Kanamemo: A “Touching” Story, Like Really
July 29th, 2009
A rambling post awaits you, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
You know something’s fishy when someone ends up liking a series for how heartwarming it is, while another one ends up liking it for the lulz factor. Take for example Opinion 1 of deathkillz regarding Kanamemo:
“[...]it was really moving to see how Kana, being 13, is able to be normal whilst to outsiders (her new friends) her state is really pitiful indeed. Her pitiful state can basically be summed up when she was happy about having newspaper for a futon? I felt a sudden urge to cry BWAAAAAAAAAA! along with the other girls. It was just that type of touching story and I am frankly very weak against things like these.”
vs. Opinion 2 of Crazyanimegyrl:
“Couldn’t help it… I LAUGHED MY ASS OFF!!! This Yuri, Loliconess first episode (Alone for the First Time) was funny! [...] Hilarious… downright hilarious. The first episode tickled my funny bone.”
Basically you have one blogger liking the show for its seriousness, who was even moved to tears by its heartwarming charm, while another one cries her heart out laughing at its absurdity — both liking the series for drastically different reasons — a phenomenon that can’t simply be explained by gender bias considering that both of them are actually girls * in before THERE ARE NO GIRLS ON THE INTERNET *
So whom should we believe? Could we say that one of them is right, and the other one is wrong? Well after watching one episode, I have come to conclude that both of the aforementioned opinions are valid and true, since Kanamemo did have its touching parts, as well as TOUCHING PARTS (IYKWIM). The scenes (based on the first episode) would change from melancholic and serious, to comedic lulz, with LOLI GROPING WTF moments and yuri raburabu, then melancholic stuff again, followed by yet another round of WTF Moments — certainly not what I expected based on the promo image. Could you blame me, for not being informed of what this series is going to be, for having the faintest bit of hope that I’d see a heartwarming slice-of-life moe fluff series ala Ichigo Mashimaro in this?
this basically sums up how I feel atm. Sigh.
It’s not like I have anything against yuri, fanservice, and loli in general, just that there’s something about the formula used in Kanamemo that I find off-putting but I can’t seem to out my finger on atm– oh wait this might just be it (from the Kanamemo thread in animesuki forums):
Malkuth: After two episodes, I do not know what to make out of this one. OK, some situations are genuinely funny, while in others it feels that they try too hard to pull out a smile from the audience. Also the whole loli and yuri stuff feel somewhat detached, not comedic. Remove them and you’ll get Mahoraba. Dunno, it seems to me that there is no direction in the writing.
deathkillz: All I can say is that you are probably watching it from a wrong angle or that you have a thing against loli or yuri (which is understandable).
Malkuth: No, I have nothing against these elements in shows as long as they(sic) are there for a reason or the focus. My problem with Kanamemo is that it seems that they were thrown just in order to expand into a specific audience.
emphasis mine.
It’s like one day, the author suddenly thought of working on a comedy slice-of-life, just because. “Ohh, let’s make the characters loli so it can sell to the lolicons!” And then there was the loli protagonist, and the super loli dorm manager. “Let’s add a drunkard into the mix too, so we have the sorry excuse for loli boob grabbing and other fanservice stuff you never thought possible! hihihi~!” Who would’ve thought boob-grabbing lolis is possible?! Pure genius, amirite?! Only in Kanamemo, people! “Let’s make all the characters girls, for GIRL POWER and YURI!” And then there was yuri. There you have it folks, yer loliyuri mix packaged into this one series called Kanamemo!
Unlike Juuden-chan which is just straight-out brainless and absurd and not really meant to be taken seriously, here we have a series that tries to be heartwarmingly serious and fanservice-ly comedic, and ends up suffering from an identity crisis. Or that it leaves me confused since I don’t know what it’s really trying to be. Of course the ones who belong to the show’s target audience can always go “But there is a reason/focus behind these mixed-up elements, we can see it and that’s why we’re enjoying it!”. Either the WTF Kanamemo formula works for you, or it doesn’t — easy as that.
Kodomo no Jikan this is not.
I once mentioned that, hypothetically speaking, all animes can be enjoyed when viewed in the “right light”, and while I know I’m not quite doing this for Kanamemo, I don’t think I’d want to enjoy this. Watching Darker than Black and Cross Game allowed me to see the qualities of an anime that I’d consider “OMFGAWESOMESAUCE THIS [makes me come harder than omo]“; Kanamemo, on the other hand, enlightened me about the qualities of an anime that I’d consider “objectively crappy”. I r elitist yeah.
Much has been said about giving anime a chance, but I can’t seem to bring myself to do that for Kanamemo. Perhaps in another time, another place, when a certain event triggers me to crave for something random and lulz.
Though as hashihime said, “Sense of humor is such a personal thing. [...] So it’s reasonable that some people wouldn’t relate to the humor here”, kinda reminds me of how I managed to enjoy ToLoveRu and My Condolences, Ninomiya-kun, at least for a little while, despite its utter absurdity/stupidity.
Some people are also of the opinion that Kanamemo is a good slice-of-life comedy, and this basically got me thinking, what is a good slice-of-life comedy anyways? I’m thinking it’d be along the veins of Azumanga Daioh or Ichigo Mashimaro” (I still haven’t seen Lucky Star and Hidamari Sketch, among others), especially the latter, which makes me cry true tears and laugh as well (the serious part does not interfere with the comedy, and vice versa) but that’s just me with my limited slice-of-life exposure. Any thoughts on this?
P.S. I can’t help but feel as if this and this are acting as my “conscience” as I write down this post, but uhh whatever. Yeah this is a me-centric vitriolic post, so what?! Even if you end up enjoying Kanamemo I doubt it would change the fact that it’s retarded >:]
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