Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Akikan!, episode 1

An archetypal example of "this could only have been created as a joke or dare," Akikan! asks the tragic question of what happens to a soda can after it has been emptied and tossed aside - in the uniquely Japanese way of having it turn into an adorable girl and throwing her at a sex-crazed high school student. Who loves nothing so much as prancing around his apartment naked, adoring his collection of empty cans.

When he puts his lips to a can of melon soda, it turns into a beautiful girl. He is, of course, convinced that this is all a dream (especially when she turns back into a can and communicates with him telepathically) and proceeds to act accordingly. There's also a lesbian schoolgirl witch who pulls razor-sharp playing cards out of her crotch and a predatory homosexual salaryman from the government who is somehow investigating cans-turned-into-girls... or something.

In addition to the unbelievably ridiculous premise, it also revels in the puns, drowns in double entendres, and embraces improbably ludicrous dialogue. "You'll open wide for anyone as long as they have money." "It's Refreshing Beverage Magic." "The sixth sense of my loins tells me this is a dream." This is wildly fun for a while, but it remains to be seen if the insanity can be maintained.

The show also suffers from being pretty darn ugly. The character designs are dated, angular and amateur. If it were easier on the eyes, the fundamentally bizarre nature of the show would come through stronger and more compelling.

This is probably worth checking out an episode of just for the retarded nature of it, but it's too ealry to tell if Akikan! will be able to avoid the predictable moe trap and rise to be anything more than an amusing "believe-it-or-not" oddity otaku pull out when trying to one-up each other with their knowledge of the stupidest anime shows ever created.
based on one episode : ANN : Wikipedia


2 comments:

  1. I like how this and 07 Ghost are the most noteworthy things you've seen in your absence.

    I thought Akikan was just boring-bad, not ridiculous-bad. I'm still in no rush to see it, but this writeup tells me you'd at least make some entertaining painfaces if I did...

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  2. It's more that those are what I watched yesterday and figured that if I didn't toss them up right away, I never would. I've got other stuff I have more say about, but gotta start somewhere.

    And yeah, Akikan! started out amusingly manic, but kind of lost steam as it went on. I'm not really expecting it to go anyway, but I figured I'd give it another episode at least, just for the retardedness of it.

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