Veronin

To learn and evolve is a natural process of human nature. But after countless mistakes, does this growth still hold any meaning? What then, if the consequences are so severe that amending the situation becomes impossible? For Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita, this is answered through a colorful world where humanity is on the verge of extinction, succeeded by a race of silly, mass-producing fairies bearing a constant grin. Adorable and amusing as they are, these little creatures are anything but auspicious. Repeating tragedy in situations of utter insanity, the fairies exist as a personification of humanity's follies, neatly told through a clever story of satireand cynicism. Ah, our poor protagonist, as interacting with these frightening creatures serves as her occupation. For the nameless "Watashi", being pulled into their world of games and magic is little more than a daily occurrence. Time loops, loaves of bread committing suicide by ripping themselves in half, skinned birds raining in on a church, and faceless chickens smoking cigars while quacking in the language of nonsense— all are something to be passed off with a sigh and a dry remark by the protagonist. In this world, there is no such thing as strange. Such words ring true time and time again. But make no mistake, this is not an anime that is strange simply for the sake of being strange. All of this gives way for plenty of witty humor between the madness that occurs. Rather than being a traditional comedy and telling the jokes through the characters' interaction with each other, much of this comes instead from the situations and the setting. It's not about a character screaming your ears to death or bopping the other over the head when they say something stupid, but about the allusions to society and the absurdity of the situation. Far too few comedy anime attempt to break from the mold of Manzai and puns, which makes Jinrui all the more refreshing of an experience. As a satire, it's no surprise that Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita focuses itself as a social-commentary of sorts. There's a surprising amount of depth here when one really pays attention. It's cynical in tone and content, though it never feels like the viewer is being preached to and lectured. An episode may focus on consumerism, another on humanity's overconsumption of resources, the manga industry or sociocultural evolution. Moreover, the viewer can simply choose to disregard this and enjoy it for the comedy value alone if they prefer. It can be a surreal comedy, a cynical social critique, or some amalgamation of the two. Therein lies the beauty of Jinrui's subtle depth. A comedy wouldn't be much entertaining without a clever character dynamic, though, and Jinrui does not disappoint in this regard. Watashi is easily one of the most unique protagonists we have had in an anime for quite some time. Nowhere is she defined by cute, idealized traits, by fanservice or through tropes and archetypes. She is her own character; her own person. Her internal thoughts and dry, cynical dialogue with the other characters are an important force in the social critique and comedy, which often contrast and amplify the ridiculousness of the situation. It is deadpan humor at its finest. Several other colorful and eccentric characters also mark the cast of Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita. Watashi's grandfather, often referred to simply as "Doc", serves as the authority figure of the series and plays an important role in Watashi's past and beginnings as a Mediator. The silent "Assistant", armed with his camera, also tags along with Watashi for the first half of the series. And then, of course, are the fairies. It wouldn't be much of an exaggeration to say that the fairies are the most exciting character in the series, if one would define them as a single entity. Seeing the fairies do inconceivable things out of the blue is nothing short of hilarious, and their attempts to behave as humans do and mimic their mistakes also makes them just as much endearing as they are unpredictable. One episode involves a handful of fairies and Watashi stranded on an island, with the fairies near-instantly multiplying themselves and building from sticks to a candy kingdom with Watashi revered as some sort of god. You never really know what the heck to expect from them. There isn't much in the way of characterization until the later episodes, though, which incidentally is also when the story takes off and develops. Each episode typically goes back further in time, with the last two episodes highlighting Watashi's experiences during her elementary school days. There's a very clear distinctness in this short story arc, notably resulting from the comedy being pushed aside and serious themes such as isolation and bullying playing a principal role. Rather than a bizarre environment typical of the series, the viewer is presented with