Preface
Despite being a huge HypMic nerd, I will be writing this review in a way that it can be understood by both new fans coming in from the anime, and old fans who have been here from the beginning. I have listened to all of the currently translated drama tracks and have read most of the manga, so this is through the eyes of someone very familiar with the series. However, I will not be including major spoilers for the main story. Small spoilers unimportant to the story, maybe, but nothing major. I’m very excited for the new fans to come and am already having a blast seeing the reactions of those learning about it for the first time. I look forward to seeing where this takes us!
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| Preview of what I was watching while high off my ass |
First Impression
Listen... I'm going to be real with you all. I was a little too excited for the anime so I may have taken an edible an hour before to calm myself. I don't know if this was a bad idea or the best idea ever but man it was a WILD RIDE. I'm contemplating whether I should do it before every episode now. Bright colors, trippy animations and crazy camera movements.
I'll admit, the episode wasn't too exciting, but what do you want? It's a huge cast and they have to introduce the characters, so you might as well get it over with at the beginning. And you know what? They captured everyone's personalities and relationships with eachother pretty spot on, and for 24 minutes and 2 seconds? That's pretty impressive. I'm also in love with the use of color palette for each division. Incorporating color psychology to subconsciously influence how you view each team? Nice.
The mature warning at the beginning gave me a little laugh. I can see it getting a higher rating later on for blood and drugs, but right now? I guess swearing like a sailor is a good enough reason, but what has been written and animated so far can't be too inappropriate if series director Katsumi Ono pondered whether he should let his elementary school age son watch it.
Story
As mentioned, it was not very exciting of an episode. Pre-anime fans probably needed that anyways seeing as how they were having meltdowns after King Record released an MV with characters BLINKING because they finally saw the characters animated. They don't want to murder half their fanbase with the first episode by going straight into the excitement. It covered the main premise, introduced the characters, presented their relationships with each other, and showed what each division stands for.
I've always compared Hypmic's writing style to anime like Tiger&Bunny, Double Decker Doug&Kirill, and Kabukicho Sherlock with the wackiness levels of Yugioh or Heisei era Kamen Riders. It starts out very light-hearted, fun, campy, and a little bit silly, and then BAM, suddenly an orphanage director takes drugs in front of children and shoots a waiter in the kneecaps.
I’ve read comments of folks hesitant of getting into it because they are afraid of it being "fujobait". I don’t have any problem with fujoshi nor media aimed at them, but I don’t see it outside of the art style and being a majority male cast. Just give it a try. Despite what the art style may lead you to believe, there is very little fanservice, and if there is, I haven't noticed it. There's a bit of homoeroticism, but no more than any of your other majority male ensemble casts. And besides, what is a story without a bit of gay sexual tension?
I am curious of how the anime will go about the story. Will they cover parts that are covered in the series’ original drama tracks? If so, will they re-record the dialogue? Guess it's too early to find out! But according to Ono, there will be areas covered in the anime that have not been covered before.
Music
Before I get into anything else, I will just say, if you do not like Japanese rap, don't watch. You'd think it would be a given for a series with a plot revolving around rap battles, but I've read reviews and met fans that say otherwise.
The thing with Hypmic is that they cover so many different rap styles. Rap is divided into so many sub-genres just like any other music. And just like any other group that covers many genres, (coughcoughlovelivecough), some songs are amazing and others are... Not so good. Some people will be better at certain subgenres than others and different composers will create different results. And as like the audio drama series, the songs are composed by different Japanese hip hop composers. For the anime so far, the OP is composed by long time HypMic composer Invisible Manners, and the ED composed by one of my ABSOLUTE FAVS, which I am still in shock about, Tofubeats.
There's been criticism over the OP, but personally? I enjoy it. And I really enjoyed it while high. As for the in-story raps? Pretty good! Some better than others, but seeing as they're supposed to be interpreted as being ad libbed, it works perfectly. In fact, apparently some of the cast did, in fact, ad lib some of their own lines during recording. I’d put them at the same level as any of the raps featured in the drama track fights. Some better than others, but never bad.
