A place further than the Universe

Oh boy, it's A Place Further Than the Universe, tagline: A Story that Leads to the Antarctica. I love when even the title has grammatical errors. And plus, you are in the universe. How can it be further than the place you are literally standing?

Episode One:
We were discussing the three episode rule a few weeks back. This is a show where that doesn't apply to me because from the start I know nothing about this show will endear itself to me. It's so sloppy and lame that I don't think the writer(s) would be able to pull off an interesting adventure story. First of all, the animation is uglier than sin as far as characters go. Secondly, the main girl is the same cut-and-paste Yui Hirasawa type who is useless but wants to do something but has to internally monologue about being bland and doing nothing. The conflict in the episode was near nonexistent, the reason for going to Antarctica is stupid, the fact her mom just goes with it and they will somehow manage to get on a ship that would take fifteen year olds to Antarctica is ridiculous. The music is bland, the episode is humorless, there's too much dead air in certain spots.

In short, this anime is just a stupid premise with the most generic of heroines. Not even gonna bother seeing where this goes unless John Carpenter directs the rest.
 
Episode 1:

This was the best part of the episode:
G5ZreOV.jpg


As for the rest of the episode it's a bit hard to judge at the moment.

When the episode started I was distracted and annoyed by the stupid outlines around the characters, but once I got used to that I was mostly bored with the bog standard setup. However, when the episode finally got rolling I started to get into it a little bit. There was nothing groundbreaking, but I thought the conversations between the two leads was well done and had an uplifting message.

The premise is dumb, but I knew that going in so I didn't have a problem with that.

The episode was okay. I got into the characters a bit at the end, but next week will be the real test for this to show what it has got. I liked the insert song at the end.
 
Episode 1

Not a bad introduction episode. It started out really slow and not that interesting but at least I thought they set up the characters quite well and by the end it peaked my interest. The long haired chick is by far more interesting than the semi Mako lookalike.

I mean high school girls going to the Freezelandia is a bit silly but I can ignore that if the show is charming enough. Maybe this would be more believable if it was some sort of light fantasy setting.

I am never the biggest fan of these types of shows but who knows. Also @ZetsubouKaiji's irritation with the white outlines around the characters entertained me.
 
Episode 1
It wasn't actually too bad to be fair, i honestly wasn't gonna bother with this series as it sounded a bit dumb but with how so few shows appeal to me this season i thought why not, and i didn't hate it and will be happy to see how it goes on
yeah there was some stupid stuff, a girl running around with a million yen, taking it home, to school ect feels stupid, its called a bank, try them, you might be shocked how useful they can be for looking after money. Anyway, 1mil yen is hardly gonna get the girls there (and back) as well as pay their way whilst their gone (food ect), but honestly, i don't watch this kind of show for that stuff.... though i do gotta question who leaves home (and will be the country) with no notice at her age and not even letting her parent/sister know)...

Anyway, i didn't mind it, especially considering i wasn't expecting to like it at all, it wasn't too bad. Lets see where it goes from here though.

ZetsubouKaiji said:
Episode 1:

This was the best part of the episode:
G5ZreOV.jpg
Click to expand...
^Brilliant!!!
 
It's cute, i like cute.

The outline around the characters was indeed something noticeable, but it didn't bother me much except a few times where it was just too thick... I wasn't sure about the art at first because of the lighting and that stuff, but i'll end up liking it anyway. Everything about the money part feels dumb. From the fact that she dropped it&how she got it back to the amount and what she plans to do with it... It's much slower than i thought too and hopefully it won't take too much time for them to take off :P Can't wait to see that Antarctica adventure!

Also, the smiles are so sweet :3
''Want to know?'' ~
whydoilovehersmilesomuch.png
 
I'm tempted to watch this because I'm pretty much obsessed with anything to do with arctic and antarctic exploration, but really don't want to get sucked into cgdct: south pole edition. Will await the next episode and see what you guys think.
 
Ep 1

Ah yes, the great baby powder explosion of '07. Can't believe they're doing such a good job hiding it, the catastrophe left everyone with a permanent faint sheen of white on their backs, only barely visible if you keep facing forward and all it looks like is awkward lighting.

I mean that's just, just terrible right there. That has to be the most inconsistent character color style I've seen in a long time

And I'm going to have to agree with @RotisserieChicken on the character designs, at the very least the main ones just don't look very good at all. MC looks like she misplaced some 40 year old guy's mustache on her forehead and her bespectacled friend looks like she's just now learning how to comb her eyelashes and is way too proud of it, but it doesn't fit well with their color schemes and the downright average way they're dressed and the way their hair is styled. Blegh.

