Futakoi Alternative

Futakoi Alternative is a surprisingly engaging show in spite of its bizarre and over-the-top story elements. From what I gather, the series is a spinoff of an anime that is based on a dating sim whose gimmick was a male lead having a harem involving several sets of twin girls attracted to him. While that would seem to make the original Futakoi anime rather forgettable and typical fare, Futakoi Alternative is a whole different beast as it takes many of the characters from the original series and goes in a completely different story direction that mashes up sci-fi action, manic comedy, and romantic drama in ... its focus on freelance detective Rentaro and his assistants, twin high school students Sara and Soju.

Before I get to the core of the series, I suppose I should explore the major element of the series that will make or break your enjoyment and that is in the form of its multiple genre mash-ups mentioned from the prior paragraph. I suppose a comparable series you could think of this to be like would be FLCL with parodies of some anime tropes, gun-action, tangling with yakuza, and a final battle with a secret society making mutant squids (seriously), though Futakoi Alternative does not get as ridiculously over-the-top as Gainax's famous title. The comedy does lead its major characters to take on a super-deformed state at points when things get ridiculous. The manic elements of the series did have their moments where they had me snickering at the lunacy of events playing out, though it did have its moments that did not click with me.

At the core of the series though, Futakoi Alternative focuses on the polyamorous love involving Rentaro, Sara, and Soju. The twins clearly have a strong amount of affection for the young man and while Rentaro does care a good deal for them, he does have his reservations for wanting to go to another level with their relationship due to a harsh past and struggling financially to support himself and the twins. Whereas many titles would try to fetishize this sort of romance, Futakoi Alternative instead chooses to seriously explore the developments of the relationship as all three are considerate of the feelings of one another and think carefully about more intimate elements of pursuing a romantic relationship, including considering intercourse. When one of the twins wind up leaving during the second half of the anime, Rentaro and the remaining twin understandably feel a hole in their lives without the other twin and come to grips with wanting her to return to their regular living routine.

With these two different sides to Futakoi Alternative, it would be easy for many titles to fall apart in quality since they can't properly balance focus on manic comedy and serious drama. But the series manages to effectively balance these story elements effectively well as it knows when to get silly and when to dial back the comedy to seriously focus on the developments in the polyamorous love between Rentaro, Sara, and Soju. Still, there are some who have been turned off by this genre mash-up in the same vain as FLCL and I can see where this may not be everybody's cup of tea if they are looking for a series more geared toward a specific genre. In addition to this, the focus on a polyamorous relationship may offend some conservative viewers if they are into more traditional male-female relationship pairings.

Overall, Futakoi Alternative made for a surprisingly engaging series with its effective mix of manic comedy and romantic drama focused on its main threesome of Rentaro, Sara, and Soju. The genre mash-up and focus on polyamorous love may not be everybody's cup of tea. But if you can look past both of these matters, you will find yourself enjoying this hidden 2000s gem.

*Please excuse my reviewing skills, this is my first. Also instead of writing super long reviews, I'll write short ones.

To be honest, I thoroughly enjoyed Futakoi Alternative.If you are reading this review right after watching 2-3 episodes and you are thinking of dropping it, then please don't. I also thought of dropping it after the first two episodes. At first, it was really strange, all the scenes were everywhere and it leaves the viewer assuming what's going on a lot. I was really confused. However, once you get into probably 4-5 episodes in, it gets better because you get used to the way Futakoi Alternative ... works things and it also kind of fixes the "scrambled" scenes. This anime certainly isn't your typical one step at a time anime, if you know what I'm referring to.
One of the most important things I look for in an anime, is the story line. The general idea of this anime is a pretty interesting one. It captivates you, making you wonder what is going to happen in the next episode. However, the way they executed the idea for the storyline is strange with...uhm...squid/human hybrids.I won't spoil anymore...
One of the big selling points of this anime are the characters. I just love the Sera and Soujyu! The writers or whoever, make you feel like you are actually Rentarou. You just can't choose either Sera or Soujyu!

This is a great anime to watch and I just wish it was longer (What a typical anime fan says). I'm sorry for the amateur review. Also, some of the things I mentioned here probably doesn't make sense to people who aren't halfway through yet.

