Reviews

Mar 29, 2017
Piacevole / Piace: Watashi no Italian can be summed up in two words: PACING ISSUES. Sure there's a lot more that goes into a show but that is the most significant problem that Piacevole has.

Piacevole is one of the many short anime that have decided to make up for their limited time by speeding up their show. While in some shows like Teekyu this can work, it utterly fails in Paicevole. Why is it so different for these shows? The answer is content. Teekyu is a comedy series that mainly focuses on jokes and the outlandish antics that their cast does. Thusly the rapid-fire jokes don't feel out of place and can still seem quite funny, even if too fast. It also works well with the craziness that cast as. It adds to the atmosphere of WTFness that it has as there's even less time to process just what's going on, and why. However, Piacevole isn't like that.

Sure it's funny, but it's also romantic, and heartwarming, or at the very least it's trying to be. One of the key focuses of the work is the bonds at the Italian restaurant and the cuisine that they hold so dearly. There were some moments in the anime where the emotional impact was clearly meant to be there. Even when one could see the result of the raw emotions of the characters the execution failed due to it going way too fast.

In my opinion, certain genres or moods have different natural paces they go at. Comedy, as mentioned before is something that works well at most any pace, but usually tends to go fast. Jokes don't need that much time to sink in, so they can be done in rapid succession and still work. Action also works well fast-paced. If I want some good action I want it to be fast and hit well, not slow and elongated. But just like there are genres or themes that work better fast there are ones that work better slow. Drama, and heartwarming (in other words feelsy material) is exactly that. The way it works for me is I have a specific timing that I need to really feel the emotions of the characters. If a show goes too fast I'm not able to really contextualize the richness of the scene.

The same thing happens with this shows rushed pace. While I like what she did, I need more time to let it sink in. To see the aftermath of what happened but I was never able to feel it. For something based off of emotions it's important to let those emotions be felt, and due to Piacevole's pacing I just can't. I know that Piacevole is supposed to be a comedy as well but it does seem like it was made with the intent to get one to like the characters and scene as well, which due to its pacing it isn't able to do. The comedy itself isn't that funny although it isn't that terrible either.

The pacing makes it harder to dig into the good parts of the characters I do like. Instead, I'm left more with the joke versions of them which, to be honest, aren't very interesting. Everything else seems more or less standard. It reminds me of a typical shoujo, and that wouldn't necessarily be bad, the terrible pacing makes it an inferior version.

Really the whole of the show is about average, it's not terrible but it's also not good. However, the pacing makes the show a chore to watch and hurts the more emotional parts of it. For that reason I do not recommend this show.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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