Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka??

With the end of the year fast approaching, it is time for all of us to reflect on what the anime industry offered us this year. And after seeing a wide variety of shows, I believe 2015 should just be called the Year of the Moe. This year, not only did we get shows like Hello!! Kiniro Mosaic and Wakaba*Girl, but now this one too: Gochiusa...2!

Gochiusa 2 may not appear to be as appealing as other Fall 2015 shows such as One Punch Man and there may be a good reason for that. To some people, a slice-of-life approach may be too slow-paced for them. ... For others, just looking at the artwork within the poster for Gochiusa 2 may be a turn-off for them. And there's always that group that says "Why would I ever watch a show of cute girls doing cute things (CGDCT)?"

And you know, they are all technically correct. They're right - it is slow-paced, it uses a heavy "moe" appeal, it is very CGDCT, and, at the end of the day, nothing happens. But even with that aside, Gochiusa 2 is very charming in its own way and it does not fail to impress even within its own very tiny little slice-of-life niche.

Let's start off with the story and characters. Obviously, as with every other slice-of-life out there, there is no story and no character development. Without these important elements, I have no choice but to nitpick at the "small" things - it is, after all, these small things that set slice-of-life anime shows apart from each other.

The premise for this show has got to be one of the most absolutely unique settings that I have ever seen in anime. To summarize, you basically have five girls living in a quaint, cozy Italian-style town full of wide streets and alleyways that are lined with restaurants, supermarkets, and brick-and-mortar shops. And for me, I appreciate this change in scenery. Too many times have I seen in anime the overused and clichéd "group of friends in the same high school or same class or same club" setup. Gochiusa 2 breaks away from all of that. In fact, the story doesn't even focus that much on their time at school, but if you want to be technical about it, the five main characters attend three different schools (one middle school & two different high schools).

Additionally, Gochiusa 2 utilizes its unique premise to its fullest extent. It does not pigeonhole characters into one particular setting (can you imagine if Gochiusa 2 only showed the girls working in their respective cafes 24/7?). In every single episode, the girls are constantly on the move throughout the city. They might end up at a park, a supermarket, their workplaces, their homes, their schools - which all the more proves that the entire premise is used.

Alright, now onto the characters. The main characters are all very colorful in their own way. Each of them are quick to quip up a funny response to whatever another character has to say. Of all of the main characters, I would say Rize is probably the most interesting. Her military-like mindset and personality shows up throughout her conversations with other people. She is charming in her own way way and her presence injects a new level of humor into the series as a whole.

However, given this, I wouldn't say that the characters are completely perfect. Aoyama, for one, was (in my opinion) a weak supporting character. Too many times she just "happened" to be where the girls are (even if they weren't working at their cafes, she would just randomly show up into the scene). She would then say a few lines before falling out of the scene and showing up in a later scene (or in the next episode). She really didn't serve any purpose, and her presence was really treated more as an avenue for a couple more quick jokes. Basically, she was a gimmick; I would argue that nothing would have significantly changed even if she was left out of Gochiusa 2.

Secondly, the characters were a little predictable due to the nature of their relationships with each other. I know this might seem weird at first, so let me use two of these relationships as examples: Rize-Sharo and Kokoa-Chino-Megu-Maya. Rize and Sharo share your typical kouhai-senpai relationship. And like many kouhai-senpai relationships out there, Sharo plays the "what if Senpai notices me" card way too many times throughout the entire show. As for Kokoa, Chino, Mega, and Maya, they share more of a big sister-little sister relationship (at least from Kokoa's point of view, lol). But again, similarly with Sharo, Kokoa plays the "why don't you love your big sister" card too many times and hence there is a little bit of predictability on that front. Given this, I believe that this predictability issue is relatively minor - remember, slice-of-life anime is very limited in what they can do since they don't really have a plot or character development. And plus, their actions (at least within the context of those relationships) are just slightly different in execution every time that they are used, but despite that, their jokes/reactions/dialogues do share a similar basis.

As for the art, I mean, you can kind of tell from the poster and literally the first thirty key frames. It is certainly different but also certainly not worse from the first season - the artwork is much more illuminated, colorful, and, well, "fluffier." It certainly adds to the moe factor that I kept mentioning earlier and it does so very effectively. The producers also heavily integrate cutscenes throughout the show as a way to integrate somewhat exaggerated yet hilarious reactions from the main characters.

