×
  • 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
EP. REVIEW: Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines!


Goto page 1, 2, 3, 4  Next

Note: this is the discussion thread for this article

Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
boldulysses



Joined: 21 Apr 2020
Posts: 90
PostPosted: Tue Jul 30, 2024 8:12 am Reply with quote
Really ANN? You guys couldn't get a reviewer who was more familiar with or even liked the genre? Did you just draw straws to select who reviewed what this season?

This anime is solidly top-tier after only 3 episodes, from the animation to the voice acting to the writing to the characterizations to the comedic timing. The episode grades deserve to be bumped by at least 1 star each.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
L'Imperatore



Joined: 24 Mar 2014
Posts: 928
PostPosted: Tue Jul 30, 2024 8:14 am Reply with quote
Kind of hate to admit it, but Aniplex shows tend to have higher production value than most shows in the same season.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Nate148



Joined: 24 May 2012
Posts: 500
PostPosted: Tue Jul 30, 2024 8:53 am Reply with quote
Aniplex puts a lot of money into their stuff and how staff are picked is a combo of workload and interest.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Gamen



Joined: 13 Jun 2006
Posts: 253
PostPosted: Tue Jul 30, 2024 8:55 am Reply with quote
Quote:
I also am not a huge fan of the fanservice-y elements as the cast is all high schoolers but they are rare enough that it's bearable for me.


I admit, that almost word-for-word echo of the same disclaimer from the 2.5 Dimensional Seduction review got a chuckle out of me. The horrors of flat-shaded drawings of teenage skin. Would it count as a human rights violation if I used them in an interrogation?

That said, it's currently the only anime I'm watching this season, and I'm loving it. Though fingers crossed it does stay "just friends" between the core cast.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address
MemoBookworm



Joined: 09 Jul 2015
Posts: 24
PostPosted: Tue Jul 30, 2024 10:14 am Reply with quote
boldulysses wrote:
Really ANN? You guys couldn't get a reviewer who was more familiar with or even liked the genre? Did you just draw straws to select who reviewed what this season?


Yeah, I'm not one to demand that every reviewer must like the show they review or even be a fan of the genre but it feels like a very odd choice for what is basically a parody of the harem genre to be reviewed by somone who isn't even familiar with highschool romcoms!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
jdnation



Joined: 15 May 2007
Posts: 2096
PostPosted: Tue Jul 30, 2024 10:38 am Reply with quote
This show is a delightful surprise!

I am bored of the glut of romance comedy stuff that feels lazy and cliche.

But then there rare exceptions like Skip and Loafer. And this one nails it in the same way.

Genuinely funny. Great character designs, character acting with quality animation. 'Moe' executed well without feeling like a carbon copy of past shows!

The premise is also good, and you want to sympathize with these girls channeled through the male lead in the same way you felt bad for past ships in your manga that you felt were better, but never sailed. Laughing

We all have our hearts out for those losing heroines/supporting characters, and I'm sure many of us have our personal experiences of crushing on people we could never be with, that we bring into this show. We've all been there! Razz

So far a stand-out show of this season!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Andrew Cunningham



Joined: 01 Feb 2006
Posts: 510
Location: Seattle
PostPosted: Tue Jul 30, 2024 1:39 pm Reply with quote
I wouldn't be so hasty to dismiss the male lead as yet another potato-kun; he's riffing on that type of lead but in a way that feels immediately calculated and authentic--and a bit unlikable, with a specificity to the negative aspects of his character that make it clear there are reasons why he has no friends. This isn't a case where it's presenting an asshole and assuming we'll identify with that, either; it's balancing those negative aspects out pretty well, quietly showing what he can pick up on and deal with. I particularly liked the bit in the third episode where he attempts to engage Lemon on that point and is terrible at it, but she manages to pick up on the intent behind it.

