Shy

In the middle of the 21st century, powerful individuals with superhuman strength appeared all across the world. These people who wore flashy clothes and performed incredible feats in the name of peace became known as heroes—symbolic figures of the nation they came from. In Japan, 14-year-old middle school student Teru Momijiyama is widely known by her secret identity as Japan's hero, Shy.

As a young, timid girl, Shy is a fairly new hero with a lot to learn. She struggles with self-confidence and questions if she is worthy of the hero title. Even though she is unsure of herself, Shy works hard to save people and do the right thing. As new, powerful threats reveal themselves, Shy must cooperate with heroes around the world all while learning what it means to be a hero.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Momijiyama, Teru Main

Shimoji, Shino Japanese

Andreianov, Pepesha Supporting

Noto, Mamiko Japanese

Dunant, Pilse Supporting

Suzushiro, Sayumi Japanese

Kekerakera, Kufufu Supporting

Hidaka, Rina Japanese

Koishikawa, Iko Supporting

Touyama, Nao Japanese

Ming Ming, Li Supporting

Murase, Ayumu Japanese

Kooriskaya, Tzveta Supporting

Sawashiro, Miyuki Japanese

Stigma Supporting

Tamura, Mutsumi Japanese

Wonder Jones, David Supporting

Miki, Shinichiro Japanese

Ebio Supporting

Sugita, Tomokazu Japanese

Awaji, Tooru Producer

Jakuchi, Rei Producer

Oobayashi, Yuri Producer

Arai, Genta Producer

Reviews

Aug 2, 2024

Justykanna

Recommended

Add to the pile of "anime that I have a hard time evaluating" because it has a lot of good stuff in there, but there are a handful of little things that sort of get in the way. Still, there are a lot of things that set this apart from other series in its genre.

Story & Characters: Shy takes place in a fairly distance future in which super heroes are in each country and it's their job to help humanity feel safe - whether it's saving people from natural disasters, or fighting the next big baddie that comes to town. Teru Momijiyama is ... a fourteen year old, and goes by the code name Shy. She's not particularly special, but her obvious trait is that she has devastating anxiety around literally any human being - thus the name, Shy.

Evaluating her is such a hard thing to do because that personality kind of defines how everyone in her world sees her. She has an exceptionally hard time talking to people and an even harder time getting people in Japan to accept her as their hero. For context, each country has one hero, so when trouble arises that requires more than one hero, another country's assigned hero needs to assist. Shy's first act of duty is at an amusement park where a rollercoaster has frozen while it's upside down, fifty feet in the air. One of the occupants, Iko Koishikawa, insists that she is saved last, as she wants to see the others on the ride, including her brother, Daigo, saved first. Why does this, but not without some minor consequences to Iko, as she gets a minor injury from the ride.

First, I have to say, I really like how this series sets you up. We have this hero, who wants to help everyone that she can, and right away, she's faced with this situation where she feels like she has failed not just the person in front of her, but the whole country. A running theme in this series is about what you feel with your heart and they incorporate this into the series very well. For a fourteen year old, she takes what she does VERY seriously and for the story to basically tell us that she needs solve her first big obstacle from an accident is excellent. It made this arc extremely compelling, and sets you up with basically everything you need for the rest of the series.

Iko's arc basically becomes central to Teru's first step in character development, and boy, for a non-hero, I love what Iko brings to the table. The greatest thing is that I'm not even sure why I love her so much. It might be that I love the "best friends" approach that a lot of action series has, but that's not entirely her purpose in the series, especially the first arc. After being saved, something mysterious occurs to her, and Iko does everything to tell Teru that she's an inconvenience. What makes this even better is that now, Teru is faced with this situation where someone, whom she just met, is telling her something about themselves that she keeps telling herself. I really wish the series played off of that more than it did, but this situation is basically telling both Teru and Iko to not beat themselves up so much, especially in situations that you can't help.

Stimga is likely the big baddie that is the key player opposite to the heroes that form in this series the series doesn't really do much to introduce who he really is, aside from some brief conversation. Stigma doesn't really say anything to give himself away, but this early in a series where it looks like he could be the main villain is usually okay. Tzveta shows up later in the series in the final arc of the season and her story feels, while solid, somewhat confusing after the initial episode ten story. Still, episode ten is what makes her, as well as Pepesha. Pepesha is the Russian hero, capable of forming clouds (steam?) with her hands and use them as her weapon. She's your typical happy-go-lucky character, but they certainly try and break her in the final arc. The resolution was probably stretched out a little more than I would have liked, as it feels like they went back and form with no real purpose a few times. It stalls what was a decently paced series.

