Mahoutsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto

Someday's Dreamers was an anime that I stopped watching and then came back to. I mostly didn't finish because I ran out of time, for I had requested the DVDs from my library. So I started again from the beginning, this time watching it in Japanese instead of how I'd previously watched in English.

Story

The story stands out because instead of magic-users fighting evil, these people are working for the government. Kikuchi Yume comes to Tokyo to be an apprentice to become a mage. The series is not long, only 12 episodes, but it is enjoyable. While there are some parts that are serious, others are ... light and refreshing.

Animation

While the faces and character designs are quite pleasing to the eye and the backgrounds are pretty, the animation seemed so choppy to me, like they didn't spend that much time on it. The movements didn't flow naturally and it was quite inconsistent. However, it wasn't too bad, and worked all right for the anime.

Sound/Music

I really love the music in this series, especially the opening and ending themes. The opening theme sounds so gentle and has a sort of melancholy feeling to it, while the ending theme is more fast-paced (yet still relatively calm). The soundtrack music works well with the series.

Character

I did enjoy the characters very much, although I'd have liked to see more character development, and this may have been because the series could have been longer than it is. Yume, the heroine, is a sweet girl who has the best of intentions, but things tend to backfire at her. There's the other characters: Angela, the British exchange apprentice with a sour demeanour and proud attitude; Oyamada, Yume's calm and collected instructor; Kera, the joking assistant bartender who works for Oyamada; and lesser characters that you meet along the way.

Enjoyment

Someday's Dreamers is mainly a show for young teenage girls, and it even has a bit of fanbase. Yet it is something someone would enjoy if they're looking for something calmer in an anime.

I reccomend it, and if you do watch it, it won't take too long to finish.

Someday's Dreamers is really an anime that works. It works in a way no other anime could work. It is a symbol of exactly what an anime should do. Sure, it's not the best one to do this, but it works.

Story: What I like about the story, and what works about it, is its slice of life. It just really connects. It asks us questions about what should we do in the situations presented. What would we do. If this "special power" actually existed, would those who have it deserve it. How would they use it. Stuff like that. It all applies to life. The ... actual story doesn't get overshadowed though. The story presents these slices of life though itself. And it just works like that. The story itself works into something bigger than you would have expected from watching the first few episodes.

This story isn't perfect though. For one, there are times when it uses typical shojo conventions to progress. It still works, but it could have been at least a bit better at this. The second thing that harms the story is there are also times when something feels out of place, or over the top for no reason. And then, there is the double edged sword. How slow-paced it is. While how slow paced it is works in its favor at telling you the story, it can get a little grating at times. Once you get into it, you can't really get out until it's all over, and how slow it is, this could be seen as forever. While it has it's flaws, the story is worth watching.

Characters: The characters in Someday's Dreamers are life-like. They are what makes the slice of life a slice of life. These characters are people that have their good and bad times, and are completely relate-able with the situations that they are in. It gives us a sense of something to grasp and hold onto and learn from. While these characters do that, they to have their problems. First, some of the characters can be hard to related to at first, or really at all though out the series. You may or may not find something from some of the characters. Not all, but enough to lower it a little. Then there are some characters that can be annoying at times as well. This isn't that bad though. After all, we all have someone annoying to deal with in life, and this just portrays that aspect. Still, they could have been a little less annoying. Finally, the biggest problem with the characters, you know how I said that there are times it's over the top? This is mainly the characters fault. So, why did I bring it up in the story? Well, the characters have affected the story in a negative way, and that's what makes the characters not as good as they could have been. But, they are still good.

Art: The animation was OK to say the least. While it is not an eyesore, it didn't seem like it was as good as it could have been. It didn't seem natural enough. I think that if some more money went into this, the art could have been a spectacle. But, it's just OK. It's not bad, just OK.

Sound: The dub voices are great. they work really well. There only problem is that sometimes they over-acted the part and made it over the top. Now the OST. That is freakin' amazing. It works perfectly for the story, and makes it even better. It's just simply amazing. It works and sticks with you. It is just wonderful.

Overall: While it's not one of the best anime out there, it is worth watching, and maybe watching again. I'd be willing to watch it again. This anime is just simply a slice of life that applies to life, while still being its own story. It does have its flaws, but, you'll be able to recognize that the good outweighs the bad in this situation. 8/10

5 WORDS OR LESS REVIEW: Good concept but disappointing

STORY – 6/10

It’s about Yume Kikuchi, a mage in training, equipped with more magical capabilities than the average mage, and how she learns more about magic during her stay in Tokyo. I think that the fact that Yume had tremendous magical capabilities was somehow forgotten throughout the series, among other things. Each episode had a storyline that was barely related to the other episodes, which made it difficult to like. It went from one story to another, leaving gaps in between, which made the story hard to follow.

Other than that, I found the concept of the ... government controlling magic quite corny. Those two things just don’t go together. I understand that there’s a need to control magic but what’s the point in having mages if they can’t use their magic on their own. That makes the magic thing less of a big deal, really.

CHARACTERS – 6/10

I tried to like the characters but none of them had enough good qualities to be liked. Most of the characters were static. Character development wasn’t good, even for the main character Yume Kikuchi. After 12 episodes I still felt unfamiliar to her character. I don’t know her anything about her personality, I don’t know how she would react to certain things, how she interacts with other people.

The producers of the show probably wanted the characters to be endearing to the audience, but to me Yume seemed like a stranger, and the supporting characters seemed more like extras too. Even Runa and Kera, who had their own episodes, seemed like random extra characters who would show up just to fill out air time. I found this quite annoying, and but not as annoying as I thought Angela was. Everything about her seemed so off. She was supposed to be a witchy-type mage, who is quite anti-social and somewhat defiant but passionate about magic, but her voice acting and character design didn’t match her character at all.

I liked Yume Kikuchi’s voice actor though – I have to admit there’s a little bias because it is the adorable Aoi Miyazaki, but I really like what she did with Yume’s accent. It certainly stood out and reminded me of Yume’s country bumpkin side. Generally, I think that the voice acting for the characters with accents (Runa, Yume’s mother and friend, etc) was really done well.

ART – 6/10

Art was pretty much average. Character designs were simple to the point of being bland, and so were some of the backgrounds. I wish they put more detail into the salsa bar. I’ve never been to a salsa bar before, but I assume that they should be colorful and lively looking places. Oyamada’s bar did not look like that at all. It looked like one of those gloomy and quite bars where people go to get drunk and rant about their problems to the bartender.

Having simplistic art isn’t necessarily bad, but they should’ve at least worked on the quality. Unfortunately, the quality wasn’t that good either, resulting in inconsistent and non-fluid animation.

MUSIC – 6/10

The music is probably the best thing I liked about Someday’s Dreamers. I found both the OP and ED catchy. I like the background music too cause they contribute to that [too] relaxing feel of the show, but I wouldn’t necessarily purchase the soundtrack. The music was good, but not good enough to make me want to listen to it outside the anime.

ENJOYMENT – 5/10

I was really looking forward to watching Someday’s Dreamers cause I thought it was going to be one of those shows that give you a relaxing feeling. Well, I certainly got that feeling from watching it but I got too relaxed, and I ended up being bored and uninterested (not to mention easily distracted whenever I watch an episode).

I was very disappointed by the anime, but I haven’t given up on the story yet. I think it’s a good concept but the execution was lacking (and maybe there could’ve been more episodes too), which is why I want to give the manga a shot. I’m going to read the manga in the hopes that it will have a better development of the story and characters, and that it’ll fill in the gaps that the anime was unable to fill. However, that doesn’t change the fact that overall, I give this anime a 6/10.