Alice or Alice

Danimation★ 8

I went into this knowing exactly what I was getting myself into. I saw a meme and thought to myself "there's no way a show could be this simple..." I ended up watching the whole thing in less than and hour. That being said, I really don't understand what all the visceral hatred is about. It doesn't try to be anything spectacular and is short enough that I can't even imagine how anyone would get offended by it. It's so vapid, and cute that I laughed throughout each episode. It's mere existence provides me with such immense joy that after burning through some serious shows Ican just turn my brain off for some harmless chibi fun. The animation is fine, the OP kinda slaps, the characters do have personalities albeit very stereotypical ones. It hits a lot of tropes, and doesn't take any risks but you know what? I loved it all the more for it. I wanted to see how bad it could be but it actually made me smile. Cute, short, harmless, sometimes a little heartwarming, and funny. I will probably watch again, would support another season, and would recommend if your goal is just to have a quick stupid laugh.

Blood_Diver_A★ 2

[The Chibi Zone] There is an anime series beyond that which is known to viewers. It is a series as small as its main characters, and as short as any three minute video. It is the middle ground between promotional videos and full length 24 minute episodes, between hand-drawn manga illustrations and computer animations, and it lies between the whites of one’s eyes and the screen of one’s monitor. This is a series of super deformed characters. It is an art style which we call chibi. Next stop, the Chibi Zone! STORY: You notice there are twelve episodes, each comprising 3 minutes and 41 seconds. However,upon viewing several episodes, you notice each episode has a 30 second opening song, followed by two minutes of actual animation and story, then a 30 second ending song, and finally 41 second of closing credits. Disappointing, I know. For the story, you will watch the daily lives of twin sisters, Rise and Airi, and their older brother who has a sister complex. You watch their daily life occurrences include: taking care of his sick sister, cooking meals, going to festivals, wearing a maid uniform, competitions, and opening a cafe. In the end, though, it’s mostly about the older brother being surrounded by many cute girls, such as his twin sisters, the sister’s friends, and the female manager. Still, you realize it’s far too short and boring, even for the Chibi Zone. ANIMATION: As expected in the Chibi Zone, you realize that every character is a chibi with their classic characteristics: minimum facial details, large head with a tiny body, bright and vibrant colors, and wearing simple clothes with minimum details. The bright background designs compliments the chibi characters by appearing cheap and lacking details as well. And finally, the animations will sometimes be stiff and jerky with many shots jumping from one scene to the next in quick succession. You, of course, notice that the characters sometimes become their non-chibi forms, but disregard it as it’s very generic looking. SOUND: You hear two songs both of which are J-Pop in origin. The opening song contains many chibi characters yelling, “Say Hi!” in a upbeat, loud high-pitched voice, and the ending song contains several still shots of characters in various clothes and poses. Along with those sounds, you also hear the fine voice acting, and many random sound effects for every action the characters perform. CHARACTERS: You will watch undeveloped, forgettable, two-dimensional characters with no background stories and little personalities talking, eating, and frolicking to the end of every episode. You realize the older brother’s only redeemable features are being kind and cooking meals, while the girls are all extremely cute and like the older brother very much. You also realize that there’s a lack of investment and attachment to these characters because the series is too short and throws them into random mundane events and situations that you could care less about. ENJOYMENT: I hope you enjoyed your time in the Chibi Zone because I didn’t. Hopefully, the Chibi Zone will return under a better anime than this one.