something more realistic, albeit with a slightly macabre twist (mostly resulting from the insanity of her yandere roommate). These final two episodes succeed not only in detailing Watashi's past, but also in fleshing out her personality through her experiences in a different environment. It's not often that you find a main character in a comedy anime that has development and substance, but then Jinrui has never really been a series that's satisfied with mere uniformity. Speaking of uniformity, though, it's a little unfortunate that the quality of the anime isn't always consistent. A few of the episodes, while still decent, are much weaker than the rest and vastly oversimplify the topic or theme that they are trying to comment on. It occasionally bites off a bit more than it can chew, which is disappointing given that most of the episodes have already demonstrated that it's fully capable. The last two episodes are also incredibly incongruous with the tone and theme of the anime, and though it fleshes out Watashi's character considerably, one can't help but wonder if it was all that necessary. Considering that her presence in the previous episodes was as a reactionary element to the bizarre situations, making the change into an empathetic and developed character seems very odd. No doubt she could have been developed instead through the quirky dialogue rather than a superfluous flashback. The visuals also aren't going to leave anybody in awe, but they deserve a special mention for the vibrant art style and colorful palette. It's rare for an anime to deviate from conventions and focus on their visual appeal (aside from perhaps the cuteness of the characters), but here is a case where Jinrui again succeeds in doing something to stand out from the crowd. It's unique and pleasant to look at, notably accentuating the surreal world and creating a contrast between the playful appearance and cynical tone. Jinrui is certainly one of the most refreshing and unique series that anime has seen in quite some time. In a year that hasn't seen much originality or hard-hitting series, the bizarre world of Jinrui is a very appealing experience. This is not an anime to simply be enjoyed and forgotten over the months, but is something that will no doubt linger in the minds of most for quite some time. Not necessarily for the insanity that occurs (though that is certainly a part of it), but for providing a genuinely witty comedy that brilliantly satirizes human society in an intelligent manner. It has more substance and depth than many of the more serious titles out there, though carefully remaining subtle with its themes. For a comedy anime, this is an admirable feat indeed. Then again, I guess not everybody is going to enjoy the refined art of birds raining from the sky and mobster chickens cursing about fornication.

Vene

~Multilangual review, English & Español: Humanity has Declined~ Humanity Has Declined is sure an interesting title for an anime, I bet it happened before, you know, suddenly our creativity starts to run to it's fullest in order to guess what's the anime's storyline, the possibilities are infinite, after all, imagination has no borders, it's like being under a spell which allows us to imagine complete different scenarios where we're able to push our ideals, characters personalities, story developments, plot twists, in few words, everything we'd like to see, but the spell isn't eternal, everything cease when we're forced to open our eyes, yes, we wake upin that precise moment when we've obtained freedom from ignorance, guys... we've just watched the first episode, our once infinite possibilities are drastically reduced, prepare to say goodbye to our ideals, Reality knocked at our door, now we've to choose between two remaining scenarios ahead us: "pleased" or "disappointed", the spell is broken. In my case, still under the effect of such spell, I did imagine a lot of possibilities for this anime, I swear, it turned to be completely different from any possible scenario I could come up with and once the spell was broken, the result was unbelievable and unexpected, I was "pleased" unexpectedly wonderfully and gladly pleased I must add!, I just couldn't believe this anime turned out to be one of the most refreshing, hilarious and, above all, original piece of animation I've seen. Presenting with bizarre tunes a mature theme such as "the end of humankind" and adding those spicy ingredients that only intelligent shows can handle, Satire and Irony, it manages to develop an incredible and unique flow of events succeeding completely in the difficult task of entertaining the viewer using a brilliant comedy whiteout recurring to obscenity, vulgarity, clichés or fanservice. As the title suggests, this anime is set in a post-apocalyptic world, after a millenarian history, humans has lost it's primacy, sadly we meet a bad end, and small creatures called 'Fairies' have taken over. In this new world where