Mikakunin de Shinkoukei

Engaged to the Unidentified

http://imageshack.com/a/img202/4769/lkhp.jpg

spacing spacing spacingMashiro, Hakuya, and Kobeni

Description: Yonomori Kobeni lives with her mother and sister in an average city, living an average life. She finds out on her 16th birthday that she is engaged to Mitsumine Hakuya, from a deal her grandfather made. He moves in with her family from the mountains along with his younger sister, Mashiro.

Genre: Comedy, slice of life, romance?, 4-koma.

AniDB | ANN

[Underwater] - 01

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I certainly wasn't planning on watching this, but once someone said that Acchi Kocchi fans might want to check this out, I was onboard to at least try it. Halfway through the episode, I was convinced I would watch it all season.

It's primarily a character driven series, like any comedy/gag/slice of life series. Kobeni's sister, Benio, drives much of the comedy, but so does Mashiro. You have two extremes, one childish older sibling, and one child who acts a lot older than she is...and fails at it. On the other hand, Hakuya has so little presence, they joke about it. He's there, but isn't really seen nor heard. Kobeni is the balance point of sanity.

Personally, I get over how weak of a character he is, by pretending (for now, perhaps confirmed later?) that Hakuya and Mashiro are from a ninja clan, who spent years isolated in the mountains. It's really the only thing that makes sense. His presence isn't just non-existent, it's erased, and Mashiro is so ignorant of everything while being very proud and extremely traditional herself.

But what really makes this series stand out for me is the animation. Character design wise, it's generic (except Mashiro's Dieci hair, love that). Quality of line-art, it's generic, even a bit blurry.

But where it is amazing in the animation itself, and the outlines.

The animation is surprisingly fluid. Characters move. They move like living beings, not just moving pictures. It's not rotoscoped, and well outside the uncanny valley. They bounce, the shift, they sway. The effect reminds me a lot of the fight scenes in Noein. It is a small thing, but has a large impact.

The outlines on all the characters are tinged in white, which adds a brightness, vitality, and vibrancy to the art, despite how generic it is. It is an interesting visual effect, and really makes the series stand out.


Will the series go anywhere? Maybe, probably not. Will it be fun? Definitely.

I was actually planning to watch this all along. Or at least check it out. It caught my attention due to the very prosaic plot element of a sudden fiance appearance, because that's something I normally connect to shoujo manga. In shounen/seinen the thing is a sudden girlfriend appearance. That and the various sisters included in the deal. Regarding that I'm displeased by the little sister joining the same class for some bizarre reason. Is she supposed to be a genius skipping grades or something? She seemed mature in some ways, sure, but not necessarily academically. She should have just stayed an elementary schooler, or whatever she is. Minami-ke has taught me that can be a lot of fun as well.

Other than that, I guess it's pleasant, every now and then, to watch a show with good natured people being thrown into a sort of difficult situation. Although her shocked reactions to the deal were funny, Kobeni still did her best to look after Mashiro and Hakuya.

I was surprised by the quantity if anime flooding these days.
Regarding this one, I'll try for another couple of eps before deciding. Which is already quite positive with all I had to drop from ep1 or even the first few minutes...

I really liked this, I watched a lot of the first eps of the new series and this would probably be close to my favorite, if not the favorite.

Episode 2 - Underwater




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If one watched only this episode, the impression would be that this show is about Mashiro. Not that I'd really mind as Mashiro is cute and funny, but it's a bit strange already the second episode is all about a supporting character and didn't explore at all the sudden engagement between the main character and the out of nowhere fiance. Logically the focus should still be on Kobeni and Hakuya. Surely the story didn't already run out of ideas after a single episode... Or is this just another way to establish Hakuya as a character with very little existence? It doesn't look good for their relationship that neither tries to communicate with the other at all. If Mashiro wasn't a little kid who would obviously be lonely and sad without his big brother, one could blame her for a gross miscalculation: She's in fact preventing those two from getting closer to each other; Hakuya is so calm and quiet that Mashiro is stealing the attention all the time. If Mashiro wasn't there, though, then Kobeni and Hakuya would be more or less forced to interact far more.

