Allison to Lillia

Allison to Lillia is long. Truthfully, it should have been written as two separate animes with only the mild familial connection that connects the two arcs. The first arc features tomboy Allison Whittington and her involvement in the military affairs of this fictional WWI-eque background, and of her relationship with scholar Wil Schultz, which (predictably) ends in a child, the eponymous Lillia, the focus of the second arc and her reaction to the legacy of her parents. The use of Wil in both arcs (I won't spoil what happens to bridge him into the second arc) is both lazy and unfortunate in its usage of ... the character, and was a disappointing development. It is in this reviewer's opinion that if time is to be spent establishing the background of the story, then the story must be interesting to follow, while it felt bland and merely provided the opportunities to "force" the two main couples together. It had a decent production design, but watching it felt like almost a chore rather than something to be entertained with. 7/10

The world is a confusing place. We have a whole variety of different opinions about how the world should be run and why, along with how people should act in certain situations. With the billions of people scattered across the Earth, to say that a majority of people believe in a single set of societal rules would certainly be a strong accusation. When all of this is taken into consideration, I could imagine how difficult it would be to draw out a realistic, yet imaginary world where nothing about our countries or cultural agendas exist. This is something Allison to Lillia sets out to disprove; ... that a realistic, yet imaginary world can be both conceivable and simplistic all at once.

The story begins in a world that isn't our own. While it resembles a post World War view of Europe and harbors technology within that timeframe, it assures you that it isn't what you believe it to be. The viewer is quickly introduced to a young man by the name of Wil, who, at first glance, seems like a studious and cautious boy destined for a hard-working life as a school teacher. His character is basically the equivalent of any typical male hero on his own. However, just as quickly, we are introduced to the second protagonist of this series: Wil's childhood friend, Allison. Allison is an aspiring pilot who's gutsy personality and adventurous spirit makes her a perfect mis-match for Wil, and makes for an entertaining variety of banter between them. The chemistry between these friends is spontaneous, while also cliche. While it's been done in the past, the gradually progressing romance between the two feels more realistic the more the viewer gets to know about their past together and the hardships they have to face while trying not to get under each other's skin. Wil and Allison's relationship from the very start is coated in a distinct aura of innocence and care. The relationship between these characters work for this reason and this reason alone.

The plot centers around two countries that are currently at war with each other over ownership of the land they both currently reside over. Again, certainly doesn't sound like Europe, does it? While this makes for an interesting premise, one of the many things that this anime likes to do is think of a topic, then resolve it within three to six episodes. What you read in the synopsis only covers the first four episodes of this series, while the rest of the series becomes more focused on little sub-plots that arise after the main plot is resolved. This makes the title feel more episodic in general, which may kill any hope to those looking for a long adventure with a sort of epic atmosphere. Along with these sub-plots comes more opportunities for the title to make itself as realistic as possible. It takes those opportunities and destroys them. Many times throughout this anime I found myself questioning the decisions certain characters make or why something was resolved in the fashion that it was. There are plenty of inconsistencies that reside inside the plot of this anime that only hurts the credibility of the world within it.

The overall design of this new world is colorful and shiny, like Van Gogh painting with diamonds, but without the Impressionist designs and tarnished easel. It only adds to the feel of innocence that surrounds the characters and their equipment as they take on the imaginary world. While it invokes nostalgic emotions, the movement of the characters are a bit slow-paced, especially during action scenes. The character designs are memorable, but only for those they decided to focus on. Wil and Allison are visibly brighter than any other character in this series, which gives the impression that they are more important than anyone else in the series. While that may ring true, it could always rub supporters of the side characters the wrong way.

The only reason this title gets by with all of these issues is because of the overall likability of the characters. While Allison and Wil together are already enough to satisfy the void of necessary characters, there are others that come along and hold a firm position in the title's roster along with them. It holds a certain charm that seduced my inner desire for adventure and pre-adolescent fantasies of a dangerous journey across the land with only my closest friend by my side. The imagination put into this is enough to intrigue those with any taste in entertainment.

Suddenly, Allison to Lillia travels fifteen to sixteen years into the future.

The focus of the series now lies on Allison and Wil's daughter, Lillia. While at first she seems to exude more personality from her Mother, as the series progresses, she quickly adapts into her own blend of her parent's worst qualities. This is simply an ironic statement. The truth is, she steals every bit of likability out of her parents and over the course of the series, decides never to show it. This is not an ironic statement. Within the first few episodes of her introduction, Lillia is shown to have the adventurous spirit her Mother possesses, while showing the same hesitance that her Father had at the face of adversity. This is quickly abandoned soon after in order to convert her into a typical damsel in distress. Who is she distressing to? A new character named Treize, who's personality is a blend between unspoiled royalty and spoiled milk. Along with a few other new faces, the anime gives the reigns to Lillia and Treize, two childhood friends who go on spontaneous adventures together while developing a stronger friendship in the process. Sound familiar?

The second part of the series is when the creativity begins to take a turn for the worst. While the idea of the two original main characters having a daughter is refreshing, it ultimately backfires when you take away her personality and put her in the exact same situation as her parents, except without any overwhelming obstacles in their way. To put it simply, Allison to Lillia is a 26 episode anime that resets itself after episode thirteen, with the addition of new characters and the main conflict missing. Along with this repetition, comes more inconsistencies and plot holes. Don't worry, they reset that, too. But fret not, along with these inconsistencies comes drama through cliffhangers and deus ex machinas, something the first thirteen episodes used minimally, and seemed to forget later on that less is more.

