Musaigen no Phantom World – 03
Phantom Menaces….
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This show continues to be fun and more than a little subversive. So what do we have on the rather infamous “Three Episode Rule” time? Let’s see… |
Plastic Memories
they say goldfish got no memory
i guess their lives are much like mine
the little plastic castle
is a surprise every time
–Ani Defranco, Little Plastic Castles
I do rather like how the show played about with memories and the act of remembering them. There’s a great theory out there about how the act of accessing older memories can actually change those memories; making them conform to present-day biases. This is something they explore with Mai. I guess we all want to thing of ourselves as good people, even when we were much younger.
I didn’t quite like how silly this was, but…
We can see that Mai is perfectly fine with being seen as rambunctious, but not quite the mean little shit she was to the two phantom menaces way back in the day. I can or could complain quite a bit about the presentation. This was a grossly oversimplified version of the many competing ideas about how memories work in humans. But it was there to get the story moving, not to be accurate, and since I don’t have the time nor the desire to debunk the Pink Invisible Unicorn in everyone’s garage, I’ll move on….
…with the head-rubs…
So other than Mai’s main encounter,we have a couple of cool little things going on that liven the show up more than just a little touch here and there. First we have Reina and where she fits into the relationships the show has sported. It would be easy to say that she has an obvious attraction for Mai; one that goes beyond a simple kohai-sempai relationship, and you would be excused for tightening your yuri goggles, the show loves to play with expectations after all. Even so far as giving us the lovely “finger-sucking” routine last episode. But I’m filing that under “Sucking things….this is how Reina solves problems”. It’s her personal version of “if all I have is a hammer, all my problems will be nails”. We also have a subtle clue in Himeno-sensei being a current member of the Alayashiki research staff. Which is….creepy in it’s own way….
…like how the main characters are being watched…
There is so much world-building being skipped over these past three episodes, but they do remind us it’s there. That’s makes me wonder why we have the incredible stealthy-loli that is Kurumi and her “imaginary” friend Albrecht. She has them in mind for something, and it might get beyond the simple “let’s solve phantom problems” club routine. And finally, is this show breaking the fourth wall too much? It can’t be just a stylist approach, as every single cold open lesson both Ichijo and Ruru have given us just scream, “things are not what they appear to be!”.
Mementos…
Ok, now you two fight for my amusement!!!!
Well it’s time to burst a few bubbles. There are still a bunch of fans out there that both dismiss this as and classify this show with the harem and fan-service tags. Well, the short response to that is: nope. The long response to that is: Yeah, nope. The proof is in the show itself. Yeah, there are a bunch of girls and just the lone guy, but that can be the basis of a ton of shows, not just a harem thing. As for fan-service? It plays with it, and gives the set-up, but I’ve yet to see the show play it out straight. The set-up is for a punchline, and it always plays against fan-service expectations. But YMMV, I’m not going to judge you on what you call titillation…that’s your personal business.
Beyond that I’ve really enjoyed what the first three episodes have to offer. It plays very well with expectations, and is able to do quite a bit with just a little foreshadowing, and by being playful with a handful of tropes and characteristics. If I have on complaint it’s that they play Ruru at a 9, and I would much rather have it down to a 3(?) or so…Oh, and there isn’t enough Reina….there can never be enough Reina for me I guess….Also a few things I noticed looking some of the terms up; Benki, Onyudo menacing caves…some much stuff centered around the city of Kyoto itself. It’s probably lost on a non-Japanese audience, but now that I know it, I appreciate the effort.
Now…I was on Memory Lane myself recently; the address was on the corner of 28 Years Ago Street. Things have changed. Oh not so much or very drastically, just the whole location of an important event. That being my first time seeing Star Wars (this was before they called it A New Hope) in 1977. For the longest time I had it firmly in my mind seeing it in one specific movie theater; the one I saw many films of the 70s and 80s in and would work for the year I turned 18.
But a quick refresher with my older brother, this past Christmas, put that in doubt. It seems that the movie house we saw it in closed soon after we saw Star Wars there in ’77 . Not really a big deal, but it does rather make me look much more sharply at the structure of my mind and how I want that structure to play out, and as I get deeper into middle-age it does make me wonder what else in those memory banks of mine are not exactly correct and how much I’ve moved the bits and pieces about to create a continuity.
About skylion
All around nerd that enjoys just about any anime genre. I love history, politics, public policy, the sciences, literature, arts...pretty much anything can make me geeky...except sports. Follow me @theskylion
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
In regards to the 3 episode trial, Phantom World survives being entertaining at a relatively passable level with what little it has to offer. Alright and worthy enough to kill some extra time on hand but not one that earns the “must see” mention. So it’s a low ranking name on the watch list among others this season.
Not sure what the story was trying to pull but not once did I buy the idea Mai was ever a shy introvert. The way she is now, tomboyish, happy-go-lucky and a bit too carefree at times, she never gave the feel she was one who had undergone a drastic change.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Camera angle needs to be even lower/higher. Insufficient pantsu shot of legal musume.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
POWUH: 400-499 with 445 comments
it’s like you said skylion, mai is the reverse-gender rolecharacter; she’s physically competent, confident in her skills, she dishes out head-pats, and she’s the one that comforts haruhiko instead of vice-versa as we see in anime usually
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…and she runs the risk of becoming a great breakout character in that regard. Which makes the fan-service surrounding her character that much more subversive and interesting…
POWUH: 400-499 with 445 comments
if anything, im curious to see how she will affect the plot. From what it seems, people dont really like partnering with her. I guess her headstrong, “i can take care of myself” nature turns people off. It seems haruhiko is the one person she doesnt mind relying on even tho he’s kind of dead weight. I think there’s more to that; at least from what the opening hints at
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…and we’ve barely broached either Kurumi or Koito…
POWUH: 400-499 with 462 comments
Looking at that scene when Mai was a kid, I don’t think she was trying to be mean to them. I think she was a bit clueless, and she’s always enjoyed martial arts, so she wanted to show them “hey, check out this cool thing I can do, isn’t this fun? Now you try it!”
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…I think that is right on the mark. She was a pre-school kid. Happy, sad, angry, joyful, mean, spirited, wonderful, aggro coming and going, laughing and crying, children that age are all of the things! But we’re still embarrassed by what we were like then, and teenagers even more so…
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 163 comments
Honestly, I wouldn’t mind one bit if the tinkerbell and the lesson times at the start of each episode both disappeared from the show entirely.
Both are unnecessary.
The Matrix moment of “I know kung-fu?” was derpy as all hell.
But I like the three main characters, and the love triangle is interesting enough to make this watchable. I’ll stick with it.
But yeah, it’s not a great show. But I’ll enjoy it anyway.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Yeah, I’m sure it’s not exactly for everyone…have a bopping .gif….
POWUH: 400-499 with 462 comments
Unnecessary? The “lesson times” at the beginning are the show. I rather suspect that he’s revealing most of the major plot points of the series during those segments, if you pay attention.
POWUH: 400-499 with 462 comments
Also, Ruru is best girl, you take that back.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
I don’t know that she’s best girl, but this show wouldn’t be nearly as much fun without Ruru.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…they have her dialed up to a 7 or 8 and I’d prefer her at about 5 or 6. But more importantly, I’m paying attention to her fourth wall breaks, as I still feel they are more than just stylistic choices. She’s got something brewing that little phantom…
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Heh, we have found the character that I think is fine, and skylion wants dialed back! There had to be at least one!
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
By now it’s a contractual obligation of the universe for us to like the same thing, but come at it from different, but not necessarily opposite, angles….