Ranked #1503

Kanamemo

Kanamemo is an anime that was born in the wrong body.

It markets itself as a comedy when really it should have been a slice of life anime. This difference is actually rather significant, since it changes our perspective of this anime on the whole. Instead of regarding it as a slice of life anime with humorous moments, we must now see it as a comedy. And as a comedy, it manages to be a large disappointment.

What you have here is not an anime of high calibre. It lacks intelligence, it lacks wit, it lacks silly charm, and even the content catering for the lowest common denominator falls flat. The one thing Kanamemo benefits from is having a certain quality that makes it hard to hate it completely. It is different from other ecchi comedies because it attempts to tell a touching story of an orphan who is taken in by a group of older women, all of whom welcome her and treat her like part of a big family.

The word of the day: attempts.

Kanamemo tries to pull this off but it actually does not. Kana's escapades with the newspaper company she works for and the room-mates she acquires after the death of her grandmother are not that funny at all. Amusing, maybe, but hilarious? No.

If it did succeed, there is no doubt this would have been a rather warming and funny series, but the focus on the service and fan pandering detracts from what had the bones to support a rather meaty series. It is sad to see that this anime loses its chance to shine within the first few episodes. It is only the fact that it tries to have some heart that manages to save this anime from being complete garbage.

Kanamemo's story can also be downright depressing sometimes, as it veers into the bittersweet territory that most comic anime try to avoid. It is comedy, after all. Do you really want to stop in between laughing at a perverted joke because you are seeing an orphan "talking" to her dead grandma? No. It is sort of uncomfortable. It is not to say a comedy is incapable of having serious or emotional moments--it is just that Kanamemo has poor direction and transitioning into these moments. Actually, there are a lot of uncomfortable moments in Kanamemo. Haruka's drunken antics for example will either be the high point or low point of the anime, depending on the audience. For the normal viewer, her actions are reproachable and downright upsetting even for an ecchi comedy. If you like to see a grown woman groping the undeveloped breasts of a pre-teen and a young teenager... then by all means, enjoy.

The art for this anime is fairly standard. You have some generically cute designs, and lots of girls with unrealistic hair colour. It is a bright anime and it seems to be working with the same formula as, "If it's a comedy, no need to spend money on it." which hopefully will be a practice that will die out, especially when anime like Detroit Metal City, Natsu no Arashi and K-ON! have detailed artwork backing them.

The best thing about this series is the sound aspect. You have tons of famous seiyuu working on this anime. (If you are a fan of voice actresses, this is probably the only occasion you will get to hear Horie Yui playing a constantly drunk pervert.) Kanamemo even comes with its own musical episode, which has garnered a lot of mixed reactions. This is actually the high point in originality as far as this anime goes. The OP and ED songs are pretty fun, if happy, poppy energetic songs are what you like. And regardless of whether or not you like her presence, the music that plays in the background whenever Haruka appears is ridiculously funny.

Kanamemo works with an ensemble cast based on broad types. You have the insipid "heart of gold" domestic ditz, a deadpan loli, the perverted drunkard, a cheapskate miser, a lesbian couple, and a midget tsundere (guess who does her voice...) and unimportant filler friends and classmates. Despite the fact that they never grow out of their two dimensions or even leave lasting impressions, these characters are all rather likeable. It is hard to really hate anybody in Kanamemo. Surely, you can get terribly annoyed or frustrated with their shoddy, bland or stagnant characterisations, but you cannot help but look at them like puppies that chase their own tails--cute as heck, but undeniably dumb.

Overall, Kanamemo is fairly unspectacular as far as comedy anime go, especially those based on the 4-koma (Japanese 4 panel) style, yet its style of comedy does not entirely resemble that of a 4-koma. Punchlines are a large part of the derived humour, and you wait for said punchlines to hit but they just end up being rather lacklustre. Sometimes they never come. As aforementioned, Kanamemo might have been better suited to be a slice of life anime with comedic elements rather than a comedy anime with slice of life elements.

However, it is not to say that this anime is boring. Far from it, actually. Kanamemo has its amusing moments. While most of the time you may not be laughing tears of mirth away or even managing giggles or snorts, the humour in this anime might manage to make you just chuckle or smirk a little at it. When it is actually funny, you get your laughs, undoubtedly. Just avoid looking forward to LOTS of laughs. And it sure is cute sometimes. This anime is more a disappointing affair than anything else, since it is not like it was just terrible material. It is potential swept under the rug and then stomped on to flatten it down.

Do not go into Kanamemo expecting the sarcastic Lewis Black or the crude Chris Rock or the goofy Ellen Degeneres of anime. You're getting a retarded Dane Cook with this one. read more

Here we have a yuri, ecchi, slice of life comedy with a little bit of a warm and fuzzy feel to it. If you like those genres then you should definitely check this one out. Allow me to break it down for you...

STORY 7/10- Other than the story behind the main character's arrival we don't have much of a plot, which is fine given the anime's episodic nature which I personally find fitting for a comedy. There are numerous strong ecchi scenes which an outspoken population of anime viewers find distasteful, but I generally look at it as another form of comedy since my typical reaction is to laugh when I see vulgar acts groping and molestation. It all depends on your taste.

ART 7/10- Everything was drawn well, characters were cute in my opinion. Nothing particularly amazing, but it was all in good taste.

SOUND 8/10- Voice acting was great, a lot of big hitters in the cast: Toyosaki Aki (Shugo Chara, K-ON!), Horie Yui (Higurashi,Umineko), Kugimiya Rie (Gintama, Saki), and though not as popular but one of my personal favorites Hirohashi Ryou (Kaleido Star, Bamboo Blade). I must say though, pretty much all these roles are in the shadow of the work that you may find in these fine actors' resumes. Great nonetheless though. I also greatly enjoyed the song for the ED credits... Yahoooo! : )

CHARACTERS 8/10- Our main character is someone you feel very sorry for, which is where this show draws some of it's comedy. Some people might think that that's a horrible thing, but it's not as cruel as it may have been suggested and I personally saw the humor in it. The supporting cast are all very like-able, distinctive characters including a chief who for some unexplained reason is a small child that has the maturity of a 30 year old, a perverted drunk, a lesbian couple and someone who collects money (or something like that. She wasn't in the spotlight much) all female and all moe-tastic!

ENJOYMENT 8/10- I was always excited about this one. It's funny, charming and sentimental (and slightly explicit). I'm really glad I picked this one up.

So if you're looking for a light-hearted ecchi daytime comedy (I like to watch scary stuff and tear-jerkers at night XD) definitely check this one out! read more