Nazotokine

Tokine Amino is the young and overburdened secretary of the CEO at a talent agency. One day while cleaning, she is suddenly transported to a strange alternate dimension ruled by a floating piglike creature. The creature, Hacchin, explains that this dimension is called "Quizun," and transforms her outfit before stating that she cannot leave unless she solves a puzzle within five minutes. While Tokine manages to keep a mostly calm composure and solve the puzzle, Hacchin recognizes her talent and decides that the two will meet again. Now Tokine runs the risk of suddenly being transported to Quizun at any time, along with anyone who may be within her vicinity.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Sequel:

Kaito x Ansa

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Characters & Voice Actors

Mizukami, Kyouka

Main

Matsui, Eriko
Japanese

Yamazumi, Yoshie

Main

Yashima, Sarara
Japanese

Hacchin

Main

Tokui, Sora
Japanese

Yanagisawa, Natsuko

Main

Sasaki, Mikoi
Japanese

Amino, Tokine

Main

Hara, Natsuko
Japanese

Staff

Fukushi, Naoya

Director, Script, Original Creator

Fujisaki, Yuzu

Theme Song Lyrics, Theme Song Performance, Theme Song Composition

Takano, Hitomi

Character Design

Yabunaka, Hiroaki

Sound Effects

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Opening Theme

"Dimension Sky (ディメンションスカイ)" by Yuzu Fujisaki

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Ending Theme

"destiny" by Aki

Reviews

Aug 4, 2022

Suntanned_Duck2

Recommended

Spoiler

Spoilers used to give more context. No puzzle spoils though.

Nazotokine is a half slice of life, half puzzles in a quiz world type Original Anime by Tengu Kobo which according to listings on MAL have only does this Anime and it's 'Sequel'. I watched it in 2016 for three episodes but never really bothered for some reason week to week. I thought the concept was interesting though. But thought as it's nearing the end of 2021 I'd finish off a few short anime.

Seeing it again from scratch the vibe of the puzzle world gave off a VR training room kind of look but instead of ... blue/black it's purple. As played a few puzzles games prior (Practical Intelligence Quotient though the puzzles are nothing like this game but the world gave off that vibe to me) to this it seemed similar.

The animation for the characters is ok, nothing special even the CGI in some places is noticeable. The designs are fine but I did get confused who was who as I felt that I was expecting the protagonist in the centre of the screen when they were on the left. Them being on the left wasn't a bad thing as the protaonist's friend was talking to other characters so it suited the scenes and the show doesn't just revolve around the protagonist during the slice of life moments but it did throw me off a few times.

The slice of life parts are more about our office lady protagonist that's an otaku but doing things in the office, going to the movies, onsen and other slice of life/typical things. It doesn't really give off too much of a Cute Girls Doing Cute Things type show just a slice of life with the puzzles every so often. With 5 puzzles in the entire show if I remember correctly. There is a bit of fan service with the onsen one but they aren't using it for much more than 'she just happened to appear in the puzzle world at that time' than a usual fan service excuse the way other shows do. I don't mind either way but it is noticeable.

As the protagonist wasn't phased or freaking out by the world jump the first time or isn't the other times it was surprising to see a character used to entertainment not freaking out from a weird dimensional jump. I swear I'm sick of characters so average they freak out because their normal life is so great. Nice to have a character that is aware and can take it. They aren't the most deep characters either but still it was a nice touch I appreciated. They even point out others that had been to the puzzle world freaked out and she wasn't.

During these puzzle moments that happen in particular locations she has to solve the word play like puzzles and a character (an alien pig/rabbit with sort of thing called Hacchin) that's there to tell her if she got the answer right, was close, what the time limit is or presents the puzzle is there.

Each puzzle is completely different. While each episode doesn't have a puzzle just the episode ending before the puzzle starts at times which can be annoying due to the 7 minute run time it doesn't seem too bad, the episode with the puzzles give you enough time and are not cut off at all even if quick for it's 5 or 6 minutes of actual content depending on the shortened 30 second or 1 minute 30 second intro it goes between sometimes. You get to see some interesting puzzles though, all increasing in difficulty and different concepts each time. The people that appear with her in the transition are usually there as hints and can't move in the dimension besides the protagonist and another character but I don't want to spoil that much. Some involving English words (not just the subs making it clear to the viewer) others more Japanese. Some involving shapes in particular ways others involving train station names. They are all really well done. Some you can kind of guess what they are going to point out next but others you need to wait for them to explain it at the end or during the thinking moments to really get what they are presenting to the viewer. I didn't find myself wanting to spend time thinking about it and more just getting through the episode but the solutions made sense by the end and they explain it well afterwards just encase for the viewer instead of leaving with what the character worked out or the viewer having to completely work it out themselves which the viewer can but it doesn't leave the viewer confused.

