How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift?

HellLyter★ 7

Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru is probably the most fun anime I’ve watched this season. Its got a colorful cast of characters who each add their own flair to the show and showcases some really solid comedy. It also provides some actually useful knowledge about the human body and working out. But you know what sets it apart from practically all other anime I’ve watched? It’s motivational To me, this is a pretty monumental feat. You’ll be hard pressed to find a show that actually inspires you to do what’s being shown. When I watch sports anime for example, I don’t immediately think to go and becomemore athletic so I can look like the hot anime dudes playing the sports. Yet strangely enough, watching a ridiculously jacked almost nude dude giving me training lessons while girls drawn to look as seductive as possible are giving the demonstrations made me get up and train with them. And I did this with every single episode. Better yet, I actually started exercising regularly by using the exercises taught in the show. But I'm not here to talk about me, so let's get into what I like about this anime! The story follows high schooler Sakura Hibiki as she goes on a quest to obtain the ultimate slim sexy body by working out. The girl must be a perfectionist, because she’s already got a super hot bod anyway, but that’s besides the point! The anime doesn’t explore much plot wise outside of the characters working out in different ways in different locations under different circumstances, but that’s absolutely fine for this kind of anime! The best part is that it just never gets boring. Each episode throws the characters into diverse environments ranging from mountain ranges to beaches and has them tackle differing obstacles in life…and in the weight room. As the anime progresses, more girls are added in, and the show just got better and better in terms of content with each girl added. Probably because of how quirky each girl ended up being. To give a brief break down on each of them, Hibiki is just adorable af and likes to eat, Akemi has awesome heart pupils and has a muscle fetish, Zina is an eccentric Russian otaku, Satomi is a cosplaying teacher, and Ayaka’s got some ABS! Character development? Pfft, who cares! All that matters is that they have great personalities, are all single and look great while working out. Of course, I can’t leave out everyone’s favorite muscle bro Machio, who is just so full of knowledge about muscles…and he’s just pretty full of muscles period. The dude also drops some fantastic one liners. This anime throws so much random stuff at you from time to time and it’s just brilliant. Just when I was going to take a break from exercising and watch an idol anime, BOOM! The girls audition as muscle idols. When I was beginning to question this anime being an ecchi, BOOM! The girls get their cloths obliterated Shokugeki style after witnessing Machio’s radiant muscles. And just when I was craving an image of a shirtless Comrade Putin posing with a bear in the icy Russian mountains, BOOM! The anime delivers. This show also has frickin' ARNOLD SCHWARZEN- ah, I mean, BARNOLD SHORTSINATOR! And the references he makes are great, such as the famous “hasta la vista, baby” line from Terminator 2. Arnold, er, Barnold’s inclusion in this show is honestly one of the best references that I’ve seen in an anime. There’s also a multitude of fourth-wall breaking, which is always amusing. The comedy in this show is seriously quite good, and it’s been one of the very few anime in recent memory to actually make me laugh out loud while watching. And honestly, that’s usually enough to make me really appreciate a show. But that aside…sai?…Sai…SAIDO CHESTO!!!!!!!!!! *Ahem* As I was saying, aside from the animated characters and sound comedy, Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru boasts some solid animation and sound. Visually, muscles are drawn with high precision. Machio just looks super macho! The girls are of course designed to be attractive, and I really like the coloring choices used by studio Doga Kobo, especially with the characters’ eyes. Sakura is the best example of their success in my opinion. She’s tan, blonde, has striking green eyes with a hint of pink, has twintails, has a fang, and has a super sexy bod that is slightly thicker than the other girls but still looks fantastic. Yeah, A+ character design right there. And while I may sound a little creepy and sad by expressing my attraction to a 2D anime girl, I’m the target audience and I like what I see, so that’s a success by the studio in my eyes! “HIP RAISE! SIDE BEND! BENT OVER! LAT PULL DOWN!” Wow, just listening to the opening made me discover so many different exercises. Even the damn theme song is educational! The song itself is super catchy and fun. Also, thanks to the motivational shouting of Sakura and Machio, the tune actually becomes a pretty good work out song that weirdly gets me pumped up. Of course, where the sound department truly shines is in the voice acting. The “Uuuuus!” and “Ahhhhhs!” that the girls moan out when they’re exercising in particular are quite nice to listen to. And while they all did an excellent job, the seiyuu that I was most impressed with would be Ai Fairouz, who makes her voice acting debut as leading lady Sakura Hibiki. And boy, does she deliver! She just sounds so passionate in her role. It really feels like she’s having a fun time doing this, and her excellent delivery really heightened the enjoyment of the show for me. Pretty darn good for a newbie. Let’s hope she can make a successful career in the industry! I don’t like talking about myself in a review, but it’s true that since watching this anime, I’ve improved both physically and socially. Now Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru obviously isn’t the reason why I started going out with people. And it’s clearly not magically making me more fit. But it provided a spark. It motivated me to make some changes in my life. Sure, they were minuscule changes, but they were for the better nonetheless. And because of that, this show has done more for me personally than practically every anime that I’ve seen, including most of my absolute favorites. Of course that’s just me, and I can’t guarantee that you’ll get anything out of Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru. Regardless, this anime is just super entertaining to watch, and hey, if you end up working out and developing super awesome muscles because of it, then that’s a sweet added bonus! Thanks for reading and NICE BULK!

Optigisa★ 6

There are Anime that try to be the jack of all trades, and they very much succeed in doing so. Then there are the Anime that try to do the same, only to fail miserably and fall flat on their faces. This Anime is not exactly the latter, but it comes close to being so, and why is that you ask? Because it tries to do so many things, but it doesn’t quite hit the mark with what it does, and it becomes obvious to the audience that it is trying it’s hardest to stand out, rather than just be a silly ecchi disguised asa sports Anime. First of all, it tries to be an infomercial about sports, yet it doesn’t quite succeed in doing so since it’s busy trying to be a comedy as well. The comedy is not that funny or bone tickling anyways, since it is the same redundant gag repeated many times during each episode, and the whole gist of this Anime overall is being an ecchi that isn’t really an echhi, and that it is disguised as a gym infomercial or a slice of life about girls training. The comedy lands solidly due to the good production values and the decent delivery, but other than that there really isn’t any other merit to said comedy, since it gets repeated many times over until it turns trite. The production values are decent, from the decent animation, to the welcoming color palette, to the fine soundtrack, and there aren’t any complaints towards them. They are fine as they are and serve the show well enough. As for the characters, they are the typical, run-of-the-mill slice of life characters. They aren’t really anything to write home about, yet they aren’t really one dimensional per say. Hibiki is not really a poorly developed character, she is nice as she is. However, Akemi is the basic rich girl who lacks anything that would make her stand out. Think of any typical and plain rich character you could find elsewhere and you will get her. Characters aren’t really bad, but they border on tame for most of the time, and they feel like they are epitome of slice of life characters. This Anime is a good Anime for the ecchi fans out there. Panty shots, thigh shots, gigantic tatas and everything else an ecchi lover wants, they can find it here. It is hot and it most certainly delivers regarding that aspect. The characters are good looking enough as they are, and that alone will attract ecchi lovers, and the fanservice most certainly delivers as well. The unfunny faces could turn out to be a problem though, and they ruin from the immersion of enjoying the sexiness that this Anime gives off. Overall, this is a fine Anime. What really hinders it from being good is the fact that it tries so hard to be the jack of all trades, yet it only succeeds in one thing, and that is being sexy. It wasn’t a bad watch at the end of the day, it was a fine watch as it is, though I think that ecchi lovers will enjoy this one far more than I did, even when some unfunny bits are to be expected here and there.