Noucome Review
Warning: The following review may contain spoilers. If you wish not to know some events in the story, or simply don't wish to find out what happens in the series, please leave the page, since I don't want to damage a watching experience for you.
With that said, thank you, and onto the review:
I first heard about this anime after finding it on Wikipedia randomly one day. It sounded a bit weird, but I can handle weird sometimes. When it was licensed by Sentai, and then put on Hulu, I had the sudden urge to watch the show as soon as humanly possible.
Before the show, I didn't hear other peoples' reactions, but I don't think it would have dented my opinion. Because this show was surprisingly great entertainment.
I lost track on how many times this show had me cracking up. The comedy was great, the characters were all pretty unique in personality, and the animation was surprisingly good. The story probably could have used a bit more development, but I still think this anime accomplished a lot.
Let's start with the story:
Story
Kanade Amakusa has been suffering from a curse that has turned his life around. Known as Absolute Choice, this program requires him to select something from a list of two for more options at random moments in time. Some ranging from: I can deal with this, to:
And when it goes to WTF, it's probably the fact that the choices can get quite random or just extremely perverted.Because of this, majority of his classmates ignore him and place him in the Reject 5, a group of students who are branded weird by his classmates. However, after another crazy day at school, a girl falls from the sky by the name of Chocolat. Later on, Kanade discovers that she was sent from the God World, and she must assist him to complete 3 random missions assigned by "God". If he is unable to do this, he will be stuck with Absolute Choice for as long as he lives.
I personally think this story was quite a gem actually. I can relate to the fact that life seems like a random batch of choices, and the main protagonist was one of the more realistic protagonists I can relate to. The events that unfold are quite interesting, and it was funny seeing all of the girls that are in this anime interact with one another.
However, I felt as if the story had no closure. The anime ends abruptly on the 10th episode, and it would be nice to have a second season, as more has to be explained. This is like Karneval, though we have no promises for season 2, which makes me sad.
There's Chocolat's other personality, back-story on some of the girls, development of side characters, and how the student council president knows about the curse. These I think need to be a bit cleaned up, due to you not knowing why some of these fall into place.
Let's go over the characters:
Characters
The characters for Noucome are quite a unique group, with most of them being developed rather well for a 10 episode series. Though 4 characters overall have the most development, and each new reveal helps twist thier personality in something besides stereotypical.
Let's start with Kanade:
This screenshot comes after you see Absolute Choice for the first time, revolving around a porn magazine. Yeah, both choices are pretty perverted, but at least he chose the less perverted one.
Kanade used to actually have a lot of friends, and was pretty popular. However, when Absolute Choice popped into his life about a year ago, you can see that all of that went down the toilet. Now, he's a part of the Reject 5, a group at school made up of the 5 weirdest people.
At first, he doesn't believe that the "god" in charge of the missions is actually serious, until the supposed god turns Kanade into a girl. This convinces Kanade enough, though he has to make a choice to turn himself back into a boy.
Kanade is almost toward the reigns of being a stereotypical main male character, but in some regards, he isn't. At least he has some personality, and isn't completely clueless to some of the girl's reactions towards him. Yeah, sometimes he can be a bit clueless, but every main character does have those moments.
Now, onto Chocolat:
Here's another super cute anime character that I just can't help but squee over due to the fact that she is so adorable. I swear, these characters never get old.
Chocolat is the girl who managed to fall out of the sky based on Kanade's choice at the end of Episode 1. She suffers from amnesia, in which she forgets her name. However, Kanade gave her the name Chocolat after devouring a box of chocolates he gives her.
Aside from having amnesia, she is often quite dense, and isn't really a big help in the missions that Kanade has to perform. And along with her memories, the way on how to solve the curse also vanished from her memory.
Though, she does have a cliche. The random girl transferred to the guy's school one, But she enters as Kanade's pet, so it's not too stereotypical.
