Join us as we view new pilots this season. See where they fit on the highly-scientific Rock-or-Suck Scale… FAIRY TAIL SEASON 2 -- BLACK BULLET -- THE COMIC ARTIST & HIS ASSISTANTS -- ONE WEEK FRIENDS -- MUSHI-SHI: THE NEXT CHAPTER -- BRYNHILDR IN THE DARKNESS -- CHAIKA THE COFFIN PRINCESS -- CAPTAIN EARTH -- NO GAME, NO LIFE
If I’d seen this pilot sooner, I would’ve bussed it with CAPTAIN EARTH and NO GAME, NO LIFE because it’s another, very pretty show that’s got nothing interesting going, plot-wise. And I knew that was going to be the case. Quite often, you really can judge a book by its cover in anime, and this show’s awkward title proved to be a reliable indicator of what was coming...
Anyway, somebody needs to edit together a super cut of every prologue giving viewers a history lesson on a post-Apocalyptic future’s backstory. We all could compare and contrast, and hopefully figure out how much of the exposition and ‘lore’ is actually needed for anybody to understand the show.
If we see a sign identifying this institution as a magical high school, and we see the students throw spells at one another, isn’t that really enough? You can establish the post-Apocalypse even more succinctly by just, y’know, showing some ruined city landscapes outside the school. Instead of burying us with an infodump, you could wait to explain the complicated political landscape of this world until the main characters actually deal with those things in the plot. EVA did that quite well.
I’m coming down a little harder on this for frontloading because I kept my eye on the time code from the beginning. A solid 14 minutes of continuous screen time is devoted to exposition here. More than half the episode, at the least. Even when we meet the creepily-incestuous brother and sister after the prologue, they’re literally just reciting excerpts from eachother’s character bios.
“I’ve always been reckless, little sister…”
“You’ve never been one to follow the rules, big brother…”
And so on. While the playful instructor who teaches them in magic was fun to watch, there’s no getting around that his scene is basically just another lesson. This is based on a light novel, but it really feels like a video game... with one exceptionally long tutorial.
Watch "Enrollment – Part I" and decide for yourself.
About the Author
| Tom Pinchuk’s a writer and personality with a large number of comics, videos and features like this to his credit. Visit his website - - tompinchuk.com - - and follow his Twitter: @tompinchuk |
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