Anime-Gataris

ComedyTV12 EP/8 Oct 2017

Oshimeter

7.7
97 Ratings
— Want to Watch
— Watched

Synopsis

A childhood anime she can barely remember haunts Minoa Asagaya, who can't recall its name no matter how hard she tries. That's it. that's the inciting incident for an entire TV series about starting a high school anime club. Minoa's search catches the ear of Arisu Kamiigusa, the rich popular girl who happens to be a closet otaku with encyclopedic anime knowledge. Together they revive the school's dead anime research club, pulling in a crew of distinct nerds, including Miko, who insists on reading the light novel before touching any adaptation. You know the type. The student council naturally wants to shut them down, because what's a school club anime without bureaucratic antagonism? The real draw here is how deeply this 12-episode series commits to the bit. Animegataris is stuffed with references and parodies of real anime, and the characters themselves represent different corners of otaku culture: the casual viewer, the elitist, the collector, the cosplayer. The comedy comes from how accurately it captures the way fans actually argue about anime, which hits different if you've ever had a heated discussion about sub vs. dub. If you liked the otaku slice-of-life energy of Genshiken or the referential humor in Lucky Star, this is in that same lane. It's got a comedic, youthful vibe that keeps things light while being genuinely meta about the medium it's celebrating. The WAO World production won't blow you away visually, but the writing knows exactly what it's doing.

Episode Guide

Oshimeter0-5960-7980-100Upcoming

Characters

Minoa Asagaya

Minoa is a clumsy but driven first-year who joins the anime club, her tastes influenced by its members.

Bennett Dawn M.

Miko Kouenji

Miko Kouenji is an aspiring novelist who enjoys anime adaptations and secretly publishes her work online.

Maxwell Elizabeth

Kai Musashisakai

Kai is an anime-obsessed Sakaneko High student who fancies himself an action hero, much to others' amusement.

Saab Alejandro

Erika Aoyama

Sakaneko High's anime club president, Erika, loves magical girl anime and cosplay, and is Minoa's senpai.

Angelle Felecia

Arisu Kamiigusa

Wealthy, refined anime fan Arisu hides loneliness behind a confident, money-can-solve-anything demeanor.

Viktorin Alison

Yui Obata

Yui Obata is a popular track star and Minoa's friend, secretly watching over her anime club antics.

McGuire Kristen

Kouki Nakano

Popular Sakaneko High School student and anime club member; secretly an idol anime fan.

Cruz Jordan Dash

Community Feed

Someone and 5 others rated 9.0
EP 12
countzeroor★★★★★Anime

There have been numerous anime about anime and anime fandom – from Otaku no Video and Genshiken on the fandom side, and Shirobako and Animation Runner Kuromi on the production side. This last year had Anime-Gataris, an anime series spun-off from a series of shorts that aired in a specific movie theater in Tokyo, a series that does a little bit of both – and then some. The series follows Minoa Asagaya, a new student at Sakaneko High School. While looking to make friends, she bonds with a couple classmates over a discussion of an anime she saw when she was younger, but doesn’t remember very well. She and her friends, from various walks of life and stripes of fandom, attempt to restart the school’s old anime club, only to run into an ever-escalating series of obstacles, going from the mundane to the absurd to the metatextually crazy. The show’s greatest strength is also unfortunately related to how it disappoints. The first 9 episodes of the series are pretty conventional – the club forms, and we get an exploration of the various aspects of anime and anime fandom (from doujinshi, to cosplay, to light novels, to anime tourism, and so on), after which the Student Council starts throwing various obstacles in their way. These obstacles are also fairly conventional and mundane – do a presentation defending the existence of the club to the student body, and produce a work for the school fair. And then from episodes 10 to 12, things go absolutely nuts. Episode 10 has various other clubs turning to the Anime Club for recommendations on how they can improve their club through anime – better living through anime if you will, before the final two episodes almost literally lead to anime bleeding into the real world. The only reason I say “almost” is for it to get into actual literal reality would involve shifting into live-action, and who has that kind of budget? These last 2 episodes are the point where the show becomes the most visually creative, with characters shifting art styles, making references to the change in aspect ratio from older series to the present day, and even a gag where a character becomes aware that their day is passing in the form of a montage. The change is incredibly abrupt – something which is called attention to in the narrative – but it’s also incredibly late in the series. The presentation is wonderfully done too. The art style goes from modern to 90s early digi-cels, to references to black and white anime from the 60s, and some of the more risque comedies of the 70s and 80s. The timing is also perfect – the style changes stay on screen long enough that you can let them sink in, while stuff like the aspect ratio change goes just long enough for you to stop and go, “Did they just do that?” before moving on. Consequently, there’s a very real chance that most viewers of the show wouldn’t get far enough into the show to see it kick into high gear. Plus, once it gets there, it doesn’t stick around enough to quite feel satisfying. It’s like a multi-course meal with a lot of appetisers of a kind and variety that you’re familiar with, and of a quality that fine, but not mind blowing – and then you reach the main course. The main course is something with delicious, complex flavors, presented beautifully, and with an end portion that leaves you craving more. (Note: This review originally appeared [[on my blo](http://countzeroor.wordpress.com/2018/03/17/anime-review-anime-gataris-2017/)g](https://countzeroor.wordpress.com/2018/03/17/anime-review-anime-gataris-2017/))

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