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"She's magical, oh, she's magical... Akiba-chan! One more time!"

Akiba-chan is an odd series, to put it mildly. After all, it's not often you come across a series acted out entirely with dolls and a little CG magic. Luckily in the case of Akiba-chan it works quite nicely, albeit while lacking the depth and staying power of many series utilizing more classic tried-and-true techniques.

Rather than having an ongoing plot carry over from episode to episode, Akiba-chan has episodic storylines arranged in five-minute vignettes. Each episode has a cute but somewhat shallow story; one episode has Akiba-chan and Milk-chan making chocolate, another has Akiba-chan trying to lose some weight. Rather than developing any kind of depth, the stories are driven by the personalities of the characters, most commonly Akiba-chan and her dojikko nature. Really, in place of a story they've substituted cute characters being cute.

And combined with Akiba-chan's aesthetic, it actually works nicely. The dolls take a little getting used to, but the CG that smoothes out their movement is nearly seamless and speeds up the 'getting used to it' process. In keeping with the characters' dollish appearances, the colours are bright and vibrant; as the title suggests they look like items any otaku could proudly display on their shelves. Of course while the style has its high points it also has its limitations; the characters' movements are often jerky and awkward, and they don't emote very well.

Perhaps attempting to compensate for this, the voice cast puts around twice the amount of inflection and emotion into the characters' voices that they might normally. The result is a perpetual boucy, cutesy, overacted banter that would kill all realism... had it not gone out the window the second the sugary earworm opening theme kicked off the first episode. Because of the over-the-top cutesy nature of the show itself, the over-the-top cutesy nature of the voicework is actually a perfect fit. The fact that the leading ladies keep to relatively realistic tones instead of heading straight for the old 'gratingly squeaky-cute' standby really doesn't hurt things either.

Of course the problem with an episode series built on cute and little more is that, 3D though the characters may be, they still come across as totally flat. Akiba-chan is a dojikko, Riki-chan is a tomboy, and so on... but they don't get any development at all beyond the sparse cover provided by their generic labels. Granted the short episodes don't give time for character development any more than it gives time for deep, thought-provoking storylines, but after a few episodes 'Akiba-chan does something silly and it's cute' gets kind of old.

Overall, Akiba-chan is like a sugary desert: it's good while it lasts, but once you've finished you really don't want even a little more. Akiba-chan's ten episode course is the perfect duration. It goes until its shtick gets stale and then stops; even one episode more could very well be too much. I feel that if it was a series of the usual 23-minute installments that lasted a full season I would probably want to pitch my laptop out the window by the end of the first episode, but for what it was it was just right, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. read more

"Peerless in the heavens, I am Ryofu Housen! Remember it well!" "This is weird, just weird! Everyone is just weird!"

A wise man (by which I mean someone on the forum) once said, "I'm a lolicon through and through, and only started watching this show because I wanted to see delicious lolis get naked." Of course those not fitting that description can still find a lot to enjoy in Ryofuko-chan, but it gives you an idea of the kind of series you're in for (i.e. tolerance of lolicon humour is mandatory unless you actually like seething through entire series).

Our premise: Old Chinese warlords taken straight from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms are dropped into modern day Japan as grade school girls (and a very abused plush toy). Lolis with the mentality of battle-loving old men. Sound weird? Wait until we get to the plot... Oh right, there isn't one. Each episode has several consecutive storylines with entertainment value and success in execution varying substantially (I'm looking at YOU, end of the last episode!), but overall it's a series driven by fanservice and humour, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. After all, you can get a lot of mileage out of DFCs and lulz when you're only trying to fill four episodes. It's a bit of pain, though, when a decent bit of plot comes along and then comes to a screeching halt when everyone gets distracted by boobs.

Aesthetically I'd have a lot less to complain about if it was a TV anime rather than an OVA; I've come to expect a bit better than what Ryofuko-chan offers in terms of animation quality, but there's admittedly not much to complain about otherwise. It's simple and it's average, but it's not bad, per se. The character designs are your typical moe, which rather than being a shortcoming is a bit clever; not only does it fit with the eccentric plotlessness of the series and play to its fanservicey nature, it emphasizes how damn bizarre it is for Chinese warlords to look like THAT.

Sound: WAKAMOTO NORIO. Oh, I'm sorry, you were looking for more? Okay, the BGM is pretty darn good, not something to write home over but definitely among Haneoka Kei's better offerings. (He seems to do better when he's not working with Studio DEEN, but I digress...) Notable among the tracks is the OP-based tune that plays whenever Ryofuko transforms, which may even be better than the OP itself. Speaking of the OP, good luck getting THAT out of your head some time this decade. The cast do a damn fine job, with the loli leads belting out archaic old man Japanese while still sounding cutesy but not gratingly so and everyone being absurdly overdramatic 99% of the time in keeping with the "DID WE MENTION WE'RE ACTUALLY CHINESE WARLORDS" bit. Possibly best of all is Sekotome, the horse, who makes ridiculous garbled whinnying noises whenever onscreen... I'm not doing it justice, but I assure you it's hilarious. BUT SERIOUSLY, DID I MENTION WAKAMOTO NORIO?

Overall I found the series pretty darn enjoyable, certainly entertaining, and a great way to kill a couple hours. As long as you've built up at least a partial tolerance to some loli fanservice (which I consider fairly standard with recent trends in anime, so I'm not talking about something totally unreasonable) the largely nonsexual nature of it keeps it from getting into squicky territory, and it's invariably played for laughs. In fact, EVERYTHING is played for laughs; I spent the entire series giggling like an idiot. Don't come looking for a super engaging plot or indeed much beyond gags and skin and you will almost certainly find yourself entertained for the span off four episodes. read more