The second arc introduces other heroes, such as Uni-Lord, who oversees all the heroes, the China hero, Li Ming Ming, the Britain hero, David Wonder Jones and the Swiss hero, Piltz Dunant. As a group, they look out for each other, but they do feel unique enough that they didn't really bother me. They weren't really involved in the plot too much except for David, who saw some screen time in the second arc. The arc itself was fine, but again, felt like it went on for longer than it needed to. Finally, Shrimpy is Shy's floating companion who is in the shape of a shrimp. He doesn't do much aside remedial tasks, but having him there gives someone else that Shy is comfortable with and for that, is probably a net positive.

I didn't really know what to expect in a story about heroes, but they had some really strong plot-related ideas that hit really well for me. This series gets very emotional at times, the biggest of which was in that aforementioned episode ten. Teru's far from the best written protagonist and having a weak lead has buried some series before. Still, there's enough here that I feel like she can continue to grow. (Story: 8/10, Characters: 7/10)

Art: While fine, I couldn't say I was the biggest fan of the series animation. It was fine, but definitely not better than My Hero Academia, whose visuals are also not exceptional. 8bit is the studio that handled this series, and my guess is that this series doesn't get the attention that other bigger names that this studio produces, does. These might include That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, Blue Lock, Yuru Camp and The Irregular at Magic High School. (6/10)

Sound: Shy gives off a very comicy vibe with it's OST, one that I'm not surprised at. I wasn't the biggest fan of either theme song, but probably match up here just fine. Voice work is equally fine, with one exception. Bryn Apprill (Iko) was easily my favourite of the voice cast here. She goes through so many emotional ups and downs, and my guess is this was one of her better works that I've heard her have. Natalie Hoover (Pepesha) is also worthy of praise here. With Aaron Campbell (David), I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a nature British accent and at least to my untrained ear, it sounded pretty solid. I was just kind of fine with everyone else. Marisa Duran (Stigma) takes a crack at an evil little boy and I think I'll be more comfortable with hearing it more as we go along here. (7/10)

Overall: Shy really surprised me because the stories that it told were done really well. It takes time - maybe a bit too much at times - to tell characters' stories, and try and make audiences care about them. Still, if they can bring this level to the, currently running, sequel, then I think that series will have the same type of success, as long as they mix it up a little, and continue to have Shy and friends grow. This series plays off as a Shounen about superheroes, and anyone interested should feel comfortable with this series. (8/10)

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jul 30, 2024

Goeli

Mixed Feelings

SHY has some nnnnnice character design and quite ddddecent animation bbbbut the dialogue in SHY is so boring. Teru the main character is a very sssshy girl and is just not interesting at all. She is not very confident so cccconstantly doubts herself, she gives off pick me girl energy.

If reading this annoyed you, this is exaclty how Teru talks, she constantly stutters and is always surprised because of her lack of confidence.

The villain group are way more interesting because they actually seem to have a background story and more personality in their left toe than the MC.

I give this a Mixed Feelings ... because I know it has an interesting premise but it just doesn't help that the dialogue is insanely cheesy and boring.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Dec 27, 2023

7_3

Not Recommended

I think it’s safe to say that as time has passed, anime has gotten much, much more advanced, becoming more capable in all aspects than ever before. We’re getting some serious level-ups here in visual effects, in music, in animation handling quality, in everything you can think of. I mean, look at the Monogatari series. Sure, it’s quite old at this point (the first anime, Bakemonogatari, aired in 2009), but you can really see that studio Shaft killed it with displaying Akiyuki Shinbou’s creativity in the visual effects, worked a stellar job on the animation handling using clever techniques, and the music was, well, certainly ... not the norm. It’s VERY ahead of its time, at least in my eyes. This season’s SHY has some pretty unique visual effects too.

And that’s about it for the notable stuff in it.

