Mahoutsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto

Someday's Dreamers was an anime that I stopped watching and then came back to. I mostly didn't finish because I ran out of time, for I had requested the DVDs from my library. So I started again from the beginning, this time watching it in Japanese instead of how I'd previously watched in English.

Story

The story stands out because instead of magic-users fighting evil, these people are working for the government. Kikuchi Yume comes to Tokyo to be an apprentice to become a mage. The series is not long, only 12 episodes, but it is enjoyable. While there are some parts that are serious, others are ... light and refreshing.

Animation

While the faces and character designs are quite pleasing to the eye and the backgrounds are pretty, the animation seemed so choppy to me, like they didn't spend that much time on it. The movements didn't flow naturally and it was quite inconsistent. However, it wasn't too bad, and worked all right for the anime.

Sound/Music

I really love the music in this series, especially the opening and ending themes. The opening theme sounds so gentle and has a sort of melancholy feeling to it, while the ending theme is more fast-paced (yet still relatively calm). The soundtrack music works well with the series.

Character

I did enjoy the characters very much, although I'd have liked to see more character development, and this may have been because the series could have been longer than it is. Yume, the heroine, is a sweet girl who has the best of intentions, but things tend to backfire at her. There's the other characters: Angela, the British exchange apprentice with a sour demeanour and proud attitude; Oyamada, Yume's calm and collected instructor; Kera, the joking assistant bartender who works for Oyamada; and lesser characters that you meet along the way.

Enjoyment

Someday's Dreamers is mainly a show for young teenage girls, and it even has a bit of fanbase. Yet it is something someone would enjoy if they're looking for something calmer in an anime.

I reccomend it, and if you do watch it, it won't take too long to finish.

5 WORDS OR LESS REVIEW: Good concept but disappointing

STORY – 6/10

It’s about Yume Kikuchi, a mage in training, equipped with more magical capabilities than the average mage, and how she learns more about magic during her stay in Tokyo. I think that the fact that Yume had tremendous magical capabilities was somehow forgotten throughout the series, among other things. Each episode had a storyline that was barely related to the other episodes, which made it difficult to like. It went from one story to another, leaving gaps in between, which made the story hard to follow.

Other than that, I found the concept of the ... government controlling magic quite corny. Those two things just don’t go together. I understand that there’s a need to control magic but what’s the point in having mages if they can’t use their magic on their own. That makes the magic thing less of a big deal, really.

CHARACTERS – 6/10

I tried to like the characters but none of them had enough good qualities to be liked. Most of the characters were static. Character development wasn’t good, even for the main character Yume Kikuchi. After 12 episodes I still felt unfamiliar to her character. I don’t know her anything about her personality, I don’t know how she would react to certain things, how she interacts with other people.

The producers of the show probably wanted the characters to be endearing to the audience, but to me Yume seemed like a stranger, and the supporting characters seemed more like extras too. Even Runa and Kera, who had their own episodes, seemed like random extra characters who would show up just to fill out air time. I found this quite annoying, and but not as annoying as I thought Angela was. Everything about her seemed so off. She was supposed to be a witchy-type mage, who is quite anti-social and somewhat defiant but passionate about magic, but her voice acting and character design didn’t match her character at all.

I liked Yume Kikuchi’s voice actor though – I have to admit there’s a little bias because it is the adorable Aoi Miyazaki, but I really like what she did with Yume’s accent. It certainly stood out and reminded me of Yume’s country bumpkin side. Generally, I think that the voice acting for the characters with accents (Runa, Yume’s mother and friend, etc) was really done well.

ART – 6/10

Art was pretty much average. Character designs were simple to the point of being bland, and so were some of the backgrounds. I wish they put more detail into the salsa bar. I’ve never been to a salsa bar before, but I assume that they should be colorful and lively looking places. Oyamada’s bar did not look like that at all. It looked like one of those gloomy and quite bars where people go to get drunk and rant about their problems to the bartender.

Having simplistic art isn’t necessarily bad, but they should’ve at least worked on the quality. Unfortunately, the quality wasn’t that good either, resulting in inconsistent and non-fluid animation.

MUSIC – 6/10

The music is probably the best thing I liked about Someday’s Dreamers. I found both the OP and ED catchy. I like the background music too cause they contribute to that [too] relaxing feel of the show, but I wouldn’t necessarily purchase the soundtrack. The music was good, but not good enough to make me want to listen to it outside the anime.

