
Kirameki Project gets a 6 to 6.5 out of 10. The story is simple, the parodies are nice & harmless, the cast was fun to watch, the animation is easy on the eyes, and it’s easy to find & buy, but it’s short, there’s no dub, the CG doesn’t feel right, and the unsolved plot point is rather annoying.
See you all later this week. Until then, stay Otaku!
*** Since the time of the February writing, this information will more than likely have changed.
No comments:
Post a Comment