Think of a Krispy-Kreme donut, about to be finished and put on sale. The bagel’s fresh out of the oven and all that’s left is for the glazing to be put on. But wait, the bagel was actually half-baked, and someone dropped it on the floor by accident. On the way to the baker-thingy-whatever, someone somehow rapid-fire sneezed in every corner of the room possible, and all that stuff landed on the unbaked bagel. After being half-baked, the delicious, appetizing glazing is put on, making the bagel a finished donut, and giving it a pretty touch-up. That donut is SHY. If you didn’t catch on to anything I said, basically what SHY is, is a poorly-conveyed, poorly-directed anime with a horribly overpompous attempt at being meaningful, and flashy, over-the-top visual effects to draw people in and make the dummies think that the anime is actually good by that quality alone.

I was extremely disappointed that, when I opened Crunchyroll, searched up SHY, and clicked on the title and its first episode, I was greeted with an overused excuse of a weak, insecure and socially inept MC, because I actually expected this to be something new, refreshing and different after the high and almighty visuals that came before. Instead, after upping your expectations, you’re smacked with that MC, and later presented with the most generic plotline in the world. Not just generic, but predictable as fuck too. It’s about these magical girls—ahem, superheroes—that each represent a country and together have to fight off some similarly one-dimensional villains threatening… the world? (I swear, they’re there just for the superheroes to find them and go all gung-ho on them). And all the while you are watching, it bombards you with super COOL and SLICK and MODERN visual effects and camerawork, all for you to lick up off the dirty floor. I shouldn’t have listened to the one person on an unreliable part of the internet cheering SHY on, claiming it’d be the anime of the season, because holy shit, it is not.

A lot of the time there are underlying messages in anime, hidden under the surface of its main attraction. A perfect case for this kind of anime is Cossette no Shouzou, a three-episode OVA with a similar score to SHY on MAL, filled to the brim with clever and appealing visual effects, accompanied with masterful animation handling and a similarly masterful soundtrack. Its main plot is drenched in the ‘donut glazing,’ so much so that it becomes hard to understand what actually is happening anymore. SHY does the exact same thing, only it wouldn’t have been so unnecessarily bad without its 'glazing'. Cossette no Shouzou needed its fanciness to portray the rest of its story and so the viewer wouldn’t be turned away due to the weird plot behind it, but SHY on the other hand just throws it all at you with a completely normal, completely fine-on-its-own message of ‘even if you’re a socially weak mess that looks like your textbook American nerd, if you believe in yourself and gain enough courage, you can be a normal woman’. It puts all its good qualities to waste and makes everything ten times more dramatic and serious than it needed to be, and it often becomes laughable. At least it was laughable, though.

You know, my expectations might have been a bit biased, as I’d seen someone praying that SHY’d be the anime of the season, and I’d also watched the PV that really, REALLY gaslighted me into thinking it’d be a unique anime. But I wasn’t expecting at all, even with my lowest expectations, that there’d be fillers. I thought we were past that era, I thought we’d learned from that. But no, no! Our author really wanted to stretch their story on and on! If these fillers were meant as a break from all the mess, they should’ve just toned the mess down, not strip the anime of its last bit of meaningful sense and reduce it to a dull and drab slice of life with no relation or necessity to the plot.

It's a shame that the animation handling was actually somewhat well-worked compared to the rest of this anime. Wasted budget and effort went into animating this godawful experience, and I can’t help but feel a strange pity for the animators that worked so hard to actually make this some good eye candy and not some poorly-worked garbage of abject misery. But I’m going to beat the dead horse here and say the animation handling isn’t anything amazing. I may have praised it, but that’s just because it’s not absolute rubbish like most of everything else in this anime. There are clear flaws strewn throughout (like Pepesha literally popping into frame out of nowhere) and some questionable usages of CGI, namely with Ebio-san. More on the directorial side of things, the animation handling can sometimes, out of nowhere, get overly flashy for no reason whatsoever, especially when random trivial scenes play out as opposed to where it’s really needed: the action scenes.