humans and fairies coexist, the story follows a nameless girl from one of the few human village remaining, she acts as one of the many 'mediator' and her job is to deeper into the crazy and bizarre fairy ecosystem in order to get in contact with them. "A simple and easy task" you may say... Oh hell it isn't! dealing with these fairies is anything but easy, in a job when even the smallest development turns out into a flow of bizarre events, where chickens can talk, plan to take over the world, everything while smoking cigars.. ah don't forget that your hair turns out to be alive and 'his' favorite weapon is a knife, in a situation like that I bet everyone would feel, at least, a bit uneasy, or to quit immediately... but our protagonist is a quite particular girl, and the scenarios we get when this girl and the fairies are together are abnormally hilarious. The reality shown in this anime isn't exactly a mirror of our reality, even so it's meant in a way we can see a reflection of our own, naturally, always in bizarre tones and that's thanks to our protagonist, she's a pool of satirical comments and criticism, nothing is able to escape her "rage" (if we could call it so), it's directed towards everything, the society she lives, human behavior, fairies, historical development and, sometimes, even herself. So through a spiral of comments, a critical and satirical view of the world is available to the viewers, one of the anime's main characteristics, and it's best feature. The story telling isn't presented as the typical linear setting, it neither follow a certain plot; we have different arcs, composed of 1 or 2 episodes each, following a certain case involving the mediator and the fairies A large cast of characters isn't between the features, but that's not a problem. Our main heroine is truly one-girl show, and we also have the fairies, which we can categorize as a single entity so we don't need really anyone else, they alone are capable of developing a whole anime by themselves, truly impressive don't you think?. I dare to say if there were another protagonist, he/she would be completely overshadowed by our mediator, however there is a really interesting group of minor characters appearing in each arc worth to remember and appreciate. Let's go to meet them: From one hand we have a human girl, a mediator between humans and fairies, our protagonist. A first impression of her would be that of a nice and kind girl but she isn't really what appears, don't let her fool you!, actually she's the type of person we could call "a fox disguised as a sheep", and I'll tell you why: selfish, plotter, cynical and sarcastic are the best adjectives to describe her. She finds literally a pain in the ass her job as a mediator, specially when she discovers that being a "politician" isn't less difficult than the jobs there're nowadays, farming/hunting jobs, anyway while she always complains about her situation she manages to do her job quite efficiently, even if she would rather have zero contact with fairies as possible, and that's not because she dislikes them, but it's just that each time they're involved, the situation escalates quickly into a bizarre mess she needs to deal by herself. She has a very pessimistic view of the world, and I wouldn't blame her neither, this leads her sarcastic and cynical comments about the events and the series development. Somehow each episode lead us to find another "dark side" of her personality, which usually shows up when she's in a pinch. Oh.. contrary to her personality, she loves to make sweets, specially to manipulate the fairies or order to seek for some of their help in cases. From the other hand we have the fairies, the new "humans", they're presented as little small dwarf like creatures, which supposedly, are possessors of an incredible knowledge and intelligence, and we could completely find a confirm of this from the gadgets they produce, which are actually fantasy borderline rather than futuristic, but their behavior could lead us to think otherwise, actually...shock turn!, they're easily manipulated by the mediator with only the help of sweets, they've such a sweet tooth which leads them to do anything in order to get some. Usually it’s the fairies fault of each problem that surface in the series and that the mediator needs to deal with, they usually have an easy-going and shiny personality but this can quickly change to a down earth mood when they aren't having fun, showing a quite pessimistic view of life which leads them to express dark and edgy comments, comparable to our protagonist's ones. When I said that we can categorize them as a single entity I meant that there's no really an embodiment of individual personality for each fairy, sometimes they don't even have names, aside from the ones the girl keep as pets in her house and even she eventually forgets. Other characters worth mentioning are Doc, the protagonist's grandpa, one of the village's leaders, he