Hello! First off, I want to mention a few minor changes to the review format before I get started with said review proper. As I'd previously mentioned, I felt the "Enjoyment" rating didn't have enough weight, which result in certain animes (mostly Sword Art Online) getting an overall rating lower than I felt they deserved. As such, I've now made "Enjoyment" a rating out of 15, to give it that extra ooomph in the weighted average. I also found that I rarely had anything to say for the "Audio" rating, so I've decided to fuse that with the "Visuals" into a 5 point "Presentation" rating. In any given review you can expect the old "Visuals" to account for about 3-4 points out of that and "Audio" for the rest. Now that I've got this shit out of the way, on with the thing you actually care about.
I'll be honest, I came into this latest anime, Dog Days, with fairly low expectations. It'd been described to me as "the most generic anime ever", and I'd watched an episode of Chip Cheezum and General Ironicus's Anime Theatre (which is hilarious, by the way) where they mocked what seemed like a really sloppy anime episode that turned out to be from Dog Days. Still, I was curious where this thing would go, and decided to give it a try. It turned out to be the most relaxing and endearingly silly anime I've seen with the exception of the three series of Aria (The Animation, The Natural and The Origination)
Dog Days follows Shinku, a Japanese boy who is really into athletics, and is able to perform tricks that I'm pretty sure are impossible in real life. One day, before going on vacation, he falls into a portal to the world of Flonyard (or as the subtitles spelled it in later seasons, Flognarde), where the Republic of Biscotti, lead by Princess Milhiore (Yes, a republic with a princess. Anime.) is at war with the Empire of Gallette. Also, the Biscottians are all dog people and the Galletians are all cat people. Turns out, Millhiore (Millhi to her friends) has summoned him as a hero for Biscotti. Shortly before his first battle it turns out that Flonyard is a utopia, where wars are actually basically giant games: people fight as usual in Earth war (with some magic thrown in), but don't die due to mystical energy bollocks that no one cares about.
This is the main gimmick of the series, and one that carries it through its strongest episodes. Battles are pretty much meaningless, with the only thing at stake being the pride of certain characters. Even then, Flonyard is such a utopia that everybody's friends with each other, even people on different sides of wars, and no one comes out of war with hurt feelings. Be it in battle or outside, the only thing people seem to feel for each other is the deepest affection, even if it's sometimes covered up by being the classic "Gentle heart with a snarky exterior" stereotype.
The main draw of the series is in this. Most of the time there's really no conflict whatsoever, and everyone's just having a bunch of fun. Battles are colorful and entertaining to watch, playing out much like games of Dynasty Warriors (Thousands of mooks that do nothing are constantly being defeated by powerful named characters), but nothing's on the line most of the time. They're usually accompanied by two friendly commentators explaining what happened in typical anime style, and as the series goes on, involve more and more silly maneouvers. Outside of battle the characters are fairly endearing if extremely basic, and once again spend time just goofing around and having fun. Considering most of these people are royalty and people very high up in the chain of command, they seem to have a surprising amount of time to play frisbee, have people pet them, and just generally goof around a whole bunch.
There is a plotline to each season, but it might as well not be there. Just revealing the plot to season one is practically a spoiler, but let it be said that most of the season is just war game shenanigans with nothing seemingly at stake. This is perhaps the only actual time the plot works in the series, being fairly distressing and actually having some tension for about two minutes at one point. Season two is my favourite by far: Nothing happens in it. There's a bunch of wars and then people hang out, and it's just fun and relaxing and dumb. Season three tries to cram way too much plot in there, and doesn't feature a single of the wars that made the first two seasons so entertaining. It's a brave attempt to shake things up, but it really doesn't work: The tone is too serious and it ends up falling flat because of all the dumb stuff that came before. I just want the characters to shut up and beat each other up in a war that's been declared literally for fun some more so I can see the pretty colors. Or at least go play frisbee.
Our cast is pretty much a series of anime archetypes. You've got Shinku, the hero boy, and his rival Prince Gaul, you've got Princess Milhiore the kind and gentle one, you've got Leonmitchelli the strong and confident warrior woman, you've got the goofy trio of the Genoise, the cute and clumsy but smart Rico and the aggressive but deep inside kind captain of the guard Eclair, as well as a whole host of others. It's a show with a lot of characters, and this is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it provides a lot of different fighters that can throw pretty colors at each other in different ways whilst shouting different stupid attack names, but it also means we become less emotionally invested in each individual character. Not that it really matters anyway, since no one is set to win or loose anything throughout most of the show.