The story is a good idea, a few jokes made a corner of my mouth raise a little bit, but then it turned into a full on growl as the lighting made less and less sense and distracted me from it.

I'll reserve judgement for the rest until I see more but so far I am not impressed. Visually it's garbo but story-wise there may be some entertainment to be had.
 
There's already some people that dropped/stalled this like.. huh?

Episode Won:
I appreciate any art style like this type of anime and the light humor they add towards the story. First off, it makes you wanna watch the next after the first episode and wanna see more of this kickass adventure.

B"U"T still need to see more to be more definite on story to actually judge it. I do like it though.
 
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Watched the first 3 minutes(crunchyroll), then skipped around through the first episode to get a feel for it. It has the "slice of life" vibe and it looks really well done. Slice of life is generally not my taste. I'll keep an eye on reviews as it airs to see if other people are bragging on it for some reason.
 
Episode 1
You're doing it wrong. The style is garbage, and highly inconsistent. Also how can Antartica be the end of the Universe? I was hoping for some sort of sci-fi thing, yet another one I didnt read about, I think it had a blank synopsis at the time when I added it. Anyways, I agree with earlier points made about the terrible animation and so on. It's saving grace might be story, but I'm not resting my hopes on that.
 
RotisserieChicken said:
Episode One:
the main girl is the same cut-and-paste Yui Hirasawa type who is useless but wants to do something but has to internally monologue about being bland and doing nothing. The conflict in the episode was near nonexistent, the reason for going to Antarctica is stupid, the fact her mom just goes with it and they will somehow manage to get on a ship that would take fifteen year olds to Antarctica is ridiculous. The music is bland, the episode is humorless, there's too much dead air in certain spots.
Click to expand...
I disagree with all of this.
It seems like the main character will actually put effort into bettering herself unlike Yui who wants to do something cool and then magically gains the ability to play. I also appreciate how Mari attempts to something bold and new and then completely chickens out. Thought her monologues where fine. Conflict isn't needed in a slice of life show especially if it's just the setup and you have monologues. Antarctica girl's reasons for going to Antarctica are weird but the show universe seems to be aware of this, she's mocked for her crazy plan. Also we'll probably see later in the show that the act of working to travel to Antarctica is really just her trying to convince herself that her mother is still alive. I don't remember the main character's mom agreeing to let her go to Antarctica, yes it's ridiculous that a boat will take them, but again the show world is fully aware of this and they still haven't found a boat. Personally I love how melancholy the show is. The episode has a lot of great humor in it. Like how main girl is carrying potential drug money in an ethics book, the Mt. Fuji pun at the end of the episode, the waterboarding scene, the skipping school scene, the pull up your pants sign, it was great. I also don't think this is a show that needs to be funny. It wants to be grounded in reality. The main character's room is messy, we see her using Instagram, she wants to do something special but is tied down by normality, we see a character working, we see bullies. The humor that is presented is benign because that's what fits the tone.
 
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I agre with the crab above. :) I liked it so far and it have a lot of potential, both storywise and character development. Hopefully it will continue the way I hope, then it will be a great one.
The only thing I didn't like was the highlighting on the characters in white. Looked a bit strange, but you get used to it. :)
 
I liked the white highlighting and don't see why people are so bothered by it, I think it gives the characters a nice soft look and I think it will stick out less anyways once they get to Antarctica where the backgrounds will be primarily white as well. The animation and art in general seems good and I'm interested in why people are complaining about it so much, is it really just that they don't like white outlines? That's mostly a stylistic thing so acting like it somehow objectively makes the entirety of the art terrible seems silly to me. They're not always trying to convey accurate lighting with it it's just part of the art direction in general and I think it looks nice.

I enjoyed the expressiveness of the characters and while they aren't exactly groundbreaking with their personalities I think the show has done a good job in giving them a decent amount of development to make me care about them. I'm a little bit worried it'll devolve into CGDCT in Antarctica but from the first episode I'm hopeful that it'll be more of a character drama. The idea of the anime is sore of silly but that's acknowledged and the first episode wasn't unrealistic enough to bother me. I'll have to see how they manage to actually board the ship though before I comment on whether it's really believable. Honestly I'm surprised this is by Madhouse and not a PA Works original cause it really reminds me of their usual stuff. I'd say overall the first episode was kind of generic in some ways but I still thought it was pretty good and I'm looking forward to episode two.
 