"It'd be tiresome to explain it all logically, but, if I were to try and sum it up with one phrase, it's probably a story about love." -Rentarou Futaba

Futakoi Alternative...what I expected was a silly, light-weight, mindless action comedy. Let me tell you now, that is NOT a good description. Futakoi Alternative tries to be something much greater than that, and, in some ways, it succeeds. In other ways, it fails. Overall, though, I think Futakoi Alternative is a pretty darn good show.

Story: 5.5 || Art: 9.0 || Sound: 7.5 || Character: 9.5 || ... Enjoyment: 8.0 || OVERALL: 8.0


STORY:

Futakoi Alternative tells the story of one Rentarou Futaba, self-employed as a detective (more-or-less), and his twin assistants, Sara and Soujyu Shirogane. The first part of the story follows excerpts from their daily lives and adventures, which range from mundane to bizarre and usually involve another pair of twins (most likely a nod to the original source material). This part of the story is mainly action-comedy. The second part of the story is a semi-continuous storyline focusing on Rentarou's relationship with Sara and Soujyu. This part of the story plays out like a romantic drama. The third part of the story details the resolution of the dramatic tension, switching back to action-comedy mode.

The first episode of Futakoi Alternative deserves special mention. It plays out kind of like one long action sequence, ridiculously (and hilariously) over-the-top. It operates on two long-standing rules of fiction: things that are incredibly awesome and things that are incredibly funny are both acceptable (even desirable) breaks from reality. Basically, anything goes, so long as it’s cool enough or funny enough. This works fantastically well, making episode 1 an example of frenetic anime action-comedy at its peak. It’s pure chaos, and it’s pure FUN.

Episode 1, somewhat unfortunately, is an outlier. The series mellows out very quickly, generally dropping the over-the-top awesomeness (but maintaining the comedy) beginning with episode 2 in favor of a more realistic feel. This is definitely not to say that Futakoi Alternative becomes bad; rather, it gains a different sort of charm. The comedy remains gut-bustingly hilarious but does not solely drive the show. It starts to focus more and more on the characters and at times lapses into a pensive melancholy that, when paired with the spectacular presentation, comes across as genuinely artistic. This loose trend from comedy to drama continues for several episodes.

Once you hit episode 5, you may start to really notice that Futakoi Alternative is not much of a comedy anymore. It still has funny moments, but they soon start feeling out of place, and perhaps disconcerting. The show morphs into an intense, character-centric drama, complete with heavy atmosphere. Again, this is definitely not to say that Futakoi Alternative becomes bad; it just becomes good for different reasons. As a drama it is entrancing, mainly due to phenomenal presentation and excellent characters.

Then, after establishing a realistic and solidly depressing mood, Futakoi Alternative suddenly (and I mean SUDDENLY) switches back to its original state. Unfortunately, it does this by tossing its sense of realism out the window. I cannot emphasize enough how sudden this shift is. The show resumes its original attitude that anything goes, so long as it’s cool enough or funny enough. And yet, in spite of all the ridiculous action sequences this generates, the show keeps bouncing back and forth between that and the dramatic melancholy it established earlier. This whole set of mood-swings is jarring, so much so that it threatens suspension of disbelief. Luckily, if you can weather the storm of episode 11, the mood stabilizes to a reasonable degree. Whether or not you can take Futakoi Alternative seriously enough to care about anything after the Squid Nazis (I am not making this up) and their utterly absurd diabolical plot is an entirely different issue.

Overall, the story is really only strong enough to maintain interest. It is never complex or even very creative. Actually, I would go so far as to say that the plot is downright stupid in the last episodes (even ignoring all the problems with the biplane flight). However, Futakoi Alternative is genuinely funny at the beginning; it does drama really well; and it transitions impressively smoothly from comedy to drama (just not vice-versa). It is really effective at establishing strong moods, even if they do bounce around like manic-depressive ping-pong balls on crack. And, if you can manage to stop banging your head against the wall long enough to watch the final episodes, the finale of Futakoi Alternative is pretty awesome, and the final conclusion is somehow satisfying and maybe even beautiful.

STORY SCORE: 5.5/10 - AVERAGE


ART:

At first glance, the art style of Futakoi Alternative seems, in a word, generic. When it comes to the main character designs, I can’t disagree. This does not mean that the show’s design style is bad; the main cast looks quite nice; Sara and Soujyu are cute, and Rentarou is actually rather handsome. Furthermore, the supporting cast has more diverse designs, often fitting for their roles. The art and designs are consistent throughout the show, except for intentional art-shifts. With regard to the art itself, the line-work is crisp, and the color palette is wide and excellently used. The background art is good but generally nothing special. The animation, however, is surprisingly fluid.