One thing that did make me deeply uncomfortable however is this: It might not be obvious because of the goofy names, but every important character but Shinku and Gaul is female. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the problem is that sometime in the first season the writers seemed to decide the way that female characters loose battles is by having their clothes completely destroyed. This means there are lots and lots of situations where there's just barely hidden anime boobs (something always gets between the nipples and the camera) hanging around, which is in stark contrast with how innocent everything else is. Almost more unsettling to me was that pretty much every female character who wasn't either related to Shinku or in a previous relationship ends up falling in love with him, and discuss it amongst themselves at several times. I understand the concept of a harem anime, and it's always made me uncomfortable, but this seems like such blatant wish fulfilment that it made me feel skeevy watching at times. Luckily, most of the time characters are too busy shooting magic lasers at each other to talk about it.
The thing that I'll always remember looking back at the show is just how endearingly silly it is. The battles are dumb anime fare, but the whole affair is seeping with silliness, in every detail. Each coutnry has two magic swords that metamorphose into whatever weapon is most useful for the wielder. For one person this is a broom and deck of cards. A bunch of characters get these super powerful ancient stones that make them about four years older when activated. One of the characters at one point summons a sword larger than a mountain and uses it to cut her opponent's clothes off. People like to be petted because they're animals. Nations declare war on each other literally just for fun. Everyone is named after a biscuit or cake. And so on.
Character and World Building: 8.5/10
Flonyard is a fantastically charming place, despite lacking all realism. I love the way it's presented, and there's actually some interesting backstory about how it became this utopian wonderland, having originally been what seems to be a pretty grim place. Everything's friendly in Flonyard, and a place being beautiful and having great people is pretty much a default. The characters are really basic, but there's a huge roster of them and they're all fairly endearing. The ones that get more screentime are really pleasant, and I appreciate the time spent hanging out with them
Story: 4.5/10
It would've been better off without the story. I really enjoyed the first season, but the last few episodes, where it tries to put some story elements in, were the weakest by far. The second season, a collection of just stuff happening was by far the best, and the third just made me want the people to stop talking. That's honestly what pushes it below the neutral 5 mark: The story actively got in the way of me enjoying the series in the last season.
Presentation: 4/5
It's really, really pretty. The characters look great, as do the backgrounds. The battles are really fun to watch, with plenty of unique fighting styles and visual flare. Whilst voice-acting is top notch I wasn't fond of the music, which was unfortunate because one of the main characters is a singer and we're forced to listen to her really shitty J-pop on more than one occasion, which halts everything else.
Enjoyment: 14.5/15
Immensely enjoyable. It's relaxing, it's endearing, it's entertaining.
Overall: (8.5+4.5+4+14.5)/40 =
31.5/40
(Roughly 7.8/10)
Dog Days is dumb. It's real dumb. And that's the biggest compliment I can give it. Its stupidity is what makes it endearing and entertaining. It's what it gives it character, and brings a smile to my face when I'm watching it. I firmly believe Dog Days knows just how tremendously silly it is, and doesn't care. It's lighthearted, enjoyable fun. There's no odds or issues or conflict, and that's fine, because we're having fun and that's all that matters.
I'll be honest, I came into this latest anime, Dog Days, with fairly low expectations. It'd been described to me as "the most generic anime ever", and I'd watched an episode of Chip Cheezum and General Ironicus's Anime Theatre (which is hilarious, by the way) where they mocked what seemed like a really sloppy anime episode that turned out to be from Dog Days. Still, I was curious where this thing would go, and decided to give it a try. It turned out to be the most relaxing and endearingly silly anime I've seen with the exception of the three series of Aria (The Animation, The Natural and The Origination)
Dog Days follows Shinku, a Japanese boy who is really into athletics, and is able to perform tricks that I'm pretty sure are impossible in real life. One day, before going on vacation, he falls into a portal to the world of Flonyard (or as the subtitles spelled it in later seasons, Flognarde), where the Republic of Biscotti, lead by Princess Milhiore (Yes, a republic with a princess. Anime.) is at war with the Empire of Gallette. Also, the Biscottians are all dog people and the Galletians are all cat people. Turns out, Millhiore (Millhi to her friends) has summoned him as a hero for Biscotti. Shortly before his first battle it turns out that Flonyard is a utopia, where wars are actually basically giant games: people fight as usual in Earth war (with some magic thrown in), but don't die due to mystical energy bollocks that no one cares about.
This is the main gimmick of the series, and one that carries it through its strongest episodes. Battles are pretty much meaningless, with the only thing at stake being the pride of certain characters. Even then, Flonyard is such a utopia that everybody's friends with each other, even people on different sides of wars, and no one comes out of war with hurt feelings. Be it in battle or outside, the only thing people seem to feel for each other is the deepest affection, even if it's sometimes covered up by being the classic "Gentle heart with a snarky exterior" stereotype.
The main draw of the series is in this. Most of the time there's really no conflict whatsoever, and everyone's just having a bunch of fun. Battles are colorful and entertaining to watch, playing out much like games of Dynasty Warriors (Thousands of mooks that do nothing are constantly being defeated by powerful named characters), but nothing's on the line most of the time. They're usually accompanied by two friendly commentators explaining what happened in typical anime style, and as the series goes on, involve more and more silly maneouvers. Outside of battle the characters are fairly endearing if extremely basic, and once again spend time just goofing around and having fun. Considering most of these people are royalty and people very high up in the chain of command, they seem to have a surprising amount of time to play frisbee, have people pet them, and just generally goof around a whole bunch.