ENJOYMENT – 5/10

I was really looking forward to watching Someday’s Dreamers cause I thought it was going to be one of those shows that give you a relaxing feeling. Well, I certainly got that feeling from watching it but I got too relaxed, and I ended up being bored and uninterested (not to mention easily distracted whenever I watch an episode).

I was very disappointed by the anime, but I haven’t given up on the story yet. I think it’s a good concept but the execution was lacking (and maybe there could’ve been more episodes too), which is why I want to give the manga a shot. I’m going to read the manga in the hopes that it will have a better development of the story and characters, and that it’ll fill in the gaps that the anime was unable to fill. However, that doesn’t change the fact that overall, I give this anime a 6/10.

Someday's Dreamers is really an anime that works. It works in a way no other anime could work. It is a symbol of exactly what an anime should do. Sure, it's not the best one to do this, but it works.

Story: What I like about the story, and what works about it, is its slice of life. It just really connects. It asks us questions about what should we do in the situations presented. What would we do. If this "special power" actually existed, would those who have it deserve it. How would they use it. Stuff like that. It all applies to life. The ... actual story doesn't get overshadowed though. The story presents these slices of life though itself. And it just works like that. The story itself works into something bigger than you would have expected from watching the first few episodes.

This story isn't perfect though. For one, there are times when it uses typical shojo conventions to progress. It still works, but it could have been at least a bit better at this. The second thing that harms the story is there are also times when something feels out of place, or over the top for no reason. And then, there is the double edged sword. How slow-paced it is. While how slow paced it is works in its favor at telling you the story, it can get a little grating at times. Once you get into it, you can't really get out until it's all over, and how slow it is, this could be seen as forever. While it has it's flaws, the story is worth watching.

Characters: The characters in Someday's Dreamers are life-like. They are what makes the slice of life a slice of life. These characters are people that have their good and bad times, and are completely relate-able with the situations that they are in. It gives us a sense of something to grasp and hold onto and learn from. While these characters do that, they to have their problems. First, some of the characters can be hard to related to at first, or really at all though out the series. You may or may not find something from some of the characters. Not all, but enough to lower it a little. Then there are some characters that can be annoying at times as well. This isn't that bad though. After all, we all have someone annoying to deal with in life, and this just portrays that aspect. Still, they could have been a little less annoying. Finally, the biggest problem with the characters, you know how I said that there are times it's over the top? This is mainly the characters fault. So, why did I bring it up in the story? Well, the characters have affected the story in a negative way, and that's what makes the characters not as good as they could have been. But, they are still good.

Art: The animation was OK to say the least. While it is not an eyesore, it didn't seem like it was as good as it could have been. It didn't seem natural enough. I think that if some more money went into this, the art could have been a spectacle. But, it's just OK. It's not bad, just OK.

Sound: The dub voices are great. they work really well. There only problem is that sometimes they over-acted the part and made it over the top. Now the OST. That is freakin' amazing. It works perfectly for the story, and makes it even better. It's just simply amazing. It works and sticks with you. It is just wonderful.

Overall: While it's not one of the best anime out there, it is worth watching, and maybe watching again. I'd be willing to watch it again. This anime is just simply a slice of life that applies to life, while still being its own story. It does have its flaws, but, you'll be able to recognize that the good outweighs the bad in this situation. 8/10

Quick and Sweet Review!

Someday's Dreamers is an show that I watched back in 2009 and a show I randomly decided to re-watch now in 2016. I watched the English Dub version both times.

STORY: 6/10
The story primarily revolves around Yume Kikuchi, a mage apprentice who is training to become a certified mage. Each episode consists of Yumi learning the basis and ethical reasoning regarding when her magic power should be used in order to help others. The whole plot of the show is lackluster, but the simplicity of Someday's Dreamers is to a strong degree why I enjoyed it.

ART/ANIMATION: 7/10
Compared to the animation standards ... of today's animes, the artwork is not too bad. In other words the animation quality did not bother me at all.

SOUND: 8/10
The soundtrack is soothing and calming. Its one of those animes where you might want to check out the OST once you finish it. (The ending song is actually one of my favorites).

CHARACTERS: 6/10
There was quite a nice mix of interesting characters with each of them having their own unique background story. The main character Yume is your caring, sweet, error-prone teen girl. Unfortunately, with only 12 episodes character development was quite limited.

