Nanbaka

Many have heard the old proverb, "If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one". By extension, the more rabbits one chases at once, the harder each is to catch. Nanbaka takes this a step further: it starts going after one rabbit, then gets distracted by a bird and later a fish. It unfortunately fails to catch any of them, but at least it looks cool trying.

At its core, Nanbaka is a zany, colourful gag comedy in a prison setting! ...Or is it an action shonen? No? A character drama? In practice, it frequently switches targets when it may have been wiser to ... stick to one.

From the get-go, Nanbaka presents a fast-paced series of varied jokes, ranging from visual humour to ironic subversion to borderline non-sequitur. They weren't exactly original, and didn't get to me personally, but variety and quick pacing are handy tools for holding interest whenever a punchline doesn't quite hit the mark. At this point, I respected Nanbaka for what it was. It had a clear identity, and showed commitment to it.

However, the show quickly lost its focus from there. In my eyes, a lack of focus is one of the fastest ways to kill viewer interest, and often a sign of poor writing. Nanbaka soon falls into this trap; rather than continuing its gag comedy roots, it tries to take on multiple identities at once. As soon as the action and drama arrive, the pacing slows considerably and the jokes become less varied or frequent. This would be fine if the new elements meshed well, or were at least strong additions to the series, but instead, they just make things messier.

The action elements suffer from weak choreography. This is expounded on by mid-action cuts to narration by onlooking characters - an issue seen in many action anime. For once, Nanbaka could have made this trope work in its favour by filling the narration with its usual zany jokes. Alas, it's just the usual filler dialogue to stretch out the no-longer-action while explaining attacks that didn't really need to be explained and/or stating things that are obvious to the viewer.

Despite the action portion's weaknesses, the drama is where I find Nanbaka to be the least successful. At these points, the show suddenly takes on a more serious tone than the accompanying gag comedy and action. This results in a weird situation in which a viewer is simultaneously expected to take the show seriously while also not taking it seriously at all. It's not the tonal shifts that are the issue - rather, it's their frequency and the show's inability to sell them.

Furthermore, compelling drama requires compelling characters - something Nanbaka does not have. Most of them come down to one-dimensional quirks or hobbies and maybe the occasional simple backstory. They're too simple to be interesting on their own, and it makes investment difficult.

And this brings up what I believe to be Nanbaka's main weakness, and the source of nearly all its problems: it's characters. Even with its wildly differing subject matter, this show certainly wasn't doomed from the start. It simply lacked the tools needed to succeed. While there were several things that could have helped the show (improved action pacing and choreography, or a more memorable soundtrack to quickly and effectively shift tone), ultimately, I believe that characterization is the one key missing weapon it really needed to hit all its desired targets.

Stronger characters can create chemistry which helps to sell the comedy and elevate it from "gag" to "riot". In turn, these jokes can be a quick and effective way to show characterization. From there, these improved characters help to invest a viewer before the show switches to action, and when drama builds, the viewer will more readily buy into it. But without this depth of character, the act falls apart, undercut from its very foundations.

Despite all my criticisms of Nanbaka, one positive I can mention is the show's art. It has a unique, sparkly, insanely colourful style that immediately draws attention. I'll admit, this alone made it easier for me to sit through Nanbaka's weakest points. The style, however, is not nearly enough to carry the show on its own against its many weaknesses.

In the end, Nanbaka gets a tad too ambitious for its own good, and misses the fundamentals as a result. What could have been a notable series sadly ends up as a disorganized, zig-zagging mess, with no clear identity beyond its visual style. When it does manage to catch a rabbit, it's not a particularly tasty one.

Nanbaka is a prison comedy series. The manga was originally written by Futamata Shou. In late 2016, Satelight began airing an anime adaptation. You may remember them as the studio behind Heat Guy J & Sousei no Aquarion. So, how does this one compare to their other works I've reviewed? Let's take a gander.

Story:

Nanba is, supposedly, the world's most formidable prison. With the toughest guards, the most inescapable perimeter, the sparkliest design and the finest dining and recreation services. We follow four prisoners, Juugo, Uno, Rock & Nico, who have escaped from prisons all over the world as they go about their lives and ... make trouble for the guards. Insert shenanigans here.

