Kono Minikuku mo Utsukushii Sekai

I noticed a number of negative reviews for this so I think it's a good idea to understand who the target audience is here - young teenagers. There are certainly some slightly thought-provoking bits, but Konomini is by no means groundbreaking.

**Story**:
A bit of a hit and miss.

On the plus side, it tries to emphasize how life is always linked to death, both as an unfortunate consequence of certain events and as something that happens to all living organisms (hence, the title of the anime?). Also, the cycle of life and seasons is something completely natural and takes time. Snow comes in Winter, Sun comes ... in Summer. It sounds obvious, but it's nice to see an anime which focuses on this.

The downside is that we have some plot lines which are not entirely relevant - random super powers and an oversimplified lesson on evolution. Yes, again, target audience. The ending could've been better as well - a little less predictable maybe.

**Art**:
Fairly generic early 2000s. As others have said, nothing to write home about.

**Characters:**
A 7/10. Interesting, but a little flat. I was expecting a little more from the main male protagonist, but then again, the series has only 13 episodes.

**Enjoyment**
It made me sad towards the end so that's a good sign, but overall it's really a 7/10 kind of material. It's entertaining, somewhat thought-provoking, but could've been a lot more.

Overview:

Time to travel back to the past and review another "lost" series that anime fans have forgotten! Put on your Indiana Jones outfits, because we are going deep into the obscure for this bit of anime archaeology. "This Ugly Yet Beautiful World" which I will hereafter refer to as "TUYBW" is a series that came out in 2004, but was completely forgotten shortly after despite a decent budget and being produced by freaking GAINAX themselves! How could a Gainax anime become so quickly forgotten despite the legions of fanboys that will swallow anything Gainax shits out? The answer is timing and overshadowing. If another ... series has a VERY similar plot and premise, but becomes much more famous and came out at the exact same time, it is possible for the twin series to be completely buried. An example of this would be Independence Day vs. Mars Attacks, which came out the same year. Tim Burton is usually much better liked than Emmerich, but Mars Attacks was completely forgotten and overlooked because of the hype surrounding Independence Day. I will explain in the next paragraph.

TUYBW is about a bland male protagonist who finds a naked girl in the middle of the woods. This naked chick suffers from amnesia, but rather than take her to the hospital or police station, he decides to take her home. Unfortunately, this chick has multiple personalities and one of them is an evil killing machine! This was the year 2004. At the same time TUYBW was airing, another anime called Elfen Lied came out with the same plot and quickly gained fame online for being "over the top madness" and one of the goriest anime people had seen in years, because no one cared about the utter bullshit that is Gantz. Elfen Lied spread through word of mouth, AMVs, and youtube clips like wild fire, whereas TUYBW was simply overlooked in favor of its bolder cousin.

The interesting thing is that TUYBW came out BEFORE the Elfen Lied anime, but after the Elfen Lied manga. So is one a ripoff of the other? Not really. The plot of a clueless male finding a beautiful, injured chick that claims to have amnesia, but is really a psycho killer and bringing her home despite ALL logic was actually started way back in 1952 in the novel East of Eden by John Steinbeck. That's right kids! If you need to blame someone for that ridiculous sub-plot, blame Steinbeck, because it is entirely his fault!

So what exactly made Elfen Lied take off in fame and TUYBW languish in obscurity? The most obvious answer would be "shock and awe". TUYBW was aired on regular Japanese cable and couldn't afford to push the envelope with gore, nudity, and controversial topics such as child abuse, animal abuse, and graphic human experimentation. This was one factor that made Elfen Lied catch people's eyes much more effectively than TUYBW. However, the real answer is one word: "ambition". TUYBW never tried to take itself that seriously, remotely challenge the viewer's worldview, or really try very hard in any category. The reality is that TUYBW is completely average to mediocre across the board from characters to soundtrack, to animation. Elfen Lied is a highly divisive series that is either considered complete garbage or a freaking masterpiece of anime. The reason is that Elfen Lied no matter how much some people hate it actually DID try. EL had a unique opening for its time that referenced classical art while playing a rather haunting, yet serene Gregorian hymn. TUYBW just has a VERY generic opening. Elfen Lied tried to use CG mixed with traditional animation, whereas TUYBW is one time Gainax did NOT go all out in the art department. It is simply par for the course animation. Elfen Lied offered rather memorable (even if completely insane) characters and tried hard enough in its plot that you WILL remember it whether you love it or hate it. TUYBW is the type of anime that is so generic that you watch it and forget the next week that you ever watched it.

Overall: 5/10

Am I saying that TUYBW is a buried gem that was unjustly overshadowed? No! I just wanted to shed some light on an obscure series and try analyze why some series get famous and others are forgotten. To be honest, TUYBW is a very average and cookie cutter series that no one should really have a reason to watch. It isn't good, but it isn't memorably bad either. It is forgettable vanilla, which in my opinion is the type of anime that is least worth watching!

