That being said, the show didn’t always try to emphasize the slice of life part of the show. Specifically earlier in the season, when the fan service took just as much priority as any character or plot development. It was almost as if they didn’t want to alienate the slice of life fan, while they also tried to appeal to the fan who wanted to see loli-style girls in school swimsuits and bloomers.
Overall, I’ll be sticking with my initial impressions of the show and call it mostly ok. It was sometimes good, but never great, but most important for me, it was always easy to watch.
The show looked good, but the color palette and backgrounds always seemed to overwhelm the simple and at times limiting character designs. I mean, how many ways could they animate Run being confused? Not too many, and throughout the entire series she spends about half the time with that same blank eyed (stupefied) look on her face.
I would say the same about the voice acting. The main foursome were always ok. I don’t think I ever noticed anything horrid, but at the same time, I can’t remember ever marveling at their performances. In contrast the supporting cast, Kamade and Kitou sensei along with Yutaka were a lot more colorful.
The music. If you’ve read any of the previous A-Channel reviews, you know how I felt about the creepy inserted songs throughout the series. The lyrics have always creeped me out. It was as if they were written by a fat 52-year-old otaku describing how high school girls should feel. Creepy! In particular the song while they were cleaning the pool in episode 4. I really imagined the otaku-writer, writing that song while peeping through some middle school fence somewhere in Japan. I still haven’t gotten over it. The authorities should put that guy on the must-watch list.
I have always enjoyed the opening song along with the whole opening sequence, but the marketing push of the singer and song title in the OP left me keeping my hand on my wallet. The jokes on them though because there’s no money in there.
Ultimately, I’ve enjoyed watching A-Channel, but in an out-of-sight, out-of-mind way, the show will probably fade from my memories. Especially with the new season starting as it always does. This includes the characters themselves, who were done pretty well in the show’s environment, especially my Yuuko-angel, but honestly, they aren’t very memorable.
I’ll repeat what I said in the opening line of this post. This finale made me a little mad as it, by itself, lived up to the show’s potential. It’s just too bad it wasn’t completely representative of series as a whole.
[Thoughts about final episode removed due to spoilerish tendencies: go to http://moemonster.com/2011/06/24/a-channel-episode-12-finale/ for full unedited review]
