Comic Party Revolution

"Comic Party Revolution" is the second season in the Comic Party anime. If you’re a fan of the first season, then you will enjoy this one as well. The whole premise of the anime shows life in the Otaku world, which revolves around one thing...Doujin!

Story: 7/10
The story in the second season is much more random based when compared to the first. One of the most stand out features that viewers of the first season will notice, is the age of all the characters. When we last left the gang, they were around the age of high school kids, now they seem to be of College ... age. Kazuki is still creating mangas as he usually does of course, and if you have seen other series revolving around "Doujin, " then this will feel very familiar to you. The story doesn’t really follow too much of a strong premise. The whole general idea is suppose to revolve around Kazuki and his Doujins. However this one steers more clear of that general idea, and pretty much only shows the gang running into random predicaments and gags (at least for a big chunk of the series anyway). Even so I still found quite a bit of enjoyment from the humor in this, such as when the gang gets lost in the woods, and can only get directions from a group of army members that want to challenge them to a stealth contest. Despite the series not going too over the top with it’s gags, you can also see that it doesn’t take itself very seriously either. One of the cast members even has the ability to literally transform into her favorite anime character. One thing that made the series quite enjoyable, is all the neat cosplay you get to see from time to time, many of which are quite recognizable from other series. Of course due to copyright law I guess, they never actually said the series name, and only made up a title that sounded like it. (ie: "Cardmaster Peach" is really "Cardcaptor Sakura and Wedding Peach") They also use a lot of Otaku dialog, and enjoy many jokes revolving around the whole "moe" factor. My biggest complaint with the story though, was the actual ending! It made absolutely no sense whatsoever, and felt quite uninspired. Still, it isn’t a series that is really trying to involve the viewer with its overall plot, and focuses more on randomness and character humor. All in all, it has good concepts. It may not suck you in with any of its actual storyline, but it will indeed put a smile on your face afterward. Plus I think that viewers who have seen more realistic "Doujin" titles, and thus may have found some of them to be a tad too realistic and boring, might find this one more enjoyable to digest.

Art: 8/10
I really dug the art style to this. The animators did a great job at making the characters look older, yet at the same time very familiar. The whole series is quite bright, with a nice selection of rich colors and art. Most of the characters outfits have been tweaked from their standard default ones of before, and all have great style and appeal to them. Backgrounds were okay, but sometimes looked quite faded and dull. They just couldn’t compare to the actual character art.

Sound: 7/10
The opening and closing tracks are quite catchy and memorable, so chances are you will still have them in your head long after the series is done. I actually watched this anime in both English and Japanese, and have to say that each one is just as good as the other. As with the art style though, the background music is pretty bland, they do strike the right keys for most situations, it’s just a shame that there isn’t really anything that jumps out at you.

Characters: 8/10
The heart of "Comic Party Revolution, " is not found in any kind of deep emotional story, but with its characters! Each one has his or her own likes and dislikes. You get a nice variety of personalities with this. From the down to earth Aya, to the brash and outspoken Taishi (who enjoys calling everyone his "brother and sister" in the Otaku world). They don’t have a whole great deal of depth to them, granted that there are just too many characters in this series to do so. Still, viewers will get to know them well enough to where they can understand what most are all about.

Overall: 7/10
"Comic Party Revolution" may not blow you away with its content, but it is still quite an enjoyable little series. If you're a fan of such series as "Doujin Work," or are looking for an anime that deals heavily in this life style, then you may find this one to be a bit too far fetched from the whole Doujin source. Still, if you're just looking for a short and humorous anime, then "Comic Party Revolution" is a fun read...err...watch.

A small introduction:
First I want to note that for the first time I watched both seasons of the series about 8 years ago. Recently, I remembered this franchise and now began to play the original game, at the same time I decided to re-watch both seasons. With the first season, neither then nor now questions arose, but the second season I did not like back then. Like most other viewers, it seemed weak and incomprehensible to me. But after I cleared the game for several characters, I completely changed my opinion about him.

Story:
- The episodes are not related to each other and they’re complete mini-stories. ... Unlike similar series and especially the first season, the characters here are not represented in any way and just appear. Therefore, for viewers who have not cleared the game, it will be difficult to keep track of what is happening and understand some of the jokes based on the events in the game.
- Most of the episodes are interesting and only a small part turned out to be different. But frankly boring stories were not noticed.
- There is not so much ecchi. For me, numbers of scenes are same as in the game. The moment with the transformation of Mizuki, of course, gets out of this.
- In the last series it was stated “to be continued ...?”, But so far, as you can see, there’s no new season or something. It should be noted that each edition / re-edition of the game were coming out together with the release of the seasons of the series and OVA. If another re-edition happens, then maybe new season will come out.

Art:
- Characters’ design has changed in relation to the first season, but it has become closer to the original design of the game, which I certainly pleases.
- I would rate the overall quality as good (7 out of 10). Opening and ending are drawn independently of the main series and their drawing quality is noticeably better. The graphics in the main series is changing. The first 4 episodes that were OVA are well drawn and there are no complaints about them. In the rest - part of the scenes were drawn extremely awful, but there are not many of them to spoil the overall impression.

Sound:
- I watched with Japanese voice acting and therefore I will say about it. With the exception of Mizuki and girls-cosplayers, the rest of voice actors remained the same as in the first season and game. To the main character there are no questions for actors - I liked them! But I did not remember voices of the episodic characters.
- The musical compositions are not particularly memorable, except for those that were in the game. This season they took a few songs from there.
- I like opening theme more than ending. By themselves, they are not bad, but they cannot be called outstanding.

