Heaven's Memo Pad - Reviews

A big thing to note is I started watching this because I thought it was about NEET, or had something related to it. What I didn't know is how it was basically a detective show hidden. Since I'm not a fan of detective shows, I can't really give it a good score. But it makes me PO that they called a NEET a detective.

A NEET is not in education, employment, or training. Being a detective is employment. So ya ...

Also you have people on there being happy about being a NEET and saying that after college they will be one, or they dropped out to be one. In the real world, most NEET don't want to be one. Even more if it's been a good year or so. You are under the control of someone else, and you know your life can be messed over in a second. 

To be honest, I was hoping more for a Welcome too the NHK than this. It is too bad NHK is so unique 

PROPER MINDSET
It didn’t take more that a few days for Gosick to end and VOILA yet another loli detective rose to take its place. This one is a NEET shut-in too… who likes to spy on people through cameras… and films teen prostitution movies for extortion purposes… and what’s with the pedo-bait main picture here?
… Only in Japan.

SCRIPT
This is a detective show that has to do with mysteries and murders and extortions and…

… Hey wait a second; how can she be a NEET if she is a detective? Or how is she a hikikomori if she keeps talking to numerous people that come in her room? How does she even get out of the room? This show is contradicting its own premise! Doesn’t take a genius to figure out how intelligent it’s going to be. Oh whom am I kidding; it’s a JC Staff production. Nobody watches their loli shows for the story or the substance; it’s all about the lolis. And this one is a NEET shut-in stalker so I bet thousands of males will understand her problem and have their parents go buy a huge pillow with her on it.

… And don’t wait for it to actually build on the concept and show some development and excitement over extortions and murders. It’s an aimless, dull, stupid moeblob with some people talking as dead time.
- The cases are simple to crack, as if they were a joke. We just need to accept Alice knows everything and has super technology that helps her analyze everything without ever leaving her teddy bear filled bed (I am not thinking of detective solving when imagining that).
- The plot is mostly moe comedy and human drama; there is very little actual detective work going on and even less interesting action scenes. It all plays out as calm as possible to the point you don’t even feel there ever was danger somewhere in all this.
- The ending goes for a last moment tragic event that is nullified with no effort thus again leaving you in complete apathy. The ending is just like the rest of the show without any actual conclusion (or purpose).
- And there is fan service. We can’t have a JC Staff anime without it; it would be an insult to their standards!

PRODUCTION VALUES
Very good for such a show; they did a very good job no only in making the girls moe but also in making stuff like the computer room to feel natural, or the night-time scenes to feel like it’s really night. If you ask me, it’s wasted effort to have that many cinematics and attention to lighting for THIS type of show.

CAST
The main duo is very generic; the usual bossy loli cooldere that has as her personal slave a fail of a male specimen boy who for some impossible to understand reason all the girls have the hots for him. Add some moe cardboards and delinquents and you have a fully boring cast of people you will forget the second the episode is over. And yes, many are supposed to receive character development during the show but two episodes later they are rendered unimportant and are forgotten.

LEGACY
It had potential to be good but then JC Staff did its usual and created yet another poorly written show for 2D pedophiles with elements such as “detectives and mysteries” being nothing but useless wrappers for moe-moe crap. Total phail.

And now for some excused scorings.

ART SECTION: 8/10
General Artwork 2/2 (good looking)
Character Figures 1/2 (generic)
Backgrounds 2/2 (basic but fitting with the feeling of the series)
Animation 1/2 (basic)
Visual Effects 2/2 (good cinematics)

SOUND SECTION: 7/10
Voice Acting 2/3 (corny but fitting with the feeling of the series)
Music Themes 3/4 (not great but fitting with the feeling of the series)
Sound Effects 2/3 (ok I guess)

STORY SECTION: 1/10
Premise 1/2 (generic)
Pacing 0/2 (loose)
Complexity 0/2 (none; it’s slice of life instead of detective)
Plausibility 0/2 (none)
Conclusion 0/2 (dull)

