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Now in Japan
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Written by maehara
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Wednesday, 05 April 2006 00:00 |
 Take one young girl, her life in the country and her unusual bunch of friends. Give them a series where they don't really get up to much, and you have Binchou-tan. Artwork for this series has been doing the rounds for a while now and it's certainly got the "cute" thing going for it, but is there anything else there..?
1 - Springtime Awaken Binchou-tan
Binchou-tan, a young girl, lives alone in a run-down shack in the mountains. With nature all around, it's definitely a peacful life - or to put it another way, not a hell of a lot happens in this episode. Bincho-tan wakes up, does her chores, and enjoys her surroundings - the wildlife, the scenery, and the peace and quiet of it all...
Episode 2 goes on to introduce some of Binchou-tan's friends ("Binchoutan" is a form of charcoal, so her name & the charcoal she wears on her head constitutes a neat little play on words). The pacing and feel of the show don't really change, though - and it's a bit too slow for my liking. There seems to be a deliberate attempt to make the series as cute as possible & try to capture the audience that way (a bit like Bottle Fairy in that respect), but I'm not really sure who they're aiming for with it.
Each episode is half-length, so nothing really happens for 10 minutes at a time instead of 20 - I suppose that's a good way of breaking things down into more manageable bite-sized chunks, but without any real hook to the series other than "Oh, isn't she cute!" I couldn't really work up any enthusiasm to stick with this one. Pass. |