While it kind of feels like a quiz show it's not like a Lucky Star Quiz show scene type format, and more a jump in and out of a quiz solving round only in a dimension.

I'd say watch the show for the puzzles as they are easily the best part even for being the show's gimmick. The slice of life parts are fine but don't mean much and you will find the puzzle bits distracting if only focusing on that. The slice of life bits more so add extra as well as are a break/breather between puzzles or to show time passing between each puzzle encounter. There isn't much story, even each time the protagonist tries to get to the bottom of why she is here it doesn't want to reveal much at all. The 12th episode doesn't say much either so assuming it's sequel show explains things but otherwise even for not much story just having a concept like this is enjoyable in itself. Besides there is tons of slice of life shows to enjoy anyways but not as many shows doing a puzzle based dimension to my knowledge. I highly recommend it if wanting something different or for the puzzles. As 7 minutes each and 12 episodes should be able to get through it fairly quickly in a few hours.

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Dec 21, 2016

LegendAqua

Mixed Feelings

You want puzzles???...you know both English and Japanese?...well good luck with this one, it's gonna be fun!, the others who don't...well just good luck.

So it's about an office lady that gets transported into a "quiz world" and needs to find the answer to puzzle so she can leave, if she can't...well we never know by the end of it. Right this "could" be interesting...if the puzzle weren't a mishmash of English and Japanese and vague hints at times.

Really, if your just in it for the puzzles, it "ok" as an anime short, but as in context to Tokine Amino's character it's fine. But having context ... to the outer rules of the "Quizun" and a "mascot" of the Quizun doesn't tell us almost ANYTHING about Quizun besides Tokine and how she got here and ANSWER the puzzle, it's not really wasted potential but it would be interesting for a bit of fantasy world building but no, focus on puzzle. Even if the final episode did have Hacchin tell a little about what the Quizun world, it doesn't do much about Tokine's situation in all this and the mere fact that Hacchin hints that "she's gonna see Hacchin again", baiting for another season isn't much to go by.

Nazotokine also has a formula to how it flows. Tokine voiced by Natsuko Hara and friends goes to a place they found, during their off time, they give some personality to Tokine or some of her friends, Tokine gets riled up to the point she gets transported to the Quiz World, next episode, she solves the puzzle, rinse and repeat 4 times. Again LA can't be entirely harsh to this kind of anime short as again some of the puzzles as vague as they are, are "interesting" in a barest minimum and "trying" to give character trait to Tokine and her friends are ok enough, but the formula and the mascot Hacchin voiced by Sora Tokui doesn't tell you squat about the Quiz world to have a bit of structure and more detail to it all to make it at least a bit more interesting, instead go with formula, forget context and make Tokine moan after each puzzle solved...yeah they go there...-sigh-.

The animation by Tengu Kobo is sparse at best from constant chibi character faces to decent character designs, but come Quiz World, it goes both ways, Hacchin is entirely CGI, but the Quizun is bright and colorful at the same time, but as LA said, the animation is sparse, but not horrible.

Nazotokine, instead a horrible anime short, if your into English and Japanese mishmash puzzles and just want to see a limited amount of characters go through defining their traits under limited animation it's ok at best. If the puzzles are your sole focus, it'll get your interest much like Tokine is forced to. If you "Question" anything else about Quizun or WHY Tokine has to do these puzzles forever...your gonna go nowhere, because of this, Nazotokine isn't an outright horrible anime short, it has problems sure, but not enough to call it horrible, it's just "meh" for LA at best, but not enough to rage about.

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Dec 21, 2016

AquamarineKyber

Not Recommended

WARNING: SPOILERS. DON'T LOOK IF YOU WOULD RATHER RISK TORTURING YOURSELF BY DIVING INTO THE SCARY UNKNOWN.

