Soldato
Haha so it's like the pile no one ever sees?
The anime thread sequel (it's still not as good as the Manga though),
- Thread starter Werewolf
- Start date
Soldato
It's in the "misc merchandise I have no real way or space to display" pile ... along with quite a few figures ...
Soldato
Watched EVA2.22.
Strange but enjoyable film, although some of the music choices were um.. special.
Looked pretty good, only downside was audio dropped out for a second towards which means I likely have a slightly imperfect disc. Annoying as I only just opened it..
I haven't watched the original EVA so I'm not comparing it to anything in particular here.
Edit: I did write a far more detailed feedback based upon my thoughts this morning and last night when asked elsewhere, simply because I am a slightly rare example of someone who's watching the Rebirth project without watching the original N.G.E.
I've put it inside this spoiler though as it's relatively long:
The audio dropout was near the end where 'pilot X' finds Shinji accidentally. Luckily it wasn't at an important part. I mean potentially it could also be my player, but seems for audio to be fine completely and just drop out once
I figured I'm probably one of the smaller group who hasn't seen the original now given it's status as one of the 'classics'. It's always been one of those titles I've just not got round to as I only got into anime a few years back and the backlog of stuff I wouldn't mind checking out is pretty epically long.
I'd been planning to have a Mecha season run next year and slot it into that. I'm also somewhat ambivilent to the whole Mecha genre as a whole; if it's a good show that features mecha, I'll enjoy it, like I enjoyed FMP, but I don't typically go out of my way for mecha purely for mecha's sake unlike some. (although what guy under 50 wouldn't love a potentially sentient, sometimes talking, bipedal war machine?)
Iit's been quite some while now since I saw 1.11, so I may be missing connections I shouldn't have and wouldn't if I was marathoning the films, which is something I entend to do after all 4 have arrived.
Unfortunately Evangelion is one of those shows you can't avoid but at least hear something about because of it's status, so even having never seen Evangelion, I went in to both films with some sort of vague idea of who the characters were, and what people typically though of them, even if I knew very little about the plot; especially as so many people liken the show as to founding some of our current stereotypes
- the introverted, 'emo' protagonist
- the quiet, educating, sometimes sickly (usually female) side character
- the tsundere
Anyway, going back directly to the film itself.
The animation itself is nice, if stylised, and the animation is smooth, I can't criticise it on the visuals, although I get the feeling the animation style probably harks back to the original series; as the series is a strange blend of modern art style and what seems to be an older style. I wouldn't say that's necessary a bad thing, just it doesn't perhaps always look how you'd expect an ultramodern anime film to look (example: Dissapearance), and reminds me more of Akira and Ghost, although slightly more colourful.
Unfortunately, I can't give an amazing amount of feedback on the audio mix. Whilst I have decent 5.1, as it was late I had to keep it quiet, and thus I can't really say what I thought of the mix too well, as I wasn't able to go 'full throttle'.
The musical choices were sometimes reasonable, othertimes however I did think the choice of musical score was somewhat disasterous. The whole point of ambient scoring is to try and develop the mood of the scene, and to enhance the emotion and connection the audience are feeling; and unfortunately, incredibly serious scenes with completely disconnected music just aren't a favourite choice of mine. This was a point both me and my brother whom I watched it with felt strongly on; as it very nearly took away some of the impact of the scene.
It was like watching Jaws, but with the Harry Hill theme tune playing to give an example. Now this may have been deliberate given the somewhat surreal feel of the end of the movie, and if so, that's fine, but personally, I didn't like it, and would have opted for something more stirring and fitting of the mood.
In terms of characters; well Shinji is much as I'd expect based on the stereotype; although admittedly he does seem to have far greater reason for it than most of his equally depressive contemporaries; so I swing from finding him sometimes a little frustrating and indecisive, to actually understanding his mindset.
Ayanami, again having been introduced in the first movie, you have an idea of what to expect, and you can see where, providing she acts similar to the original series as I understand this film and the following films are meant to diverge from the original, does seem to almost in a stereotypical manner convey some of the character preset with other later characters like Nagato are based on.
That's not to say she's without charm however; and I think sometimes she does well portray what a shy, somewhat socially inexperienced person many well do thrust into such circumstances, and I can understand the popularity of the stereotype as there's a quiet charm about it.
Asuka, being new to this film, was the character I was perhaps most interested to meet, as she's the completion of the famous trio from the originals.