Animation
Get ready, because this will be my longest section of every episode and the one area I feared the most. Anyone who has gotten into a serious conversation about animation studios with me knows how I feel about A-1 Pictures. While I've never seen them create a masterpiece, they've produced some pretty high tier works... But they've also created absolute hot garbage. I will never forgive them for what they did to Ace Attorney. So, between the announcement of the studio and the airing of the first episode on Friday, I was anxious to see how they executed it. Especially the 3D – and I was not impressed by the PVs. But... Thank God I was proven wrong. The animation exceeded my expectations and that was all I could ever ask for.
So much effort was put into color choice in every scene, and for a new viewer of the series who is completely unfamiliar with the characters, it can immediately give one the general idea of each division's vibes. Buster Bros is very sporty and fun with a very autumn-y scheme, Mad Trigger Crew is very serious with a dark intimidating use of cool colors, Fling Posse is eye straining clown vomit (my favorite), and Matenrou is simultaneously dark and depressing but with use of warm artificial lighting
The 2D animation is above average. But like most anime series, the quality will vary from episode to episode. This may be much higher than average quality or the opposite, depending on the animation direction. There was nothing too special in terms of 2D skill and animation techniques, but it looks great in terms of color choice, perspective, staying on model, lighting, and proportion. I may also be biased because part of what drew me to the series was its colorful and urban aesthetics. Also Jakurai’s nurse had a really really cute design...
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MOVE ASIDE JAKURAI LOOK HOW CUTE SHE IS
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Now, the one thing that scared me the most and the largest subject of discussion since the airing of the first episode: CG animation. When I first saw the PVs for each division, my expectations dropped. The object CG and animation looked fantastic, however, the character animation not so much. My first reaction was "That looks like the weird out of place CG dance segments in Love Live”. I thought there was no way they could make it work. It was beyond saving unless they barely used the 3D segments. I was pleasantly proven wrong.
My big complaint toward the CG is the stiffness of the models clothes and unnatural joints. They essentially look like MMDs. Not a huge fan of that. But as with any art, the tool is as good as the artist, and whoever animated these segments knew exactly what they were doing. With the fast camera movements, background animations, text animation, and fast fluid action during these parts of the episode, the flaws are barely noticeable unless you’re looking for it. Just pray it doesn’t pause or your frame rate doesn’t drop.
One thing I noticed in the first ten seconds of the CG, I noticed that it seemed extremely fluid and natural. This may be part of the reason some people are uncomfortable with and put off by the 3D, as it does straddle the line into the uncanny valley. My thought was either: these animators are gods or they used motion capture. Lo and behold, I learned that, it was in fact, motion capture. And not only did they use mocap, but actual dancers from the HypMic stage plays. These are professional dancers that are familiar with the series, and amazing at what they do. Confirmed members who took part in acting for the motion capture were: beatboxer and dancer Toyotaka from dance group Beat Buddy Boi, dancer and singer HILOMU, and international award winning breakdancer GO from the dance group PaniCrew. By the end of the episode I was completely adjusted to the CG, I was disappointed to learn that after episode 1, we are going to get less of these trippy CG segments and more focus on 2D or 2D/3D mix animation instead.
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| Everyone say hi to the talent! Original twitter post found here |
Final Thoughts
This still feels like a fever dream. This is exactly like how I felt when I got a job and bought my car: It’s something I really wanted and hoped for but was never going to happen. Yet here I am, employed, paying off my car loan and... watching the hypmic anime. Dreams come true when you shoot low. Only the hypmic anime came to me much faster than my job.
You can tell a lot of love went into the production of the first episode and a lot of thought was put into their staffing choice. They went for some very experienced and pricey talent. Choosing the Yugioh director and writer were genius seeing as HypMic is essentially just Yugioh with rap battles instead of cards. They wanted to stay true to the series and bring out the parts fans love about it. At the moment, it does not look or feel like a cheap cash grab. You can feel the love and thought that was put into it. On a related note, if anyone is interested in reading up on what different members of the anime’s crew has worked on, I made a list of some of their more notable works.
Unlike some of the other fans coming from the drama tracks, I’m looking forward to the newcomers. Some of the comments were hilarious. Both the ones excited and the ones who absolutely loathed it. If you find the idea of rap battles to the death stupid and absurd, then it’s not made for you. Don’t watch it. But for those who are intrigued and wanting to see where this wild ride takes you, you’re gonna have a lot of fun. See you all in the next episode!! Here’s my favorite cap of Ramuda from this episode as my salutation.
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| I enjoy Ramuda a very normal and healthy amount. I am not gay for him in the slightest. |