Here's the big question I need to ask all of you reading this, including me: Why on earth did you watch this piece of pointless money-grabbing garbage of an anime? This anime is insulting to the highest degree, and is just one of the prime examples of how bad a job you can do with an anime. Not sure what I'm talking about? Get ready to get schooled, my dear otakus.

Let's start with the story. Bland? Check. Makes no sense? Check. Dreadful? Ohoho, big check there. Bottom line is, ... this story makes me sick, and here's why: This series had potential. I didn't expect too much when I first found out about it, but it had the potential to be at least somewhat half-decent of a story. Enter Tokine, a bland, Mary Sue otaku who is adored by everyone for seemingly no reason at all, other than the sole reason that the plot demands it for, again, seemingly no reason. Makes sense? No? How do you think I felt watching this? Anyway, Hacchin appears, which I like to call a severely watered down Kyuubey. He randomly for no reason transports Tokine to a world called Quizn, where she is forced to solve puzzles (oh, did I forget to mention they shoehorned a chosen one cliche?) to pleasure his Pringle ears. This would be cool, except for the part where they make no sense. AT ALL. The puzzles range anywhere from so easy that you can figure it out in two seconds (yet Tokine can't figure it out for almost the entire duration of an episode, so I suspect she has the brain power of a walnut), or so overly complicated that the five minute time limit that Pringle Pig gives you is ridiculously unfair. Due to this, there is no fun to be had from watching Tokine solve the puzzles. With something like this, you'd expect Death Note or at the very least No Game No Life-level cleverness to it, but instead you get boring puzzles that make even a MgRonald's cashier more entertaining to watch, and it's less depressing too, surprisingly enough.

Lastly, let's talk about a couple of other huge problems the plot created. Firstly, in episode 9, they introduce a twist to the story (I'll leave it out for those who are offended by spoilers). It would be an interesting plot twist, except they introduce it so late into the story to where it just feels underwhelming. Even worse, they drop that plot twist entirely in the last two episodes. Another problem, Tokine clearly hates being sent to Quizn, yet for some reason in the last puzzle, she's suddenly enjoying being there with no transition that justifies it?

The music is pathetic at best. The background music in each episode is generic, and the opening theme is so godawful-sounding that it makes my ears bleed. The ending theme is decent at least, but just one "decent" song will not save this category by any means.

The artwork is where the real shame comes in. Here's the problem: The artwork is beautiful......until the characters move. At that point, you have choppy animation, royalty-free flame gifs, reused scenes over and over and over and OVER, and constant smiles. I'm not kidding, half the time when characters are talking, they're staring almost right at you, smiling. I would almost call this series a Horror series just for that alone. Additionally, when they're moving, their heads rarely move, creating some awkward positions at times.

Overall, Nazotokine is a low-budget, lazy, severely underwhelming series that fails at everything it tries to be, and does nothing to redeem itself. I'd even go as far as saying this is by far the worst anime of the Fall 2016 season, and I just seriously wonder why anyone in their right minds would let this piece of crap air. With that in mind, I cannot in good conscience recommend this to anyone, not even to those who love to torture themselves by watching bad anime. I could give you a long list of horrible anime for you to watch, but this is one series that must be locked away, never to be touched again. I do have to admit, though, it's pretty cute how it thinks it'll get a second season. Unfortunately, if Asterisk War can get a second season, then anything can get a second season, so I'm not looking forward to the future.

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Poll: Nazotokine Episode 12 Discussion Stark700 - Dec 21, 2016	21 replies	by Punkero »» Feb 9, 2021 8:38 AM
Poll: Nazotokine Episode 10 Discussion Stark700 - Dec 7, 2016	16 replies	by Punkero »» Feb 9, 2021 7:52 AM
Poll: Nazotokine Episode 9 Discussion Stark700 - Nov 30, 2016	14 replies	by Punkero »» Feb 9, 2021 7:35 AM
Poll: Nazotokine Episode 7 Discussion Stark700 - Nov 16, 2016	19 replies	by Punkero »» Feb 8, 2021 5:05 PM
Poll: Nazotokine Episode 6 Discussion Stark700 - Nov 9, 2016	19 replies	by Punkero »» Feb 8, 2021 3:21 PM

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