Okay, I watched this...so long ago. Like March or something like that. Granted, I watched Bakemonogatari and Arakawa Under the Bridge before this one and haven't reviewed them yet either. I will...sometime or another. Moving on though, review!
Monochrome Factor Anime Review
The story focuses in on a slacker high school boy named Akira...according to
anime, slacker high school boys are the most interesting people in the
universe.
One day he meets this guy Shirogane, who tells him they've got some sort of
destiny together and Akira is basically like “wut” and ignores him.
Not too long after this, a friend needs him to go to the school with her at
night to find something she left there. At the school, he gets attacked by
some shadow creature...thing.
Shirogane pops back up because that is What Happens where you're watching
this kind of series. He kinda convinces Akira to help him fight these shadow beasts by becoming a
“shin”, to help restore some balance to the world because...oh, did I
mention the sudden lack of balance? Right, it's there.
The anime revolves around fighting these things. Also, it's kind of gay.
The Characters: Monochrome Factor
The Monochrome Factor cast was something of a mixed bag in my eyes. Akira
himself was pretty average, in terms of male leads. Really, you've seen one Teenage Boy Who Gets Supernatural Powers, you've
seen them all.
(Unless maybe it's the guy from Natsume Yuujinchou? Why do I keep mentioning
that anime in other reviews? Maybe I should just review it?) I mean, yeah,
there was the thing where he was trying to avoid Shirogane's incredibly
blatant seduction attempts, but other than that...typical.
Then you've got Shirogane, who...was a little bit hilarious. Like he's supposed to be pretty awesome, I think, since he's fighting these
shadowy creature thingies, but it seems like he's so much more concerned
with hitting on Akira every two seconds and trying to get him into bed.
Really, the shonen-ai undertones were a lot less...under...when this dude
was on-screen. Also: best braid in the history of braids. It's so
loooooooong.
Other primary characters include Kengo, Akira's best friend/probable
opponent to Shirogane for his affections.
(Watch Monochrome Factor Crunchyroll to decide if I'm making that up or not...honestly he's
voiced by Hiroshi Kamiya with Daisuke Ono as Akira and ever since the
Shizuo/Izaya business I've been pairing their characters up a lot.)
Honestly though he loves his BFF and is just sort of that comic relief idiot
(think Jounouchi in YGO). There's that Aya chick, who is pretty average.
There's Kou, a big-brothery figure...huge pervert, by the way. And Haruka,
an 11 year old boy who didn't exist in the manga but happens to be an
Enormous Plot Device in the anime.
On the whole? They're an average cast, nothing really special or stand-out
about them...but they're entertaining enough.
(Side note: listening to Take Off from Ao no Exorcist while writing this is
really distracting.)
The What Is This I Don't Even: All right. So in a way, this series reminded
me of Uraboku (which I swear I will review eventually...probably...) in
terms of the enemies.
Like you have people kinda getting possessed by the shadowy creatures
and...well in that respect it could be like some of the early Sailor Moon
episodes as well.
But legitimately, it was all pretty episodic fight stuff, you know, this
shadowy jerk kidnapped that chick so we'll kill him, he's gone, we're done
until the next episode when shadowy jerk number 52 pops up and tries to stab
you with a fork.
(Sadly, fork-stabbing never actually happened in this anime.)
Then you got to the end. Once you get there, some stuff happens. Intense
stuff that I obviously can't say because I hate spoilers.
However, the intense stuff is kinda like WHOA WHAT and it...was just very
off-putting. Like I don't even know.
Conclusion?
Monochrome Factor is generic shonen, with a little something for the
women-folk thrown in. Yes I just referred to my own gender as the women-folk and yes, by something
for them I mean the gayness. Obviously. I am talking about ANIME-watching
women.
Moving on, the basic gist is that if you liked stuff like Saiyuki and Ao no
Exorcist, you'll probably be interested in Monochrome Factor anime.
(Though admittedly, Saiyuki is way less generic and Ao no Exorcist has less
gay undertones...there's more similarity to Exorcist in terms of the
generic-ness.)
If you're not into that and it makes you really freaking bored (this is me
sometimes) you won't really be into it.
Then again, you might. Because when I said “sometimes”, I meant that
Exorcist bored the hell out of me and Monochrome Factor was pretty darn
entertaining.
Granted, you throw Hiroshi Kamiya, Daisuke Ono, and Junichi Suwabe into a
series together and I immediately give you bonus points.
My rating: 7/10
Not awful, but like I said, nothing extraordinary either. OTHER than
Shirogane's braid. Damn I look forward to cosplaying that.
Monochrome Factor | |
| Episodes | 24 |
|---|---|
| Genre | Action, Shonen Ai, Supernatural |
| Aired | April 7, 2008 to September 29, 2008 |
| Directed by | Yuu Kou |
| Producers | Genco, A.C.G.T. |
| Opening Theme | Metamorphose by Asriel |
| Closing Theme | Awake ~Boku no Subete~ by Daisuke Ono (and I'm pretty sure Hiroshi Kamiya sings in it as well) / Kakusei ~Dark & Light~ by Junichi Suwabe |
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