×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
A Centaur's Life (TV).


Goto page 1, 2  Next

Anime News Network Forum Index -> General -> Series Discussion
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Sun Jul 09, 2017 8:22 am Reply with quote


A Centaur's Life (TV)

Genres: Slice of Life, Comedy, Supernatural, Fantasy, Seinen
Themes:

Plot Summary: Follows the school life of a teenage centaur named Himeno, and her friends, who happen to be mermaids, angels, and other mystical creatures.
----------------------------------

Episode 1:

For a Haoliners Animation show, I didn't think the animation was bad at all. Nothing groundbreaking but certainly works for this series.

They didn't waste time introducing the centaur girls and others. Between the characters, Nozomi is the most intimidating the scariest so far. It's a pretty fun show with a normal school life setting except all the characters aren't human. It takes risks to adapt a show like this but I think it worked out well so far. Himeno is also really cute imo for a centaur.

Fun start so far.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
Yttrbio
Subscriber



Joined: 09 Jun 2011
Posts: 3649
PostPosted: Sun Jul 09, 2017 1:52 pm Reply with quote
Hahaha cute girls and funny mishaps and society has the political structure of a communist hellhole and that one girl is out of shape.

I feel like one of these things is not quite like the others.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23665
PostPosted: Sun Jul 09, 2017 3:26 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, I was a bit taken aback by the political stuff in Part 2, but overall I'm liking this so far. Cute Centaur Doing Cute Things - a new genre???

Seems like the show's a little lezzie, too. Which anime would have us believe is simply normal high school.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Mon Jul 10, 2017 2:28 am Reply with quote
I spent half the episode pondering the question of how the cat and goat people manifest a third pair of limbs. They went through the trouble of setting up the explanation of a world where animals had six limbs, that could explain the nature of Centaurs and the ones with wings, but not the ones that have animals ears, tails and horns.

The political thing was a bit of a surprise, but I think that it brings to attention what was kind of causing trouble in the first part. Pretty much in a world where humans can have such large physical variances, it is seemingly illegal to kind of make a deal of the differences and how they might require different allowances. Thought police stop them from just saying that maybe they should be extra sure that Hime's centaur weight be taken into account. Like they should be celebrating differences instead of some level of just treating them the same. Would it really be a problem that a friend who could quite easily do so to carry her friend who has seemingly no stamina?

I was kind of interested in this series since I heard it, but admittedly there are a few fumbles, but not enough to really cause any problems, just maybe not entirely up to expectations.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 2:39 am Reply with quote
Episode 2

Was not sure they would outright do it, but they seemed to quite clearly that two of the girls are girlfriends, but also it was not really made out to be much of a deal. In general there seems to be this pretty strong theme of politics, a lot on them trying to get equality, and how it is kind of messy. Also quite a bit with mermaids too.

Right now I am kind of wondering whether they are able to interbreed, or if their biology is too different.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23665
PostPosted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 5:50 am Reply with quote
I am surprised at the amount of factual zoological information that this show passes along. The whole thing with goldfish, for example. I'm basically liking the show but the political stuff still feels weird and I miss any attempt at creating a story. The segments are really just extended bits.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Mon Jul 24, 2017 1:13 am Reply with quote
Episode 3

I quite liked this kid centred episode. It also so happened to have parts like on female intimacy, like how much kissing is "normal", bringing in the lesbian couple, there being a bit of interesting back and forwards. And also the angel girl too with her family, which seems I guess multi-racial, from design alone it looks like her youngest sister is a half sister, with the triplets being from a separate marriage, the youngest looking like a mix between angel of her, and cat person of the triplets and her father. It kind of expresses that the family situation is complicated, but despite that she treats them all like normal family, which she is quite dedicated to regardless to her duties in the student council, making her a pretty awesome character.

I am actually quite fascinated by this strong politically correct society. A children's' magical girl show going out of its way to not only respect majority vote, but also those of minorities. Perhaps somewhat wrong go have the person so into democratic majority to turn into a monster, but I cannot totally discredit a society that tries to instil empathy for all others who might not be part of the majority.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23665
PostPosted: Mon Jul 24, 2017 4:49 am Reply with quote
I thought all four of Angel Girl's imoutos were adorable as was Centaur's cousin. I wonder where Angel Girl's mother is. Leaving three kindergarten aged kids alone to look after an even younger sibling is a bit... dodgy, but there you go. Also, it seems like the family lives in a temple? Very cute episode.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Mon Jul 24, 2017 5:13 am Reply with quote
Blood- wrote:
I wonder where Angel Girl's mother is. Leaving three kindergarten aged kids alone to look after an even younger sibling is a bit... dodgy, but there you go.

Angel Girl seems to have a sort of relationship that she acts like a mother rather than a sister, where she talks about gaining some understanding of what mothers have to go through, and only says that she has to make dinner for sisters and father, never mentioning a mother. Except it being a strong moment when her grandfather on his deathbed mistook her for her mother. I am pretty sure that this is it implied that her mother has passed away, and one can only wonder if we could connect this with her youngest sister's own poor health, but also that she has seen plenty of tragedy, yet was still quite well adjusted and attentive.

With the temple, that is also worth some theorising. From mentions of the father's job being a painter or some sort of salary man, rather than anything temple connected, we might be looking at a case that the living arrangement could be from the mother and her own side. Her grandfather apparently had some sort of role in martial arts, which you generally would not connect to a temple, but they are both kind of traditional. Although I might also think her side because she is an angel.