Without spoiling too much, I found her interesting, although rabidly antisocial yet with deep insecurities, which felt somewhat forced given the period of time we were given to get to know her and the rate at which some of these mood swings occurred.
I also found her role in this movie depressingly short, and am hoping she'll return for a larger role in the next film as I think she'll benefit from the exposure and getting to know her better, it felt like she was barely in half the movie which is quite limited for what is meant to be a main character, and limited our chances to get to know her, and the amount of character development that could be employed without it starting to feel a bit forced.
In terms of overall plot, I think all the movies will benefit far more from being able to be watched as a marathon whole. Whilst they're interesting diversions in thier own right, a lot feels missing and you can tell they're something longer cut into sections.
Whilst I agree with the timing of these cuts roughly based on what has happened, it does leave you heavily feel like you're just watching part of a story, only to be left on a cliff hanger and have to wait years for the next one. It works well for some films, but typically those films have more of a self contained subplot which allows them to work well as a film, wheres Evangelion 2.22 literally is part 2 of 4, and feels like it.
I see a lot of other reviewers criticising the first Eden of the East movie for the same thing, and yet many of the reviewers of EVA 2.22 seem to avoid making the same criticism possibly because of the nostalgia they feel towards the original and the subject matter. Taking a completely fresh perspective though, I find it hard to ignore this.
The other slight criticism I have is that, whilst all the fights are different, they nearly always feel slightly repetetive in that its a constant 'Angel, find core, squish core, move on' in the most part. That's not really the best way to explain it but I'm a little pressed on time as writing this
I don't think the fights have quite the same tension and synergy as some I've seen.
My overall rating would be enjoyable, but not without flaws, especially when not tied by nostalgia, and a movie that will probably reach its potential only when watched with the others.
7/10 (although being more accurate I'd rate it as 7.5).
Edit: CHRISTMAS SPIRIT INTERLUDE
Since I've been grabbing discs from MVM and have sometimes picked up the random disc collection, I've got a number of spare discs to trade or giveaway
Current List up for trade/giveaway (all DVDs, all in PVC cases).
FLCL Vol 3
Aquarion Vol 3
Fate Stay Night Vol 4
The Slayers Vol 2
Ergo Proxy Vol 2 (2 copies)
Solty Rei Vol 4
Romeo x Juliet Vol 2
Gun x Sword Vol 2
Witchblade Vol 1 and Volume 3 (2 copies of Volume 3)
Shakugan no Shana Vol 4 and 6
Starship Operators Vol 1 and 3 (2 copies of Volume 3)
Desert Punk Volume 4
If anyone wants one, or fancies trading discs, let me know
These should all be in as new condition, if they have any scratches, they came that way from MVM haha
Strange but enjoyable film, although some of the music choices were um.. special.
Looked pretty good, only downside was audio dropped out for a second towards which means I likely have a slightly imperfect disc. Annoying as I only just opened it..
I haven't watched the original EVA so I'm not comparing it to anything in particular here.
Edit: I did write a far more detailed feedback based upon my thoughts this morning and last night when asked elsewhere, simply because I am a slightly rare example of someone who's watching the Rebirth project without watching the original N.G.E.
I've put it inside this spoiler though as it's relatively long:
ayase said:
The audio dropout was near the end where 'pilot X' finds Shinji accidentally. Luckily it wasn't at an important part. I mean potentially it could also be my player, but seems for audio to be fine completely and just drop out once
I figured I'm probably one of the smaller group who hasn't seen the original now given it's status as one of the 'classics'. It's always been one of those titles I've just not got round to as I only got into anime a few years back and the backlog of stuff I wouldn't mind checking out is pretty epically long.
I'd been planning to have a Mecha season run next year and slot it into that. I'm also somewhat ambivilent to the whole Mecha genre as a whole; if it's a good show that features mecha, I'll enjoy it, like I enjoyed FMP, but I don't typically go out of my way for mecha purely for mecha's sake unlike some. (although what guy under 50 wouldn't love a potentially sentient, sometimes talking, bipedal war machine?)
Iit's been quite some while now since I saw 1.11, so I may be missing connections I shouldn't have and wouldn't if I was marathoning the films, which is something I entend to do after all 4 have arrived.
