It's nice when a show is a pleasant surprise, and Amagi Brilliant Park qualifies. I had it on my list mostly in hopes of harvesting cheesecake for the top rotation, but in fact I'm intrigued and feel like I want to keep watching it.

It will indeed provide cheesecake; the four fairy performers are enough to guarantee that. But the concept is strange and there's magic in it, real magic, and that's always a plus.

UPDATE:

The hook is that all those animal mascots are not costumes with people inside. They actually look like that. They are refugees from a magical world, and Amagi Brilliant Park is their new home. However, they're about to lose it because it's a financial failure, and then they'll have nowhere to go.

It's hardly a surprise that it's failing: the place is rundown and dirty and a lot of the attractions are a waste of time.

The blonde in the white dress is some sort of princess and she has called Our Hero there to ask him to take over as manager. They have three months to turn it around, and an oracle told her that he could do it. So that's part of what the show is about.

But it's clear that another part of the show is him. He's not a very nice guy; he's arrogant and self-possessed, and as a result he doesn't have any friends. There's some history, and I think that deep down he hates himself, what he's become. It's clear that the experience of running this park is going to change him, and that should be just as interesting a story as the larger one.

UPDATE: Random Curiousity and Aroduc wrote about it.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 07:58 AM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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1
I got about 2/3rds through this this morning and then had to leave for work, but I like it so far.  The premise certainly has potential and at least I can distinguish it from other series premieres.  I forgot half of the plots of the series that premiered this season mere minutes after watching them.

Best of all, though: it features no dragons as of yet (I've seen three premieres featuring dragons this season. Enough with the dragons, already.)

Posted by: wahsatchmo at October 07, 2014 03:35 PM (r4uXE)

2 Despite the fact that Our Hero got punched out in the first episode, I don't get the impression that this is going to be a fighting anime, so the absence of a dragon makes sense. And I doubt we're going to learn why all those people came over from the magic world. They're here, and for this story that's all that matters.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at October 07, 2014 04:15 PM (+rSRq)

3 I'm trying to remember the last time you watched a KyoAni show, Steven, and the only thing I'm coming up with is Haruhi.  The world is a strange and wonderful place.

I really, really enjoyed this.  "Standard equipment" indeed.

Posted by: Wonderduck at October 07, 2014 08:43 PM (BCjxQ)

4

I just went through their listing on ANN, and the last thing of theirs I watched was the Haruhi movie.

Which was OK but not great.

Times and studios change. There was a time when I'd watch nearly anything from J.C. Staff, but these days they're not anything special and I'm not even sure how long it's been since I watched anything from them.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at October 07, 2014 09:09 PM (+rSRq)

5 I think the last thing I watched from J.C. Staff (and remembered it was them) was Potemayo, and that was quite a while ago.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at October 07, 2014 09:12 PM (+rSRq)

6 Both Railgun seasons are from JC Staff.  And, oddly enough, Twin Angel.

Posted by: sqa at October 07, 2014 09:59 PM (4TBVb)

7 The last "studio" anime that I can remember were: for KyoAni - Tamako Market (mediocre), for J.C.Staff - Toradora (decent). Technically I watched Kanon just recently, but it was made 8 years ago. Its excellency only drives home how much Kyoto Animation slid since then.

BTW, there's quite a bit of churn in studios. Apparently the people responsible burying the ghost of GAINAX Ending left GAINAX and formed Studio Trigger just recenly, for example.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at October 07, 2014 10:04 PM (RqRa5)

8

SQA: Good point! Also J.C. Staff did the Ikki Tousen franchise.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at October 07, 2014 10:06 PM (+rSRq)

9 Careful perusal of records shows that my latest J.C.Staff show was actually Golden Time (kinda bad), but before that they were responsible for Joshiraku, which was unexpectedly excellent. Seems like a complete fluke, however. I never realized it was their show, it seemed more like A-1.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at October 07, 2014 10:09 PM (RqRa5)

10 The one interesting bit with Amagi is that KyoAni is rarely willing to do much fanservice.  That was, however, until Free! last year.  That was actually female-targeted (though the first series was watchable by straight men, though the fact that none of the writing staff could actually write male characters well became quite noticeable).  It seems the fact that both seasons of Free! sold really well has changed their stance on the subject.
I ain't complaining.

Posted by: sqa at October 08, 2014 12:42 AM (4TBVb)

11 Watched and thoroughly enjoyed. It's got a good spark to it.

I think that the origin is going to play a role - the male lead flashed back to the same scene twice, which looked like it included a young-him and also the princess at about the same age, so there's definitely something there. Frankly, my early guess is that there was An Incident that led both to the end of his child-acting career and to the beginning of the Worst Amusement Park Ever, and that we're looking at a redemption theme all around; can make for quite a good story, that.

Posted by: Avatar_exADV at October 08, 2014 02:16 AM (ZeBdf)

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