Episode 3 - Underwater





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This show is definitely about Mashiro. But in that light it's funny Mashiro herself suddenly noticed it and told her useless brother to get his act together. It seems like Hakuya's luck failed and Kobeni learned the truth about the past, and now is blaming herself. Hakuya obviously didn't want her gratitude, so it remains to be seen how he will fix this situation, with his apparent lack of communication skills, even if he occasionally manages to make Kobeni blush with simple compliments.

Benio calling her student council friend to report everything and the friend hanging up every time is a pretty funny repeated skit. I wonder if Benio will ever realise, painfully, that Nadeshiko actually get far better along with Mashiro.

Episode 5 - Underwater






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I can't claim I'd have expected this. Like Ryll, I expected them to be from a ninja clan or something like that, but that they are monsters... Nay, there was hardly anything so supernatural before this ep that it would have given me a reason to suspect such a thing. I'm not necessarily complaining. All the eps so far have been entertaining, that won't change, so if the future eps also deliver, even if with monsters, then a beauty and a beast love comedy will be just fine.

There was a hint of it last episode when Kobeni remembered a dog instead of a human when she got hurt, but it's certainly a surprise.

This might be my true favorite show of the season. Hakuya has developed into an excellent straight man in the past two episodes, opening up a little and talking more. Kobeni's child-bearing hips and overall attitude are of course as fantastic as her envied bosom, but the Mashiro-Benio (and now mother) comedy is the highlight. I don't think I go a single episode without a good laugh.

It's true that, even now with the monster reveal, the series has a fairly generic premise, but the execution is what makes it stand out. The fluidity and motion of the animation, the comedic timing is dead on, and the pacing of each episode makes them feel dense and never dull.

So Hakuya would be a dog/wolf "spirit".
Why spirit?
Because maybe each one of them could be a different animal. After all. Mashiro looked like a squirrel.
Their mother's way of jumping from a house to the other didn't look like a wolf's/dog way of moving.

Episode 11 [Underwater]


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At least now we know that Kobeni isn't a complete saint. There is one thing she truly hates: badly cooked food from restaurants! As expected from the Housewife Supreme. Hakuya will never be able to take her out anywhere! Though...I doubt he would.

It's kinda a shame there really isn't that much to talk about in this show. Benio's behavior is consistently funny, Kobeni is amazing at everything, Mashiro is adorable, Hakuya endearing, and even the annoying newpaper girl is entertaining. The further we go along, the more it reminds me of Acchi Kocchi (and its similar slow cooker romance), which is an extremely good thing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ryllharu

Hakuya will never be able to take her out anywhere! Though...I doubt he would.

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Uh, no, Hakuya just needs to stop being such an unimaginative, passive dog and take her to a real restaurant instead of a stock family restaurant. An ethnic restaurant perhaps, with food she hasn't made back at home. But like you said, I also doubt he would. He's so bloody annoying with his utter lack of initiative and imagination. He must be coming from a particularly small-brained dog breed.

Episode 12 Final - Underwater




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This was quite a nice and balanced show. It didn't really present anything extraordinary, but it didn't have any annoying weaknesses either. The ending was just like that as well: The whole disappearance incident was very traditional but it ended up working well because of the characters and the warmth between them (or the lack of, since Benio is hating Hakuya more and more for some reason). Although nothing explains why a confection manufacturer would have a helicopter of their own...

It was filled with cuteness. Fantastic show.

There was definitely a warmth between Hakuya and Kobeni in the final scene that wasn't there prior to the time they spent alone in the snow. It was very, very pleasant.

The whole series was really.

I fear I have to side with Benio on her hopes that the little witch learned to fly...