 | | ▪ | RELEASED BY: | | MEDIA BLASTERS | | | ▪ | ASPECT RATIO: | | 1.78:1 ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN | | | ▪ | AUDIO: | | ENGLISH AND JAPANESE DD 2.0 | | | ▪ | RUNNING TIME: | | 100 MIN | | | ▪ | RATING: | | T | | | ▪ | RELEASE DATE: | | 04/29/2008 | | | ▪ | REVIEW DATE: | | 10/08/2008 | | | ▪ | REVIEWED BY: | | SCOTT CAMPBELL |
In Kujibiki Unbalance, Hapless Chihiro Enomoto's luck changes for the better (or worse depending on how you look at it) when he is randomly chosen as a candidate for the next student council president at his school. Unfortunately that means he must undergo a year-long apprenticeship with the current ruling body accomplishing one impossible punishing task after another. This first volume follows Chihiro and some of the daunting/humorous tasks that he must complete on his road to being president. Together with his fellow candidates (all of whom are coincidentally female), Chihiro must run the school store while a bomb scare is underway, retrieve a runaway panda while a love potion perfume hangs in the air, and clean a pond while revisiting his childhood ties to the current student body president Ritsuko. Kujibiki Unbalance is certainly interesting, especially because it is a “world within a world” in relation to its origin. Fans of the popular anime “Genshiken” know that Kujibiki Unbalance is actually an anime that the characters in Genshiken watch religiously, as it is their favorite anime. So Kujibiki is actually an anime, within an anime – it’s a fun idea once you get your head around it! The good thing is that Kujibiki Unbalance is an entertaining enough show that it does manage to stand on its own very well, and is only improved by the fact that it is tied in with Genshiken as an ongoing series. It must therefore be mentioned that Genshiken is a fantastic show that most anime fans will find a lot of good in because of its subject matter – it’s an anime about fans of anime and otaku culture, so surely we can all relate in one way or another. Speaking of Genshiken, this volume includes Genshiken episode 13 as a special bonus feature for viewers to enjoy while we wait for the next season of Genshiken to come out. Each volume of Kujibiki Unbalance includes a new episode of Genshiken, involving situations to be placed on the time line between season one, and season two, so that will be three whole new OVAs in total. The original Genshiken is 12 episodes, and these three OVAs will make up episodes 13, 14, and 15 respectively. The first one on this first volume of Kujibiki Unbalance was a lot of fun – it’s good to see the Genshiken crew back together and gaining two new members that will likely add a lot of antics to the overall humor that the series possesses already. Now, back to Kujibiki Unbalance on its own – this first volume is impressive because it takes the concept from the Kujibiki seen in Genshiken, and builds on it to bring us a much more polished version of what the “make believe” anime could be. The animation is bright and fluid – it has a “fun” potential to it because it is just so “cartoony” and round, and filled with over-the-top expressions, etc. The cover art of the DVDs conveys this pretty well, but you really get a sense of it once you watch the anime and experience all the craziness that it has to offer. The voice acting is fairly good, and well-fit to each character – it never seems awkward or takes away from the show at all. The music is nothing hugely memorable, but it certainly does the trick – it isn’t “bad,” so that in itself is an accomplishment when it comes to any show. The stories are not “groundbreaking” in any way, but it’s just what the doctor ordered. This anime is just fun – it’s great for watching and not having to think about any huge back story or crazy overcomplicated characters. This is the kind of show you need when you get home from work and need to hang out on the couch for a while – everyone needs a fun show like that sometimes. Chihiro and his accomplices get up to many a random adventure within each episode, and there’s always lots of fast-paced humour and action going on – it’s really not such a big wonder that Kujibiki Unbalance is a favorite of the whole Genshiken crew!
EXTRAS:
A Genshinken OVA on each disc, Media Blasters previews, a promotional animation, and a textless opening theme.
IN SUMMARY:
Kujibiki Unbalance was fun when it was just a semi-serious made up idea within the Genshiken universe, but now it’s going all the way with its own full show, and it looks great doing it. The added bonus of new Genshiken episodes makes this anime impossible to pass up – the tie-in idea is a great one, and really adds to the fun of this anime! |
