Lance N’ Masques Episode 1 [First Impression]

This anime was a mistake.

Impression

I will have trouble getting along with Lance N’ Masques. As a lolicon, I felt obligated to try it out – but ironically, it was as a lolicon that I first had an issue with it (note that this implies I had other issues too, which is exactly the case). I know this might be hard to believe, but even I have a line I’m unwilling to cross – and if I, of all people, am saying that some of these characters look far too young, then you know it’s really, really bad. I mean, Makio looks like she’s still in kindergarten! Is she really going to be a love interest? I think part of it is the fault of Studio Gokumi, because the light novel art looks fine – she’s still depicted as young, but not to the point where it feels really uncomfortable to watch her bring back random teenage boys to her house and sleep in the same bed with them overnight. I think the last time I felt like this was with Ro-Kyu-Bu, a show about lolis playing basketball with a male high school student as their manager. Studio Gokumi seem to have halved each character’s age and animated them in a really mediocre way – after having seen some of the LN art, I actually felt incredibly sorry for its fans. These are from the light novels:

And this, in contrast, is promo material for the anime:

Makio was a major victim:

It was more of the same with the short action scene we had, with Knight Lancer against the random bad guys in suits. I laughed when they first showed the men in black, by the way – that’s some QUALITY animation right there.

And that’s not even the main problem I have with this. It’s Hanabusa Yotaro. I don’t think I can stand a whole season of listening to this guy literally white knight his way to the hearts of girls all over the world – well, some of them just call him a pervert and run off. I don’t blame them. I found it slightly funny that they decided to lampshade this particular character trait of his by calling it a ‘White Knight Syndrome’ and saying he can’t help but act like one, but only slightly. I mean, he says lines like this:

“Are you hurt, my lady? When I heard your piercing scream, I felt as though my chest would burst. Why couldn’t I be by your side? Why did I allow those hoodlums near you? Please, accept this fool’s apologies. As a knight, I swear to protect you for all eternity.”

And remember, this is a random schoolgirl whom he happened to pass by. I want to curl up into a ball and die from the off-the-charts levels of cringe this guy generates whenever he opens his mouth. If it was more of a comedic thing, like a satire of the chivalry that knights are supposed to exhibit, then I think I’d be okay with it. But no, Yotaro is deadly serious. Makio is, for some reason, enamoured with Knight Lancer – I’m just hoping that being Knight Lancer is suffering, too, and so we’ll get to see something interesting in the near future. Oh, another thing – Makio has no idea that Yotaro is Knight Lancer! I could have understood her bringing Yotaro back home with her if she knew he’d saved her, but from her perspective he’s just a guy she found lying on the grass! And he didn’t even ask to stay over or anything, she just made him do it out of nowhere! I basically reacted just like the maid during that scene, and just like Yotaro too, to an extent – ‘Are you serious, is this girl for real?’

I think I had higher expectations of this than I should have – which is in part the fault of the anime for withholding so much info, and in part my fault because I thought I would like it. If Yotaro wasn’t ultra-chuuni and Makio was a little older (but still a loli, mind you) then I think I’d have liked this a bit more. And it would have been nice if Studio Gokumi had a budget greater than $5. Also, when the talking white horse appeared, I had to seriously resist the urge to just drop it right there – I had a fleeting thought that this might be a daytime anime for kids, but then I realized that this is supposed to have come from a light novel. I was unimpressed when the horse then turned into a loli (albeit a more age-appropriate loli, I admit). I still think it’s the kind of show where there’s no blood, though – although in this case it might be because it’s cheaper if they don’t bother with blood.

I don’t think this is worth my time to blog, frankly speaking. Ayachi sang the ED though, that was pretty great. If you’re a light novel reader, tell me if there’s anything good plot-wise to look forward to – I’ll continue watching this for a couple more episodes, partly to confirm my impressions and partly because there’s nothing else I’m interested in on Thursdays other than Subete ga F ni Naru. This has been an unimpressive start to Fall 2015.

Possibility of Watching: Low
Possibility of Blogging: Low