The biggest issue with this series is that it attempts to blend zany, really over the top comedy, with some more serious back stories and an underlying plot about a certain character having serious enemies who may well pose a threat. This results in a pretty significant case of tonal clash. Then we have the humour itself. Honestly, it doesn't work a lot of the time. A lot of it is based around the characters being stupid or something over the top and random happening. I've talked about this before with a different less than good comedy, but randomness isn't funny. A good zany, absurd comedy will have some internal logic that will be largely consistent, being bent on rare occasions for a jape. Pure randomness is what you get when an eight year old tries to make up a joke. “So, a guy walks into a pub and asks the bartender for a pint. The bartender says, 'I can't serve you. I'm a cockatoo.' And the guy looks up and notices that he is.” And it's not funny but you give them a pity chuckle because they're eight. Problem is, this was written by an adult who should know better.

That being said, some of the goofs based around characters acting like idiots are pretty funny. There are times when those get executed well. I'll give it credit on that, it does have some funny bits.

Characters:

The major inmates in this series can all be described very simply. They have a tragic back story and very little personality. Now, I have maintained that a comedy doesn't need deep, complex characters. It needs characters with strong dynamics who can play off of one another really well to deliver the laughter. However, the whole tragic back stories element and the more serious stuff the series tries to do arguably makes this a series that should have more complex characters. Even putting that aside, the character dynamics are pretty underwhelming and don't generally lead to good comedic moments. A lot of the side characters suffer from one joke syndrome. Take the Warden. Her joke is that she has a crush on Hajime, the guard in charge of our protagonists, and people misinterpret her intense gazes.

Art:

The art isn't very good, to put it nicely. While I will give it credit for having unique character designs, the backgrounds are pretty lazy. Additionally, Satelight made the perplexing decision to put everything in sparkle vision. I'm not kidding, the entire bloody anime is sparkly. Now, here's the thing. Sparkle vision can work when used in certain circumstances for comedic effect. Fullmetal Alchemist is a great example. However, putting everything in constant sparkle vision doesn't have any comedic effect. Instead, it just hurts your eyes.

Sound:

The cast in this is perfectly passable. I can't call them brilliant in this, or even good, but it's also one of those series where the acting can't make up for the lack of characterisation. The music was handled by Fujisawa Kenji and it's all right. Which may actually make it the strongest element of the series.

Ho-yay:

There's a bit. We have the gay stereotype character voiced by Kimeru. Juugo also mentions liking both guys and girls, and there are reasons to believe he was serious.

Final Thoughts:

Nanbaka is a pretty weak comedy. It suffers from tonal problems, humour that falls flat more often than not, constant sparkle vision and dull characters. That being said, it does have its funny moments and I can't really say it was bad. If you're a fan of randomness and comedy stemming from characters being morons, you might enjoy it. For me, the final rating is going to be a 4/10. Next week I'll look at Osomatsu-san, which will hopefully be a better class of comedy.

To be blunt, Nanbaka was boring, lacking in plot, had boring characters, and wasn't funny. Lets start with the story: there are some convicts who are good at escaping from jail so they put them in a maximum security prison (all together of course, so that they can work as a team to escape whenever they want to). This idea has potential and if taken seriously it could have been worked into a great psychological thriller, so of course they did the exact opposite when making this show. It's so bright and colorful that there were moments where i thought I was on a bad ... acid trip and was about as serious as the chances of a childhood friend in a rom-com, that is to say, not serious in the slightest. The art didn't want to make me actively bleach my eyes though so that's a plus. The songs were possibly the most vanilla songs I have ever heard in my life. In all honesty I was hoping that the characters would somehow die so that the series could end, I felt not an ounce of emotion for them. It was a mad dash to the third episode with this one watching it at 2 times speed so that it would be over faster. Overall, this anime was just a mess. Its like if Grand Blue wasn't funny at all, so essentially just a big heaping pile of nothing.

In a world where people are born with nail polish...