has a really easy-going personality but it's also strict when the girl is goofing around whiteout doing her job. Assistant-kun, a boy who rarely speaks but surprisingly the mediator understands him only by looking at his face, he also express himself by sketching things in his block notes when looking at him isn't enough. Y, yes.. her name is a letter, or at least that's how she presents herself, she's an old school friend, responsible of bringing to life again the Yaoi genre in this post-apocalyptic world... damn. There're some more but I won't mention, you'll have to meet them by yourselves my dear readers, it's a whole experience, however even if they're really minor characters their appearance add a unique aura to the show, honorary mention should be dedicated to Bleeding Loaf, a character appeared in episode 01, after seeing that I knew this show was going to be great, believe me when I say this... it's hilarious. Already thought this show couldn't get weirder?, let me tell you a pair of things more about it, hope you won't mind. The whole atmosphere is filled by a really colorful pastel landscape and art, there're present some particulars that add a really unique touch to the entire scenery, such as the lack of technology that can be seen in the village, the surreal buildings architecture by the fairies, people's costumes, the logic behind the fairies gadgets, a result that's quite pleasant to admire, things that I appreciated very much. The animation was very consistent through the series, even those lively "action" scenes were done quite nice, super eye candy animation isn't one of its strong points, it doesn't fit with the design anyway. OSTs aren't that spectacular neither, but they didn't feel off scene never, rather forgettable actually, but this show doesn't rely too much on the background musics, but If we really have to say, there's one that could be crafted into our minds, maybe forever, it’s the Ave Maria of the flying chickens, that scene is almost unforgettable (Episode 02), I swear, it'll crafted into your mind. Also there's a particular odd characteristic, this anime doesn't present a chronological storyline. I watched it the first time in the broadcasting and a second time in chronological order, overall the experience is the same, there's a two episodes arc that features our mediator when she was in school, if we watch that arc as our beginning or as a flash back, it doesn't change very much the experience, the anime's crazy and bizarre aura allows us that. People could find it amusing and interesting, something that add an extra uniqueness to the show, but there are also people who enjoy more a chronological order, so I'll leave the chronological order here, hoping that maybe someone find this handful, watch it as wherever you feel to. Episodes 11 & 12 >> Episode 10 >> Episodes 07 & 08 >> Episode 09 >> Episodes 05 & 06 >> Episodes 01 & 02 >> Episode 03 & 04. This was a truly amazing ride, I enjoyed every episode of it, the series strong point is surely its protagonist, in my personal opinion the best female character I've met, she's still my 1st in my Top and I doubt someone will steal her place. Just try to visualize everything said in this review and let run your imagination to it's fullest, because that would be the closest thing that you'll be experiencing in this anime and, probably, won't be enough to anticipate the events on going through the series, I guarantee it. [Español] Humanity Has Declined es sin duda un título interesante para un anime, apuesto que ha sucedido antes, seguramente sabes, al improviso nuestra creatividad toma vuelo libremente para intentar adivinar de que se tratará la historia, las posibilidades son infinitas, después de todo, la imaginación no conoce límites, es como sí estuviéramos bajo un hechizo el cual nos permite imaginar escenarios completamente distintos dentro los cuales somos capaces de empujar nuestros ideales, la personalidades de los personajes, el desarrollo de la trama, los plot twists, en pocas palabras, todo lo que nos gustaría ver, aún así el hechizo no es eterno, todo termina cuando somos obligados a abrir los ojos, sí, despertamos en ese preciso momento cuando nos liberamos de la ignorancia, chicos... acabamos de ver el primer episodio, lo que eran una vez nuestras infinitas posibilidades se redujeron drásticamente, prepárense a decirle adiós a nuestros ideales, la Realidad nos tocó la puerta, ahora tenemos que escoger entre los dos escenarios que quedan adelante nuestro: "satisfecho" o "decepcionado", el hechizo se ha roto. En mi caso, estando todavía bajo el efecto de tal hechizo, pude imaginar una infinidad de posibilidades para este anime, lo puedo jurar, esto se reveló ser algo completamente diferente a los escenarios que había llegado a concluir, al romperse el hechizo, increíble e inesperado fue el resultado, estuve "satisfecho", inesperadamente magníficamente satisfecho tengo que agregar!, este anime