In honor of Gainax's thirtieth anniversary, I've decided to review the anime they released to celebrate their own twentieth anniversary, ten years ago! It's time for This Ugly Yet Beautiful world, so here we go!

In the long history of the Earth, there have been several major mass extinctions, each one wiping millions of life forms out of existence. Because of this, over ninety nine percent of all life forms that have ever existed on earth are now gone forever. But what caused these mass extinctions, what was their true purpose, and... When will it happen again?

Following this admittedly intriguing monologue, we ... cut to our main character, Takeru Takemoto, delivering a monologue of his own. He talks about war, famine, disease, and all that fun stuff as an excuse to get out of helping his classmates clean the pool. Yes, this is our main character. He then lies around, wondering what he should do while doing absolutely nothing. And in the same episode, he remarks that his uncle, who owns his own delivery service AND dormitories, where Takeru is living for free, isn’t ambitious enough.

This is a person that I wouldn’t want to be friends with under any circumstances, and yet he actually has a healthy little collection of five friends that spend way too much time at his dorm and obsess way too hard over his love life. But I digress.

He and his best friend Ryou are out making a delivery when they witness a bright comet shooting down from the sky. It doesn’t move like an inanimate object, though... It moves like it has a destination in mind, and after following this light, Takeru discovers a beautiful naked girl with orange hair... Who he names Hikari. Japanese for light, of course. Because Chi. She forms an instant attachment to him... Like a newborn animal would... and their whirlwind romance thus begins.

Much like Mahoromatic, this series was a joint effort between Studio Gainax and Studio Shaft. While neither studio is perfect, and they’ve both released some poor looking shows in the past, the animation in This Ugly is embarrassing by either studio’s standards. The budget was clearly bare bones, and even the high points of the story are marred by obvious tricks like sudden technique changes, bounce-walking, and speed lines. The artwork is equally bad, with flat coloring, boring backgrounds, and enough jagged outlines to make FMA Brotherhood look lovingly rendered.

As far as the character designs, they’re nothing special... Derivative and forgettable are the words of the day, at least for the most part. The only thing really noteworthy is the insert from the first volume DVD, in which the Character Designer and Chief Animation Director himself chronicles his reasons behind each design. Without any exaggeration, his explanations range from such deep, complex specifications as “I thought this would be cute” to “I wanted him to look cool” to “I like large breasts.”

Although one of Takeru’s buddies was apparently based on a famous Japanese motorcycle who died shortly before production began. Do with that tidbit as you will.

As for the music? I didn’t like it. The tunes were repeated over and over again, which sucks, because I find about half of them distracting and inappropriate to the series. The opening, however, is a thing of beauty, possibly one of the top ten of 2004.

In any case, for the sake of Studio Gainax’s twentieth anniversary production, we’ll suspend disbelief and pretend that science doesn’t exist. We’ll pretend that each mass extinction was caused by a supernatural being that periodically comes to earth on a comet, takes the form of whatever the most intelligent creature in existence is at that time, and evaluates the world to see if it needs to be demolished. We won’t ask where they came from, or how this system came to be, or how the Earth knows to send battle monsters to stop these entities, because we don’t want to go to bed feeling as though we’ve wasted precious energy that we can’t get back.

The entity splits into two, and this time around, those two take the form of hyper-sexualized teenaged moe girls who are given the names of Hikari and Akari. Yes, that’s a spoiler, but trust me, knowing that in advance won’t hurt anything. Hikari winds up with lazy boy Takeru, and we’ll call that Story A. Akari winds up in the home of the space cadet Ryou, and we’ll call that Story B. Story A, as I mentioned in my plot summary, is a romance tale. And I’m going to say this up front, it is a very weak romance tale. Both of our main characters are completely milquetoast, with the only really interesting thing about either one being their tragic backstories. They flounder in their efforts to form a relationship, and while there is a pretty good reason, the awkwardness between them can sometimes be flat-out painful. I mean, I have Asperger’s syndrome, and even *I* wouldn’t strike out in some of the situations that Takeru finds himself in.

On the other side of the coin, we have the B side of the story, which in my opinion should have been the true A side, as it’s a lot stronger. Ryou is a pretty damn likeable character, despite all his bishie-ness. While laid back and easy-going, he’s a very paternal figure to his precocious little sister, whom he allows to think that she’s the one in charge. They pick up Akari, and while I’d be hard-pressed to say she has any important role in the story, she’s still given much more personality and development than her ‘sister’ is. I may be alone in this, but I found myself enjoying the show a lot more when the three of them were on screen. They even get some pretty good blink-and-you’ll-miss-it sight gags, if you’re looking hard enough. Like Ryou being the only person on a test of courage to be dressed as a western monster. or Akari catching a giant fish with a nude bear-hug, only to be seen subtly gnawing on it’s severed head at lunch a few scenes later.

