Anything made by animation studio P.A. Works, in my opinion, can best be described as a mealy apple. It looks beautiful and delicious on the outside, but bite into it and you'll see that beneath the surface it's really not that great at all. While 2014's Shirobako offered some hope that the studio might finally put some depth and thought into the plot and characters of their shows, this winter's HaruChika returns P.A. Works right back to its "all style, no substance" ways.
PLOT- 3/10
Right from the beginning, it's apparent that HaruChika is quite simply attempting to do way too much. The story is about two childhood friends, the titular Haruta and Chika, in a music club at their school who end up encountering and solving mysteries.
Did you, the reader, just think of something having to do with Kyoto Animation?
Back on topic, calling the series a mix between musical and mystery elements wouldn't be right. The mysteries are the entire focus, which serves to make the entire music club aspect pretty irrelevant. I mean, you could change it to a literature club, a swimming club, a hentai-watching club, or, yes, the Classics Club, and really not a lot would change because such a disproportionate amount of time is spent on the mysteries. For a club whose job is to play instruments, they are hardly shown practicing at all.
And then we move on to the mysteries. The huge issue with them is that they are episodic and repetitive, and they are formulaic in such a way that will shatter the suspension of disbelief into tiny pieces. Almost every one of the early episodes goes like this: new character is introduced. New character is an amazing musician, but cannot join the band because of [angsty backstory]. The character has some sort of puzzle related to said angsty backstory. Haruta butts in whether the character wants him to or not, dragging Chika along, and manages to solve the puzzle through some reasoning the viewer would have had no idea to think of because they were not provided with the information he was, a big strike in the mystery genre. Having had his or her angst cured just by the intervention of two band kids solving a puzzle or question, said new character joins the band. Even if you accept the possibility that ordinary high school kids can emit pheromones that cause mysteries to swarm to them like flies to an open, half-drunk can of Bud Light, the way in which the exact same scenario plays out every episode is absurd. The later episodes attempt to change this formula up a little bit, but it's too little too late as in the end it's still Haruta being nosy and winning with asspull logic no matter what.
CHARACTERS- 4/10
I have to give props to HaruChika for introducing a gay character that wasn't a crossdresser or a flaming caricature. It's the sort of thing you never really see in anime nowadays, and it completely took me by surprise. Making him the main character, Haruta, was even better. However, the problem with Haruta is that he single-handedly carries the show, and not in a good way. He ends up being the one who always investigates the mystery, and who always ends up solving it. In short, he makes the other characters look useless. While he is likable most of the time, his personality is also an issue as he can be very catty, especially around Chika, even though those interactions are usually the source of many of the funniest moments in the show.
I admit that I fell in love with Chika in the first episode. When I heard her reciting a cliche narration in her head about her high school debut and then sneezing constantly whenever she tried to be cliche, I was sold, and unlike Haruta she manages to be likable all the time. The main issue with her is that she's useless. Haruta always drags her along on his mystery hunts, but despite her equal billing in the title she basically exists to be the clueless Watson who asks the obvious questions as Haruta figures everything out. I don't recall one instance where she actually made a deduction on her own. Her personality may be great, but it can't really help her uselessness.
The teacher, despite being listed as a third major character (Haruta has a very in-depth crush on him, Chika has a crush on him because love triangle regardless of sense), is pretty much nothing but a walking plot device. He shows up, gives a few philosophical statements, and the two MCs fight over him. That's about it.
As mentioned before, all of the side characters blend into the background as their characterization follows the exact same pattern, so nothing much to say there.
ART- 7/10
The one thing you can't deny that P.A. Works is good at is art. Despite the fact that this show's animation might be a little rough around the edges at times, it's still very high-quality. The major highlight had to be the distinctive multicolored eyes that the characters sport, something that seems to be very rarely done in anime if at all.
That said, the artwork clearly isn't the best thing P.A. Works has produced. Sometimes it's simple enough to look generic, although there are no animation faults that I noticed.
SOUND- 5/10
Most of the soundtrack is serviceable, although I do have a big gripe with it for a reason I mentioned above, that being the fact that the actual music that the band plays is almost never shown. This is an anime about a brass band club, would it kill the music producer to put in a few pieces of classical music every now and then so we can be reassured that yes, the band parts of the show are still relevant? As of the final episode, yes they in fact did, but it went on for nine minutes.
The seiyuu, most of whom are of younger age, seem at the very least to match their characters well, and special mention goes to Australian-Japanese Sarah Bridcutt for playing Chika to perfection. However, there's one cast choice that baffles me. The teacher, who is at least in his mid-20s if not more, is played by Natsuki "ASADA-SAN" Hanae, who is best known for having a high, soft, sometimes whiny voice resembling Yuki Kaji 2.0 who nearly always plays younger characters. The voice he's playing the teacher with is too high and doesn't fit, but it's just one blemish in an otherwise fine, if not spectacular, cast.
With that, my review comes to a close. Hope I could help any prospective viewers of this anime out with what to expect.
-Kaoru