Unfortunately Evangelion is one of those shows you can't avoid but at least hear something about because of it's status, so even having never seen Evangelion, I went in to both films with some sort of vague idea of who the characters were, and what people typically though of them, even if I knew very little about the plot; especially as so many people liken the show as to founding some of our current stereotypes
- the introverted, 'emo' protagonist
- the quiet, educating, sometimes sickly (usually female) side character
- the tsundere
Anyway, going back directly to the film itself.
The animation itself is nice, if stylised, and the animation is smooth, I can't criticise it on the visuals, although I get the feeling the animation style probably harks back to the original series; as the series is a strange blend of modern art style and what seems to be an older style. I wouldn't say that's necessary a bad thing, just it doesn't perhaps always look how you'd expect an ultramodern anime film to look (example: Dissapearance), and reminds me more of Akira and Ghost, although slightly more colourful.
Unfortunately, I can't give an amazing amount of feedback on the audio mix. Whilst I have decent 5.1, as it was late I had to keep it quiet, and thus I can't really say what I thought of the mix too well, as I wasn't able to go 'full throttle'.
The musical choices were sometimes reasonable, othertimes however I did think the choice of musical score was somewhat disasterous. The whole point of ambient scoring is to try and develop the mood of the scene, and to enhance the emotion and connection the audience are feeling; and unfortunately, incredibly serious scenes with completely disconnected music just aren't a favourite choice of mine. This was a point both me and my brother whom I watched it with felt strongly on; as it very nearly took away some of the impact of the scene.
It was like watching Jaws, but with the Harry Hill theme tune playing to give an example. Now this may have been deliberate given the somewhat surreal feel of the end of the movie, and if so, that's fine, but personally, I didn't like it, and would have opted for something more stirring and fitting of the mood.
In terms of characters; well Shinji is much as I'd expect based on the stereotype; although admittedly he does seem to have far greater reason for it than most of his equally depressive contemporaries; so I swing from finding him sometimes a little frustrating and indecisive, to actually understanding his mindset.
Ayanami, again having been introduced in the first movie, you have an idea of what to expect, and you can see where, providing she acts similar to the original series as I understand this film and the following films are meant to diverge from the original, does seem to almost in a stereotypical manner convey some of the character preset with other later characters like Nagato are based on.
That's not to say she's without charm however; and I think sometimes she does well portray what a shy, somewhat socially inexperienced person many well do thrust into such circumstances, and I can understand the popularity of the stereotype as there's a quiet charm about it.
Asuka, being new to this film, was the character I was perhaps most interested to meet, as she's the completion of the famous trio from the originals.
Without spoiling too much, I found her interesting, although rabidly antisocial yet with deep insecurities, which felt somewhat forced given the period of time we were given to get to know her and the rate at which some of these mood swings occurred.
I also found her role in this movie depressingly short, and am hoping she'll return for a larger role in the next film as I think she'll benefit from the exposure and getting to know her better, it felt like she was barely in half the movie which is quite limited for what is meant to be a main character, and limited our chances to get to know her, and the amount of character development that could be employed without it starting to feel a bit forced.
In terms of overall plot, I think all the movies will benefit far more from being able to be watched as a marathon whole. Whilst they're interesting diversions in thier own right, a lot feels missing and you can tell they're something longer cut into sections.
Whilst I agree with the timing of these cuts roughly based on what has happened, it does leave you heavily feel like you're just watching part of a story, only to be left on a cliff hanger and have to wait years for the next one. It works well for some films, but typically those films have more of a self contained subplot which allows them to work well as a film, wheres Evangelion 2.22 literally is part 2 of 4, and feels like it.
I see a lot of other reviewers criticising the first Eden of the East movie for the same thing, and yet many of the reviewers of EVA 2.22 seem to avoid making the same criticism possibly because of the nostalgia they feel towards the original and the subject matter. Taking a completely fresh perspective though, I find it hard to ignore this.
The other slight criticism I have is that, whilst all the fights are different, they nearly always feel slightly repetetive in that its a constant 'Angel, find core, squish core, move on' in the most part. That's not really the best way to explain it but I'm a little pressed on time as writing this
I don't think the fights have quite the same tension and synergy as some I've seen.
My overall rating would be enjoyable, but not without flaws, especially when not tied by nostalgia, and a movie that will probably reach its potential only when watched with the others.
7/10 (although being more accurate I'd rate it as 7.5).