In Episode 8, after a hug from Kanade, she gains back her memories, and a slightly different personality. This Chocolat is actually quite helpful, and knows a way to cure the curse. The solution involves a kiss to the lips. Before she can kiss him though, the box of chocolates falls on her head, causing her to go back into amnesia mode.
Chocolat is essentially the cutest character in this anime. Not only is she really funny, but she also does have some redeeming qualities in her, well besides being adorable.
Let's go onto Yukihira:
Yukihira is another member of the Reject Five, and sits behind Kanade in class. She often displays a tsundere attitude toward him, and often tell jokes with a blank expression. She often mixes Kanade's name with animals, and seems to just overall hate Kanade to the point where it's blatantly obvious.
However, she does have something soft underneath. She may actually harbor feelings for Kanade, as she gets nervous at Aqualand about him seeing her in her swimsuit. She also has a unhealthy obsession with the character White Pig, created by the author of the light novels. Kanade comes to an event in which Yuoji was supposed to be in the costume, but passed out the night before out of excitement. This causes Kanade to be White Pig, and spends a day with Yukihira, not to her knowledge.
Yukihira is another example of a character that is turned upside down in tropes. Like Kotori from Date A Live, she may look like a common anime personality, but she actually has another peronality all together. You just have to look deeper than normal.
Let's move onto Yuoji:
Let's start with Kanade:
This screenshot comes after you see Absolute Choice for the first time, revolving around a porn magazine. Yeah, both choices are pretty perverted, but at least he chose the less perverted one.
Kanade used to actually have a lot of friends, and was pretty popular. However, when Absolute Choice popped into his life about a year ago, you can see that all of that went down the toilet. Now, he's a part of the Reject 5, a group at school made up of the 5 weirdest people.
At first, he doesn't believe that the "god" in charge of the missions is actually serious, until the supposed god turns Kanade into a girl. This convinces Kanade enough, though he has to make a choice to turn himself back into a boy.
Kanade is almost toward the reigns of being a stereotypical main male character, but in some regards, he isn't. At least he has some personality, and isn't completely clueless to some of the girl's reactions towards him. Yeah, sometimes he can be a bit clueless, but every main character does have those moments.
Now, onto Chocolat:
Here's another super cute anime character that I just can't help but squee over due to the fact that she is so adorable. I swear, these characters never get old.
Chocolat is the girl who managed to fall out of the sky based on Kanade's choice at the end of Episode 1. She suffers from amnesia, in which she forgets her name. However, Kanade gave her the name Chocolat after devouring a box of chocolates he gives her.
Aside from having amnesia, she is often quite dense, and isn't really a big help in the missions that Kanade has to perform. And along with her memories, the way on how to solve the curse also vanished from her memory.
Though, she does have a cliche. The random girl transferred to the guy's school one, But she enters as Kanade's pet, so it's not too stereotypical.
In Episode 8, after a hug from Kanade, she gains back her memories, and a slightly different personality. This Chocolat is actually quite helpful, and knows a way to cure the curse. The solution involves a kiss to the lips. Before she can kiss him though, the box of chocolates falls on her head, causing her to go back into amnesia mode.
Chocolat is essentially the cutest character in this anime. Not only is she really funny, but she also does have some redeeming qualities in her, well besides being adorable.
Let's go onto Yukihira:
Yukihira is another member of the Reject Five, and sits behind Kanade in class. She often displays a tsundere attitude toward him, and often tell jokes with a blank expression. She often mixes Kanade's name with animals, and seems to just overall hate Kanade to the point where it's blatantly obvious.
However, she does have something soft underneath. She may actually harbor feelings for Kanade, as she gets nervous at Aqualand about him seeing her in her swimsuit. She also has a unhealthy obsession with the character White Pig, created by the author of the light novels. Kanade comes to an event in which Yuoji was supposed to be in the costume, but passed out the night before out of excitement. This causes Kanade to be White Pig, and spends a day with Yukihira, not to her knowledge.