The sound is pretty awesome too. The OP and ED - like the artwork - have a very distinct moe factor to it. It is literally cuteness layered on top of cuteness and has the power to crush even the most cold-hearted man out there. One cool thing I really liked about the sound too was that the in-show sound was well cued with the characters' reactions. At one moment, the music would be very light, and then it would change to a grinding halt when the characters tell some really lame (but charming!) joke. This was done extremely well, so props!

(Also, the seiyuu for Tippy is on point. So on point.)

Overall, if you're looking for a slower change of pace to things with well-integrated humor and art and a extra dash of charm, I recommend this show. Now that you're done reading this super long review, let's go shop for a Tippy plushie together. Awh yes.

tl;dr

Pros:
+ Good art, music, and sound cues
+ Colorful characters
+ Very, very unique premise
+ Episodes flowed well despite no obvious plot present
+ There is SOME thematic content (specifically that relating to friendship), but I wouldn't say this is the main focus of this show.
+ Props/items used in the first season do carry over into the second season. Yay for consistency!

Cons:
- Slightly predictable reactions or dialogues
- Weak supporting characters (just a few of them!)

Neutral:
~ Slow-paced
~ Moe appeal
~ CGDCT

***If you're not really into the neutral factors that I indicated above, I strongly recommend you to set aside your predispositions and give this show a shot. I'm pretty sure there are some shows out there where you are like "Yeah well that's a dumb premise" or "that character sounds lame" but after you start the show you're into it. Try it before you buy it!***

Story: 6 (including the premise + flow but excluding the plot itself since there isn't one)
Art: 8 (bring on the moe!)
Sound: 7
Character: 6
Enjoyment: 7
Overall: 6

Final judgment: In a larger context, this is definitely one of the better slice-of-lifes I've seen out there. Without the weak points I indicated at first, this would have easily gotten a 7.

Moe is a rather one-note genre. The main premise and draw of it is having a bunch of cute girls do cute thing in a rather ordinary setting living a day to day life. So, for the Fall 2015 season, our token moe show is Gochuusa 2, a basic rehash of what we know of the moe genre...and then some.

Story: Gocchusa 2 returns to the town of...wherever we are, back to the Rabbit House cafe, where we return back to the seemingly always barren cafe to witness the little adventures of the girls inside.

As mentioned before, the story of a general moe show ... is simple, and as such, Gocchusa's story is rather simple. Every episode is basically another day in the world of Gocchusa and every episode follows the girls in whatever adventure that they go on doing. Things like camping, treasure hunting, work transfer, there's a lot of things. What makes this season different than the last is in setting. Many of the episodes that this season showcases is rather unorthodox, as many of them are outside of the normal 'sit down and talk' and explores a bit more of the world around the girls, which is odd but really a breath of fresh air.

Aside from that, the show does bring a fair chunk of character development particularly with the main two characters, Cocoa and Chino. The show really creates a bond between these two characters which is really quite cute to see.

However, there are a couple bad brews with this show, particularly with just its inherent storyline. And that is, it's boring. While the show has development and has different scenes from episode to episode, there really isn't anything spectacular about it. The tone doesn't shift, and it's just...cute. Sure, there's nothing wrong with cute, but that's all it really is. There's no drama, since everything pretty much returns to the status quo at the end of every episode, and we still don't know how Grandpa Tippy came to be. Aside from its inherent one-notedness (since it's a moe show), there're really no flaws, to be honest.

Overview:
+ Character development
+ Different scenarios (contrary to what they did before)
- One-note tone throughout

Characters: The cast from season one returns back in full force. Chino, Cocoa, Chiya, Rize, and Syaro all return (mainly because they are the main cast) and participate in every episode. There really isn't many difference in terms of character for them since they all stay within their personality parameters and don't really change all that much. Sure Chino and Cocoa have that closer bond that I mentioned earlier, but as characters, they don't really change.

As for cast changes, the show shifts around its side cast importance quite a lot, putting Chino's friends, Mayu and Megumi more in the spotlight, as well as Grandpa Tippy, while putting the author introduced last season, Aoyama, more into the background. What differs this season as well is the fact that they added in a new character, Cocoa's sister as well as a new rabbit. However, due to the way that these kinds of shows work, all of them really only participate as to what is going on in the moment and don't really change. Yeah, character development isn't all that important, but like the main cast, there's really not all much to say about them.

Overview:
+ Everyone comes back
- Everyone is still rather one-note

Art: Produced by White Fox, Gocchusa comes back as shiny and polished as ever with its colorful and bright artstyle. There are little to no flaws with the animation and everything looks high quality and very pleasing to the eye. And then there's the ED animation and that itself is...well, I'll talk about that later.

