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Sep 25, 2023
There's a lot of style here, from the fairly uncommon setting, to the unique (if hit or miss) soundtrack, to the distinctive character designs, to engaging action sequences and relatively high production value. The first episode and the last 2 episodes are especially good, so it starts and ends well.
The thing that ruins it is that the creators left pretty much nothing for the characters or plot. The show clearly is trying to do too many things and it really needed to cut some of the content off so everything was more cohesive. If they cut the kid, the show could be more focused on
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the crime drama and action. Cut some of the crime and drama instead, and we get a more interesting found family adventure. As it is, the show is very distracted and constantly feels like each part is trying to push the others out of the way.
A major failing of the show is that the main pair never really develop. From the description, it's clear that they are going to have a rough start, but over the course of the journey, the two will learn from each other and become family. We've all seen the setup about a million times before. The problem here is that the show doesn't even attempt to portray this development whatsoever, but still pretends that it has happened by the conclusion.
Actually, it's worse then that - the shows actively portrays their relationship as completely dysfunctional up until the plot requires otherwise. Even as far as the latter half of the show, Michiko completely ignores Hatchin and any of her problems, leaves her out of the loop for all of the dangerous things she might be doing, and more than once slaps her to shut her up. There's very little of the show where Michiko shows genuine concern for Hatchin, or any tender moments that would make it seems like this is anything more than a kidnapping. Hatchin has absolutely no faith in Michiko, despite Michiko's commitment to Hatchin's well-being is one of the only consistent traits she has - she will ultimately do right by Hatchin, even if it's in a way Hatchin doesn't like. Hatchin runs away at least 2 distinct times in the show and ends up joining back up with a mostly-unbothered Michiko. Once makes sense. Twice means nothing meaningfully changed.
How this relationship manages to suddenly becomes the sort of relationship where Hatchin is sobbing when they part ways requires you to imagine that a whole lot of bonding happens off screen. Just 1 episode out of 22 where Michiko takes Hatchin out for a day of fun would've made a world of difference here.
Speaking of those 22 episodes, the show would be much better if it had half the episode count. It would probably have been best if it were a movie. So many of the episodic plots are slow and just forgettable. Many members of the supporting cast are completely unnecessary and should have been cut so the ones that remained could get more screen time. The goal of finding Hatchin's dad is constantly alluded to, but is almost never developed on any given episode. It's fairly clear that each episode in the middle was written to the premise independently, rather than being carefully ordered so that there's regular progress towards the goal or towards any specific character development. When the show is nearing the end, it just suddenly points the cast in the right direction and makes sure all the pieces are where they need to be (often without explanation).
Whether you'll like this show ultimately comes down to why you're interested. If you just want a strong female lead, or you're looking for an action adventure with found family elements, you'd probably be a lot happier watching Moribito. If you're mainly here for the setting, the action/crime tags, or the staff and studio, you'll probably find some value here, but you might find that the 10 year old tends to get in the way of the action.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Sep 23, 2023
Out of all of the reincarnated-as-an-unusual-thing-in-a-generic-fantasy-RPG-inspired-setting isekai series, this is certainly one of them. I had high hopes for this to either be a wacky parody or an unusual approach to the typical setup, but unfortunately the show plays its premise completely straight and has no creative way of telling it. The guy is a vending machine that's also an adventurer for the guild that helps with clearing out monsters in the labyrinth. I'm very sad to report that somehow it isn't anywhere near as fun or funny as that description would imply.
It has every flaw you'd expect from a generic isekai - the supporting
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characters are one-note, the main character is extraordinary through no personal effort and is easily capable of handling most problems out-of-the-box, there isn't really any serious main plot to get invested into, the setting is almost completely unexplored, the show has fairly cheap and uninspired animation, etc.
The most annoying problem is that all of the interesting issues you might run into if you were suddenly a sentient semi-magical vending machine are handwaved away as soon as they are brought up. Vending machines can't move around, but wouldn't you know it, there's a cute girl with superstrength that just loves to carry him around. He needs to sell things or he dies, but everyone loves what he has in stock and he's always in a populated area where everyone is wealthy enough to buy what he's selling, so it's never a real problem. He can't defend himself, but he can just buy the ability to create an impenetrable barrier strong enough that major monsters can't touch him. He can't talk to people outside of a couple canned phrases, but people just phrase everything as yes/no questions and interpret specific canned responses to mean yes or no.
A braver and much more interesting show would, for instance, make it so that there are no humans to interact with. Or make it so that he can only roll around on slow treads on flat surfaces. Things that make it so that the protagonist has actual problems that need clever solutions or hard work. I mean, this vending machine can single-handedly defeat boss monsters - clearly being a vending machine is not an obstacle in this story.
One mildly interesting point of the show is that the main character can become any kind of vending machine, so sometimes we get a quick history lesson on strange vending machines in Japan. Fun trivia aside, these new vending machines can be frustrating from a story telling perspective because of the communication problem. Since the MC can't talk to people to explain or coordinate his plans, most fights end up exclusive relying on some cool thing he can do. Occasionally, the other characters get to play and win the world's hardest game of charades to figure out how they fit in. And they ALWAYS figure it out without completely misunderstanding what's going on and entertain us by catastrophically ruining the plan.
A much better show in this oddly-specific niche would be "So I'm a Spider, So What?", which actually plays around with the ideas of living in a world that's oddly like a video game and the complex limitations associated with being non-human. And of course, if you just want an isekai, there are many others that are more unique, or have better production values, or have more interesting characters or settings (Re:Zero, Mushoku Tensei, Ascendence of a Bookworm, to name a few).
This isn't to say the show is horrible, just that there's nothing remarkable here, and the unremarkable parts are done much better elsewhere. The reason you're probably considering this one is because of the vending machine gimmick, and that's just not executed very well. If you've already watched every other isekai rated 7 or higher and need something new, this might just work out. For most others, you can give this one a pass.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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