Dual! Parallel Lun-Lun Monogatari

Unironic Review about the plot, art & sound and Character development.

NTS: Picked this anime series up from a random isekai related recommendation post on reddit. Didn't expect much from this series considering it was an older mecha series (they tend to have basic plot progression and characters), and I watched unironically oblivious to the Evangelion parody. Despite being a fairly basic plot structure and generic harem character palette, this series was actually fairly interesting to watch. Let's get into why!

Story:
We are given an immature, pre-prepubescent nerd that is able to see large mecha fight and destroy his surroundings without affecting his world; thanks to ... the opening scene with a mysterious artifact that most likely split the interaction with it into two different worlds (like a butterfly effect) Nonetheless, this teen male picks up a popular, high in demand chick who seems interested in him till he meets her old man, a mad scientist - Long story short he finds himself in the dystopian parallel world as a result of the ancient artifacts. His job in the parallel world is to draw an end to the war as soon as possible so that both worlds experience peace (also to stop his mecha hallucinations).

My thoughts on the series:
I felt that despite trying to stay exclusive to the mecha genre, this series fails to develop a structured narrative by the end of 13 episode (I didn't bother watching the special) It is a debatable claim however, I really wasn't grasping a powerful narrative apart from the 'save both worlds' mindset - Not the worst but not innovative especially considering it relies on mecha and similar human figured robots to develop the plot. As such, I will be rating this series a fair 7/10 in terms of plot.

Art & Sound:
1999, a fairly well aged series in terms of animation and music. I enjoyed the main theme that played in between key events in the series but that was about it, most of the music played were fairly generic - Art style to me was fairly average especially for the date it was made in. As such, a generous rating of 6/10 will be given for art & sound.

Character:
In terms of character development, I'd say all of the side characters as well as the FMC (female main character) had most of the major changes in this series. All the female characters in the harem have more power individually over the MC even at the end of the series - This is fairly ironic considering MC is the person that shines in his mecha on the battlefield. Not a fan of this but atleast it didn't dwell on fan service such as other known mecha series.
I'd rate this series a 6/10 in terms of character development, not the best but definitely well needed improvement in character development for the MC .

Enjoyment:
I was fairly discouraged in the first half of the series because I felt the plot was intentionally being forced to progress - It happened quite fast this way which is why I wasn't as emotionally connected to the characters. Nonetheless the ending definitely didn't disappoint seeing everyone in a good mood is a better ending than a series that kills off characters for 'plot progression'. As an older series, I'd say there needs to be a higher threshold for leniency because most of the mecha plots weren't innovative or unique, so I'd rate this series a solid 8/10 in terms of enjoyment, beginning started off a bit rushed but was on the right track and entertaining by episode 6/7.

Overall: 7/10

Story: 6/10
Art & Sound: 7/10
Character: 6/10

When I first watched Dual it was long back in the mists of time before I had seen Evangelion and I quite liked it. Recently I watched it again and it just didn't have the same effect. Is it a result of my having seen more shows, a sign of me being jaded or simply it wasn't as good as I remembered? Who knows (it was a rhetorical question by the way). Whatever the reason Dual comes across as a rather uninspired generic attempt to emulate far better shows.

To Dual's credit it isn't actually bad and despite it's flaws manages to be quite entertaining just ... as long as you don't expect much from it. While the influences and similarities are obvious it is not a straight rip off and like Rahxephon takes similar elements and uses them to tell a story that is quite different.

Dual's characters are certainly rather similar to Evangelion's, feeling like watered down but still interesting versions of Rei et all. We have Mitsuki, the tsundere, very much a cross between rich girl and a watered down Asuka. The inevitable Rei clone is there in the form of D. They all happen to be believable, with reasonably realistic reactions but quirky enough to be interesting. Unlike many harem characters what is immediately apparent with these girls is not always reflective of what they really feel.

It is because of them that the best parts are surprisingly not the mecha action scenes but the mellower home life bits. It's here that the characters and their personalities come to the foreground, frequently clashing with each other, usually involving the attention of the lead guy Kazuki.

Since I've mention Kazuki let's look more in depth at...someone else. By far the character that stands out the most is the wonderfully eccentric ken Sanada. A mix of mad scientist with capable commander with a dash of perversion and wit thrown in. From "testing" a suite made to make Kazuki's form more effeminate to commanding the robots in battle he does it all with style.

Unfortunately the lead is not worthy of the same praise. To his credit he's certainly better than many similar characters and does start off quite well. His isolation from his peers leads him to being slightly embittered giving him a more realistic feel than this type of character usually has. As the episodes go on he soon turns into a cross between standard harem guy and mecha hero. It's as if the writers were attempting to create a more heroic version of Shinji (which sort of goes against the point of such a character). However Kazuki lacks the complex inner depth and realism that made Shinji so fascinating while also lacking the wit that often makes more action based characters work or the sheer raw power of someone like Kamina. He ends up uncomfortably in between, being able to pull off neither role satisfactorily.