Yukihira is another example of a character that is turned upside down in tropes. Like Kotori from Date A Live, she may look like a common anime personality, but she actually has another peronality all together. You just have to look deeper than normal.
Let's move onto Yuoji:
Yuoji is a hyperactive member of the Reject Five, and one of Kanade's friends, though she isn't a close one. No one is.
She is the daugther of the UOG company's president, and mainly shows off the inventions her father makes to Kanade for him to test out. In episode 1, the invention of the day is modeled after Yukihira's joke to Kanade. She is often very excited about everything, but gets embarrassed after Kanade sees her panties at the end of Episode 3. She also never cries, as she was told by her mom not to only rely on tears to become stronger. She only cries when she is overjoyed with emotion.
Yuoji may be a bit too bubbly at certain moments in the show. but at least she isn't always happy all the time. That would make for a very boring character, now would it? At least she has some depth, but she's developed the least out of the lead 4,. Hopefully, if we do get a second season, more of her personality is explored. That is, along with the other side characters.
Other characters include Kanade's childhood friend who has a habit of calling everyone a older sibling of hers, a senior student who we only see twice, and also wears a mask. For the Popularity Five, we have have the student council president who may know something about Kanade's curse, the vice president who doesn't have enough unique qualities of his own, Yuoji's freind who is very shy yet pretty, her followers who beat up Kanade every chance they get whenever he gets close to her, a tsundere girl who has silicone breasts, a nice and calm freshman. For other characters, we have Kanade's homeroom teacher who also had Absolute Choice in the past, and knows of Kanade's problems, the "god" in charge of the missions, and a housewife that made me crack up in the first and last episode.
Animation
The animation for the series was done by Diomedéa, who are also most known for the series Squid Girl, Riddle Story of Devil, and Campione.
The animation for this series was surprisingly well done. All of the settings manage to look bright and engaging, and the character designs all have a interesting feature to them. Especially the cute eyes. Including those.
I love how the Absolute Choice can fit so easily into a setting by having choices pop up everywhere, and I love the little second in which Kanade starts getting a migraine, and pain is flashed at the screen. There wasn't any choppiness with character models into settings, so that was also a plus.
So overall, I don't have many complaints animation wise.
Sound
The score for this show was composed by Sakai Asuka, who is also know for composing the scores for Yuyushiki, Chokotan, and Nagareboshi Lens.
Like Arcana Famiglia, the score isn't as memorable as well as I would like. With the exception of the title music and various another comedic pieces, none of them really managed to have an impact on me. I do find this to be a bit disappointing, but it happens every once in a while.
However, the opening and ending are pretty damn catchy. The ending made me really giddy, I often unplugged my headphones when I was watching it, so I could signify that I had finished a episode. The groups who sang the opening and ending are doing the same thing for a show premiering in the winter season called Isuca. Will they be just as good? Let's just wait and see.
The Japanese is actually quite good for this show, and the cast features several unknown seiyuus who don't have a lot of credited roles under their belts, which makes it more special.
Highlights include Toshiyuki Toyonaga, Kaori Sadohara, Yui Kondo, Ayumi Tsuji, Naomi Ozora, Rei Matsuzaki, Akiko Yajima, Shinnosuke Tachibana, and Shiho Kokido.
Verdict
Noucome is a genius for when it comes to comedy. I liked all of the main characters, as well as the unique story. However, the show is quite short at only 10 episodes, and some characters and scenarios could have been developed better in order for me to really like it.
Though, it still offers a nice 10 episode journey that you will for sure enjoy. It has a great story, has lovable characters, and some fantastic comedy. And it works rather well.
Score: 9/10
Positives:
Unique story.
Great main characters.
Eye-catching animation.
Great performances of seiyuus.
Laugh out loud comedy.
Negatives:
Side characters don't get enough development.
Score isn't as memorable.
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