First Impressions – Fractale

In a world where girls either fall from the sky or pop out of your computer…

Overcooled: Oopsie-daisy, looks like Cool was a little late organizing this one. MY BAD. Considering it’s the show I was looking forward to the most, we shall see if it lives up to my expectations.

Sassy: I like to judge anime by their covers before watching them, so here’s the 4 reasons I’m trying this one out: 1) not shoujo, 2) not mecha, 3) not sports, 4) not fanservice.

Foshizzel::When I heard about this anime was coming out I checked out the first few manga chapters. A girl from a pendant, and she’s mysterious?! Sounds like a crazy idea! Well not really all that crazy to most anime fans. Time now for another tag team review!

Overcooled: Clain lives in an odd world. Instead of talking in person, you can create “doppels” which are like hologram avatars of yourself instead to go meet with people. (Note: the doppels are NOT pretty) Clain isn’t having any of this fancypants technology stuff, and is one of the few who bikes around in the flesh and listens to old-fashioned music.

That awkward moment when you realize your parents aren’t real.

The police crack down on his beloved junk market, making all the doppels disappears with the wave of a magic wand (which probably doubles as a taser). Left alone holding a memory card, he shrugs and walks off with it. It turns out to be a data textbook just explaining how the Fractale system came into place and what it is. Convenient way to insert an explanation to the viewers no? Just as he finishes with the explanation, he is asked to pray towards a shining light off in the distance. Aaaaannnnddd now’s about time for something crazy to happen.

A girl on some sort of plane/hang-glider contraption nearly bowls him over to try to escape from Team Rocket’s super upgraded balloon. (From this point on, they are officially Team Rocket. DEAL WITH IT) In the ruckus, his earphones get unplugged and the song from earlier plays on his speakers. The girl smiles at him before diving off of her flying machine over a cliff.

The natural thing to do would be to FOLLOW HER DOWN THAT NARROW LEDGE OVERLOOKING A THOUSAND FOOT DROP! He manages to find her, both their lives in tact, and adorably stumble over greetings and how to treat her wounds. She refuses to go to a hospital, so he takes her home without his parents noticing. Except they notice, so he makes them vanish. Don’t you wish you could do that too?

Phryne starts stripping, which ahd me worried about it turning ecchi…but she tells him to leave. Ah, that was close, good thing – WHY ARE YOU STILL NAKED?!?! If you can’t reach one spot on your back then KEEP YOUR SHIRT ON and let him reach it there for you ughh. You’re lucky he’s a gentleman. The scene is surprisingly natural despite her being all naked and making small talk. It’s like yeah, let’s casually chat about your old machines while I just fall asleep with my boobs hanging out. Don’t rape me or anything, stranger I’ve never met before, kay g’night.

Phryne wakes up to see Clain right at work on his computer. He’s so engrossed in reading Metanorn posts his work that he only notices the girl in his bed once she accidentally turns on his projector. She starts to cry at the video when she realizes that Clain doesn’t look as cute as he was when he was, like, 1. She is a strange, strange girl.

There’s a knock on the door as a trio of doctors appear. It’s not long before Clain notices they’re just Team Rocket in disguise again! They have the nerve to come to his door 2 more times in a variety of costumes, before just barging in and looking for the girl themselves. They’re out of luck, so they just label Clain as a pervert and call it a day. Not without Phryne having the last laugh, of course.

The two of them venture to the ruins of a church, where the radio waves can’t reach them. Phyrne still hesitates to mention who she is, but she appears to not be from this time…is she from the past? Clain doesn’t weasel much info out of her, and ends up falling asleep…only to be dumped by the next morning with only her brooch thingy as a reminder.

…Wonder how much I can sell this for..?

Clain heads home to mope, suddenly getting an idea by holding the necklace up to the light. Not sure what’s so special about a necklace that glows in the light, but somehow it resulted in a girl appearing from his computer. The episode just ends there, leaving everyone but the red-head with an expression akin to O___O

Someone has sent you an e-hug!

Bonus Data:

It’s a sad day when your best friend is a piece of poop

Such a serious wound…she had no choice!

WILLLLMAAAAAA!!!!

TEAM ROCKET’S BLASTING OFF AGAAAAAIIIN!

End Thoughts:

Overcooled: Woooo, just as good as expected~ I made sure to check the first manga chapter or so of everything I could for this season (to make sure I chose to blog good shows, because I’m cunning lulz)  and Fractale impressed me the most. The setting itself is wonderful – a mix of a quaint little village and ominously powerful technology. It’s got that Hayao Miyazaki touch to it, adding a dabble of extraordinary into ordinary. Relaxing, and yet exciting. Everyone is so CHILL about having doppels and crazy flying machines, meanwhile I’m losing my mind about how awesome it all is.

I would’ve liked a bit more emphasis on the doppels and learning about the Fractale system, but I guess it would be too much information for one episode. I for one am extremely interested in this world…Clain is just a vessel for me to explore it. He’s pretty plain, like most male protagonists are, but fits the bills nonetheless. Phyrne is a lot more interesting, although I wouldn’t call her unique either. I’m not sure how the characters will mesh in this show, but every moment of the show has a certain magic quality to it.

Sassy: At the moment, the thing that really stands out to me about this anime is the cameo appearance of Team Rocket. The slow, leisurely pace of the rest of the episode wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, since I do enjoy various slice of life series, but given that this was tagged with “adventure,” I was beginning to fall asleep until Jesse, James, and Meowth appeared on the doorstep. The great part about these “villains” is that you can’t really hate them because they are so inept – it makes me kind of want to root for them.

The art and music, which I look for first in anime, wasn’t terribly impressive to me, either, but the story looks like it might start getting interesting. The biggest problem I had with this episode was that it’s basically one big prologue with a lack of exciting events, so I can’t really tell if I even like it. That being said, I’m going to follow this series a little longer to see if it fits my tastes. Fractale really looks like it might be good, it’s just that the first episode fails to hook me.

Foshizzel:: Clain seems like an interesting character mostly due to him being voiced by Yu Kobayashi, always loved her as Rio from Sora no Woto. I also like the idea of how our current technology is now rare in their world, cool idea to see it used that way. Felt like I was watching Xamd lost memories again, with all the machines they use to fly around with.

This show has some high quality artwork; character designs are also nicely done. The only thing I probably didn’t like was that opening, seemed like I was watching windows media player visual! Other than the poor opening, I did enjoy this so can’t wait to see more of this and find out more about Nessa and her background.