Edit: CHRISTMAS SPIRIT INTERLUDE
Since I've been grabbing discs from MVM and have sometimes picked up the random disc collection, I've got a number of spare discs to trade or giveaway
Current List up for trade/giveaway (all DVDs, all in PVC cases).
FLCL Vol 3
Aquarion Vol 3
Fate Stay Night Vol 4
The Slayers Vol 2
Ergo Proxy Vol 2 (2 copies)
Solty Rei Vol 4
Romeo x Juliet Vol 2
Gun x Sword Vol 2
Witchblade Vol 1 and Volume 3 (2 copies of Volume 3)
Shakugan no Shana Vol 4 and 6
Starship Operators Vol 1 and 3 (2 copies of Volume 3)
Desert Punk Volume 4
If anyone wants one, or fancies trading discs, let me know
These should all be in as new condition, if they have any scratches, they came that way from MVM haha
Last edited:
Soldato
Had a fairly rough week this week so haven't been able to watch much ... but the little I have are as follows ...
Hanamaru Youchien ... very amusing series about a new kindergarten teacher, his work and his love life (lol). The series is very much like Kodomo no Jikan with the ickiness stripped out ... but keeps the same basic concepts. The characters are very good, even if they are the usual stereotypes (for example the main child character has the usual dark and intelligent sidekick and shy and quiet sidekick). Good relaxing watch.
Wandaba Style ... oh dear ... the series is about a 4 girl idol group Mix Juice who it is decided will do a concert on the moon in order to break into show business. Throw in a slightly odd scientist with his environmental friendly space launch devices, an intelligent unicycle and enthusiastic robot sidekick. It's weird but amusing. Don't expect lots of character development, or plot. I watched it on the ADV release, which was from a good few years ago, which means that it has a decent number of extras (including a dinner with the American voice cast which has many of the female names who were common on ADV releases of the mid-2000's).
Hanamaru Youchien ... very amusing series about a new kindergarten teacher, his work and his love life (lol). The series is very much like Kodomo no Jikan with the ickiness stripped out ... but keeps the same basic concepts. The characters are very good, even if they are the usual stereotypes (for example the main child character has the usual dark and intelligent sidekick and shy and quiet sidekick). Good relaxing watch.
Wandaba Style ... oh dear ... the series is about a 4 girl idol group Mix Juice who it is decided will do a concert on the moon in order to break into show business. Throw in a slightly odd scientist with his environmental friendly space launch devices, an intelligent unicycle and enthusiastic robot sidekick. It's weird but amusing. Don't expect lots of character development, or plot. I watched it on the ADV release, which was from a good few years ago, which means that it has a decent number of extras (including a dinner with the American voice cast which has many of the female names who were common on ADV releases of the mid-2000's).
Soldato
Been quite busy myself this week, so bar Eva I've not really watched much this week. Managed to get a day off today however so, having managed to slowly hit the last few episodes of Chevalier over the last few days (decent series overall, but the ending is poor), I've managed to move onto Ghost Hunt today.
Very different series, and a lot of fun. The main guy is also somewhat intriguing as he keeps pulling a proverbial bunny out of the hat, so will be interested to see if there's any reason for that.
Also managed to watch Kara no Kyoukai 4.
Edit: No one interested in any of the discs above at all? They're freebies afterall
Very different series, and a lot of fun. The main guy is also somewhat intriguing as he keeps pulling a proverbial bunny out of the hat, so will be interested to see if there's any reason for that.
Also managed to watch Kara no Kyoukai 4.
Edit: No one interested in any of the discs above at all? They're freebies afterall
I've not managed to watch much anime recently (starting to become annoying now), but I have managed to watch the first 6 or so episodes of FMP on blu-ray which is as good as I remember it being, and looks good on blu-ray.
I don't know if it's been mentioned here yet, but unfortunately it looks like TRSI have changed the way they mark packages which could mean we get a lot more charges
I don't know if it's been mentioned here yet, but unfortunately it looks like TRSI have changed the way they mark packages which could mean we get a lot more charges
Soldato
Watched a couple more things too this weekend ...
Chaos;Head ... Funimation's DVD/BD release, (I watched this on BD). Hmmm ... interesting series, on the one hand I like the female character designs and it does look very good on BD but on the other it's story is a bit of a mess at times and it can be confusing what is actually going on (at least at the first watch). I did feel at times that they may have done better with a longer series which brought things together in a more solid package. Nice artbox though
Denno Coil ... watched the first half of this on the Siren Visual R4 DVD release. Elementary school kids hacking each other and everything around them ... (there is more to the series than that but that's what quite a bit of it comes down to). I found it to be an interesting series which moved quickly enough that it keeps you entertained ... the little sister character is very annoying though. I think that this is my first R4 release and it's nicely packaged with a nice slip-box over the two disk DVD case. Second half of the series is due out later this month.