Where Futakoi Alternative really shines is its style. Think Gainax crossed with Shaft. The action sequences are slick. The camera angles are dynamic. The comedic art-shifts and sight-gags are successful. The scenes of madcap mayhem are composed wonderfully and are full of energy. The cinematography is brilliant, and this extends to the more tranquil scenes as well. The more down-to-earth the show is, the more traditional the camera work and animation style. The more melancholic the show is, the darker the color palette. The more pensive and thoughtful the show is, the more experimental and artistic the animation direction. The use of lighting in this show to enhance or distill the mood is amazing. At times, Futakoi Alternative borders on cinematic in its scene composition, direction, and animation quality.

The unfortunate flip-side to this is that all these extraordinary touches can produce heightened expectations for the show. Indeed, at times I began to think I was watching a rare, triumphant example of anime as true art. As strong as Futakoi Alternative’s presentation is, it doesn’t take long with a “true art” mindset for it to remind you that it’s not fundamentally different from other anime series. In the end, Futakoi Alternative isn’t a high-budget anime; there is plenty of typical shortcutting and standard camera-work mixed in with the clever bits of cinematography. The animation studio just took what little it had and made the best of it. And, through their own skill, they turned it into something that is, at the very least, respectable. At the very most, it’s nearly a masterpiece.

ART SCORE: 9.0/10 - EXCELLENT


SOUND:

The background music of Futakoi Alternative varies a great deal in terms of both style and quality. We have groovy breakbeats, light orchestral themes, big band numbers, mellow solo pianos, whistling, acoustic guitar pieces, rock ‘n’ roll riffs, and obviously-synthesized orchestral pieces with little nuance to them. Despite that the composition and production are often below top-tier, the BGM is quite effective in both setting and supporting the mood, whatever it may be at any given moment (an impressive feat, considering how volatile the show’s mood is). Futakoi Alternative also demonstrates that silence can be just as expressive as a symphony. Sound effects are very well-used, but I don’t recall anything extraordinary other than the disk-scratches in episode 1.

The opening theme starts off as a sort of synth-pop-orchestral piece, but quickly switches to hard rock. It is very fast and energetic, which captures the spirit of Futakoi Alternative’s action-comedy aspect rather well. The accompanying animation parallels the style of the song perfectly; it starts with a cheesy scrolling view of some of the cast, which gives off an unoriginal harem anime feel, and then it bursts out into a continuous action sequence starring the female cast members and a whole lot of firepower. It’s pretty cool, but, as Futakoi Alternative shifts genres and tonality, it starts seeming more and more out of place, only serving as a reminder of what the show no longer is.

The ending theme is more remarkable for its animation than for its music. The song itself is a wistful pop ballad. It consists of an acoustic guitar, a four-piece string ensemble, some very light drumwork, and the singer. The vocals have a breathy quality to them, but it contributes to the relaxing feel of the song. Overall, it’s rather pleasant, but it’s really nothing you haven’t heard before. The accompanying animation is notable in that it uses stop-motion animation with figurines, which is certainly creative.
The ending theme changes briefly about two-thirds of the way into the show to a different arrangement of the same song with just piano and vocals. It gives off a different feel from the original. The vocalist drops some of her breathiness, grounding it a bit more in reality. The lyrics also change, as does the accompanying animation, although it is still stop-motion.

I just have to mention the music that plays during the preview segment at the very end of each episode. It’s a lilting, hauntingly hopeful piece for woodwind and music box, with intentionally degraded audio, as if it were an old record. I really, really like it. In fact, the overall style for the previews is inexplicably enjoyable. In general, I do not watch episode previews, but I watched every single one in Futakoi Alternative. For some reason, they fill me with nostalgia…

Last on the list of things to discuss about the sound is the voice acting. Considering that the mood of Futakoi Alternative swings around like a chimpanzee on a jungle gym mounted on a colossal playground swing set, and considering that the show can be very intense with any given mood, this is a difficult show to act. That said, the voice actors perform wonderfully in roles that require a large amount of versatility. It feels like a lot of passion went into the voice-work. Mizuhashi Kaori and Kadowaki Mai do fantastic jobs bringing to life both the subtle and not-so-subtle aspects of Sara and Soujyu. Seki Tomokazu does a good job modulating his voice to give Rentarou depth, occasionally even giving deliberately flat delivery of lines for optimal effect (one priceless instance is his “scream” in episode 1). Unfortunately, he occasionally comes across as more hot-blooded (excited or agitated) than is appropriate. The supporting cast is also pretty strong, with fitting voices and at least solid acting. The one thing that really bothers me about the voice acting is the annoying polyphony generated by Rara and Ruru. Their voices are already annoyingly high; adding unison to that borders on painful. Thankfully, they don’t have many lines.