Episode 2

I liked the episode more than I expected to. Yes, we didn't do any huge step with the exception of introducing a new character, but I like a few things about this so far:

1. It looks somewhat realistic. You need money and planning, long-term planning for such a trip like that. Girls are dealing with the problems of their age and school.
2. The characters are different so far, each one of them brings some part of their own to the group. They are not crazy, insane, but they are naive enough to think about such a trip with their age. I don't have major problems with any of those girls.
3. There is pulsating enthusiasm on the background, a thrill of the unknown, the characters are pretty hyperactive and lively. I like the optimism, even thugh the main plot is about a (desperate) search rescue of a lost person, which sounds depressing, but is skilfully being hidden behind the curtains of the story.

I don't like the white borders of the characters and I am not sure if I'll get ever used to it, but the graphics are fine, I like the shots of the surroundings. The second thing which bothered me was the comparisson of their chests and who would be the seducer. Unnecessary.

Happy, though nothing special too.
 
Episode 2:

The fuck is this? I signed on for a silly show about cute girls derping around in Antarctica. Two episodes in and they're still in goddamn Japan. Instead it seems like this is a going to be a really good show with lots of character development and themes of self discovery.

Each girl is longing for something different and they're reaching out to explore the unknown to find themselves. It might not be the most ground shaking premise, but right now the set up is actually really damn good. Hell, I even liked the seduction bit, because the reaction of each girl says so much about who they are currently. Also, because Mari's idea of acting sexy was fuckin' hilarious.

Not amount of showing the planning is going to make this premise any less unbelievable, but what is good about it is it clearly shows the differing thought processes of each girl. Shirase is the most interesting of the girls, because on the surface she's the most mature, but this episode really reveals the cracks in that facade. In most ways she's the most childish of all three of the girl's. She dreams big, but gets prickly as soon as someone asks something she can't answer. She's also got no idea how to make her dream come true. She's a big dreamer and she needs a scaredy cat realist like Mari to bring her back to Earth when she gets her head stuck in the clouds. Hinata seems carefree, but she's smart and is a bit more mature than the other two girls. She'll probably end up being the one that actually plans things that work.

Doesn't look like we'll be getting to Antarctica next episode either as there's another character that needs to be introduced. Although I can see now that this show isn't really about the expedition, but rather the personal journey of each girl.

Shit guys, this show might actually be really good.
 
Definitely not unhappy with this progress going through the anime. Each character has a unique taste about them too and actually makes me wanna see the next one.

Episode DOS!:
The build up for them going to Antarctica is enjoyable. If they were to start it off on the second episode with them immediately going there I wouldn't of enjoyed it as much. Great build ups, fun story to watch, and they still depict the art very well. Promising show guys! Don't mind watching this towards the very end and definitely not considering dropping this anytime soon.
 
It just gets better. Hopefully this proves that the show is taking the premise realistically to everyone.
Glad that they are rebooting Operation Antarctica, planning is a nice part of the adventure genre. Main girl needs to have a voice in the decision making process, if she just follows Antarctica's plan then where's the real risk? It has to be something she is personally involved in. Excited to she were they take genki-kawaii-anime-girl, she was an interesting addition to the episode and gave it a lot of comedic fun, but I can see her as potentially being an annoyance. Introduction of quiet girl will probably give the show a nice balance.
The variation of tone in this episode was really nice. It starts really grounded with the realization that this expedition to Antarctica spells disaster and how the job they both found, that seems simple and promised good pay, was compensated dating. The compensated dating thing was a good comedic moment but it also really grounded the show as something set in a cold harsh and predatory world. Then anime girl is introduced and things got really strange and comedic. There's probably more jokes in the second half than in the rest of the stuff we've seen, and they're all much more exaggerated anime-esque jokes (@Scalpelexis), featuring classic breast compression gags, and over the top melodrama about the fleeting nature of youth. This switch nicely encapsulates the main theme of the show, the fear of being stuck in a boring world and wanting to escape to something new and exciting*, yet unlike most anime this is truly inspiring and makes me want to do something instead of just binging.
Also kudos to this show for it's use of digetic text (I can't think of a better word) that relates directly to the story. Episode 1 did this too (True toilet paper), but after my reply to Rotisserie I felt done and forgot to mention it. This episode has the "Friends" building is the bottom left when the shoe flies in the air.

*I have other thought threads regarding that:
Flipping thru episode 1 again, this switch can also be seen, but it's more closely related to Mari's monouloge in the opening about stagnant pools breaking free.
Kind of fun in a meta way that something about escaping boring a world is in anime, which is hardcore escapism.
This might end up being my favorite of the season.
 
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