Kanamemo

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!

Helpful

read more

Stressed out from the most dragging of dragging unfunny and unimportant/fanservice-filled filler episodes ever? Trying to find a totally relaxed slice-of-life anime? Not terribly offended by yuri? (PROTIP: Yuri doesn't have an everlasting effect, there is little to mild yuri hinted here, may be disturbing but most of the time it is quite used in a comical sense)

Then Kanamemo is easily one of the newer ones I would recommend to you. Remember though, that this is a very hit-or-miss thing. What you would benefit from, is to not think of it hugely as a comedy series but instead as a simple slice of life series that is, very easily, a simple slice of life series.

It has got the light-hearted atmosphere that some animes aim for but fail miserably at like it was nothing and it virtually looked like the crew didn't even try making it light-hearted, it was as if it was naturally light-hearted. Compared to some animes that force themselves to look so.

Never put a huge expectation up for this anime for most of the time you will be disappointed.

Of course I had an overall expectation of 8/10 and I did not walk away saying,"I am disappoint.", I instead just closed my video player and told myself how great I am by finishing an anime and did a backflip (lacking faith in some people's sarcasm radar, I will point out I was being sarcastic, seriously).

With a very simple starter story of a run-away girl (grandmother passes away, title character runs away, finds new home in this newspaper center, starts life anew with her newer and more ecstatic friends, leaving behind her old life, although not completely) and an aftermath that doesn't even look much like a plot, there is as much worth to rating this plot as there is to rating Lucky Star's or even telling a refrigerator to make instant curry out of thin air.

The soundtrack, is as of now, an unknown quantity to me. I haven't had a chance to properly listen to it. Most of the times, I don't get to listen to it properly (as I had done with Toradora!, which had a fantastic OST I still listen to today) unless it's in some way very attractive or the BGM was made much louder than the talking seiyuu (e.g Honey & Clover and CLANNAD's soundtrack caught my attention in not 10 minutes) so I don't deem myself too worthy to check on it yet.

Its humour, although not sporadic throughout the whole series and not roll-around-die-laughing humourous, is quite enjoyable. It is very easy to see that some people will complain that its humour is totally non-existent and there are others who'd laugh at it without stop, either way, stuff like this are usually pretty hit-or-miss, but more hit than miss. To be honest, if you wanted a guarantee, it's not as hit-or-miss to most as Lucky Star or Bakemonogatari, that's for sure.

With jokes that aren't at all original, Kanamemo still manages to deliver funny lines every now and then. Sometimes it gets me laughing or it gets me in the cold.

Of course besides the joke itself, intonation is a pretty big factor and in anime, intonation is pretty much the characters. Speaking of the characters, it holds a pretty big all-girls cast with what I could say a great seiyuu line-up (brushing off a certain Tsundere Queen aside, since some people seem to have gotten sick of her).

The cast (pretty much ALL cliched) are comprised of a timid little girl, also title character Kana, 'cheapskate' type-girl (although this isn't hugely shown by her daily attitude but is shown in scene) Hinata, strict-elementary-schooler-boss-but-never-blushing-tsundere Saki, the hyperactive Yume, her quiet companion + requited female love-interest, Yuuki and some yuri-craving/loving drunkard Haruka along with a later-introduced character, a pink-haired tsundere, Mika. Personally though I like Hinata the most as the rest are rather much more bland than her in general. And I never grew to LOVELOVELOVELOVE Kugimiya Rie Tsunderes™ either, aside from.. Toradora's? No never mind.

Might not seem so loveable to you does it?

Of course this again represents my plain saying of how hit-or-miss this show has been. I for one, like it. Simply because it's pretty easy to read, to understand, to pretty much just do anything. If I had to use a metaphor, it's as easy to understand as it is to see something.

Views may vary, that's very obvious and here and there there will definitely be critics but really, I never did expect too much, and got what I wanted, if not marginally surpassed.

So Kanamemo is definitely a title I would recommend to you (depending on who you are) if you said yes to either of my first questions.

Helpful

read more

"Kanamemo" is about Kana, an orphaned girl working at a newspaper delivery office after the passing of her grandmother.

Animation: 4/10
Nothing spectacular about the animation, I would even say it's below par. Character design is pretty cute, and the vivid coloring was nice though. Some outdoor scenes had a decent atmosphere using blurring techniques, but overall, lacking detail.

Sound: 3/10
Extremely poorly done and annoying voice acting. Perhaps it's my personal preference, but voicing of all the young girls sounded strained and tiring after couple of episodes.
Music/OP/ED were bland, and didn't really stand out.

