Reviews

Jul 30, 2021
Recommendation: It's short (half-length episodes) and inoffensive, so there are worse shows out there that you could watch, but this is one you can safely skip.

Story: Mug Cup has the bare-bones story setup that you'd expect from a cute slice of life show. The main character, Himeno, has moved to a new town famous for pottery, and joins the pottery club to learn more about her mother, a famous artist from that town that died when she was young. It's part hobbyist anime and part tourism ad for the city of Tajimi, but the tourism parts aren't so in your face that they're a turn off. It also does a pretty good job of translating the hobbyist part for a general audience without getting bogged down in boring details. The problem with the story comes in Himeno's relationship with her father and deceased mother, which is completely loaded down with unearned sentimentality. Himeno's desire to make something that impresses her father is a good enough, if basic, storyline, but the entire part with the mother seems like cheap tragedy and fails to connect because of how obvious the emotional manipulation is.

Audio/Visual: Visually, things are pretty hit or miss with this show. The character designs are iffy and the animation is functional at best, but it uses its obviously very limited budget to display the pottery artwork nicely and the more-cartoony-than-usual character animation at least gives it a somewhat unique look. The audio is more nicely done. Sounds and effects are warm and comforting, the VA work is good if unremarkable, and the music is catchy and fits well with the laid back theme of the series.

Characters: There's not really much to say about any of them unfortunately. This is the weakest part of the series. Himeno is your standard shoujo protagonist to a T. Kukuri is a loud idiot and Touko is aloof and serious, but both are talented and helpful. Neither of them receive an ounce of character development or backstory until a brief look into Touko's past as a competitor in the pottery contest in literally the last episode of the series. Nao is slightly more interesting, but what her entire deal is is never explained, so she's more of a curiosity than a real character. Somehow she has incredibly detailed knowledge of anything the characters need to know, and this is quite literally just hand-waved away without ever properly acknowledging how weird it is. She seemingly keeps a diary or or is writing a manga about Himeno and narrates what she's doing in one episode, but there is no explanation of why and it's never followed up on. There really aren't any memorable or good characters the entire time in this series, which takes it down from being a no-stress slice of life relaxer to just being boring instead.

Overall, it's a cute girls doing cute things show that lacks fun characters and isn't entertaining or unique enough to be worth watching.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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