CHARACTER SECTION: 4/10
Presence 1/2 (generic)
Personality 2/2 (cheesy but well founded)
Backdrop 1/2 (generic and simplistic but it’s there)
Development 0/2 (insignificant)
Catharsis 0/2 (there is nothing important to resolve)

VALUE SECTION: 2/10
Historical Value 0/3 (still remembered by some as an interesting retro title)
Rewatchability 0/3 (no reason to rewatch it)
Memorability 2/4 (no reason to remember it other than the visuals)

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 1/10
Art 1/1 (looks nice)
Sound 0/2 (sounds meh)
Story 0/3 (what story?)
Characters 0/4 (stereotypes)

VERDICT: 3.5/10

Welcome to Gosick Kamisama no Memo-chou, a story about a reclusive female super-detective with a small doll-like body and long hair that has the normal guy protagonist as her foil with a hint of school stuff in the background. Yes, this is Gosick without the unique setting and the body count. That being said, it is a great mold to follow, and the series does a rather good show of it.

What Kamisama no Memo-chou does that differs from the mold it clearly stole ripped off borrowed is that the cast is more balanced from the get go, it takes a far more mundane approach, and the setting is easier to connect to. These are strong points. It also follows the trend of shows that says "hey, NEETs are cool" as an excuse for the escapism it offers, which is somewhat cheap. Still, it does the whole Holmes/Watson thing rather well, even though at points you can catch on to the solution faster than the characters as it is a simplified version.

Mystery is notoriously hard to pull off, and while Kamisama no Memo-chou does it rather well, and compensates for many of its shortcomings by offering an added character driven side to things. As opposed to other shows of this type, there is no attempt to go over the top world encompassing ending. There is no glorification of logic, nor unreasonable behavior (most of the time). It is suprirpsingly solid despite all the holes in backstories and plot.

So, Kamisama no Memo-chou takes a lot from Gosick. But since it is a different variation on the theme and is well executed, that can be forgiven. Despite myself, I found the show interesting and entertaining. It doesn't go too heavy on the tension, but rather keeps a more mundane feel, which I think is an interesting choice for a mystery show... and this helps it feel rather refreshing despte the plentiful parallels to other shows.

Writing (Story and Characters):

Kamisama no Memo-chou takes a far more mundane approach to writing than most of its spiritual predecessors, and that is a good thing. It is technically solid, and avoids the obvious pitfalls of this type of series. It doesn't go into angst for the sake of angst territory which is a common failing of shows that deal with dark themes. There is no forced Sherlock/Watson romance but actually just hints of it as fits the time frame described in the series and the relevant ages of the characters. Overall, the show ends before it outstays its welcome, but is somewhat too short to fully enjoy.

Perhaps the one major failings in the story of Kamisama no Memo-chou is that it goes into the classic seinen trope of giving an arc per character rather than keeping the characters as visitors into something outside them. Other than that, and the fact that the story is somewhat short, this is a semi-episodic and plot driven show that does not completely forgo the character aspect. You won't be dazzled by the brilliant logic of the super-detective, but instead the focus is on how most of a detective's job is groundwork and information gathering. It is actually quite refreshing.

Since Kamisama no Memo-chou is a plot driven show, the character development doesn't get very far. The cast is rather varied for what little time they managed to expand it, but not focefully so as you can still see the "birds of a feather" attitude with the main group of protagonists. While this is forced due to the development not having enough time left considering the breadth of the cast and the prevalence of the plot, it is a graceful way to deal with the fact that most characters lack much in the way of personality and depth. For the amount of time and attention it is given, the character aspect is surprisingly well done (though irrelevant to the series for huge chunks of it).

As I stated earlier, it is hard to write a good mystery series. It gets dull quick if you repeat yourself, and you have to add a special spice to it despite most fans looking for the tried and true Sherlock Holmes formula. Kamisama no Memo-chou manages to do that, though perhaps it erred on the side of caution a bit too much. The writing isn't adventerous, but it is the real deal. It isn't the most interesting and deep out there, but it maintains enough of that without going off the rails. Perhaps there are problems with the tone changing from light hearted to dark and back very quickly, but I actually think that helps the show keep from getting to stale - though this may be viewed as a technical issue with the writing. This is not the best mystery anime out there from a writing perspective, but it surely is better than the average.