Chaos;Head ... Funimation's DVD/BD release, (I watched this on BD). Hmmm ... interesting series, on the one hand I like the female character designs and it does look very good on BD but on the other it's story is a bit of a mess at times and it can be confusing what is actually going on (at least at the first watch). I did feel at times that they may have done better with a longer series which brought things together in a more solid package. Nice artbox though
Denno Coil ... watched the first half of this on the Siren Visual R4 DVD release. Elementary school kids hacking each other and everything around them ... (there is more to the series than that but that's what quite a bit of it comes down to). I found it to be an interesting series which moved quickly enough that it keeps you entertained ... the little sister character is very annoying though. I think that this is my first R4 release and it's nicely packaged with a nice slip-box over the two disk DVD case. Second half of the series is due out later this month.
Soldato
I've not managed to watch much anime recently (starting to become annoying now), but I have managed to watch the first 6 or so episodes of FMP on blu-ray which is as good as I remember it being, and looks good on blu-ray.
I don't know if it's been mentioned here yet, but unfortunately it looks like TRSI have changed the way they mark packages which could mean we get a lot more charges
Good to hear FMP isn't a bad copy then, SD remaster always worries me a little because they can vary so heavily in quality. I'm saving my re watch til a mecha season unless my brother twists my arm before Christmas.
I'd heard Rightstuf was changing the way they labelled to be more accurate, it's partly why small fixed customs via planetaxel sounds tempting for bigger orders if the disc costs aren't much different.
As I mentioned earlier I'm watching Ghost Hunt at the moment. One thing I have noticed is that the Manga box set feels like some cost cutting measures have been employed (especially on the first disc with 7 episodes) Picture quality is a bit weak, and additionally the JP soundtrack sounds very heavily compressed at points, some of the earlier sound effects sounded noticeably worse in the JP track compared to the English one.
That said the series is good and me and one of the brothers have marathoned the first half today.
Last edited:
.
Associate
- Joined
- 8 May 2007
- Posts
- 877
Loved Dennou Coil. Possibly my favourite overall series of the past 4 years. For me it was one of those rare, exceptional shows that got just about everything right, and it completely baffles me that it's taken until this year to get licensed.
Massively overlooked by western anime fans in my opinion, though I'm sure it wont appeal to everyone.
I don't know if it's been mentioned here yet, but unfortunately it looks like TRSI have changed the way they mark packages which could mean we get a lot more charges
What have they done
I think they've had to make their customs declarations clearer so are sending their shipping company the full details with a price per item now (from what I can make out).
I've just had a letter from Parcel Force dated 6 days ago* asking for a fee to free my package
I've made the suggestion in the fandompost trsi thread that if they're having to make a change that makes it much more likely we'll get hit for customs, it might be worth them looking at offering DHL as a delivery method.
It won't save us any money, but the extra will go towards faster, better tracked shipping rather than the PF/RM hostage fee (DHL only charge a £1.25/2% fee for handling customs).
*They state they'll only hold the package for 20 days from the date on the letter, so they've eaten up a good portion of that with the letter.
I've just had a letter from Parcel Force dated 6 days ago* asking for a fee to free my package
I've made the suggestion in the fandompost trsi thread that if they're having to make a change that makes it much more likely we'll get hit for customs, it might be worth them looking at offering DHL as a delivery method.
It won't save us any money, but the extra will go towards faster, better tracked shipping rather than the PF/RM hostage fee (DHL only charge a £1.25/2% fee for handling customs).
*They state they'll only hold the package for 20 days from the date on the letter, so they've eaten up a good portion of that with the letter.
Soldato
...
I've just had a letter from Parcel Force dated 6 days ago* asking for a fee to free my package
...
*They state they'll only hold the package for 20 days from the date on the letter, so they've eaten up a good portion of that with the letter.
I know the feeling ... it's getting ridiculously long to get the letter through from them asking for payment ... which you need the reference number from to pay online (WHY! the package already has a unique reference number ... why insist on using another one in order to be able to pay online!). I finally got my invoice through on Saturday so I could arrange delivery for tomorrow.