With the addition of new faces with recycled personalities, plots that don't amount to much and suspense based on extreme exclamations, Allison to Lillia downgrades into an imaginative world of exploration into the standard cliches of mindless action/suspense. It begins with the promise of a grand journey and concludes with a train falling off of a cliff. This may be symbolic. All that's left to say is that this was a very enjoyable one-cour series.

When I was a kid, television had almost entirely cartoons at morning shows for children. I grew up by watching anything Hanna Barbera or Dic had the kindness to import dubbed to my country. I have no problems with those shows back then; most were really great for their target audience. I was still a kid after all and there wasn’t a series I didn’t like. After all these years, many of those cartoons now appear extremely simplistic and naive. I would never sit down to watch them again, except if for a couple of episodes just to remember the good old 80’s when I ... had no worries besides school exams (practically zero) and my family had a thriving business (which is also now practically zero in income).

Now, the thing is that although naive, some of them could suspend your disbelief a lot better than others. In fact, the best amongst them are those with the least amount of times you would yell “This is not possible!” And yes, back then the chances of saying that, were (duh) practically zero but after so many years the internal logic of some of them work a lot better than others. Think of My Little Pony. Ok, it was a world of magic where anything was possible and so everything weird is somewhat excused. Or the Smurfs; sure, they are not even human so their way of life can be excused as being not-realistic. My grip was mostly with military cartoons like G.I.Joe or ecology-based like Captain Planet. Yes, the action was very cool and such but the internal logic was … hm … fishy. It was really hard to like a setting where tanks, airplanes and buildings would blow up but the soldiers would always find the time to run away or avoid the blast by simply jumping sideways. And it’s not like I could consider them supermen either; they could be knocked out with a simple punch and have a hard time breaking simple ropes when tied. I mean this is war, right? If there are no casualties in a war, it’s not really a war. Or at least not a war you should care about. Same for the logic behind the hero-of-nature, who was presenting things as if the villains liked pollution and that a solution could easily be given without collapsing the world’s economy.

I start to rant too much here; what I mean is that a series needs to suspend your disbelief if it’s supposed to be enjoyed by its target audience.

G.I.Joe or Captain Planet were successful in their time when children were not that critical and knew less about technology or the internet than the average adult. Today, the little rascals can outsmart even me at times and the demand on entertainment is a lot higher. So imagine a series such as Allison to Lilia popping up to give a try.
It won’t work!
It might have been a success if made in the 80’s or even the 90’s but even then it would feel less captivating than an old series such as The Mysterious Cities of Gold. Or the Duck Tales, yeah, good luck beating that masterpiece. It is simply too silly compared to the themes it incorporates.

Now let me try to be more specific. This anime is like having My Little Pony characters in a Saving Private Ryan setting. It just makes no sense! How can you expect to have a war raging on and the characters are all so simplistic, especially when the story is not a pure comedy? How are you supposed to feel drama or tension from a cast that is so easily divided into good and bad people and whose problems can be resolved in the most childish, bloodless, simplistic means possible?

Maybe I sound overcritical but just try to follow my reasoning here. Tom and Jerry is quite the violent cartoon and has immortal characters, yet you can laugh with all that because the violence is used purely for slapstick. But here, the series is trying to make you feel worried about the future of the world because a scary war is waging on and the characters have to find a way to stop it before it’s too late. Well excuse me, without making the violence more bold or the story less serious, there are no connection points between the two.
Do you believe how much I compare an anime with Western cartoons? It’s because it feels even less interesting than those!
This formula worked great for anime like Slayers or Baccano because they were mostly comedies that anything else. Over here it’s like making spaghetti without the pasta and lacking even the sauce to fool your taste. I’m sorry; it doesn’t work. It couldn’t work. Especially in this decade. Even less if you have watched Full Metal Alchemist an action/ adventure that offers all the same elements and even a mountain worth or more.

Ok, back to more of an orthodox text. The animation and the music are done by the most awesome studio Madhouse and are just fine, with bright colors, cute looking/sounding characters and a world bursting with life. Very fitting for a storyless romantic comedy but unfortunately it’s a war drama / teen adventure combo that doesn’t feel scary or dirty or gruesome in any way. The atmosphere is off by miles. Plus, even production values are not in their best considering the year it was made. They look simply average.

Story is a joke… without being funny. It is separated into two halves, with a pair of boy-girl in each. The first half had the kindness to try offering a story of sorts. A silly one but a story nonetheless, about the pair trying to stop the war between their countries in the most silly way possible. But the second half is just an aimless adventure without a clear goal or purpose, as if the scriptwriters were on strike and the whole arc is just filler. Talk about something bad becoming worse <s>… just like Tite Kubo.</s>

The characters are just 2-dimensional archetypes you can easily find in better versions in almost any other similar show. The “butchy girl and the spineless boy in love but too dense to realize” trope has seen far better days than these two paper couples. Support cast and villains are or Pokemon level, as their role is just like a repetitive croak: “Support-support!” “Evil-evil!”.

Value and Enjoyment are as far as I’m concerned rock-bottom. There are sooooo many similar and yet sooooo much better series like this one, you might as well delete this one from your memory. Yes, it is that unimportant. So blunt and uniteresting, it isn’t even worthy of being remembered as a bad example of how to make a good show.