There is a plotline to each season, but it might as well not be there. Just revealing the plot to season one is practically a spoiler, but let it be said that most of the season is just war game shenanigans with nothing seemingly at stake. This is perhaps the only actual time the plot works in the series, being fairly distressing and actually having some tension for about two minutes at one point. Season two is my favourite by far: Nothing happens in it. There's a bunch of wars and then people hang out, and it's just fun and relaxing and dumb. Season three tries to cram way too much plot in there, and doesn't feature a single of the wars that made the first two seasons so entertaining. It's a brave attempt to shake things up, but it really doesn't work: The tone is too serious and it ends up falling flat because of all the dumb stuff that came before. I just want the characters to shut up and beat each other up in a war that's been declared literally for fun some more so I can see the pretty colors. Or at least go play frisbee.
Our cast is pretty much a series of anime archetypes. You've got Shinku, the hero boy, and his rival Prince Gaul, you've got Princess Milhiore the kind and gentle one, you've got Leonmitchelli the strong and confident warrior woman, you've got the goofy trio of the Genoise, the cute and clumsy but smart Rico and the aggressive but deep inside kind captain of the guard Eclair, as well as a whole host of others. It's a show with a lot of characters, and this is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it provides a lot of different fighters that can throw pretty colors at each other in different ways whilst shouting different stupid attack names, but it also means we become less emotionally invested in each individual character. Not that it really matters anyway, since no one is set to win or loose anything throughout most of the show.
One thing that did make me deeply uncomfortable however is this: It might not be obvious because of the goofy names, but every important character but Shinku and Gaul is female. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the problem is that sometime in the first season the writers seemed to decide the way that female characters loose battles is by having their clothes completely destroyed. This means there are lots and lots of situations where there's just barely hidden anime boobs (something always gets between the nipples and the camera) hanging around, which is in stark contrast with how innocent everything else is. Almost more unsettling to me was that pretty much every female character who wasn't either related to Shinku or in a previous relationship ends up falling in love with him, and discuss it amongst themselves at several times. I understand the concept of a harem anime, and it's always made me uncomfortable, but this seems like such blatant wish fulfilment that it made me feel skeevy watching at times. Luckily, most of the time characters are too busy shooting magic lasers at each other to talk about it.
The thing that I'll always remember looking back at the show is just how endearingly silly it is. The battles are dumb anime fare, but the whole affair is seeping with silliness, in every detail. Each coutnry has two magic swords that metamorphose into whatever weapon is most useful for the wielder. For one person this is a broom and deck of cards. A bunch of characters get these super powerful ancient stones that make them about four years older when activated. One of the characters at one point summons a sword larger than a mountain and uses it to cut her opponent's clothes off. People like to be petted because they're animals. Nations declare war on each other literally just for fun. Everyone is named after a biscuit or cake. And so on.
Character and World Building: 8.5/10
Flonyard is a fantastically charming place, despite lacking all realism. I love the way it's presented, and there's actually some interesting backstory about how it became this utopian wonderland, having originally been what seems to be a pretty grim place. Everything's friendly in Flonyard, and a place being beautiful and having great people is pretty much a default. The characters are really basic, but there's a huge roster of them and they're all fairly endearing. The ones that get more screentime are really pleasant, and I appreciate the time spent hanging out with them
Story: 4.5/10
It would've been better off without the story. I really enjoyed the first season, but the last few episodes, where it tries to put some story elements in, were the weakest by far. The second season, a collection of just stuff happening was by far the best, and the third just made me want the people to stop talking. That's honestly what pushes it below the neutral 5 mark: The story actively got in the way of me enjoying the series in the last season.
Presentation: 4/5
It's really, really pretty. The characters look great, as do the backgrounds. The battles are really fun to watch, with plenty of unique fighting styles and visual flare. Whilst voice-acting is top notch I wasn't fond of the music, which was unfortunate because one of the main characters is a singer and we're forced to listen to her really shitty J-pop on more than one occasion, which halts everything else.
Enjoyment: 14.5/15
Immensely enjoyable. It's relaxing, it's endearing, it's entertaining.
Overall: (8.5+4.5+4+14.5)/40 =
31.5/40
(Roughly 7.8/10)
Dog Days is dumb. It's real dumb. And that's the biggest compliment I can give it. Its stupidity is what makes it endearing and entertaining. It's what it gives it character, and brings a smile to my face when I'm watching it. I firmly believe Dog Days knows just how tremendously silly it is, and doesn't care. It's lighthearted, enjoyable fun. There's no odds or issues or conflict, and that's fine, because we're having fun and that's all that matters.
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