As for the supporting cast, there’s little to no support to be found. Takeru has two male friends, who obsess over the fact that he’s living with a hot girl, and two female friends, who call those two stupid. Oh, they also coordinate activities and make clothes for the aliens. Overall, characters that need not exist, as there’s nothing they contribute to the plot that other characters couldn’t offer. I found myself wondering why they all invested so much of their time in such a boring character’s life.

He Also has a cousin named Mari who’s madly in love with him, but didn’t know it until he was taken... I guess I should be disgusted by that, but this is Japan, and that DOES sound like typical teenage logic. Besides, I can’t hate a Luci Christian character. What I can hate, however, is the American scientist that lives in their dorm, and embodies every single stereotype that the Japanese may have against American women. She’s loose, she’s an alcoholic, she’s immodest, she’s always making passes at her teenage co-stars, she looks like Ritsuko Akagi... She’s investigating the mass extinction, and she just happens to move into the exact right dorm house. Hikari introduces herself as an alien, so of course, Jennifer Portman’s first instinct is to shower with her.

They also have two alien sidekicks named Ku-on and Ionios, and I actually found them to be quite funny.

Now, I can’t talk about the English dub without addressing a very interesting little fact. For whatever reason, the majority of the actors used really ridiculous false names. Was the show so bad that they didn’t want their names attached to it, or was this just a joke? I can’t find any explanation, but if I meet one of them at a con, that’ll be my first question.

Cynthia Martinez... AKA Goldie Fawn... Has been a favorite of mine in some shows, and I never really minded her gravely voice up until now. Her line deliveries are spot on, but the tone and pitch of Hikari’s voice makes HER voice sound like a dying cat. Shelley Calleen Black does a great job relaying all of Ms. Portman’s eccentricities, as much as I may hate the character, and Hilary Haag... AKA Alexis Bestman... is adorable in the role of Kimi. Quentin Haag, presumably related to her, has only had seven acting roles to date, but he does a pretty decent job in the role of Ryou.

Braden Hunt doesn’t fair nearly as well in the role of Takeru, giving a performance that’s charmless and wooden throughout. Taylor Hannah, Chris Patton and Monica rial are wasted in low profile roles, when they could have easily taken on the starring roles by themselves. Patton and Rial as Takeru and Hikari? Yes, please!

But the star of the dub is Jessica Boone... Or Circe Nightshade of SNL fame... playing the role of Akari. She’s playing a sweet, wide-eyed innocent who’s trying to enjoy life to the fullest as she secretly evaluates it, waiting patiently for a tragedy that she knows will eventually occur... It’s a subtle performance, and she plays with this nuance beautifully. Hell, she’s so good that other actors sound better just by interacting with her.

Fun fact: About half of the affore-mentioned characters will, at some point, make a pretentious speech. Okay, so that’s not a very fun fact, but it’s also a fact that can’t be avoided. Gainax has always been known to indulge in pretense, but this particular project takes that predilection to a whole new level. This anime is very pretentious, and it LOVES to hear itself talk. The characters are blabbing with more ideas than the series is willing to commit to, ruminating on the nature of life, and spewing philosophical metaphors that barely make sense and never really get explored. This is where the collaboration of Gainax and Shaft comes to blows, as it seems like the former is trying it’s damnedest to bring depth to the material, which the latter is trying to jam with as much gratuitous nudity as possible.

The basic plot could be an interesting one, scientific heresy be damned, but the writing that should be supporting it is awful, and I’m not just talking about the awkward translations. There’s barely any development, way too many characters, character descriptions that are told to us rather than shown to us, constant otaku pandering, and aimless philosophizing that serves no purpose other than to jam the characters heads up their shiny asses. The humor occasionally works, and when it does, the comic timing is spot-on. But this show isn’t focused on being funny. It tries to be serious and tell it’s story, while dishing out wacky hijinks and harem cliches, despite not really being a harem show. The filler material makes up half of the story, and it can range from tolerable at best to painful at worst, with the obligatory beach episode being a particularly low note.

And yet, even when it is focused entirely on it’s plot, it’s still barely watchable, as that plot relies too much on it’s milquetoast leads. I won’t reveal how the multi-episode climax plays out, but it is both catalyzed and carried through by some of the most melodramatic high school bullshit ever animated.

In short, I rarely ever see a story or plot that are executed this terribly.

However, despite my complaints, I like this show. Don’t get me wrong, it’s bad, there’s no arguing that. It might be the worst Gainax show that I’ve ever seen, and it rips off former Gainax properties without mercy or restraint. But it’s a pleasant kind of bad... The kind you pop into your DVD player when you’re feeling bored and forgiving. It’s lighthearted, and if you’re not overthinking it, it isn’t too insulting or offensive either. And I genuinely do like the side B story, at least for what it offers. It’s an ugly show, without a doubt, but there’s still some beauty to it, which is why I’m going to be generous and give it a 4/10. You can shave off two full points if underaged nudity gives you the creeps, and I’ll understand completely.