resultó ser una de las más refrescantes, geniales y sobretodo, originales piezas de animación que he visto. Presentando con tonos bizarros un tema maduro como lo es "la fin de la humanidad", es capaz de dar vida a una serie única de eventos, imposibles siquiera de imaginar, y al mismo tiempo agregando aquellos ingredientes que sólo las series inteligentes pueden manejar, Sátira e Ironía, realizando la difícil misión de entretener al espectador con una brillante comedia sin recurrir a la vulgaridad, clichés o fanservice. Como el título sugiere, este anime está ambientado en un mundo post-apocalíptico, después de una milenaria historia, los humanos perdieron su primacía, tristemente nos encontramos con un mal final, y así fue que pequeñas criaturas llamadas "Hadas" tomaron el control de la sociedad. En este nuevo mundo donde humanos y hadas coexisten, protagonista de la historia es una chica, cuyo nombre nunca viene revelado, proveniente da uno de los pocos pueblos qué quedan, ella actúa como uno de los tantos "mediadores" y su trabajo consiste en adentrarse en el loco y bizarro ecosistema de la hadas y así encontrar un modo de entrar en contacto con ellos. "Una simple y fácil tarea" podrías decir... pero joder no!, tratar con estas hadas es cualquier cosa menos fácil, en un trabajo donde hasta el más pequeño desarrollo puede desbordar en una serie de bizarros eventos, donde los pollos pueden hablar, tratar de conquistar el mundo, todo mientras fuman cigarros.. ah sin olvidar que tu cabello cobre vida y 'su' arma favorita es un cuchillo, apuesto al tratar con una situación así, todos al menos se sentirían un poco incómodos, o renunciarían inmediatamente... pero nuestra protagonista es una chica bastante particular, y los escenarios que se obtienen cuando esta chica y las hadas están juntos son anormalmente hilarantes. La realidad presentada es este anime no es exactamente el espejo de la nuestra, aún así está hecha en un modo en que podamos verle el reflejo, naturalmente, siempre bajo tonos bizarros y eso es gracias a nuestra protagonista, ella es una piscina de comentarios satíricos y criticismo, nada ni nadie puede escapar de su "Ira" (si así la podríamos llamar), está dirigida hacia todo en general, la sociedad donde vive, el comportamiento humano, las hadas, los desarrollos históricos y, a veces, hasta ella misma. Así que a través de está espiral de comentarios, una visión crítica y satírica es accesible al espectador, una de las características de este anime, la mejor de todas. La narración no presenta el típico estilo linear, no sigue siquiera un hilo de trama, la serie está dividida en arcos, compuestos de 1 o 2 episodios, cada vez presentando un caso que envuelven al mediador y a las hadas. Un largo cast de personajes no es uno de sus puntos fuertes, pero no es tampoco un problema. Nuestra chica es toda una "one-girl show", también tenemos las hadas, las cuales podríamos catalogar como una única entidad, y de verdad no necesitamos de alguien más, ellos solos son capaces de desarrollar un anime entero, de verdad impresionante ¿no crees?. Al haber habido otro protagonista, estoy dispuesto a decir que este estaría constantemente bajo la sombra de la mediadora, de todos modos hay una grupo de personajes menores en cada arco que valen la pena recordar y apreciar. ¡Vamos a conocerlos! De una mano tenemos a una chica humana, una mediadora entre humanos y hadas, nuestra protagonista. Bajo una primera impresión podría dar la imagen de ser una chica gentil y bondadosa pero de verdad no es lo que aparenta, ¡no dejes que te engañe!, en realidad podríamos calificar a esta chica como un lobo disfrazado de oveja, y les diré porque: egoísta, manipuladora, cínica y sarcástica son los mejores adjetivos para describirla. Ella encuentra su vocación como mediador algo fastidioso, especialmente cuando descubre que ser un diplomático no es menos fatiga comparándolo con otros trabajos que se encuentran actualmente, agricultura & caza, aún lamentándose siempre de su situación logra siempre hacer su trabajo de manera bastante eficiente, pero en lo posible, no quisiera tener muchos encuentros con las hadas, y esto no es porque las desprecie, sólo que cada vez están que involucradas en algo la situación degenera en un caos total que le toca resolver. Poseedora de una visión bastante pesimista del mundo, y yo no la culparía tampoco, la guía a expresar sus comentarios cínicos y sarcásticos sobre los eventos y el desarrollo de la serie. De algún modo cada episodio nos deja ver un lado oscuro de su personalidad, el cual usualmente se manifiesta cuando se encuentra en problemas. Ah.. en modo opuesto a su personalidad, ella adora hacer dulces, especialmente para conseguir la ayuda de las hadas en los varios casos que se presentan. En la otra mano tenemos a las hadas, los nuevos humanos, criaturas del aspecto de mini duendes, las cuales, supuestamente, son posesores de un inmensa Inteligencia y Conocimiento, hecho