Story:
Nanbaka is a complete mess. First it starts as a slice-of-life comedy, then it shifts to action shounen, then to drama, then back to comedy and eventually back to drama. I have no idea what the creators were trying to do, but it sure as hell wasn't entertaining the least bit. The main story (if you wanna call it that) is shortly mentioned early on, then forgotten for a good while, then brought back again all of a sudden. Maybe the episode writers should've talked to each other at some point.
1/10

Art:
The character design is a disaster. ... These guys are so flamboyant and feminine that it's ridiculous. And everything sparkles. Everything! This is what hell for the homophobic must look like. Animation is solid, the backgrounds look good, but I can't take my eyes off of these ladyboys.
3/10

Sound:
The voice acting is good. Especially the chief warden sounds good, with her dual personality. Opening and ending were not very good however, especially the ending was more annoying than anything.
6/10

Characters:
Most of them are incredibly boring. The chief warden and her assistant are somewhat funny, Hajime is also pretty cool. But that's about it. Especially the main characters feel very empty.
4/10

Enjoyment:
You may have noticed that this review is pretty short, especially compared to my other recent ones. But there simply isn't much more for me to say about Nanbaka. It was boring most of the time, the storytelling was incoherent and most of the cast was completely uninteresting. It's not even been a week since I finished this anime and I have already forgotten most of it. If you ever feel the need to completely waste your time, feel free to give Nanbaka a shot.
2/10

Overall:
3.2/10

If you came here looking for an immensely meaningful plot that will make you see the world in a completely different way and make you wonder what the purpose of life is, then I'm terribly sorry... you came to the wrong place. Though, if you came here for a short show that will keep you entertained on times when you purely want to watch something simple, but just aren't into those moe-blobs or harem shows, then... nope, not that one either.

Nanbaka offers you the typical gag-anime humor consisting of popular shounen anime "special move" exclamations and pointless comical moments in the middle of serious fights, ... but then there is some drama that makes the show seem as it were trying to make the plot deeper, thus make it look like it doesn't know what kind of series it actually wants to be.

The story is nothing special. Four young criminals with unpleasant pasts, known for always breaking out of every prison they're transferred to, end up in the world's most intimidating prison, where the story is set. That's pretty much the baseline, and while it wasn't that bad at all, the needless drama kicked in, and it ruined everything. Pointless overexaggerating drama, even though it could've stayed a fun and lighthearted series without any drama whatsoever.

The art is very nice and detailed, which I like a lot. Every single thing on a character, no matter how big or small, has a slight gradiation which makes the art look significantly more detailed. The animation seems pretty solid, as well. The colours are very bright and vivid; just what feels best for an action anime series. On the other hand, we always have those flashy stars around the character that seem kind of pointless. Also, all of the characters have these colourful characteristics, be it hair, eyes, clothes, or all of those together, and while it suits the carefree comedic side it had in the beginning, it quickly gives off the opposing effect when it has its identity crisis. Simply makes it look like a few rainbows fighting to death. Lovely.

When it comes to sound, I didn't really notice anything astonishing during the actual show, but I do like the opening considerably. I might also add that the voices suit each character fairly well.

The characters might be a little cliché at times, but overall they're aren't that bad... that is before it goes up the hill with the drama and they become impossible to relate to, or even just enjoy.

Now, there are still quite a few flaws in this anime, so let me just mention those right now.

For starters, the show is about 5 different individuals, the four inmates and their guard, so why is it that an episode ends with an intriguing cliffhanger and continues with an entire episode about the backstory of a character who barely even has any screen-time? In that case, a mere filler about just one of the main characters would've been a lot more entertaining. Generally, the show often gives off this rushed feeling, as if they tried developing the story at the last second. Which leads to my next point, what we've all been waiting for: The identity crisis. Typically, an action gag-anime has a lot of humor during fights and such moments, with slight drama here and there to add some spice, but here there's a supposedly serious fight, random humor all over the scene, and then suddenly everyone gets depressing. The anime proclaimed that it's a gag-anime during the show. It seems as though it just can't pick its mind on what it wants to be, a serious action drama show, or a comedic gag-anime. My guess is that it tries to be both, serious and funny, and balance that like other shows do, but it just seems to fail miserably. In my opinion, it would have been highly enjoyable without any drama, if it simply stayed the way it was in the first few episodes.

