Barakamon - Reviews

People praise Barakamon a lot, and I kinda get why. It does the slice of life thing with plenty of family friendliness. You feel for a few of the characters. There are moments that are funny. But you know what? I wasn't really moved by it. Shows like this rise and fall according to the main character, and he just isn't charismatic or interesting enough to make the show truly excel.

Don't get me wrong, the lead character is rather interesting. What happens to him, his development, and his struggles with calligraphy aren't. Not really. Perhaps I've been numbed to human emotions by watching far more dramatic tales and movies. The jumps between humor and slice of life don't allow the show to excel in either category. The humor is remeniscient of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, only less wild and intense, the slice of life is similar to Usagi Drop only less touching and universal. And the problem can be traced directly that the lead character is plainly less of a joy to watch than those of said shows.

That being said, it is a character driven story and the characters are good. The art is average for the most part, but gets style points for the impressionist touches on backgrounds at certain moments and clever use of effects. But do the writing and art follow a distinct vision? Not really. Slice of life is a notoriously difficult balancing act between keeping the world convincing and keeping the going-ons relevant. Barakamon doesn't truly succeed at the latter.

Perhaps this sounds as overly critical. Maybe Miyazaki has spoiled slice of life for everyone by doing the best possible at it, dropping the mic, leaving the stage, and the competition has been weeping since. Maybe only freakishly awesome outliers like Usagi Drop can reach the soulless cynics anymore. Barakamon is definitely a better than average anime, and with something so blatantly slice of life it is an incredible achievement in itself. But is it truly great? I... don't really think so.

Writing (Story and Characters):

Barakamon comes at a time where most new shows are products aimed for mass entertainment rather than an expression of meaning. This makes the writing stand out as well outside the norm. But remove that from the analysis, and you find that the question of "does it do something special?" is answered with a resounding no. It might seem original in the current landscape, but the show definitely doesn't tread new ground except with the calligraphy theme.

The story is a simple character driven one. Guy is forced to socialize with children of various ages, discovers himself (to a certain extent) in the process. The characters have just enough color and depth to hold it up, because that is really all there is to it. There are plenty humorous set ups, and moments where the atmosphere is convincing... and yet it feels a bit forced for much of the time. People mix up a good cast with a good character driven story, and if we look strictly at the story, it is nothing special.

What Barakamon does have is a good cast. The problem is that they are very focused on achieving humor and not quite enough on development. The only character who has any form of development is the main one. Still, there is plenty of color to go around, and they do have some very funny interactions. But the writing puts all the eggs in the main character basket, and while he is decent, even great at times, feeling for him is not always the natural thing.

Since this is a character driven show, Barakamon's writing quality rests mostly on the cast rather than on the story. And at that, mostly on the main character. The problem is that he simply doesn't elicit much sympathy, and feeling for his arrested development is flung upon the viewer with the delicacy of a sledgehammer. Still, it isn't bad writing, just not detailed.

Art (Animation and Sound):

Where people criticize Barakamon most is the art. This is obviously wrong, as both the animation and sound have a lot of style to them. People quibble about there being nothing spectacular, but this is slice of life, not action, and therefore spectacular is not what the art needs to go for. The use of impressionist style in the backgrounds that combine with a soothing soundtrack creates a very warm feeling to give a lot of emotion rather than just a spectacle to behold. That is effective and makes the writing seem a lot stronger than it actually is.

I have gushed about the use of impressionism as the main artistic tool of Barakamon. This is a great choice of influence in animation to fit the slice of life genre, and the use of what looks like thick brushstrokes for the greenery also matches up well with the calligraphy theme. Sure, there are issues with movement here and there. The character designs are crisp yet ultimately unoriginal. The use of visual gimmicks is a bit heavy handed at times, and visual comedy with children gets annoying fast. Still, the animation is surprisingly effective.

OK, I find the cartoonish kid voices annoying. It is unfair of me to judge voice acting, but some of them really just don't sound like children and instead sound like adults trying to sound like children. The soundtrack does a good job, and the effect use is good. It isn't magnificent or particularly detailed. Still, the audio does a good job to connect the writing and animation, and gives the visual gags the punch they need to be effective.

From a strict technical perspective, Barakamon's artwork is above average. It doesn't dazzle, but instead focuses on wringing all the juice out of the writing and giving it the proper emotions and pace. So overall, I'd say the art is surprisingly good at what it sets out to accomplish. Could it have been better? Obviously. Still, I find that overall it is not the issue with the show.

Overall:

Barakamon is overrated. There, I said it. It's good. It's an enjoyable thing to view. But should you go out of your way to watch it? Perhaps if you are a fan of the slice of life genre.

SO BARAKAMON HAS BECOME MY NO.1 FAVOURITE ANIME!