Oh. Another thing I wanted to bring up was how adorable the teddy bear with wings was. Part of what I was thinking about the mysterious 7th person, was along the lines of what they were watching at the beginning of the segment which was a show that starred a faun girl who cared for the forgotten minority.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 3:17 am Reply with quote
Episode 4

Well, the topics got more intimate than I was expecting. There probably is only so long you can have the subject of a centaur before taking it there, and this episode did take it there. Sounds like the complex could be common for centaur.

HIme having such a strong reaction to the snake person seems pretty much out of character after how she tends to be pretty accepting, but she was reacting in a way that would be pretty rude. But then I thought, was it a reference to how horses tend to be very afraid of snakes? At least I have heard that horses easily get very spooked by snakes, maybe centaur have the same instincts.

I for one am quite interested to see more of this snake girl.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23665
PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 8:52 am Reply with quote
Yeah, I coulda done without all the vage talk/show and tell. I just found that super awkward. I identified with Goat Girl's shame. I think the end of episode 4 is the first time the show has "carried over" a storyline. Up to now, I believe each episode has been two self-contained storylines. I really hope there is no examination of Snake Girl's vage. More of angel girl's adorable imoutos please!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Sun Aug 06, 2017 9:30 pm Reply with quote
Episode 5

Sassassul was a treat of a character this episode. Possibly most interesting is that there is an inherent effort to show that the Antartican Snake People are quite different to regular humans in a number of ways, pretty much a different breed of monster girl(person), to the point that reproduction is not the same. Interesting additions that biologically she is apparently closer to a bird, like some sort of dinosaur. Was unfortunate that her attempt to smile as a way to make Hime feel happier ended up making Hime actually faint, but clearly not something Hime could help, and they did make an effort to understand each other better.

Was pretty funny when after hitting her in a playful way in being silly that she attempted to wear a mask in fear of being persecuted after something happened in the news, and a bunch of regular looking people pulled out weapons.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23665
PostPosted: Mon Aug 07, 2017 5:45 am Reply with quote
Yeah, she was great. In fact, I liked her seiyuu's performance so much, I looked her up, assuming I had heard in her in a bunch of other stuff. Turns out that Yuu Ayase is a relative newcomer. Her only major roles so far are this one and as Stylet in Frame Arms Girl.

It was funny how both her and Hime were scared by the cheesy B movie. I think they bonded over that. I still get freaked out when a character throws out mention of being sent to a re-education camp if the authorities think you are discriminating against another species. Seems so out of whack to the series' generally light tone.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23665
PostPosted: Sun Sep 03, 2017 7:25 pm Reply with quote
Episode 9 (The Twilight Zone)

I have seen lots of odd things in my anime watching career. But episode 9, hands down, has got to be the oddest thing I've ever watched. It was the sort of episode that had me wondering if somebody had slipped LSD into my Pepsi. So let me get this straight... there's a Frogman - oops, I mean, an Amphianfolk - who is found by French missionaries and is called Jean Rousseau. He becomes president of a company that makes... tea? He is famous enough that he meets with figures like the UN Secretary General and gives speeches at... Japanese high schools? He is from an amphibianfolk tribe in... Africa? And they are fighting some kind of... war? He meets some old angelfolk dude (the UN Secretary General?) who it turns out is a survivor of a... concentration camp?

...

Oh yeah, I'm trippin'...
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Mon Sep 04, 2017 2:24 am Reply with quote
I did not expect a WW2 like concentration camp like story, not something I would expect in cute slice of life stories. But I will say that the very end got to me, gave me the sniffles. The story has kind of in general been set in a world where the population is very strict on equaility, that it is almost dictatorial on it, you could almost take it as a warning against getting so "social justice". But the second half of this episode kind of twisted it around by highlighting how disgusting discrimination can be, no doubt by showing Nazis, something we must never forget, and should learn a real lesson in respecting others.

The amphibianfolk to seem to be kind of similar to other real tribal civilisation, and how they can be corrupted by other civilisation.

Going to get political here, so I am going to so I am going express my thoughts, but I don't want this to derail into fights. I am a pretty left wing person, and I get disgusted by the real world cases of discrimination I see even today, the one most to my periphery is how Muslims are being treated. In my own country a specific politician has been stirring up hate, pulling a stunt like wearing a burqa into parliament to try and prove a point to get it banned. I know that they are doing the hate out of fear, because they fear the worst, and there are cases of some bad people on the other side, you get bad people on all sides, but we have to have respect. I am actively sick of people trying to get pride by fearing and hating the other. There are systematic issues, but saying only that you are the right one and do no wrong as you turn against your "enemies", is a wrong we slipping into even more. And this does not even touch on what I have been seeing in America recently, where certain parts of your "system" is being tolerant ridiculously filled with hate.

Maybe I am being stupid right now at being so political in showing my hand in my beliefs, with a show about monsters people. But maybe that is just warranted, that the world in this show is heavily policing how people think and act, so they are being equal to even a silly extent, but it may even preferable to where we act like we have solved the problem. That I can see a story and read vile fear induced hate, because people are afraid of what is different.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> General -> Series Discussion All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page 1, 2  Next
Page 1 of 2

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group