Sometimes studios really go out of their way to make anime hard for fans to love. Some examples include…
- Making weaksauce anime adaptions that don’t satisfy manga readers.
- Anime that are basically advertisements for fans to go read the manga or light novels if they want to see how the story ends.
- Spending 50% of the animation budget on the first episode then cutting the quality after episode 3.
- Not making second seasons.
- Making second seasons that have no reason to exist other than as a money grab by the creators.
Another thing that really grinds my gears is taking a story that could have been glorious… then ruining it with low-budget CGI animation. This is the case with Shinigami Bocchan: The Duke of Death and His Maid.
The Story of Shinigami Bocchan
Imagine the story of Karakai Jozu no Takagi-san, but instead of a shy junior-high-school student, the main character is a young noble who’s been cursed by a witch so that everything he touches dies instantly. And instead of being tormented by the skilled teaser Takagi-san, he gets constantly tempted by his loyal maid Alice, who’s always positioning her body to give him of view of her cleavage, or offering a look up her skirt. The real kicker? If Bocchan ever gives in to Alice’s offers and touches her directly, she’ll die… and he’s desperately in love with her.
I instantly liked the story of Shinigami Bocchan because of its clever set up with a simple yet beautiful story. A young man living under a terrible curse. A loving and loyal maid who wants to touch her young master, even though it would mean her death. His feelings for Alice, which provide a strong impetus for him to find a way to lift his curse. Any way you slice it, this is some of the best storytelling I’ve seen in a long time.
What I didn’t like is the animation style, which uses the same 100% CGI anime as High Score Girl, the outstanding series about young people finding love in the golden age of video games in the 1990s, which was also done by J.C. Staff. While I’m more forgiving of the anime style for that series, in part because the story involved video game characters like Guile and Zangief as part of the story, I feel there’s no reason for CGI to be used in Shinigami Bocchan, other than budgetary reasons.
It’s like J.C. Staff was saying, “We care about this story and these characters, but only enough to spend $10,000 on the animation budget.” It shows a lack of kiai, that extra “oomph” of passion and spirit that we take for granted from studios like Kyoto Animation, on the part of J.C. Staff.
There are two things that are jarring about this approach to animation. The first is that it’s got characters who we’re emotionally connecting with… yet the unnatural movements of the CGI constantly pull us out of the world they inhabit. Next is the fact that this anime has sexy fanservice, as Alice constantly tries to temp Bocchan to touch her, even though it would mean her death. Seeing this kind of content rendered in CGI as opposed to traditional animation is a bit of an emotional boner-killer… even though I’m a card-carrying supporter of sexy visual imagery in anime in general.
Of course, the CGI animation isn’t all bad. One thing I did enjoy about the unique approach of this show is the way nearly every background is rendered with a painted-on-canvas style that makes the characters look like they’re living in a world created by the great masters of Western art. It’s a unique detail that you can’t help but notice in every shot after you see it the first time.
In the end, the story of Shinigami Bocchan is so good that I’ll keep watching and I’m hopeful that they can find a way to lift the curse, so Bocchan and Alice can be together.
Thanks for reading this post about the Shinigami Bocchan anime. What aspects of anime do you get annoyed by? Post them below, or tell us on Twitter!
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