It really should be my business anyway. Cute girl playing arcade game? A relaxing environment without any problems? Design a protagonist with shades of Sakura and Chise cardcaptor sakuradespite the colors being swapped? All of these things scream YES to me. I only watched a few episodes before I realized this wasn’t going to be the fun little part of my life’s journey I wanted. everything is here Cultural exchange with game center girls It’s just so boring and the cuteness doesn’t do anything to me.
Our heroine Lily is from England. Not that you really noticed. Yes, she has an English name, but her British accent is terrible. Its Japanese accent is so obvious that it only appears when the show needs to remind us of Lily’s cultural origins. I feel mean saying that, especially since I know her voice actor is bilingual Sally Tianmu. I guess it’s not Tianmu’s fault that the British accent has been so ravaged. Perhaps the studio wanted Amaki to maintain the right feel of “ugu-kawaii-desu” in her British voice that a character like Lily requires. wonderful. But not only is 80% of Lily’s dialogue still in Japanese, but there are also scenes where she speaks to her British parents in fluent Japanese. Why? Don’t they mostly speak in English? It feels like you could take the bilingual part of the script and not change anything. British dubbing This was solved by fixing Lily’s British accent, albeit at the cost of making everyone speak English. Based on the presence of Japanese subtitles, Lily and her family are implied to be speaking Japanese, although since their lines are spoken in English, the bilingual element feels largely non-existent.
The first half of the play mainly tells the love story between Lily and the older Renji. The age gap isn’t an issue, as there’s no deep romantic or sexual tension between the two of them (although there’s a line between Renji, Lily, and her father that hints at this, but it’s a side note played for laughs). If this drama was better written I would say it’s cute. why not? Also, it was cute when she missed Taki-sensei in “Rina”. sound! euphonium Despite the years apart, who am I to judge? They are just innocent children, too young to understand the correct standards of love. The problem with this relationship isn’t how boring and stale these characters are. Lily is a cute British girl who loves arcade games, Renji is an employee at the arcade trying to understand her, and… that’s about it. You can immediately understand the depth of their relationship.
The second half of the show dives deep into CGDCT territory when other girls are introduced into the mix, although things don’t get any better. Their idea of fun is very simple, without any detailed guidance that would help make things stand out. It all feels like the anime is playing a game of checks and boxes, just cramming in the usual staples of life as needed. There’s no detailed guidance to help make things stand out, and by the end, it feels like a craftsman. “Well, they’re on summer break, so we need a travel episode, but only if they spend a little more time at the playground. Wait, aren’t they already doing that during the school year? Never mind, though. And then we need a beach episode! And a summer festival episode! ¿Por qué no los dos? How about the same time? Perfect!”
The slice-of-life moments in the play don’t make Lily’s daily life any less ordinary. She spends most of her free time at the arcade, where she develops a crush on one of the arcade’s employees, Renji. People spend a lot of time in playgrounds and play games, but there is no sense of participation in their fun. Lily and Renji spent a good portion of the time playing the same crane game to win a cute koala bear plush toy, while the other part had Lily and Renji delving into some VR games that, for the most part, didn’t look very exciting. Towards the end of the episode, Lily plays a VR game in which she pilots a mecha, which is almost animated by the show’s standards, and perhaps the closest the show comes to boasting of a draw. Another episode has Lily and her companions competing in a gamers tournament. That’s not the case with the Haruhi Suzumiya episode that plays “Sagittarius Day,” although it does try its best to recapture those vibes.
Perhaps one of the worst qualities cultural exchange Where it’s going is it’s very very very very very forcing it. Cute yes. I’ve talked about Lily’s appearance before. cardcaptor sakura’s leading duo, which would be okay if it weren’t juxtaposed with the decidedly unsightly color scheme. The background is filled with blues, pinks, and other bright colors that look like marshmallow vomit. No kidding, it makes Pretty Cure look like crazy devilman crybaby. It feels like this is all done to cover up how limited and stiff the animation is. Evidence: Episode 7 of the show There’s a frame that looks like a bad Photoshop job, with hastily cut PNG layers placed uncomfortably over the background designed in MS Paint. It just doesn’t look good.
Apart from a few background tracks (most notably one with bluesy harmonica), there was nothing memorable about the show. The final moments have a frame that says “Game Over” and then “Continue?” I tend to tell myself “No thanks!”