I think there's similar arguments to be made about the hornier scenes, which are riffing on lucky sukebe tropes but in a way that feels more grounded. Even the trapped in a hot room stuff felt way more like something that might actually happen than any typical harem hijinks. I'm not sure where it's going with that aspect yet, but in general I think the back and forth between the more exaggerated 'anime' feel and the more naturalistic undercurrents is exactly what makes this show work, making me confused by complaints about tonal dissonance.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
CrowLia



Joined: 24 Feb 2012
Posts: 5528
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Tue Jul 30, 2024 10:47 pm Reply with quote
Andrew Cunningham wrote:

I think there's similar arguments to be made about the hornier scenes, which are riffing on lucky sukebe tropes but in a way that feels more grounded. Even the trapped in a hot room stuff felt way more like something that might actually happen than any typical harem hijinks.


No offense but I think the average hentai scenario is closer to "something that might actually happen" than "got trapped in a sports shed under intense heat and the hot girl i happened to be with started hallucinating and undressing in front of me". Honestly I would've bought it more -and felt less negatively about it- if Lemon hadn't been hallucinating and just decided to take off her shirt to cool off. Her top looked like a sports bra so it wouldn't even look too revealing or excessive compared to similar scenes. It's the unconsensual aspect of it that makes it specially skeevy and gross.

I have a hard time buying the "It's not actually fanservice, it's riffing on it", when we had that scene, and then the following episode there's that conversation between the club president and Nukumizu that sounds like it's taken straight from your average incel reddit board about how "girls don't like it when you see them in their underwear but then want you to look at them when they wear skimpy bikinis", whilst the camera gleefully ogles on the girls while they change into their swimwear. It's not "riffing" or "parodying" when you're just doing the exact same thing as the genre you're "parodying" with no commentary, additional insight or a different perspective. At that point you're just a regular harem.

I was willing to overlook the nasty sports shed scene as a one-off, but if we're gonna keep getting the same tone for the rest of the series and how it treats the girls it purports to be about, I'm dropping it.

Unrelated but I thought the whole bit about Nukumizu judging the others for eating their meat half raw and his carefully raised Setsuko was possibly the funniest gag in all of episodes 2 and 3
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
tywhoppity



Joined: 09 Sep 2019
Posts: 216
PostPosted: Wed Jul 31, 2024 9:31 am Reply with quote
This is easily my favorite show of the season; Aniplex has so far done a loving job on the production, as well as the cast. Has Hare Hare Yukai ever been reused as an ED before? I agree, the ML is dense and backward, but that's by design, as this(I think) is about his finding out that LNs are not based on real life.

If I do have a ding on this show, it's the crappy adults, from the teacher that didn't remember the ML's name and left the two kids in the shed, to the nurse that has half the school bugged.


Last edited by tywhoppity on Wed Jul 31, 2024 11:10 am; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Key
Moderator


Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18407
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Wed Jul 31, 2024 9:52 am Reply with quote
CrowLia wrote:
I have a hard time buying the "It's not actually fanservice, it's riffing on it", when we had that scene, and then the following episode there's that conversation between the club president and Nukumizu that sounds like it's taken straight from your average incel reddit board about how "girls don't like it when you see them in their underwear but then want you to look at them when they wear skimpy bikinis", whilst the camera gleefully ogles on the girls while they change into their swimwear. It's not "riffing" or "parodying" when you're just doing the exact same thing as the genre you're "parodying" with no commentary, additional insight or a different perspective. At that point you're just a regular harem.

Oh, it absolutely is fan service, while also riffing on that kind of fan service - and yes, the irony of poking at something it's doing itself is almost certainly intentional. Every bit of what we've seen so far is, to some degree, a meta exercise on anime/manga/LN school romances aimed at male audiences. It's toying with the common tropes and character archetypes of the genre - and making snide commentary on them by example - to a degree I've rarely seen achieved in anime. It's already become one of my favorites of the season because of that.

