Moyashimon

Every now and again an anime comes along that restores my faith in the creativity of Japanese visual culture, especially given the number of sequels and game-based shows we seem to be getting lately. Moyashimon is just such an anime. Besides the initial premise, which involves our hero being able to see, and communicate with, microbes, we're faced with a cast of delightful characters, from the leather-clad lab assistant, the saki-obsessed sempai and the rather odd collection of friends and co-students to the slightly insane (and dare I say lecherous) professor. The first couple of shows might leave you feeling a bit like you've just satthrough a science lecture as we delve into the world of microbes (with the advantage of some delightful microbe-enhanced food jokes). Word of warning... it might be best not to eat while watching this. Once the cast is established, it switches into full-blown comedy, with some serious laugh-out-loud (and possibly taboo) scenes playing themselves out. Without a doubt one of the best and funniest off-the-wall comedies to come out in recent times. If you're looking for something different, you could do far worse than watch this.

This is such a nice break from epic fighting or sci-fi anime. This is just a short and sweet look at the life of an ordinary student with an extraordinary ability. STRENGTHS: 1. Unique. How many other anime out there feature a kid at an agricultural college who can see microbes? 2. Interesting Characters. All of the main characters are interestingly eccentric, but not annoying, tiresome, or too over-the-top. 3. A nice, fun, sweet little story. It's not the funniest comedy out there, but it had enough laughs in it to make every episode a relaxed, enjoyable experience. 4. Ecchi-esque, but not ecchi at all.You'll just have to watch it to understand. WEAKNESSES: 1. Minor plot points. For example, the plot twist involving the main character's best friend came out of nowhere and didn't seem to fit in. Also, some relationships didn't have enough time to develop as much as I'd hoped. 2. Too short. I would have loved to see another 12 episodes or so.

Moyashimon is a textbook example of a show not living up to potential. A highly original concept and a very strong cast of characters ultimately let down by a poor plot and a crushing lack of urgency. It does get major plus points for having the balls to do something different, especially considering the anime environment at the time, rich in shonen action and school life shows. There is no denying Moyashimon is a highly original concept, the story follows Tadayasu Sawaki who has the ability to see microbes with the naked eye, as he enrolls at an agricultural university. One of thekey theme of the storyline is manipulation as many of the characters only take interest in him because of his ability. Unfortunately this promising concept is let down by a shoddy plot, that is paced terribly. Over a quarter of the series is taken up by the Spring Festival arc that does next to nothing to progress the story. As a result of this, the series has to conclude everything and come up with a worthwhile ending in the last three episodes. Something that fails miserably, characters are given their own storylines but there are no serious attempts to conclude any of them. The animation is also not particularly solid, the series cant decide if it wants a realistic look or a comedic one. This is shown best by the character designs, some characters lkike Sawaki and Harsegawa would fit into any realistic anime whilst others, Itsuki, Kawahama and Misato in particular are hard to even take seriously, the fact Moiyashimon is a comedy is no excuse for such extremities in character design. The backgrounds and environments are decent enough, but much like NHK, there's nothing to stand out from the crowd. Moyashimon is an easily forgettable audio experience, the background music is bland for the most part and does nothing to evoke the viewer. The opening theme "Curriculum (カリキュラム)" by Sarasa Ifu is a nice piece that suits the series well, unlike the ending theme "Rocket" by POLYSICS which is just a mess really. The voice acting rescues the audio experience with excellent performances from all the seiyuu's. One of Moyashimon's strongest points is it's cast, almost entirely on the grounds of character personality and not their lame storylines. A lot of the character's personalities clash in a way that ensures maximum comedic effect, Sawaki and Hassegawa in particular. Above the characters are funny, interesting and just plain likable. A special mention is in order for the microbes, they really make the show. Moyashimon is a really enjoyable show, but entirely from a comedic point of view, there is an abundance of laughs and its unusual nature gives a charm that keeps the viewer's attention 'til the end. Be warned though, trying to take it seriously will just get you lost in scientific jargon and be left confused. The episode count doesn't do the show justice, it should have been longer to make the character's storylines worthwhile, that or it should just be eleven episodes of all out comedy

When I first heard about Moyashimon I was really excited. I thought the concept was quirky and interesting. But now I'm kind of wondering what my other reasons for finishing the show were other than 'it's only eleven episodes.' The animation varies. It looks great in some places, okay in others, bad in some. The sound is good; the voice actors are talented and they do a good job while the background music was nothing special. Getting past the 'how is buying a super-special aphrodisiac, advertized as something will turn your intended target into a sex slave that will not be able to resist you,any different than date rape?' question (no joke, the protagonist and a couple supporting characters actually pursue said aphrodisiacs for 2/11 episodes), the story is kind of all over the place. I enjoyed the bits on how it's like to go to an agricultural school and the science behind certain microbes and the process of fermentation. I just wish it focused on that... Instead we get this sort of runaround with supposed character development that never goes anywhere. What I learned from the last episode was that apparently I was supposed to be wondering about what the protagonist should do with his life instead of inherit the yeast business, which he never really raised an objection to in the previous episodes, so this internal conflict really felt shoehorned in, along with everything else. Usually character development hits you out of nowhere and then it ends which makes it feel like "here, have this arbitrary excuse for us to tell you about this thing we forgot to mention early on." These moments come to no real conclusion of epiphany so you end up just taking in this worthless info and moving on. Something about all this worthless information made it hard to stomach when the show started to ask me to start caring or enjoy the fan service. But speaking about fan service, there's this elephant in the room I'd like to address. Unfortunately I cannot talk about this without getting into .... spoilers (?) though one would assume you need a plot before you can spoil it. The protagonist gets kissed by his best friend (male) after he figures out the mysterious cute girl he's been seeing around lately is said friend. I can't even fathom what the lead in to that moment was. I think I rewatched the part right before it about five times, and I still have no clue. Maybe it's my delicate North American sensibilities but, I usually don't kiss my best friends on the mouth as a joke, be them boy or girl. Usually I enjoy seeing guys or girls kiss; I won't deny that. But, then they never really address it, even though it's kind of important. Later on when one of the characters does comment on the guys kissing situation it's in homophobic rage, and the one who is going on that homophobic tangent is a girl who had a one-night-stand with another girl (she's not gay! It all the aphrodisiacs fault!). And all this is just one Big-lipped Alligator Moment stuffed inside another one. It all left me kind of confused and pissed off at the same time. I was too busy trying to deal with these emotions to even enjoy any of it. So what I wanted was a quirky science show about life in an agricultural university ... what I got was How Not to Do Character Development the TV show. The only thing worthwhile I got out of this show was the science, and believe me, I loved those portions, but I got nothing else.