Characters:
- Since one of the genres of the game was a love simulator, each of the characters has its own unique character, style of speech, etc. But characters’ histories are not described here, as I wrote above.
- There were several "over-acting" moments of Taishi, as it seemed to me, even by his standards. In general, the other characters behave as prescribed in the game and with some changes from the first season. So they are good.
- The most memorable character from the first viewing and still remains is Kuhonbutsu Taishi.

Overall impression:
- I consider that the main problem of the second season is focusing only on game fans or just on players who have gone through it at least once or twice. Since this season is not a continuation of the first and is associated only with the game. It is not clear why they decided to do so. There are no intro episodes where at least they could represent all the local characters. Of course the number of episodes would change, but the season would have liked by a greater number of viewers. I think that there was no such problem in Japan, since there only certain people looked at it there. Only the series and manga were released outside of Japan, and the game, which links everything, remained available only in Japanese.
- Therefore, the season should definitely please those viewers who are familiar with the game. For the rest, it will seem less interesting than the first season so they can skip it.
- For me, the second season, after re-watching, even slightly surpassed the first one, thanks to the many references to moments from the game.

Now I will admit that change can sometimes be a good thing as it can bring new perspectives, a new feel, and a new avenues for the plot to explore. The only problem is that all too often in anime, change simply means demeaning the existing work and it's fanbase by producing, well, crap.

It's unfortunate then, that a pioneering show like Comic Party should suffer the ignominy of having a sequel like Revolution, and while the two shows share many qualities, they are sometimes used in very different ways.

The story initially follows directly on from the original Comic Party, with Kazuki and Mizuki now ... attending college. Kazuki has continued to work on doujin creation in his spare time, while Mizuki's attitude towards otaku has softened slightly, although she does still hate the majority of them. The rest of the gang from Comic Party are all present and correct as well, and the show also introduces a few characters who, if you've played the game, were noticeably absent in the first series.

The biggest problem with CP Revolution is the lack of any coherent or cohesive plot. Now I will be the first to admit that some shows work really well on nothing more than a "what if....?" premise, however this isn't one of those occasions. CP Revolution suffers from a fundamental lack of plot and, while there is a lot of comedy in the show, much of it, especially during the first few episodes, is generic and overblown. The problem with the show is that it suddenly strikes off in what seems to be a vaguely new direction from time to time, something which really upsets the overall flow of the story. The reason for this is simple. CP Revolution was originally intended to be a two-part OVA, but was bumped up to four episodes after the release of episode one.

Many will have noticed that there are actually two versions of CP Revolution, an OVA and a TV series, and potential viewers of either need to know one important fact - the OVA is basically the first four episodes of the TV series (with some minor editing). The OVA, directed by Sakata Junichi, was extended to a 13 episode TV series in 2005, and the four episodes were edited and shortened to ensure they fit in the show's time slot. The following episodes however (5-13), were not direct by Sakata, but by Tougo Mitsuhiro, and the difference in style really shows midway through the series.

The production schedule is actually the main reason why the directors have tried to compensate for the show's failings, however in respect of the comedy they have tried a bit too hard. The show's focus is also different from the original series. Where Comic Party focused on Kazuki and the creation of doujins in amongst all the antics, CP Revolution focuses more on the female characters.

As far as the design, animation and backgrounds go, CP Revolution is every bit as colourful and well animated as Comic Party. The character designs largely follow the first series and the game, however there is a certain genericism that permeates the show, reflecting the fact that CP Revolution is also a harem rom-com. The change in production companies hasn't really brought anything new to the show, and in truth, the fact that CP Revolution was made by a different comany, with a different director (on both occasions), is actually a hindrance rather than a help.

In terms of production, the biggest letdown was in the music and voice acting. The score was particularly bland for a show that is essentially trying to be a madcap comedy, and gives much of the humour a rather "forced" feeling. The voice acting in the Japanese dub is pretty decent, which is understandable since the cast is much the same as that for the original series. The problem is with the English dub, as the cast, for some reason, really try to ham up their roles, especially when it comes to accents.

The English dub is the main reason why I've scored the sound as average. If you're planning to watch this show, stick to the Japanese dub and subtitles.

Character-wise, the show runs on the assumption that the viewer has already seen the first series. CP Revolution isn't bad as far as development goes, with certain characters having an entire episode devoted to them. Unfortunately, this type of development is artificial and haphazard, especially in comparison to the first series. The reason for this is, once again, the messed up production schedule. The characterisations were pretty decent for the most part, especially with the characters that continued on from the first series. That said, because the show tries to be a harem rom-com it very much needs the characters to be developed, and developed well. The characters in CP Revolution only grow sporadically, and it's truly sad to see the huge missed opportunity here as the characters in CP Revolution are older than in Comic Party, and college students to boot.

This show could very easily have become a real rival to Genshiken instead of the lacklustre attempt at otaku based humour that it is.

That's not to say that the show is so bad that it's unwatchable. In comparison to the first series, CP Revolution is hands down the loser in pretty much every department, but that doesn't automatically make it bad. The humour, while being over the top, is sometimes pretty funny. The characters are okay for the most part, with the biggest plus being that none of them are overly annoying. Although the story is on the "here and there" side, it isn't so bad that it won't keep fans of otakudom watching, and the show has just as many references as the original Comic Party did, so playing the spotting game is always an option.

I'll be completely honest though - this show could have been so much more. All the chopping and changing in the production schedule meant that there was simply no time for other options to be examined, so everything was simply thrown together and everyone hoped for the best. Strangely enough this has worked - and it hasn't. The viewer is able to see just how much potential the show had as either a rom-com, a slice of life comedy, or a zany, surrealist comedy (like Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu). If the director and studio had chosen any one of those paths, then CP Revolution would have been a much better show than it is, especially as the seeds of all three types of comedy are there within the series.

It seems as though the old adage "if it isn't broken, don't fix it" only exists for certain anime, and sadly, Comic Party Revolution isn't one of them.