When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace

jimpy Mar 3, 2019

6.8

First of all, I would like to give the anime "When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace" my personal award: <<Best Harem in Anime Award!>> Because unlike other harem shows I've seen, this one actually goes deeper into the relationships rather than having a bunch of random girls liking a guy for no particular reason (I'll elaborate more later in the review).  Second, the title is very misleading. There is close to no action in this show. Also, after watching the first and second episodes, you might think that this show is just going to be comedy (yes there is a lot of comedy) with no deeper meanings, but that is WRONG! I was actually surprised by the amount of drama in the show. The amount of drama is actually comparable to "Kokoro Connect" if you take out all the comedy. Okay, now into a more detailed review!(note that 5 means average and not bad) No spoilers! Yay! Also, I assume you have read the synopsis.   STORY The plot definitely isn't much, and I'd consider it to be below average. The synopsis says "They instead decide to idly have fun by wasting their powers away". Yes, that is true, for the first episode. However, after that it becomes more of a drama than comedy. I like drama, so [+2story]. The story focuses on each of the girls and their relationships with the protagonist, Andou.  But there's a problem: the fact of the characters having supernatural powers has NO significance to the drama or the plot. without action, the superpowers are just there, only used for comedy a few times. [-0.5story] No action is okay with me, but I just can't understand why they have superpowers. In whole (the whole series), the plot isn't there. There is no climax, no antagonist, no problem, no resolution, etc. Everything you need in a plot, they aren't there. Yes, each episode has their own plot, but can't be put together into a big plot. [-2story] The ending: a lot of unanswered questions. [-0.5story] If season 2 has already came out by the time you read this, than this shouldn't be much of a problem. But they just keep hinting that there's a "bigger picture", but they never show that "bigger picture", so I'll just assume that this whole series the prologue to a huge, more action packed story (I haven't read the light novel yet, so I don't know). ^But still, I can't wait for a second season :) [+0.5story]   ANIMATION/SOUND The animation and sound are okay. They make the highschoolers look kind of like middleschoolers though. They do make the main characters different enough that I can tell them apart (unlike some anime or manga) [+2animation]. I liked the music [+2sound], but it does get kind of repetitive [-0.5sound].   CHARACTER The synopsis says "5 boys and girls". Wrong. There is only one boy, and 4 girls. So it's a harem, right? Yes! But this is not your typical harem where the girls force themselves onto the one boy, and fight over him! Andou(the boy) doesn't even care that the girls like him, he might not even know that they like him. The girls only find out later on that they love Andou, but they don't fight about it or cling to him too much like other boring harem stories. So what I'm trying to say is: this harem isn't going to be a tip-of-the-iceberg thing. [+2characters] I personally loved the drama, relationship building, and character development in this anime. Though it's not as deep as "Kokoro Connect", the anime does go pretty deep into the character's struggles. [+2characters]   OVERALL 4.5*0.4 + 7*0.1 + 6.5*0.1 + 9*0.4 = 6.75

