 More H-game turned anime. Oh joy. Bar the odd exception (for me, Popotan
would be the most noticeable exception), H-game conversions are all
pretty much the same - a few days in the life of a bland anime loser.
Past disappointment means Hani Hani ~Operation Sanctuary~ won't get much of a chance to show that it's something different...
1 - The Girl who Flew Down from the Sky
Naoki Kuzumi's not the most fortunate of people - he can't remember any
of his life from further back than five years ago. Fortunately, he has
his childhood friend Honami to help him along, though. School one day
brings a new person into his life, however - Mikoto Amagasaki, who
literally falls into his lap...
2 - Sensing a Fun School Life
Naoki's been having strange dreams of late - of being lost is a
deserted city - so when he wakes up & finds his home empty it's a
bit of a shock for him. Honami soon arrives, though, reassuring him
that his dream hasn't become reality - but is there something behind
the dreams? Later, the Astronomy Club finally gets around to doing some
stargazing - but thanks to an untimely run-in with a teacher, Naoki's
been roped into helping out the Gardening Club...
Take your typically bland lead male & remove most of his history & you somehow manage to make him even more
bland - not a good start. The rest of these first two episodes
introduces Naoki's school life & friends and sets up your
stereotypical H-game 'slice of life' series. Once the producers of
these games saw how To Heart was able to make that format work, there's been a flood of shows which are all pretty much the same thing, each with maybe one little twist to help them claim some sort of originality. To Heart had Multi, Hani Hani has Mikoto, whose origins at this stage remains a mystery. Apart from that, you'd be hard put to tell Hani Hani apart from most other H-game-based anime.
There are hints at darker things afoot - Naoki's dreams, for example
- but nothing much is really made of them at this stage. Without that
something extra to grab the attention, though, Hani Hani has
nothing to make it stand out from the rest of the crowd, and there are
enough other series on the go at the moment that watching 5-6 episodes
to get a feel for a show isn't really an option - for me, a show needs
to grab me in the first 2-3 episodes, or it's a no go. Hani Hani, therefore, falls into the 'no go' category. |