que podríamos encontrar confirma viendo los objetos que producen, que rozan la Ciencia Ficción en vez de Futurístico, pero la forma de comportarse nos deja una primera impresión bastante diferente.. ¡giro inesperado de eventos! las hadas son fácilmente manipulables si hay dulces de por medio, son tan golosas que harían de todo por obtenerlos. Por lo general, todo problema que surge a lo largo de la serie, y que la mediadora tiene que lidiar, es culpa de las hadas, que usualmente tienen una personalidad buena onda y alegre, cosa que puede cambiar repentinamente de forma drástica si no se están divirtiendo, pasando a tener un humor sombrío, el cual las lleva a tener una visión bastante pesimista de la Vida, con tendencias a expresar comentarios edgy y macabros, comparables a los de la Protagonista. Cuando dije que podríamos considerarlos como una única entidad me refería a que no hay una personificación individual definida por cada hada, no tienen siquiera nombres, a excepción de los que la mediadora mantiene en su casa y que ella eventualmente olvida. (también los hace dormir en una caja a compartimientos separados para que no se reproduzcan, el uso del agua no tiene nada que ver). Entre los otros personajes que valen la pena mencionar están: Doc, el abuelo de la protagonista, uno de los jefes del pueblo, tiene una personalidad bastante buena onda que, pero cambia rápidamente cuando se da cuenta que la chica está vagueando sin hacer su trabajo. Asistente-kun, un chico que a malas penas emite un sonido para hablar, la cosa no le crea algún problema de comunicación pues el hecho sorprendente es que la mediadora es capaz de entenderlo casi telepáticamente, y cuando ese no es el caso, lleva consigo un cuaderno, en el cual dibuja para hacerse entender mejor. Y, sí.. su nombre es una letra, o al menos es así como se presenta, ella es una vieja amiga, responsable de revivir el género del Yaoi en este mundo postapocalíptico.. joder. Se encuentran más personajes pero no los incluiré, tienen que conocerlos ustedes mismos mis queridos lectores, es toda una experiencia, de todos modos, aunque sí son personajes menores, sus apariencias le dan un aire místico al show, una mención honorífica debería ser dedicada a la Hogaza de Pan Sangrienta, un personaje del Episodio 01, después de ver eso supe que este anime iba a ser genial, créanme cuando digo esto... es hilarante. ¿Pensaste ya que esto no se podía meter más raro?, deja que te diga un par de cosas más sobre esta serie, espero no te importe. La entera atmósfera está llena de muy coloridos paisajes de tonalidad pastel, son presentes algunos particulares que agregan un toque de verdad único al entero escenario, cómo la falta de tecnología que se pueden ver en el pueblo, la arquitectura surrealista de los bizarros edificios de las hadas, el vestuario de las personas, la lógica detrás de los objetos marca "Hada", todo esto da un resultado de verdad placentero, cosas que pude apreciar bastante. La Animación es muy consistente a lo largo de la serie, aún pasando por las escenas de "acción", estuvieron bien hechas, animación súper "eye candy" no es uno de sus puntos fuertes, no pega siquiera con el estilo de la serie de todos modos. Las OSTs tampoco son tan espectaculares, nunca se sintieron fuera de lugar, eso sí, pero podemos decir que este anime no se apoya mucho en la música de fondo, pero algo memorable hubo.. y eso fue el Ave María de los pollos voladores, es casi inolvidable esa escena (Episodio 02), lo juro, se queda impregnada en nuestras mentes. Está también un pequeño particular, este anime no presenta una trama de forma cronológica. Yo lo vi la primera vez en el orden de emisión y la segunda en orden cronológico, teniendo todo en cuenta, la experiencia no cambia, hay dos episodios que se enfocan en nuestra mediadora en su periodo estudiantil, si fuéramos a ver ese arco como nuestro comienzo o como un flash back, la verdad no cambia mucho, la extraña y bizarra aura del anime nos permite eso. Hay gente que puede encontrarlo interesante, algo que le da un extra de originalidad a la serie, hay también gente que disfruta mejor de un orden cronológico, es por eso que dejaré el orden cronológico aquí, esperando que le pueda servir a alguien, véanlo como más les plazca. Episodios 11 & 12 >> Episodios 10 >> Episodios 07 & 08 >> Episodio 09 >> Episodios 05 & 06 >> Episodios 01 & 02 >> Episodios 03 & 04. Esto fue de verdad un viaje estupendo, disfrute cada episodio, ¿el punto fuerte de la serie? seguramente su protagonista, en mi opinión personal se trata del mejor personaje femenino que he encontrado, esta en 1era posición en mi Top y dudo que alguien le robe el puesto. Traten de visualizar todo lo que se ha dicho en esta reseña y dejen correr a full motor vuestra imaginación, será lo más cercano que experimentarán en este anime, y probablemente no es suficiente para anticipar los eventos que se desarrollan a lo largo de la serie, se los puedo garantizar.