Enen no Shouboutai from the mind of Soul Eater's creator Atsushi Ookubo comes a tale of a boy trying to find and kill an Infernal (a monster created through human combustion) that killed his mother and brother, he sets his eyes on the Fire Force in order the unravel the mystery of that day and further in, a conspiracy in the Fire Force itself linked to the incident.
To say LA actually had high hopes for Enen no Shouboutai was an understatement when LA found out that the creator of Soul Eater made another new series and it sure had some of Atsushi's trademarks in story and characters, that of a story about camaraderie, bonds and family much like Soul Eater but through watching it further and further in, LA doesn't know..."something was missing".
Like the characters are a mixed bag with their quirks and the like. Shinra Kusakabe voiced by Gakuto Kajiwara (wait...ASTA FROM BLACK CLOVER!?!??!) is your typical hot headed main protagonist always focused on the mission ahead and his premise is again typical of the shounen genre, besides his drive he's the typical shounen main protagonist. Arthur Boyle voiced by Yuusuke Kobayashi is the knights knights in which he gains more power when he thinks he's a knight, he butt heads with Shinra more than few times. Takehisa Hinawa voiced by Kenichi Suzumura, the vice of the 8th and is the Mama Bear of the 8th even though he's the stoic no nonsense of the group. Iris voiced by M.A.O, the sister (as in nun) of the group that has ties Hibana voiced by Lynn the Battalion Commander of the 5th Special Fire Brigade. Maki Oze voiced by Saeko Kamijou an officer of the 8th and has a running gag of her being called gorilla _________ and twisting up that catchphrase (back and forth). Finally the 8th's Captain Akitaru Obi voiced by Kazuya Nakai who has a strong sense of justice and spearheads the conspiracy in the fire Force company an oddly enough the only non-fire user of the group. From the offsets it might look at the characterization of the core cast is....slim to bland and your right but with some new allies, things does shake up and the running gags with some of the characters does evolve...some not for the better *cough* Tamaki *cough* but besides those as well as Shinra's plot linking to the conspiracy to the Fire Force, characterization is indeed slim. Even then thanks to or maybe because of it's world building that the characters sometimes suffer when they aren't in the limelight as the character development arcs the core cast goes through does develop the core cast one way or another through camaraderie, it's just it's ALSO competing with the more interesting world building of Enen no Shouboutai and the ongoing running gags doesn't help especially with Tamaki, Arthur and Shinra (mind you LA likes Tamaki as a character...just not her running gag as it falls flat VERY fast).
For plot tangents and twists, there is ONE good plot twist and that comes near the end of the anime but the rest you can easily link two and two together to get a vague glimpse at what the anime is heading towards, though to this end, the anime may seem rushed in some areas, but oddly enough LA saw this anime has a literal slow burner for a shounen anime, sure the action was fast paced and the plot rushed at time,s but LA felt the force of it being slow more than it being rushed and that at times hurt character development and characterization (LA says this as the plot arcs are hefty, the battles on the other hand are quick and to the point, make this like you will). So to say the pacing of this anime was erratic is the best way to sum it up and yes it hurts the anime badly but LA thinks there something else that's the major problem.
The animation by David Productions was an odd choice but near the end of the anime, ohhhhh LA got why David Production signed up for this and sure funny in a Jojo's kinda way but nonetheless. Anyways the animation was actually pretty decent, from the fighting choreography though at times they shortcutted but enough for LA to not notice, character designs were distinct and exotic looking and some fanservicey (be it intention or not) from Maki, Tamaki and Hibana especially. The background work and especially the atmosphere was done very well, expected from David Productions. Overall a decent effort from them that wasn't Jojo's related from them for a change.
The voice cast was HUGE so LA might get into some notes about the voice cast *ahem*.........GAKUTO Kajiwara voiced Shinra?...like ok, LA barely noticed until LA read who actually voiced Shinra but yea LA can hear it. LA found Aoi Yuuki as Tamaki Kotatsu, Saeko Kamijou as Maki Oze and Lynn as Hibana as LA's favourites. Nonetheless has an eclectic range of voice cast from new and old, from Gakuto Kajiwara, M.A.O, Aoi Yuuki, Lynn, Yuusuke Kobayashi, Saeko Kamijou and Mamoru Miyano.
So what is Enen no Shouboutai missing that it didn't turn out like Soul Eater?, the lack of drive from the story?, sure it's erratic pacing killed it at times (not the good way mind you) but Shinra's drive to move the plot removes that, bad characterization?...no but it's a part of it, production value?...no David Productions and the voice cast was decent to great at times. So what made LA not enjoy Enen no Shouboutai as much as LA WANTED it too even with al the hype LA gave to at the start?...
Style over substance?...MAYBE, due to the fact that the anime's sole focus of Shinra finding the Infernal that killed his family gets bogged down by the oddly good world building and tons of characters for varying development at us, the production value also coincides with this. LA may not not know the definitive answer to what LA feels WHY LA didn't like Enen no Shouboutai as much as LA wanted to, but style over substance seems like the closest answer LA to answering it which if this is true, is a damn shame as LA WANTED to like this anime but it was just missing something...
Wait, style over substance, decent production value, weak characterization but a narrow focused major plotline bogged down world building and heaps of characters?.........LA knows why LA didn't like Enen no Shouboutai as much. LA wasn't invested in Shinra's goal from the start.
What with the multiple characters and subplotlines thrown at us trying to get us invested in the the huge cast of characters as well as the interesting world of Enen no Shouboutai, it missed or ignored the best core plotlines until the end and by the end it was too late, sure the finale TRIED to reinvigorate us back to Shinra's major plotline but with everything going on in the anime, it faded from LA's memory and LA just started not to care and cared more about it's more interesting minor cast who were reduced to running gags and the world building converging back to Shinra's plot.......
A damn shame...
Enen no Shouboutai does have a second season in the works and the finale did kinda help to refocus it efforts back onto Shinra, let's hope it actually focuses on the major plotline ahead instead of going into a tangent for the second season, but that's the second season. LA sees the merits of the first season...with it's first season and with all that being said.....yeah it's a style over substance shounen-fest with annoying to weak characterization but good character development when called upon, great world building bogging down it's characters to the point the world is more interesting than it's core cast that COULD had gone somewhere and just might with it's second season but the first season is a disappointment no disagreeing there on that front.
Enen no Shouboutai to take the L to Látom
