Not a whole lot of fan service in this title, but it’s cliche all the same.
I think anyone who’s spoken with me enough knows that I like to point out common trends in anime. Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha, or I,K,K, is another title that follows the same general path.
It begins with a girl. This girl’s name is Fushimi Inari. She likes a boy. She’s also a klutz, so she’s always put down by how much of a klutz she is. She also likes shrines. In particular, she likes the shrine she was named after: the Inari Shrine, which houses a fox-like deity. And by fox-like, I mean she has a lot of fox spirits around her. She looks nothing like a fox.
This deity grants Fushimi the power to transform into any other human being, but doesn’t mention how important the power that was given to her was, leading viewers to assume that something will come of it later on. And it does. Anyone else shocked?
This is the trend: a plot is set that has a young, naive hero acquire a certain ability that they have little to no knowledge of. Later on, as they begin to mature along with their acquired ability, they begin to see setbacks to using said power. Now, this isn’t exactly the case for all anime, but this is typical within fantasy/supernatural pieces. It’s basically the same thing as normal titles, except with magic or something. Here, let me get to the point:
It starts out silly and fun, only to become heartfelt and dramatic later on.
This is done in so many anime. I couldn’t tell you how many anime I’ve seen that follow this trail step by step, perfectly aligned with the status quo. This common cliche would be more excusable had the characters involved been likable. Were they?
It depends on how you like your soup.
America has a common perception of being a melting pot; a variety of different flavors of people, from all sorts of different areas in the world, blended into one, disgusting gruel. The characters in I,K,K are similar to this. There aren’t a lot of similarities between these characters. Most are just stock characters with personalities borrowed from other media. I’ll give you a run-down:
Fushimi: Main character. Is actually fleshed out more than most characters (surprisingly), but still suffers from a mild case of “Shounen Male Protagonist Syndrome.” She also cries way too fucking much.
Uka: The deity of Inari Shrine. She’s okay, usually, but also has the patience and insecurities of a teenager. I can’t help but think of how the Greek Gods are painted: as horrible “people.” Uka is the same, except she’s horrible in other ways.
Touka: Fushimi’s older brother. I think he’s supposed to be the “misunderstood emo kid” character… but I never really figured him out. All I know is he’s a terrible tsundere.
Tanbabashi: Fushimi’s crush. Bland. Archetype.
All of Fushimi’s friends: Archetypes.
Uka’s brother: Fuck him.
Amaterasu: Bitch, because plot.
Everyone else isn’t worth mentioning.
I’m really enamored with the overall design of this anime. I don’t know why. I just am. It looks similar to that of A-Channel, whose design I was also very enamored with. Hell, I started comparing the designs for characters in this title to the designs of characters from A-Channel. Nevertheless, I really liked the whole look of this anime. The exaggerated expressions didn’t feel forced, either. In fact, it felt like they actually tried. A rarity in anime.
The spiritual realm, admittedly, didn’t look that grasping.
I,K,K was fine, up until the trail headed south into the village of somber seaweed. I just made that up to sound artistic. I can understand that anime wants to try and play up the drama for the end of a series to leave an emotional impact for viewers. However, this is hard to do when your story basically proceeds as a slice of life, until it finally realizes that it has to actually develop characters enough to have the viewer care for them.
But hey, what do I know about the viewer? Dog Days and its two sequels are basically cliche fan service incarnate, and they all have higher average ranks than I,K,K. Clearly, I have no idea what good really is.
I changed my mind: I,K,K is actually amazing and I hope season two comes out soon! ❤
The Visualist's Veranda 