I love spending my time on YouTube, and I’m sure many others reading this do too. It’s an unavoidable part of the internet that’s just about held captive over two billion souls. And a big chunk of those two billion souls know the horrors of the cringy intros and outros that were prolific in every YouTube video back in the late 2010s. And now this year we had to relive that horror again, this time in the form of an anime. Not only is the OP a horrific vomit-inducing vertiginous mess of overused transitions with nauseating camerawork and overdecorative everything, but the visual effects ejaculated everywhere throughout the anime’s runtime doesn’t make it any better. That’s right, I’m bashing the visual effects even more. Oh, we’re going over a tragic event? Let’s add thirty spinning camera transitions and a snow filter so the viewer can’t see shit! Are we explaining some unnecessarily ostentatious lore that’ll change these characters’ lives forever? Let’s put on a film grain filter and make twenty-two triangles and eighteen squares ease into the screen, all starting at a thirty-four-degree angle and ending at a ninety-two-degree angle using keyframing! There might not actually be that stuff, but that’s the kind of stupidity you’ll want to expect. There’s a reason the manga is rated higher: It probably didn’t try to win a fucking Nobel Prize with dizzying visual effects like the anime did. The Nobel Prize for the most detriment to human eyes is what the anime is winning.

For how outwards they went with making the visual effects look like unicorn barf, the artstyle is probably the most non-infuriating, plain and normal thing in SHY. It’s like a ‘wake the fuck up, motherfucker’ call that snaps you out of the trance the visual effects threw you into. It reminds you that you’re not always experiencing Satou Yoshiteru-style directing and xXStickyHotdogGamingXx YouTube intros. It reminds you that at least this travesty can at least be mediocre and not all crapola. What I wrote just before might be the tiny little praise I’ll give to the artstyle in light of the rest of the garbage, but I can’t find anything to criticize, which shows just how bland it is. It’s almost the same as every artstyle you see mangaka use nowadays when they’re too tired or devoid of creativity, or the artstyle big companies use when they have zero budget left to spend on the character designers. Oopsie-daisy, I just criticized it, didn’t I?

Seems like we’re taking a break from all the rubbish, because now we’re talking about SHY’s music. It’s far from great, but it’s at least one look away from this eyesore of an anime. The music director knew what they were doing, appropriately picking when to play and what to play. You might be watching that one filler part of an episode I talked about, and you’d be hearing pretty carefree, light music, and a few minutes later you might be watching an action scene, a battle between superheroes and villains, and you could be hearing intense or tension-building music, or that weird piano piece that plays two chords each three times exactly… (shut up i’m not good at defining music genres ok) The music itself, though, while fitting, is reaaally uninspired and average. Okay, maybe theres a track or two that are actually a bit surprising, but that’s really it. Are ya proud of me? I don't dislike TWO things from SHY now. Go me!...

Oh, back to the dumpster, are we? Let's see... so, what about the one-dimensional characters? We’ve already gone over Teru as a basic bitch in the ‘I hadn’t gone outside before this anime started’ world. The author just slapped the mundane introvert personality onto her, and there ya have it, that’s Japan’s superhero. The other superheroes surrounding her also have stereotypical and sometimes discriminatory personality traits too, like Pepesha, the superhero representing Russia, who we see as drunk more often than necessary. There’s also the useless, burdensome plot device of the anime, Koishikawa Iko, who is around more than half the time as nothing more than a superfan stalker of Teru, even after Teru failed to save her from getting injured from a disaster. As for the supervillains, they’re akin to cardboard in terms of writing. They exist for the sole reason of making this anime work, and nothing more. There is no depth to them; nothing telling us who they really are, save for a single backstory that’s so generic it hurts, and why they’re so goddamn mentally sick, but this anime just has to be some pretentious pile of garbage or else the author wouldn’t survive. It’s clear from the moment they’re introduced into the anime that they were attempted to be given a deeper, more extensive meaning, but it just doesn’t work when the characters don’t have any meaning in the first place.

That was a bunch to cover, but that was my view on this season's SHY to the best my tired brain can type out. To shorten my statements, SHY is a pretentious work about superheroes fighting against evil that smacks nothing but drivel into your face by its sad attempts at giving itself meaning with backstories, wacky, over-the-top visual effects that when watching are like being sick on a rollercoaster, and its paper-thin, depthless characters. The only good stuff you’ll experience watching this is the pretty decent animation handling that was given at least some care, the average at best artstyle, and the nice but flawed music. If you’re wanting to watch something with meaning and sense in what it’s trying to achieve, SHY isn’t that. If you’re looking for dumb, sometimes agitating stuff to turn your brain off to and pay almost no mind to, SHY might be up your alley.

You’re probably going to grow dumber if you try to actually pay attention to this thing anyway. Don’t end up like me.

Thank you for reading my review.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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