The only audience I could imagine Nanbaka for, the way it ended up, is the audience that has just watched a few mainstream shows, and doesn't really care about that story. The audience who just wants some action, which action is kind of unappealing, as well, because it barely has any.

Overall: 4/10
Nanbaka had vast potential as a pure comedy anime. The animation and characters were stellar, and all the anime needed to do in order for this to be a hilarious and entertaining watch was to follow the everyday life of these guys and observe how they interact with each other. But whoever is responsible for writing this managed to screw that up. By the end of the season, I felt as disappointed as I've ever been by an anime, which says something considering I've seen Gantz.

Story: 1/10
Watching this anime, I got the feeling that whoever wrote the material thought it was critically necessary to ... add some degree of a serious plot in order to make a good anime. The plot shows up about halfway through the season, and shatters everything that was good about the anime up until that point. The first six episodes were funny, lighthearted, and pure. There wasn't any plot to speak of, just a series of minor arcs unrelated to any kind of bigger picture, and that was just what this anime needed. Then, all of a sudden, the most forced plot I've ever seen came up out of nowhere and dragged the mood, experience, and humor down to rock bottom. It ran completely against everything that had made this anime great, stomped it out and took it over. Even putting that aside, it was just a terrible plot. It didn't make any sense, and just felt fake and forced, as if it was only there to fulfill some sort of requirement.

Art: 8/10
The art style of this anime was unique, vibrant and quirky, matching the characters and setting perfectly. Everything was crazy brightly colored, the characters were all given flamboyant styles to match their personalities, and every line drawn was crisp and sharp. The characteristic style of this anime, in which the foreground objects (characters and the bare minimum of props) were isolated from the rest of the setting and drawn against a conspicuously colorful patterned backdrop, was used to great effect in most scenes where two characters were interacting with each other, highlighting the action and accentuating the comedy. Normally, this would merit a 9/10 score from me, but the art stopped matching the mood when the plot kicked in.

Sound: 5/10
The soundtrack in general was pretty average. I took off one point because there was at least one scene where the music did clash with the atmosphere and detract from the experience. However, I really liked the outro, which is worth about half a point to me, and I partially counted the announcer-guy as a component of the soundtrack, who added another half point to bring the score back to average.

Character: 7/10
Aside from Jyugo and the other characters related to the "plot", every character in this anime is amazing. They all have very distinct, very flamboyant personalities, that show so prominently that none of them really needed any backstory or specially dedicated screentime in order for the viewer to understand them thoroughly. They complement each other perfectly, and the natural interactions between these eccentric people would have been more than enough to make for a thoroughly entertaining watch without any semblance of a story whatsoever. Like with the art, this would normally elicit a 9/10 from me, but I have to take one point off for Jyugo's forced backstory and another point off for the rushed introductions of the other prisoners in the first couple episodes.

Enjoyment: 2/10
By the second episode, I was cautiously optimistic for this anime. By the fifth episode, I was having a blast watching this. But once episode 7 rolled around, it dove downhill fast. I think I've already addressed why in the overall and story sections. The feeling of utter disappointment by the end almost completely drowns out any enjoyment I had earlier on, but I will give it one point above rock bottom.

i'm gonna start the review by saying, that i'm probably way over the intented demographic (i'm 28 yo), and that i only watched this because of my sister

so what can i say about nambaka? i felt asleep halfway throught episode 4, so that should tell you how was my experience watching this, i didn't laugh once in none of the 13 episodes, and as i previoulsy said, and to be fair to the mangaka, i'm probably too old for this kind of jokes, so the humour didn't click with me. The character design i'm not a fan of it, it's too bussy for my liking ... i guess? or i don't know what it is, but i can't come to like them, the constant use of sparks around character was another thing i didn't like, the colors were too bright for my liking, surprisingly the animation was alright, with some highlight in the episodes regarding the tournament, so if you're over the age of 15 probably stay away from this, or not, give it a try if the artstyle and synopsis intrigue you