In addition, the more 'comedic' portion of the show showcases itself with the use of exaggerated emotions and comedic facial changes. They're very classic and used often in comedy, so there really isn't much to point out as special.

Overview:
+ Good, high quality animation
+/- Good, but not unique comedic expressions

Sound: Similar to the rest of the show, the soundtrack for Gocchusa is good, but not really all that special. The OP is a simple moe song sung by the seiyuus of the girls and really doesn't stand out as out of this world. That does not mean it's bad; it's just not really all that special as a song.

The ED on the other hand is...well...you know what, you should just find out for yourself. If you're too lazy to do that, then I'll explain it, I guess. The ED, while the song itself isn't really all that special, is made to be special simply because of the visuals. The song is sung by the VA's of Chino, Mayu, and Megumi and the entire song has all three girls spinning and dancing around and it's just...so...adorable. (Ah, the sound of sirens coming near my home to take me away... T^T)

Overview:
+ Good songs
- Soundtrack really isn't all that memorable

Personal Enjoyment: Gocchusa is a series that really isn't much different than most moe shows. It's a bunch of girls playing around or spending time with one another in the various empty cafes that they work at, (seriously, they have like no business.) and every episode is another adventure for the viewer. They don't even have many rabbit motifs this time, and that's actually a bit sad considering how chock full of rabbits the first season had.

Did I enjoy this anime?

I wouldn't say I enjoyed so much as I just watched it. Every episode is pretty much the same thing and as such, doesn't really have much variation. Yet, it was still oddly entertaining and that ED was something else... (I'm definitely on some government watchlist now...)

What didn't I like about this anime?

There's nothing really to dislike about this anime aside from the fact that it's just...that. By 'that', I mean it's just what it is. There's not depth to it, and, while I know there really shouldn't be any, there's just nothing really all that interesting about it in the end.

Would I recommend this anime?

It's moe. That's the simple way to say it. As such, it's a cute little show about middle/high school girls that live day to day lives. There's nothing really unique about it and it's just rather plain in the long run. Still, if you want to watch an ordinary moe show, I suppose this is an option you can choose.

Story: 7/10

Nearly non-existent; standard moe slice-of-life show fare, which I don't mind. What I do mind though, is the characters.

Characters: 3/10

Cocoa and her friends bored me out of my mind. I could tolerate season 1 but somehow season 2 lost me. I know having deep and developed characters is not the point of this type of show. But for me, I want to be somewhat engaged even when I'm watching a relaxing slice-of-life show, and Gochiusa severely falls short in this respect. Here's why:

Comparing this show to Blend S would make for an interesting case study on what makes a slice-of-life / comedy great. ... In Blend S, the characters are unique, distinct, and above all else, interesting. In addition, Blend S also exhibits a certain degree of wit in its writing. As a result, it's an absolute blast to watch how Blend S' characters react to each other's antics. On the other hand, Gochiusa's characters are bland and generically moe. This makes them very boring to watch. After a few episodes, you've seen them all - Cocoa and Chiya's "airheaded" antics, Rize and Chino's retort, and Sharo's occasional "yuri" outbursts, etc etc etc. On top of that, these characters' reactions are so underwhelming that punchlines usually fall flat on their faces. They don't really react in any interesting way or expand on the joke - they just simply "react" very predictably and then move on to the next joke. I became sick of what this show calls "comedy" halfway into the show.

And so naturally, when the jokes and the character's don't work, what's left to carry the show? The moe. But for me, even the moe is extremely boring. It's nothing I haven't seen before - sickly cute and that's it. Everything feels so incredibly uninspired. For reference, I think the absolute epitome of a good moe slice-of-life show is Himouto, Umaru-chan! I think it's fun, witty, dynamic, and utterly unique.

And so in the end, nothing works for me in this show, which is quite unfortunate, considering how I found season 1 to not be this bad. But that might be because back when I watched it (3 or 4 years ago) my tastes weren't as jaded as they are now.

Art: 7/10

The idyllic setting brings with it some gorgeous scenery and architecture. It's the same old artstyle that season 1 introduced us to. However, I think this style could use some more flexibility and personality. Maybe more interesting facial expressions and more chibi/deformed moments?

Sound: 6/10

Underwhelming. I loved both the OP and ED of season 1, but not this time around. The background music tracks are nice though.

Enjoyment: 5/10


Overall: 6/10