Back to the story. While I liked the harem like home life bits, more than I usually would for that kind of show; the giant robot action parts just weren't that great. The main story is serviceable but really has little purpose beyond a reason for the battles and giving the various girls reasons for interacting with the lead. Often the story was at it's best when being used to set up one of the comedy scenes. There's a scene for example where one of the females is trying to use the ongoing battle to get out of a marriage interview. The whole section is done with a comic flair that makes the fight better than most of the serious parts.

Some of the more serious parts do work quite well. One in particular early on is when our hero discovers that in the parallel world he is an unknown person and even those he assumes are his own parents don't know him. It's a pity that this wasn't taken further as it's a interesting idea that's good while it lasts.

Animation is mostly passable, though a few cgi robot launch sequences stand out as rather unconvincing looking like they were rendered on a sadly underpowered machine with no consideration given to how they would fit. Character designs are quite good though obviously taken from their earlier works.

Do I recommend Dual? That's not an easy question to answer. If asked after I had first seen it I would have said yes. Now I'd say it's worth giving a shot just as long as you don't expect a great deal from it. Dual's biggest problem isn't being bad (despite my complaints it actually isn't terrible by any means) but rather lacking anything that makes it stand out. It has its good points (some of the characters, the harem bits being better than usual) but really seems like anime by a committee of people desperate to try to recreate the appeal of better, earlier series and not having the skill or imagination to do so.

I watched this show at the suggestion of anime guru DigiBro on youtube. Some spoilers contained: And this show indeed has parallels (see what I did there) to Evangelion. It takes a completely different direction however. Instead of gritty action, tear shedding drama, an amazing score, brilliant animation and strong characters we get.... lackluster battle sequences with obvious plot tricks to have the main character fight his girlfriends, entirely muted drama under no circumstances is there ever a strong feeling of danger, the sound is actually serviceable or maybe I am just getting convinced by the fact that it seems to be an advertisement for ... pioneer, the animation is fair to horrible depending on which sequences you analyze but certainly those CGI scenes where the mechs leave the hanger are like mid 1990's fallout 1/2 cutscene level at best, and they would look better hand drawn, lastly: the characters are weak. I will elaborate a little bit: take for example the main character he is just generic, I figure that like any bland or generic character who takes the spotlight we are supposed to somehow feel like we are in his place because he is bland or generic enough to be any male of his age... None of the characters are given proper development, backstory, or are even clearly defined other than just using cliches when they realized that they hadn't given these animated creations a life of their own. For example in the last episode which is called Special on here, really its episode 14, Professor Sanada mentions: "You know how D is..." like what how does anyone know how D is? She is entirely blank with little to no development she is a completely deprecated version of Rei. Rei on the other hand while cold and difficult to understand did have some backstory and the way that she would act in a situation would be clear to anyone who watched Eva, as it was clear that she is loyal and would follow orders to a tee even at her own health's expense if it was for someone she cared about (Episode 1 when she tries to pilot unit 1 because Gendo asked her to, and End of Evangelion when she cares more about Shinji than Gendo so she rejects him and helps Shinji decide the outcome of instrumentality through introspective questioning). None of the characters get any serious thought in Dual Parallel Adventure. They revert to the typical shounen troupes--which Eva does as well to be fair-- i.e: with Mitsuki Sanada displaying some tsundere afffection for our plain jane protagonist, especially when it seems she is being displaced or her position is being threatened by outsiders (Mitsuki Rara, Yayoi, D..?). Having been penned by Masaki Kajishima who also made Tenchi Muyo, we should expect similar lack of depth and overtly silly harem elements which do make quite the appearance. Ironically I would accuse Evangelion of positing the harem for Shinji as well but it makes up for its trope use with clever manipulations such as the scene where Shinji falls on Rei but he doesn't get slapped to the moon, but instead they awkwardly act like nothing happened because that would be more realistic. The highlight of the entire show is those tug at your heart string moments when things are going well between Mitsuki Sanada and Kazuki; finally they get a chance to date, and she teases the hell out of him even randomly tickling him before they almost awkwardly kiss but don't *sigh*. Anyway of course the distance between these two increases as the harem comes back when they travel back to the other dimension again, and inexplicably she is captured so she is still the focus for a little bit, but the following battle is a direct duplicate of an earlier one in which the other Mitsuki (Rara) became mind controlled to do her mother's bidding. The ending is horrible which I figure is actually episode 13, with 14 just being an extension that serves no relevance or purpose. We don't see any more romance and the characters have now all been bonded as family although I don't think that will stop Kazuki from eventually impregnating Mitsuki. Yea I went there. Anyway its decent enough to watch with the understanding that it is like a B movie, but don't expect anything spectacular.