Oh boy, so this was a show. This weird puzzle solving, live action/bad CGI abomination of a show actually existed. At the end of the day I am still immensely perplexed at how anyone got this greenlit, much less managed to sell it to American companies for streaming.
I said it at the end of last weeks review, the plot wrapped up really nicely last episode. So I wasn’t entirely sure what they were going to do with a final episode. What they did end up doing, was a sort of paranormal activity/found footage kind of episode where the boys go to explore the rumors of a Talking Rock at their old high school just before it is set to shut down. So they wander through the school like it’s a haunted house, searching for Spudio. You know, for boys who were so absolutely desperate to get rid of this rock at every turn during their High School years. They seemed pretty excited at the idea he could be back.
In the end, it was just a prank by Yurio. Nothing of value, they had a few good laughs and got to scare one another with childish traps set up throughout the school or just fail epically in trying to jump scare one another. As this is advertised as a mostly ad-libbed episode, I can’t help but wonder how many of the reactions are genuine.
In the Kendo room, with a plain rock and all of the trickery revealed. The group sits there and laughs, thinking about old times and about the future. Dimension High School is closing and time goes on. Though, Shiroyama hears something. He hears Spudio ever so faintly, the Sphinx’s aren’t gone for good. Earth is not safe yet.
Nobody else hears this warning and even Shiroyama isn’t sure he heard it. Is it over? Is it not? Who knows.
Wait a second, did they just try to sequal bait this series? ARE YOU KIDDING? DID IT EVEN GET ENOUGH VIEWS FOR THAT? DID ANYONE BUT ME EVEN WATCH THIS DUMPSTER FIRE TO THE END?
Overall Impressions:
I’m not entirely sure what I just watched. Who thought this was a good idea, and even if it was an idea and something they are experimenting with in the Future for anime. Why not put more effort into it? The animation looked like an absolute trainwreck, and while it occasionally liked to poke fun at itself for that.
It still took itself a little too seriously on the whole to make up for just how bad it was.
The characters were honestly the best thing about the show. Though, the ‘main’ character being Shiroyama it feels like he was honestly one of the weakest characters in the bunch. Mizukami, Kikawada and Momoya were the strongest characters in the series by far.
At their core, they were all stereotypes of some sort or another but I felt like those three got to break the mold from their character stereotype the most.
Kikawada was your tough guy with a heart of gold, but he also had a strong past with Mizukami. A unbreakable relationship, and the focus he had on that friendship. His past, and the fact that even after his accident he was alive and still going on. That’s what made his character shine.
Mizukami was so headstrong about his friendship. When he lost Kikawada to the Sphinx’s, he worked harder then anyone else did through the rest of the series to get back the thing that was most precious to him. When Shiroyama was feeling down in the later episodes, it was his idea to try to cheer him up. He still wasn’t perfect though, he was selfish and threw Spudio away. Because the injuries he’d left behind on his friend were the thing that was lost when Kikawada lost the most precious thing to him.
Momoya was honestly, the most complex character out of all of them. The 5th, not one of the ‘four chosen heroes’ but the one who Ultimately helped them defeat the Sphinx’s for good. Without his guidance, and without his sacrifice. I don’t think the boys could of gotten rid of the Sphinx’s on their own. He sacrificed himself for his students and for the world, and in the end, he still got to have his wish of seeing his dead friend one more time. Of being able to tell him that their manga got accepted.
He wasn’t in the final episode, though It would of been nice to know he was doing well and see if he was going to become a manga writer like his friend requested.
I don’t know really what to say at the end of this journey. It was a crazy idea, an idea that by all means should of just gone ignored and ended up a ripple in the sea of live action and anime. Who knows if this weird little quiz show is more popular overseas. If there were Japanese fans watching ironically like myself, or even if there were other English fans watching ironically. I honestly have seen nobody else so much as mention this show and all of my friends that I showed the first episode had the proper response and ran far away.
The actors were certainly trying their best with what they were given. The opening song was also ungodly catchy, I had roughly a two day period where it was stuck in my head a little while back.
I had a few good laughs, and it had some good emotional moments. It is by far not the worst show i’ve ever watched to the end, and I feel a little weird saying that. I won’t recommend it, but I didn’t hate it either. Perhaps my apathy towards this show as a whole is biggest tell that they created not something new. Just something mundane.