tollie01 Dec 31, 2016

4

Right, it's confession time for me. If you have been reading my reviews than you may have noticed that I tend to rip the anime a new one. There is a reason for this though and it has to do with the fact that I can't turn my brain off when watching anime. I can't ignore the stupid shown in the anime and this is a problem as most anime are very stupid indeed. In this case I'm not talking about a 90 pound girl catching a multi-ton cruise missile and throwing it back. Yes, it is stupid but it is a stupid that I'll allow. It's anime. Things like this are normal here and I'm pretty much fine with it. It annoys me to be sure but I will not rant about it. So, having explained this lets rip into this anime shall we? Just a heads up: There will most probably be spoilers. The more I hate an anime the more spoilers there will be. ART: There is no problem with the art but this is pretty hard to mess up these days. The animation does what it is supposed to do and it looks good while doing it. SOUND: Again no complaints from me. I have watched the anime a few days ago but can no longer remember either the OP or the ED song. This is how I generally prefer it so I'm fine with it. Voice actors did a good job overall. CHARACTERS: Main character is Jurai. He is a member of the Literairy club and an Otaku. Literairy club: The club consists of 5 members of which Jurai is the only male. Tomoyo often remarks on his behavior but is secretly just like him. She can control time. Hatoko is a childhood friend of Jurai and is very close to him. Unfortunately she has trouble understanding his hobby. Her powers is the manipulation if the elements. Sayumi is the president and comes from wealthy family. She is a skilled martial artist and very proper in her ways. She can restore anything to its proper, or original, state. Chifuyu is an elementary scholer who is related to Jurai's teacher. When asked to watch out for her she stuck around and became a full memeber of the club. She can create anything her mind can think of. STORY: One day the members of the Literairy club develop amazing super powers. They don't know what caused it or why and some would prefer them to be gone. Jurai, however, welcomes his power and becomes the driving force behind the supernatural happenings. RANT: ....This title is very misleading as there are almost no supernatural battles to be found in this anime. The first 'fight' is a practice fight between the members and is there to explain the viewers what their powers are. The second fight is much later and lasts about 30 seconds and sets up what is probably the villain. The third fight is not shown at all, except for the aftermath. The final fight can hardly be called a fight either and then the series is over. So if the superpowers the title promised don't matter, what are you left with? Well, this is basically a romantic comedy that takes place at school between 4 girls and 1 guy. The fact that they have superpowers barely comes into play. They get the powers in the first minutes of the anime and we immediately jump ahead 6 months where you see them train with their powers. For the next 7 episodes NOTHING happens to further the plot about their powers. It is in episode 8 where you learn about the superpowers. There is a war going on between fairies and they give superpowers to humans and have them fight each other. The fairies then place bets on the fight and that is basically it. Which faction gave the club their powers is never brought up and the club members are never told about the war going on. If I didn't know any better I would say that this is the first part of a full 24 episode season but my DVD box tells me that this is indeed the complete series.....Oh, dear. In other words: If I want to know how it ends I'll have to and find the manga. I've explained before that this is tiny problem for me. I'm Dutch and it is very difficult getting manga here. Pretty much everything I own is US import and I have limited funds and closet space. So when I buy a 'complete series' I expect to get something....complete? I'm actually ok with open endings but give me at least a closed arc. This bullshit is a waste of my time and money, not to mention a slap in the face of anime fans. One other major problem that I had is the secrecy part. This pisses me off in any medium so it is not limited to this anime. When a large group of people get superpowers it will not be a secret for very long. I can guarentee you that you will find clips on superpowered people on YouTube within the hour. There are basically 3 groups of people with superpowers. There are those who can't wait to share what they can do with the world and these will be the first up. Then there are the villain who see the powers as a easy way to get money. The heroes will also be on the news in minuts though. Can you imagine a hero walking by, seeing a baby fall from a window and not do anything because he has to keep superpowers a secret? I know, right? It's stupid and I wished they stopped doing it. Anyway, despite its problems I still gave it a 4/10. Believe it or not but there is actually more to this anime that made me elevate it from the 1/10 I usually give. Once you ignore all the superpowers I found the characters actually interesting enough to keep me entertained. There is the required swimming/ocean episode but there is not a lot of fan service going on in the series. The fact that Chifuyu at some point expresses interest in Jurai is a moment that truly creeped me out. Please stop doing this Japan....Please. One other plus is the fact that Jurai names all their powers with quite clever word plays. There are a ton of them in this anime and they get explained pretty well. I'll have to give it to the people who made the subtitles as they must have had a heck of a job doing it. Unfortunately my Japanese is too bad that I could follow them and had to rely on the subs but you do speak and write Japanese than this part is an extra bonus for you. Maybe the dub does a great job of it too but I didn't watch it dubbed. So if you speak/write Japanese then this may spark your interest. If you like a romance story without having tits slapped in your face then you may like it. If supernatural is your thing then forget that this exists.

sortitus Feb 9, 2015

7.4

For a series that might be mistaken for a mix of slice of life and action by the title, there's barely anything that would pass as either over the 12 episodes it aired. Setting (7.6): While being set in a high school isn't particularly original, the way the heroes received their powers and the rules they operate by are surprisingly logical. That said, you have to wait seven episodes to get a half-assed explanation of how and why the heroes have said powers. Story (6.5): There was potential for this show's story to take off, and it seemed that it might once we found out what was happening, but everything rapidly devolved back into your typical harem. Sadly, the romance wasn't good and neither was the action. The few scenes that progressed the story didn't even feature the main characters, giving the impression that the creators want to milk the franchise for a few more seasons. Spare me the boredom, please. Visuals (8.4): Overall a beautiful series visually, this is pretty much the only reason I can see to watch it. There were quite a few more fan service shots than I like to see, but the vibrant color schemes and fluid animation style managed to be familiar yet refreshing. There were some times that the framing was awkward or pans were a little jarring, but these things probably won't bother most people. Sound (7.6): The OP and ED are about as run-of-the-mill as they come. So are the background music and sound effects, but that's generally a good thing. Voices are on par with the animation; some good talent here, showcased by the crazy lines they had to say. Characters (7.6): All of your typical harem stereotypes are represented, but they get a little bit more development than you'd expect. The quality lies somewhere between a standard romance and harem anime. Overall (7.7): If you want to look at some pretty pictures and listen to A-list seiyuu say some weird stuff, you've come to the right place. The experience outside that is moderately enjoyable, but I wouldn't make it a point to see this show unless it gets a stellar second season.