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Now in Japan
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Written by maehara
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Monday, 09 May 2005 12:32 |
 As the 'Alternative' tag probably gives away, this is the second attempt at a Futakoi
anime. The first one sucked horribly, and at the time I was all
ready to not bother at all with take two. I'm now glad I did, as Futakoi Alternative throws the whole idea on its head and is a far more enjoyable and visually impressive piece of work...
1 - Croquettes, Helicopters, Underground Boxing, and I
Welcome to the town of Futagotamagawa, the home of Rentarou Futaba, a
21-year-old PI who's just found himself in a bit of a pinch with the
local yakuza, the Sakurazaki Gang, after his cat ate the gang boss's
canary. His punishment's a kickboxing match against the gang
second-in-command - it would normally fall to his #1 sidekick Sara to
save his butt, but she has problems of her own today...
2 - No-Name Day
Explanation time after the first episode's explosions &
stuff. :) Rentarou met Sara & Souju two years
previously, when they came to see him about a job. Before long,
they were living in the office & helping him out, although sorting
out their arguments was proving to be easier said than done.
Quite where the fight against the giant alien squid fits in, I'm not
entirely sure...
The first episode starts off with a mid-air combat scene, featuring
twins Lala & Lulu fighting off some sort of alien invader.
They parachute out over Futagotamagawa - and are never seen
again. At least not in these episodes. Since they feature
pretty heavily in the OP credits, I'm sure they'll be back.
Over-the-top action seems to be one of Futakoi Alternative's strong points, and is something the original series was completely lacking in. This series is produced by UFOTable (Dokkoida, 2x2=Shinobuden)
- if you've seen any of their previous shows you'll know what to
expect, as they really do stick to what they're good at here.
There are a whole swathe of characters that are introduced (including
Gen-san, supplier of customized bikes, Hinoki & Hariama, two
deranged patrolmen, and Michiru-san, the local butcher), all of whom
seem to have some sort of role to play, even if it's just comic
relief. Events move along nice & quickly and you don't really
get a chance to lose interest.
The only downside is that there's a story to be told here, but the way
it's been done it's really hard to follow what's going on - Rentarou
tries to 'explain' things in episode 2, but the episode flicks back and
forth from the past to the present so often it's very easy to
completely lose track of things.
As long as things snap into place in an understandable way in the next few epsiodes, Futakoi Alternative has the potential to be a really good show. Fingers crossed.
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