If you've got the package tracking number you can pay over the phone once you know the package has been sent to your local depot but you have to ignore all the options on the phone for payment and get put through to your local depot (as the phone wants the invoice reference too).
Just got my 5th Spice and Wolf Novel. Is it me or is the western covers are getting worse and worse! Thank god they're just dust covers. But i still have the western non-dust cover version of Novel 1, i'd kill for the manga version
Associate
I don't know if it's been mentioned here yet, but unfortunately it looks like TRSI have changed the way they mark packages which could mean we get a lot more charges
I think I mentioned it in the previous thread that they were going to be doing that.
And I thought all these overpriced couriers charged through the nose for handling fees but that is more then reasonable since a £60 or so order would only have around a £2 handling charge.
Soldato
Yeah, I've always found it a shame Rightstuf don't offer any faster international postage options. When we're going to get hit by customs, and pay a reasonable amount for postage anyway, I'd imagine at least a few of us would be willing to pay a bit more to get it in less than 2-3 weeks (or more) 
Soldato
Bangs head on desk repeatedly.
Package A ... spends 6 gazillion years, (well put it this way ... it was shipped on 06/12 and was in the UK by 08/12), going through Customs and then an age getting the invoice sent out ... arranged to be delivered tomorrow ...
Package B ... shipped on the 14/12 ... Parcel Forces website has been up and down between then and now and given the performance of package A I wasn't holding out any hope of seeing it prior to January ... just checked; it's already at the local depot awaiting payment of charges (which I of course haven't seen an invoice for) ... if their **** system had been up this morning I would have known this and would have called them, paid over the phone, and had it delivered tomorrow as well ....
Arrrggghhh ....
Package A ... spends 6 gazillion years, (well put it this way ... it was shipped on 06/12 and was in the UK by 08/12), going through Customs and then an age getting the invoice sent out ... arranged to be delivered tomorrow ...
Package B ... shipped on the 14/12 ... Parcel Forces website has been up and down between then and now and given the performance of package A I wasn't holding out any hope of seeing it prior to January ... just checked; it's already at the local depot awaiting payment of charges (which I of course haven't seen an invoice for) ... if their **** system had been up this morning I would have known this and would have called them, paid over the phone, and had it delivered tomorrow as well ....
Arrrggghhh ....
Soldato
Finished watching Shadow Skill. While the animation isnt great especially the faces the voice acting was quite good i thought and the action was pretty good tho story was meh here and there but wasnt bad overall.
I also noticed Rosario+Vampire s1 and s2 coming out tomorrow on the 20th of Dec. Always wanted to watch this in english. So lookin forward to getting this when i can.
I also noticed Rosario+Vampire s1 and s2 coming out tomorrow on the 20th of Dec.
Always wanted to watch this in english. So lookin forward to getting this when i can.
Soldato
I've heard bad things about the picture quality on Funimations Rosario+Vampire release, although I haven't seen it yet myself.
Finished another series this evening; The Wallflower on Funimations S.A.V.E. label release. Now I picked this up on a whim with little prior knowledge and I was pleasantly surprised by it.
Basically you have 4 good looking chaps who are given the task, in the exchange for free rent, of doing a make over of their landlady's niece. The problem being that the niece is into horror movies, squelchy things in jars, skeletons and anatomical models and doesn't want to made into a proper young lady. Fairly predictable, but amusing. chaos ensues.
The series overall wasn't complicated but was still amusing at times and the switching of characters between normal and chibli forms was used well. The characters were quite likeable and the drama elements were also quite good.
I wouldn't say that the series would be to every ones tastes but I thought it was quite good.
Finished another series this evening; The Wallflower on Funimations S.A.V.E. label release. Now I picked this up on a whim with little prior knowledge and I was pleasantly surprised by it.
Basically you have 4 good looking chaps who are given the task, in the exchange for free rent, of doing a make over of their landlady's niece. The problem being that the niece is into horror movies, squelchy things in jars, skeletons and anatomical models and doesn't want to made into a proper young lady. Fairly predictable, but amusing. chaos ensues.
The series overall wasn't complicated but was still amusing at times and the switching of characters between normal and chibli forms was used well. The characters were quite likeable and the drama elements were also quite good.
I wouldn't say that the series would be to every ones tastes but I thought it was quite good.