Art (Animation and Sound):

I'll be blunt: the artwork is great in theory, but not great in practice. Kamisama no Memo-chou has art that is good all around, but nothing too spectacular. The animation and sound work together well, but don't really manage to elevate the story but rather just execute it. There are a few artistic themes, but the choice of the art was to go for a rather mundane choice overall rather than take creative license. This is usually the right choice for a mystery series.

From an animation perspective, Kamisama no Memo-chou is only slightly above average. The butterfly, teddy bear, and few other recurring themes aren't particularly imaginative nor add much depth and at times feel rather forced. The character designs are not original (and at times "borrowed" from other shows) but manage to be rather distinct within the series, and the choice of palettes is on the less flashy side of trendy yet a rather good fit for the series. I found some of the backgrounds very effective, but very few really caught my eye, and there are a lot of moments where the characters are far too still and it gets irritating to view. Still, despite the many faults, the animation does give life to the characters.

Where the animation was consistent, the audio is a mixed bag. On one hand, the soundtrack is good (and at times great), on the other the opening theme is a terrible fit for the series, and some of the music in the background gets repeated far too much. The voice acting has some great characterizations, but has the obligatory "annoying voice guy" that will annoy the hell out of you. The effects are well placed, but will not surprise you nor add a lot to the series. The stereo is rather cleverly used at times, but usually is done straight-up rather than to add depth.

Overall, the artwork does give life to the world in Kamisama no Memo-chou, but doesn't make that world particularly interesting. It is a good fit, but not a great fit. Still, it is above average, and the audio and video work very well together. Something commendable is that the audio doesn't try to force tension where it shouldn't exist, as is the care for far too many shows with an element of mystery to them.

Overall:

Kamisama no Memo-chou is a good show. It is not a great show. I would put it in the same league as Gosick, or perhaps a tad worse. Still, it is an interesting show that deals with dark themes in a surprisingly mundane way for a detective story. Recommended for anyone who likes detective stories.

I greatly enjoyed this little show, despite its jarring tonal problems, one moment its funny, next moment it gets really dark. The characters aren't really that memorable, they aren't annoying or anything, with Alice really being the only one with a rounded personality. More in video review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCo9snsY9vU

BBFC rating - 12 for moderate violence, langauge and drug, sex and suicide references

** review may contain spoilers so read at your own expense **

Story : We weren't really introduced to the main character Narumi Fujushima , he's the typical male protagonist,  still in high school and happens to run into "adult business" we are also introduced to Ayaka Shinozaki she is also the typical female protagonist still in high school type.  Apparently Ayaka knows about the NEET detective Alice and the whole NEET gang.  She already told them about Narumi * which I thought was like a invasion of space because what if I don't want to be introduced to strangers,  giggles* seeing as the name Narumi isn't so common most of them stick to calling him Gardening club * yes, yes he did join the gardening club but only for Ayaka's sake. * , The story has multiple discovery's and in order to get Alice to work at something you have to make a Request which is awesome. The story had minor flaws such as Introducing the MAIN STORT in like episodes 10,11 & 12.

Animation : it was crisp! I loved the art visuals , the animation was 10/10 for me mainly because I loved anime from 2000-2012 the most *Snickers away & hides under desk* any who, the character designs were pretty unique except for Narumi aka Gardening Club only because he looked ALOT LIKE Takumi from Akame Ya Kill *we aren't going to get into that*

Sounds : 10/10 for me.  I never skipped the OP and the ED mainly because it gave me that dark but cheerful oura * dunno why* , I have the ED on my phone and have played it on repeat!  , The background noises were also a 10/10 

Characters : each of them were unique * except for Ayaka the typical short haired female protag and Narumi the typical brown eyed brow haired protag* Alice,  Reiji-san, Hiro and Major had lovely character designs! ^_^ 

-

Would I recommend this to a friend : most likely 10/10 I would!