SOUND SCORE: 7.5/10 – PRETTY GOOD


CHARACTER:

Futakoi Alternative manages to work some amazing magic in the realm of characterization. The main characters are very likable (and well-characterized), and the side characters, though not particularly well-characterized, range from unobtrusive to downright fun to watch.

Sara and Soujyu are certainly based on the tsundere and yamato nadeshiko archetypes, but they are never slaves to them. Sara is impulsive, aggressive, and standoffish, but she is also playful, affectionate, and sometimes even reserved; Soujyu is kind, calm, and accepting, but she is also playful, determined, and sometimes even uncontrolled. The twins somehow manage to really come alive. It helps, more than one could possibly expect, to see that they have hobbies utterly unrelated to the plot. Both their personalities are multifaceted, and they are often influenced by the people around them. The obvious example is Rentarou, who frees the inner child in each and allows them to drop the barriers that the harsh, uncaring world forced them to erect.

Rentarou is likewise affected by the twins; their dependence and love brings out the father in him (his competence and reliability), which allows him to finally respect himself; their frolicsomeness and immaturity bring out his own childishness (playfulness, happiness) which allows him to finally like himself. Without them - without those aspects of himself that the twins enable - he is but an angsty teenager forever trapped, living in his father's shadow. Sara and Soujyu complete him, and he completes them. They love him and make him capable of loving them back. However, the nature of this love is complex (and confusing to him), as he is both a father and a peer to them.

Precisely WHY the twins and Rentarou happen to interact in this mutually-self-actualizing way is unclear, but this complaint is inane. Real life is rarely clearer, and real life gives us far more than 13 episodes to figure out our relationships. All you have to do is watch, and Futakoi Alternative will let you bask in it until you simply FEEL that it's right.

Getting over the possible twincest vibes is something entirely different. I somehow managed to get through Futakoi Alternative without really thinking about it, thus avoiding the problem. I'm sure I could discuss the issue in further detail...but this is hardly the right place.

CHARACTER SCORE: 9.5/10 – FANTASTIC


ENJOYMENT:

Futakoi Alternative is immensely (and surprisingly) enjoyable to watch, although for different reasons at different points in the series. Notably, the first episode is one of the best single episodes in all of anime. As for the remainder of the series, it excels as an action-comedy in the early and the later episodes, and it excels as an artistic drama in the middle episodes. However, the transition from the latter to the former is unpleasantly jarring, making it a bit misleading to call the series, as a whole, enjoyable. This transition really is bad enough to endanger enjoyment of the entire series, and, as such, a lot depends on any given viewer’s ability to cope with sudden genre shifts and mood whiplash.

If you can tolerate that structural problem, Futakoi Alternative has some extraordinary qualities. The presentation of the series is downright impressive; whether the style is experimental or traditional, the cinematography ranks among the best of the best in terms of scene composition and directing. More importantly, though, the main cast is truly top-tier; rarely does a character come alive to the same extent that Rentarou, Sara, and Soujyu do. The bottom line is that they are simply a joy to watch, and the series does an outstanding job telling their stories.

ENJOYMENT SCORE: 8.0/10 – GREAT


OVERALL:

Futakoi Alternative is a diamond in the rough. Although it appears generic on the surface, it quickly proves itself to be anything but. This does not, however, mean it is a flawless production. The story itself is most certainly not a work of brilliance, and one of the genre/mood shifts near the end is so awful that it threatens the quality of the entire series. However, these weaknesses are far outweighed by its strengths: remarkably powerful characterization and superb artistic direction. These qualities earn Futakoi Alternative a place in my heart, and I think they should earn it a place in your “Plan to Watch” lists.

OVERALL SCORE: 8.0/10 – GREAT