ENJOYMENT: 7/10
Its one of those shows where I wasn't hungry for the next episode, but I was able to easily sit through an entire episode. I certainly got a strong feeling of relaxation from this show and I was pretty pleased with every episode.

I recommend Someday's Dreamers to anyone looking for a relaxing slice of life anime where your full attention towards the show is not necessary. My Overall rating is 7/10

It had a good premise but the show isn't sure whether to be a magic story or whatever the fuck it is. The magic rules thingy is quite interesting but wasn't utilize well.
The side characters are also quite useless because there's no development in the characters.
There's a regression from the MC, but all she does, in the end, was to return to who she was in episode 1. Not much personality sticks out to me.
The pacing is wack too. There aren't many interactions between the MC and her master to say that "he changed when you came here" like lmao

The opening and ending though, ... are BANGERS. I could listen to them all day. The OST is decent, but it wasn't implemented well in the series. The timing was meh.

Overall, it's an average series. (4.8/10)

I enjoyed this story. It moved quite slowly at times, but it was beautiful and had some interesting coming-of-age drama. I wished that there was a little more character development of Yume's contemporary Angela -- she was one of the more interesting characters in the story, but we don't learn too much about her. Definitely recommend this series. I took a break from it a couple times before finishing, which I do not usually do -- primarily because the story was so slow moving. The opening and closing theme songs were good as well. I particularly liked Kaze No ... Hana -- it seems like it was a Japanese-style ballad -- quite dramatic and the words were deep and moving.

Someday's Dreamers is.... well it's an odd slice of life anime. Imagine a world where magic was possible, but in this world, the mages are working for the government and a lot of what you can and can't do is regulated and constantly being watched; sounds scary right?

Someday's Dreamers follows Kikuchi Yume, our emotional/sensitive protagonist. She's a mage in training and has come to Tokyo to better understand her powers, what it's like to be a mage and to become a certified mage. Throughout Someday's Dreamers, we follow her time in Tokyo and all the issues she faces.

Now even though Kikuchi Yume ... is our protag and it's all about her, the supports, Angela, another girl who is an apprentice mage is also slightly important and is shown; there are clear arcs that involve her and Kikuchi too. The other "main" person would be the sensei or the mage who helps Yume with the mage training, Masami Oyamada. He's the teacher for Yume and is involved with just about everything that Yume does, although he's laidback and has some issues of his own that we eventually get to explore.

The story, for the most part is very conjoined, it's a slice of life with an episodic format (Which I feel isn't the best choice for Someday's Dreamers, I would have preferred a story that flowed in an easier to follow format). When we're first introduced to Yume, we're told she has extraordinary capabilities and that her mother was a great mage as well. She's able to make money from thin air, lift cars in a city straight into the sky and things that really show, she's powerful. Unfortunately, this angle is never really explored and is essentially forgotten throughout the rest of the episodes.

Although Someday's Dreamers does it's nigh-on episodic format, it's not "bad" enough to make a big difference, there is just no clear cut time line for us to follow and it feels like there are time skips that keep occurring, though that might be my problem and not the anime.

The sound and music in Someday's Dreamers is gorgeous though, it's a huge "job well done", big thumbs up and all that. The instrumental, orchestrated music that will pop up during scenes is phenomenal and well worth a listen to. The OP (Flowers of the Wind) is fantastic and so peaceful, relaxing and slow; the singer is so beautiful and the way the song is setup, it just sounds so good. The ED (Under the Blue Sky) is just as good, although using a slightly quicker tempo (still plenty slow though), beautiful vocalist, great lyrics. In Episode 12, we get to hear the ED in an acoustic way and it is quite amazing, you can hear (or I think) the passion and depth of the song with how it's performed in an acoustic environment; it's 10/10 stuff.

Seiyuu performance: Normally I don't comment on this, because I love the squeeful, extra cute, moe stuff and since that's all I watch, nothing to say. In Someday's Dreamers however, it sounds like all the seiyuu are very quiet and I don't mean I'm listening to the anime with low volume. It's as if they're near whispering, talking very softly, ya know? This isn't a problem for me, since I seem to talk the same way, soft and "peaceful", but the problem is, it feels like the performances fell flat. Expressions weren't adjusted as much as you'd think and it's a little weird to hear all the performers speak in this low tone type of voice. Now again, not an issue for me, but I feel like the way they speak could most definitely put someone off from this.