WHAT MAKES THIS ANIME PERFECT IS NOT ANYTHING ELSE BUT ITS SOMPLOCITY AND PURENESS. THE STORY REVOLVING AROUND A YOUNG CALLIGRAPHER SENT TO A VILLAGE TO FIND HIMSELF AND BECOME MORE HUMBLE. 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PLOT THROUGHOUT THE SERIES IS SO SMOOTH. NOT ONE EPISODE IS BORING OR OVEELY DRAMAYIC OR CHAOTIC. IT ALL RUNS SMOOTHLY. THE WAY HANDA GROWS AND FINDS HIMSELF AMD LESRNS TO ENJOY LIFE IS REALLY THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING! HE IS SERIOUS AND YWT A BIT SILLY...A NORMAL MAN WHO WANTS TO ACHIEVE HIS DREAMS AS WELL AS LIVE LIFE THR WAY HE WANTS---PEACEFULLY!

THE OTHER CHARAACTERS, ESPECIALLY NARU AND THE OTHER KODS ARE THE BEST. THE WAY THEY ALWAYS SHIFT THE ATMOSPHERE FROM LOVING TO PLAYFUL...ITS LIKE REVISITING YOUR CHILDHOOD DAYS 

I LOVES THE WAY THE RELATIONSHIP GROW AND BECOME MORE MEANINGFUL AMONG HANDA AND THE CHILDREN AND THE OTHER VILLAGERS!

THIS IS PURE GOLD! PHRE GOLD!

Full of love, peace, beautiful scenes and comedy

Barakamon is such a beautiful anime with wonderfuls enviroments animated with a demi-simplist style but a bright color palette, a catching plot about interpersonall relations with a nice narration and character's background that fits well into this series and makes it feel fluid, a nice animation to relax and have a nice time watching to it

Barakamon is one of the best animes to come out the Summer 2014 line up of animes. In this review I will explain my presonal opinions on the show. If you wish to add a comment please leave it in the comments box below. Please enjoy!

Animation 10/10

For animation Kienema Citrus has done a great job. Everything is very smooth with no real areas where there seems to be a missing transition scene that would otherwise cause a wierd appearance to the animation. Similiar to their other shows such as Black Bullet and .hack//Quantum this holds a higher more modern style of animation that is most promonent. Character designs are nice and refreshing while also adding a remarkable amount of facial expressions that helps add true depths of personality to each character. 

Sound 9/10

While it may not have the most memoriable music and sound effects the sound quality is still remarkable. Voice acting syncs up nicely to the animation making conversatioins seem to flow better. Voice acting is also top notch due to the use of voice actors who are of the aproximate same age as the characters they are portraying. It is very obvious in both reactions as well as conversations that the children aren't played by adults. This creates a more authentic vocal performance that many shows fail to achive.

Characters 10/10

The main characters are Handa Seishuu and Naru Kotoishi. Handa Seishuu is a Caligrapher who moves to this island in order to escape apologizing for a mistake he made back in Tokyo. Like a true young adult, he is still very prone to forgetting to stay calm in different situations leading him to either act insesnsitivly or being rude. Naru Kotoishi is one of the many children in the town that constantly hangs around Handa Seishuu. Naru is a rambunctious, out going and caring character that is genuin with her emotions. Yes Naru is a girl, a very Tomboy girl. She is not afraid to get down and dirty in the exploration of fun! Both main characters as well as the wide variety of side characters all have very unique characteristics that feel very real and genuin. Character qualities don't feel stale for the most part. Only a very few side-side characters really feel bland however they are only seen during small portions of single episodes causing no real issues.

Story 10/10

The story follows the life of Handa Seishuu searching for what he is missing in his caligraphy after being criticized by the Art Director. Handa moves to an island in order to attempt to find solitude where he can work in peace. However thanks to Naru Kotoishi and a variety of other villagers, everyday ends up being flooded with interuptions and adventures. It is through these interuptions and adventures that Handa ends up discovering what his caligraphy and his life has been missing until this point.

The story as a whole is well written and is always enjoyable while also staying real. No overly dramatic events occure yet there are still moments that will make your heart ache. It is because events can still be relatiable, viewers can connect to the character and story. No event seems to just be thrown in for no good reason. Every episode builds to the overall story with relavance to either character development or to story developement. Every scene serves a purpose flawlessly while remaining entertaining to watch.

Overall  9.75/10

Overall the story,characters,animation and sound quality all add up to a very entertaining show that is never a bore. Each episode holds new adventures of self discovory as well as plenty of commical events that will add to a good laugh! Overall I say this is a show everyone should give a shot!

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This was one of those with no real story....This doesn't mean I hate it, though. Overall it was actually pretty enjoyable. The story is basically about this over stressed man who -after punching his boss (or someone important)- gets sent to an island, where he becomes friends with the island children. And that's really it. It's your steriotipical friendly small town, nothing particularly intresting about it.

It's enjoyable, because it's about how he changes and all that.....even though he doesn't really change it's his values and outlook that change. If you're looking for a time killer, or just something to watch for fun with no real thing behind it I would reccomend it for you.