The Time-Pressed Otaku: Binbō-gami ga!

Sunday 30 September 2012

Binbō-gami ga!

Number of Episodes: 13

What Wikipedia says: "Ichiko Sakura is a 16-year old high schooler who has always been pretty lucky throughout her life. This is due to her body possessing an extraordinary amount of Fortune energy, which draws from its surroundings, causing the world to fall out of balance. To rectify this, a God of Misfortune named Momiji is sent to the human world to target Ichiko and steal her Fortune energy in order to rebalance the world.."

tTPO says: The summary above pretty much sums things up with the focus on this continually amusing and comically violent struggle. The comedy is pretty straightforward most of the time (and very self aware and self deprecating, and not lacking in fan service) and there are some anime in-jokes to reward the true otaku (I am sure I probably missed some of these). The cast slowly builds with time and this is a good thing as it allows some character development in an otherwise (deliberately) shallow series.

This to me sums up the spirit of the show - the studio & writers (it is based on a manga) did not sacrifice the basics of good pacing both within and between episodes, interesting main characters with some development and having a coherent plot just because it was not a story heavy series. Nothing disappointments me more as a viewer than gaping plot holes or rubbish pacing when these issues are so easily recitified.

How About the Music?: The OP ("Make my Day!" by Piko) was pleasantly frenetic and a good way to start things. The ED ("Love Riot" by HAPPY BIRTHDAY) is a bit demented 60's of sorts, but for me a bit more meh.

So how does it end? (Spoiler Free): Surprisingly well. There is not a vast complex plot here (Steins;Gate this is not) and yet they took what they had and fashioned a more than satisfactory ending, while leaving a few things open ended for another series. And had an all to brief awesome fight on top of moving traffic.

Overall Grade: Even if not overly ambitious, this is a series that got the balance pretty much about right. Grade B.

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About KoanMan

KoanMan, tTPOs particularly time pressed friend & colleague will also make periodic contributions. For KoanMan, anime is a continuation of a long-held fascination with the orient in general and Japanese culture in particular. It commands at least an hour, sometimes two, every month, which equates to a very high position on KoanMan’s personal list of priorities. In familial fashion, there is a KoanWoman, a KoanBoy and a KoanGirl. I can confirm that KoanGirl is now interested in manga a lot and anime a little, though KoanBoy has moved onto motocross dirtbikes.

Without simply repeating the views of tTPO, KoanMan hopes his opinions will help other’s to be more selective, and minimise the waste of precious anime time.