Quote:
Unrelated but I thought the whole bit about Nukumizu judging the others for eating their meat half raw and his carefully raised Setsuko was possibly the funniest gag in all of episodes 2 and 3

Won't dispute this. Smile
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
Piglet the Grate



Joined: 25 May 2021
Posts: 744
Location: North America
PostPosted: Wed Jul 31, 2024 7:15 pm Reply with quote
tywhoppity wrote:
...
If I do have a ding on this show, it's the crappy adults, from the teacher that didn't remember the ML's name [Konami Amanatsu] and left the two kids in the shed, to the nurse [Sayo Konuki] that has half the school bugged.


N.b. Text in brackets in the quote added by me.

I agree that they are crappy people, but I disagree that it detracts from the show.

Every time Konami Amanatsu appears in the show, I at first mistake her for a student.

Sayo Konuki is just pervy.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Aerdra



Joined: 02 Feb 2022
Posts: 427
PostPosted: Thu Aug 01, 2024 3:00 am Reply with quote
This is currently my favorite new anime of the season.

Anyone remember OsaMake and OreSuki? The setup for Makeine feels like a combination of those two stories' premises, but with a different twist, and the plot seems to want to go in a different direction. I liked the former stories and I love what Makeine is doing here.

It always helps when the show looks great.

tywhoppity wrote:
Has Hare Hare Yukai ever been reused as an ED before?.
Do you mean "LOVE 2000"? ("Hare Hare Yukai" was covered by a different anime this season.) When I heard the ED theme, I did think it sounded a bit dated. Turns out it was released in the year 2000. The narration in episode 1 framed the story as someone looking back on his high school days, so I guess it's appropriate.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
pip25



Joined: 22 Sep 2017
Posts: 177
PostPosted: Mon Aug 05, 2024 4:30 pm Reply with quote
Komari is incredible. So what if she's shy? The emotional fortitude and mindfulness she displayed in episode 4 was nothing short of inspiring. Definitely the standout character for me so far.

The male lead, on the other hand, a lot less so. It's really hard to understand his motivations, why he's doing what he's doing, to the point that it feels almost random at times. Hopefully we'll learn more about him as well as the series progresses.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Aerdra



Joined: 02 Feb 2022
Posts: 427
PostPosted: Tue Aug 06, 2024 5:55 pm Reply with quote
Wow. This episode felt like a season finale, wrapping up a few storylines.

The fallout from Komari's confession sorted itself out rather quickly once the members of that love triangle talked with each other, and all parties have at least reached an acceptance of the result.

Nukumizu nearly cuts off whatever bond he and Yanami developed over their shared lunch breaks; this was entirely his fault. However, he redeems himself by confronting Hakamada when he tried to deny Yanami's feelings. This lead to Yanami and Hakamada finally having a proper conversation on their relationship.

And at last, Nukumizu and Yanami clearly define the relationship between themselves.

I love this anime and can't wait for more. But this episode reached a satisfying conclusion, so I wonder what's next. Maybe resolution for Yakishio and Ayano, too?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Piglet the Grate



Joined: 25 May 2021
Posts: 744
Location: North America
PostPosted: Tue Aug 06, 2024 9:57 pm Reply with quote
Aerdra wrote:
...
The fallout from Komari's confession sorted itself out rather quickly once the members of that love triangle talked with each other, and all parties have at least reached an acceptance of the result.


Except Komari takes it out on Nukumizu who has done nothing to harm her. Nukumizu should have told her to get lost.

Aerdra wrote:
Nukumizu nearly cuts off whatever bond he and Yanami developed over their shared lunch breaks; this was entirely his fault.


Fault seems the wrong term here, when cutting off the relationship (to the benefit of Yanami) was the intention. The only thing Nukumizu does wrong here is not telling Yanami what the other girls are saying about her, so she knew he was ending things for her sake and not his.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page 1, 2, 3, 4  Next
Page 1 of 4

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group