This Ugly Yet Beautiful World Falling Star - Anime Frontier

• Media Source:Anime Frontier
• Reviewed By:Jared
• Review Date:07/30/06
• Read the original review click here

"I've always been a Gainax fan and this show is a great addition to their lineup of fantastic shows."

The Verdict

Audio
Offered in English and Japanese 2.0, I went with the English for the majority of my viewing, checking out the Japanese from time to time. All things aside, I was pretty bummed when I realized there was no 5.1 track for this release, but it didn?t really seem to matter in these four episodes. The stereo tracks presented here do a good job though, making full use of the forward channels, though there definitely were instances where a full 5.1 track could have been used quite well. Regardless, these tracks fulfill their place in this release quite well and come across just as clean as you would expect them to be coming from ADV. Overall I?m more fond of the English than the Japanese at present, but both came across quite nicely when all is said and done.

Video
Originally airing just a couple years back, this show looks fantastic in just about all respects. The Gainax style is evident throughout every frame of this show and really helps to keep things fresh from beginning to end. The animation itself is very vibrant at times but also has a dark side as well that helps to differentiate the more somber moments in the show. Its pretty standard Gainax fare to be honest, but you certainly won?t find me complaining about that. As for the transfer, we?ve got another quality ADV job on our hands as there isn?t really much wrong here. There is a bit of line noise every now and again, but as far as aliasing or cross coloration go, this transfer is pretty spotless.

Characters
Takeru ? The main character of the show, Takeru is a bit of a trouble maker and generally finds himself and the end of a quick slap by one of the girls at school, though they start to get just a little jealous when he finds Hikari.

Ryou ? The more calm of out two lead male characters, Ryou is an artist and a bit of a ladies man too. All the girls at school love him, though he finds his match in Akari.

Hikari ? The first of the girls to be found, Hikari knows very little about who she is, but the one thing that she does know is that she wants nothing more than to be with Takeru as much as possible.

Akari ? The second of the girls, Akari is found by a lake by Ryou. She has an odd flying companion named Kuon who seems to be little more than a very small trench coat that opens at the top for a mouth.

Jennifer ? A rather mysterious character, Jennifer seems to know more than she should about Hikari and Akari, but that doesn?t stop her from acting like a sexed up maniac around Takeru.

Story
Kicking things off here, we?re introduced to two young men named Takeru and Ryou as they discuss they?re perfect girl. Ryou draws this girl for Takeru and surprisingly enough, his wish is about to come true. As Takeru takes Ryou home, they notice a blinding light that flies above them and splits in two. Of course, they have to check it out and what they find is a young girl named Hikari who looks just like the girl Ryou drew for Takeru. Chance are though, that finding a naked girl in the woods can?t be good, and its not, since they?re attacked by a huge monster. Ryou gets separated from them and Takeru ends up changing into a demon with a red x on his face and demolishes the monster, though he has no idea what has just happened to him. Hikari changes as well and she seems to enjoy the fact that the monster is dying, but quickly reverts back to her bubbly self when Takeru vows to protect her no matter what.

Oddly enough, Takeru takes Hikari home and quickly reveals with Ryou what happened, though no one really believes them but they don?t have any reason not to either so his aunt and uncle let her stay with them at their boarding house. Takeru?s cousin, Mari, takes to her pretty well after a while and begins to dress her up in all sorts of weird outfits, though things become a little weirder when they get a new boarder. An American named Jennifer just waltzes into the house and gets naked with Hikari and then Hikari just leaves. This makes Takeru think about how his mother left long ago and how it made him feel, which may explain the anger he unleashed against the monster.

Despite Jennifer getting between them, another thing that gets in Takeru and Hikari?s way is his time away at school. She does her best to keep busy while he?s away, but things drift away from them for a while at this point, as Ryou makes an interesting discovery of his own. He finds a girl named Akari near a lake who looks strikingly like Hikari and travels with a little floating spirit type thing named Kuon. Not much is revealed about her at first, and all Ryou knows about her is that she doesn?t know anything about herself and she uses Kuon to steal food for her.

Of course, just like Takeru did, he takes her home only to make his sister Kimi quite angry since she can?t stand another woman taking his attention away from her. So, she takes Akari to Takeru?s house since she knows about the ongoings with Hikari and Ryou and Kimi can?t afford to feed her, especially since she has an insatiable appetite. This is where Jennifer?s knowledge of things comes into play. She supposes that Akari and Hikari are actually one person. The light that the boys saw split in two and she thinks they may actually be the same person who split apart to survive. So for whatever reason they think they?re sisters but Akari still won?t have any part in living away from Ryou, she?s committed to being with him and will do whatever it takes to make sure she can be with him at all times.

Afterthoughts
Overall, after waiting for quite a while for this show, I was rather pleased with the way this first volume turned out. For a show that hasn't received as much critical acclaim as I expected I'm glad I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this first volume. I've always been a Gainax fan and this show is a great addition to their lineup of fantastic shows. If you're looking for a shorter show that delivers a great look and a great story then This Ugly Yet Beautiful World is the show for you, and if you're a Gainax fan then you've probably already picked this disc up.

Similar Titles
Though this show isn't as comedic in nature, not yet anyway, this show seems pretty similar to Mahoromatic in its theme and characters.

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Posted on Sunday, July 30, 2006 (Archive on Wednesday, August 30, 2006)