Story: 8/10
Despite the technical flaws in this series, the story was extremely strong. Kana slowly learns the job, and gets along with fellow workers while facing various obstacles of the tough delivery job. What really impressed me, was the focus of this story. Even though Kana is a middle-schooler, there were very few scenes in her junior high school, and very limited school life. Her classmates appear only to develop the story, and does not deviate the central theme of this anime, which is delivering newspapers. Use of Kana's 'memo' to grandma was also a very effective device for narration.

Character Development: 5/10
Kana's character was developed fairly well from a hopeless new recruit to an unreliable yet vital existence in the team. She slowly found her place in the 'big family'.
Sadly, the side characters were all overly predictable and lacked depth. In fact, all the coworkers can be characterized under two words.

Saki: Chibi adult
Hinata: Cheap
Yume: Rich lesbian
Yuuki: Quiet lesbian
Haruka: Drunk pervert
Kujiin Mika: Tsundere.

Interaction with these side characters were always same: Kana is molested by Haruka, Hinata or Saki shows up and violently stops it, while Yume and Yuuki are making out in the back. The producers persistently pushed these developments long after they stopped being funny.

Enjoyment: 5/10
I haven't seen the manga (as usual), but "Kanamemo" was clearly a failed attempt in anime adaption. The story and setting was good, but overall it was extremely poorly executed. It was neither slapstick nor drama.
One thing I really enjoyed though, was the 'finding small joys in life' aspect of the story, but otherwise, this series had very little to offer. A typical loli/moe show.

Helpful

read more

Kanamemo is slow paced and for those who don't want something to take heavily. It's not bad, but has a few bumps in the road. Could be better, but for what it is you should have fun if you enjoy SoL/Comedies in general.

Story: 4

What story? There is barely a story if you can call it one. The main character Kana's parents have passed and she was in the care of her grandmother who soon passed and now she is homeless and looking for work. She ends up finding a place to work and live, but it's filled with eccentrics and quite the busy place. Her new found job is working as a papergirl delivering news to the neighborhood daily. This is the over-arcing story and all the rest is in a typical SoL episodic fashion. It's more or less cute girls doing cute things, but there is still some merit to this show despite the lack of plot.

Note* There is one episode centered around going to a public bath and it's heavily censored with a comical cat face. May or may not affect the enjoyment of the series, just a warning. Pretty fanservicey and feels like an OVA instead of an actual episode.

Art: 7

The art isn't bad, but not particularly good either. Nothing much stands out. I do enjoy the soft pallet of colors they use in general and the way it's colored and shaded adds very nicely to the laid back atmosphere. Animation is average at best, this is a SoL so expect stills and scenes without much animation as its very dialog heavy. Aesthetically it is pleasing, but nothing you'll be likely to remember.

Sound: 7

The sound is a mixed bag for me. I personally dislike the main character's voice as it is at least to me somewhat annoying. The rest were pretty average to me, and that's not surprising considering this is mostly a comedy and SoL where they aren't trying to captivate you emotionally, so it is acceptable; and suits the atmosphere. Sound effects are pretty average themselves, not deviating from the norm either. Music I found was a bit better than most. There is one theme that is constantly used for most scenarios (Mainly a flute/recorder That mixes well with the show.) and its gotten stuck in my head, so if nothing else it's catchy. Don't expect anything too much from the OP or ED because both are pretty average; SoL fitting themes.

Character: 7

This is the main catching point for this show and what gives it an edge over other shows in the genre. They use tropes that we all know of and have probably seen a handful of times, but executes them in a fresh feeling way. Not to mention this is the first time I saw a comedyesque show take a homosexual relationship seriously, without forcing it more than is necessary. They portray them extremely casually and never put an emphasis on "HOLY SHIT GIRLS KISSING WTF/BBQ!!!???!1 LOOK HOW EDGY OMG" (AHEM, Sakura Trick...) There is usually a joke about them every other episode but it's almost always lighthearted.

We have the other characters that don't show much development or change outside the main, but none the less are all likeable. And since this is primarily a comedy that's OK. Their tropes are what set up certain jokes and changing from them too much would endanger the fun aspect since this show should be taken with a chill pill anyway. The only character I absolutely couldn't stand was Haruka (The child molester essentially.) because she was just so effing annoying, and the joke of her messing with Kana got old quick.

Enjoyment/Overview 9/7

Kanamemo does everything by doing nothing, and has a few redeeming values. One of few SoL's I deem as something you should watch. While it isn't inherently great it has it's pluses that give it a pretty enjoyable feel. Something to be watched passively and without much thought because it is in essence just plain fun. It's a great laugh depending on your stance on humor and a laid back SoL without anything that serious happening. If you hate that then avoid it because there is a lack of plot, if you do enjoy something like Non Non Biyori you should check this out.

Helpful

read more