Instead of doing a little flowery introduction this week, I’m going to drop the download link below, and then after that you can read the Guy Nerd’s written review (he overslept, and this is his punishment). Please enjoy!
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Bit Ratings:
Gay Nerd: 7.5
Girl Nerd: 8
Guy Nerd: a millionty twelve
From the Brainmouth of the Guy Nerd
What’s squishy enough to sleep on, yet hard enough to brain your worst enemy? That’s right…it’s Cencoroll.
My two cohorts will cover the plot in greater detail, but I would be lax in my duties if I ignored it entirely. To summarize the plot is to essentially tell nearly the whole story, as Cencoroll is, in its entirety, a 30 minute OVA. Japan, already famous in anime for its tendency to attract hordes of strange monsters, has not changed its collective mind about the inconvenience and now finds itself beset by hordes of large, shape-shifting
creatures teleporting in from…somewhere. These creatures might be content to sit around on buildings all day and look creepy, but they can be telepathically controlled by teenage youths who generally use them to raise a mildly destructive ruckus.
Enter our players: protagonists Yuki and Tetsu, and antagonist Shu. Tetsu controls one of the shape-shifters who is named (or who he has named) Cenco. The audience is told nothing about the creatures, be it origin or purpose, presumably because we’re meant to identify with our heroine Yuki. Yuki is drawn into this shape-shifting world when she discovers Cenco disguised as Tetsu’s bicycle. What follows is the appropriate barrage of questions, none of which Tetsu is keen on answering.
Shu, meanwhile, controls his own monster and duels Tetsu while he is somewhat unwillingly carting around Yuki. Afterwards, we get the usual plot of warring creatures, hostage situations, explosions, and everything we’ve come to expect from sci-fi anime.
Thematically, at the forefront is the necessity for adaptability, and I like that. Adaptability will always have to be addressed as a theme when you have shape-shifters with which to work, but it’s writ large all across Cencoroll. The monsters adapt to fight each other; the humans adapt to work with their monsters; the audience adapts to deal with the largely unexplained world and plot of the OVA. Those that adapt the best win the day; those that don’t end up unconscious in a bed of alien slop.
Story-wise, there’s nothing fresh about this plot. Everything you’ll see has been done before and done better. Teenagers telepathically controlling giant creatures?! We’ve never seen the like in anime before!! Shape-shifting monsters doing battle?! What is this devilry?! No, the plotline is a rehash of any number of Gainax shows you’ve seen over the last 15 years or so, and with an art style to match. Some of the scenes feel so much like I’m watching Evangelion again that I’m forced to wonder if it’s not an intentional tribute.
But I’m recommending it anyway. You should see it. And yes, I can hear you asking “Why, GuyNerd? You hate everything!” The singularity of this OVA lies in the herculean effort of it’s sole creator Atsuya Uki.
You read that right. One guy did this. Atsuya Uki put pen to paper and wrote, drew, animated, and directed an entire 30 minute OVA.
Come on…it’s only 30 minutes long, and it’s really pretty to behold, and it’s a cute little story. And one guy did it. Just give it a watch. You owe him that much.
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