Animation: Another aspect in which Someday's Dreamers isn't so hot. It's not fluid, at all. I guess this is what a cheap budget would look like. The mouths just open and close, there are no intricacies in the movements, the animation is .... well I guess not as smooth as it could be. There are many stills used to prolong scenes, and things of that nature. It's a warning, the animation in Someday's Dreamers is not a strong point at all, but fortunately for Someday's Dreamers, it doesn't have to be perfect and extra smooth. The way the entire anime is shown to us, the lack of polish and depth to the animation is almost a non issue...... except for the mouths, I swear there are scenes that literally only have open and close mouth frames with nothing in-between. Again, it's not.... that bad to scare you off, but it's something I noticed and was noticeable throughout all 12 episodes. A good point on animation is when the "special" powers are used. The powers are shown by using holograms, so Yume for instance has a dolphin. Those scenes are incredible and are both drawn and animated well.

Art Style: If we take the animation away from the picture and focus on art, I'd say it's good enough for the way Someday's Dreamers wants to be presented. The colors aren't bold, they're subdued and honestly, almost realistic in how it's shown. The characters are drawn really well and I actually like how it all looks. The eyes aren't so big compared to the faces (I know people hate big eyes). It's a good looking show, even if there isn't so much detail.

Overall: Someday's Dreamers is a solid slice of life story about decision making and always trying to get the best out of any given situation. It's kind, light hearted, sincere and sometimes even serious in how it presents itself. Not everyone will understand what it's like to be a mage, not everyone will understand that you can't do everything, but always try your best, failures and mistakes can help you grow and become better. Yume was a fantastic Main and the concept and theme of the story worked well, I just wish we could have seen more of her capabilities and things of that, because we don't witness much strong magic. (If you're interested, Someday's Dreamers is on Hulu, if you don't want to buy the DVD)

Note: No idea where to put it, but this is a very slow, unfolding type of Slice of Life. I mean... very slow. (I obviously enjoyed it though)

(English)------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mahoutsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto is an anime with a very interesting world but badly carried out.

The story has an interesting approach, there are people who can use powers and people who do not, magicians must be controlled and must do a training in which they explain everything they should and should not do with their powers, as it is not allowed that they use them for their own benefit or for criminal acts, and magicians must help other people through a petition approved by the magicians' council.

Many chapters are boring or even heavy, others are interesting, but the best is the penultimate, which shows ... that magic does not fix everything, and the consequences it has, especially with the cat scene, if this had continued like this I would have given a 6 or 7, but no... they could not leave it that way... In the end they annoyed the story by making it all go smoothly.

The animation is normal with some bizarre faults.

The sound is decent but you hear something wrong, the soundtrack is mediocre and the opening and ending are not bad at all but they are nothing special.

The characters are a bit flat but some have a past that defines them as they are now.

It is a neutral point, I do not recommend it, nor do I advise against it.

(YouTube channel Konjiki no Inazuma)

(Español)--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mahoutsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto es un anime con un un mundo muy interesante pero mal llevado a cabo.

La historia tiene un planteamiento interesante, hay gente que puede usar poderes y personas que no, los magos deben estar controlados y deben hacer un entrenamiento en el que se explica todo lo que deben y no deben hacer con sus poderes, ya que no está permitido que los usen para su propio beneficio ni para actos criminales, y los magos deben ayudar a otras personas mediante una petición aprobada por el consejo de magos.

Muchos capítulos se hacen aburridos o incluso pesados, otros son interesantes, pero el mejor es el penúltimo, que muestra que la magia no lo arregla todo, y las consecuencias que tiene, en especial con la escena del gato, si esto hubiese seguido así le habría dado un 6 o 7, pero no... no podían dejarlo así... Al final fastidiaron la historia haciendo que todo se arreglase.

La animación es normalita con algunos fallos un tanto extraños.

El sonido es decente pero se escucha algo mal, la banda sonora es mediocre y el opening y ending no están mal del todo pero no son nada especial.

Los personajes son un poco planos pero algunos tienen un pasado que los define tal y como son ahora.

Es un punto neutro ni lo recomiendo, ni lo desaconsejo.

(Canal de YouTube Konjiki no Inazuma)