Robotica*Robotics

A beautiful, thought-provoking OVA that suffers from uneven pacing, confusing writing, and bad sound design.

If you've watched any of the Kono Danshi (This Boy...) OVAs, Robotica*Robotics will feel familiar. It has the same dreamy feel and minimal yet gorgeous animation. Sadly, it doesn't get on the same level in other respects.

I'm starting with the art, because it's the best part of this anime. Robotica*Robotics is more like a slide show than an animation in the usual sense. The style is simple and sketch-like, relying heavily on colors to set the mood. Textures are mixed in as pieces of the environment, words as transitions. It does ... its own thing, and it works.

The story centers about an interesting idea: How to define love. In itself it's good... but the writing and pacing make it hard to enjoy. Cuts are at weird places, times and environments aren't communicated well, and some of the dialogue feels out of place. The characters have potential but end up... Mediocre. Mildly interesting. Not very developed. It's hard to feel a connection to them, though that can be attributed to the short running time. Some say Robotica*Robotics made them cry, but I just didn't care enough.

What really drops the score is the dreadful voice acting. Natsu's seiyuu, Hige Taro, is the only decent one. Most of the time the voice acting feels either forced or out of place. Both Haru and Masa sound way too boisterous for the dreamy setting. Especially Haru is obnoxious - when he cried at one point it sounded so fake I physically cringed. The rest of the sound is only marginally better, with forgettable music and oftentimes weird sound effects.

I wanted to like Robotica*Robotics more, but it feels like it tried too hard to be artsy and ended up plain confusing. Slap the sound design on top of that, and I just couldn't enjoy the experience very much.

I recommend Kono Danshi, Ningyo Hiroimashita for a just as beautiful but considerably more well put together experience.