Anime: Akikan!

overall score : 4

Story:

Kakeru daichi is a boy who collects rare juice cans, when he bought a brand new one to add to his collection hell be in for quite a surprise. As he tries to drink his new can it turns into a girl. Melon one of the akikan who is destined to fight other akikans

Honestly this anime was such a disappointment for me. The premise seems pretty original, cans turn into girls, however they just turned it into a cliché girl fighting series. It was incredibly badly executed completely ignoring most of its premise.

Art:

The art style is pretty mediocre its not bad but it could be way better. Some of the hairstyles look really unnatural and the designs don’t feel very original. The colours are quite bland and the action scenes don’t have enough motion.

Sound:

The opening of the series Miracle Plan ga Dekichatta! by Charmmy Queenmatches the show well enough but doesn’t particulary stand out, it is however one of the series more redeeming features. Its an upbeat and happy song

I actually didn’t really like the ending song, it felt like it was a bit all over the place, and I personally didn’t really connect to it. It did however match the show well especially with its title Juicy Extacy by Little non

Character:

Honestly the characters to me were very bland , and not very memorable. They didn’t get anywhere enough development and almost all the characters fell into their typical types.

Melon the main heroine I actually found to be quite annoying especially in the beginning later on in the show her personality improved somewhat but not to a redeeming degree.

Enjoyment :

I didn’t really enjoy akikan that much, It took me a long time to finish the show and I actually felt relieved when it was finished

Overall:

Akikan is a bundle of wasted originality and typical personalities. The characters are bland and forgettable and have next to no development. I wouldn’t recommend this show personally

A guy drinks a soda and it suddenly turns into a hot girl! Add in the fact that the guy is a perverted high schooler and throw in a bunch of other akikans and you've got a comedic harem.

Sadly, despite my strong initial interest in the great potential that the series could have become, the series takes a very apathetic plot sequence and doesn't do justice to either the characters or the overall theme. There are plenty of large plot holes and things that should have been explained that the production studio decided to just leave as is.

The nature of the show is a combination of comedy, romance, ecchi, and action, with an emphasis on the comedic/ecchi aspect. The storyline can be understood by a 5 year old and the linear progression is quite appalling.

There are much better harems/mysteriously-appearing girlfriend series out there. Unless there is absolutely nothing else to watch, I'd avoid this one.

Animation:
The animation is fairly average for a series in its time. It is apparent that some scenes received much more attention than others. While the overall series is colored nicely, the battle sequences were fairly basic and didn't contribute much to the overall feel of the series. There is also an abundance of fan service shots.

Characters are drawn fairly well overall but it ended up looking a bit childish (minus the overflow of ecchi shots).

Sound:
The OPs/EDs were fair but nothing that great. I liked the first OP more than the second OP but they weren't great. The ED changes a bit every episode but it's sort of electro-rap? BGMs weren't very memorable but at least the VAs were good.

Music: 2/5, VAs: 4/5

Story:
Akikan had a lot of potential early on. The theme of a can turning into a girl is quite unique but the concept was explored in as great of detail as I had hoped.

There is this tournament between steel and aluminum cans (no plastic/glass bottles apparently) to determine which will be the can of choice in the nation. Apparently the cans have special powers and are very physically strong and, obviously, there is tension between steel and aluminum akikans.

The majority of the show focuses on the slice of life daily routine of Daichi Kakeru as he teaches Melon about the world and school life, and the occasion not-so-ordinary fights with other akikan.

The plot is very simple and there aren't really any serious complications till the final few episodes in which a somewhat tense but otherwise pathetic climax is reached. The overall climax and resolution are pretty pitiful as it didn't really have to do at all with the series before the final few episodes.

They could have done so much better but it felt as if they just made this a secondary show as Gonzo did with Kaze no Stigma... quite disappointing.

Character:
Daichi Kakeru, Melon, and the other main characters had fairly unique and interesting personalities, but much about the characters' pasts and relations were barely explored.

The largest issue is that the characters just suddenly have strong bonds between the akikan and the "owners". Likewise, steel and aluminum akikans suddenly work together near the end. The development of the characters sometimes didn't match up with the plot sequences and thus the overall series just felt disorganized.

Value:
This is a light, ecchi harem. Don't expect any deep philosophizing or a well-developed plot line. Though some parts of the show were fairly humorous, the lack-luster story and childish character development really made this show fall short of its initial potential.

Akikan, a show about girls popping out of soda cans. Talk about hating it from the very description. The trick is to know how to translate the symbolisms in these shows. They usually cloak their real meaning with silly premises to make the anime accessible to a wider audience. In this case we have magical girls who for some lame reason are trapped inside soda cans. The one who drinks one of those, frees the girl, and then for some reason she vows to be his servant. The lead male happens to be collecting cans and one of them contains the lead girl. So… collections and beautiful girls appearing out of nowhere only to immediately become your servants. Is it me or is the show telling us to have a huge collection of figurines, sucking them daily in hopes of one of them coming to life, and becoming our sex toy?

In general, harems try to throw beautiful girls on the laps of sexless idiots with ridiculous excuses and this show ranks amongst the worst ideas. It goes even further by having those Akikan soda chicks fighting each other in a tournament. Why? Just because. It’s a battle harem; don’t try to reason it.

Crapful premise aside, there actually is a story going on somewhere among all those retarded moments. Half of the episodes are basically introducing the Akikans, letting us know them a bit better, and then it moves to the fighting. The other half of the show is the expected brainless ecchi humor. Honestly, for a harem show that has a beginning, a climax and a somewhat ending, I am willing to give the Story the base score.

Now the cast. All the characters are stereotypes, but for a harem show the scriptwriters tried to flesh them out properly; something rarely seen in the genre. The lead had this traumatic encounter with terrorists, each Akikan has a different fascination over her master as well as a main rival. Heck, the main male is actually quite bold and offensive when it comes to doing naughty things. He still chickens out the last moment and gets beaten and trashed by ravaged girls, but he is still not as terrible as the typical super lame eunuch archetype.The end result is still far from great, but at least it tried hard. There is a whole episode dedicated to showing them doing everyday simple things, with zero fan service or retarded action. For a 12 episode show with ecchi in mind, that was a ballzy move. By the end of the show the main characters are not following the norm anymore and somewhat escape the mold that created them.

With that said, all secondary characters are filler for the comedy. Gays, and gigolos and busty lesbians, and spunky kawai lolis, and a bunch of other cardboard stereotypes are there only for flavor. Not that the show would be much better without them, it’s just that they are terribly uninteresting outside of their role in ecchi humor. Not the greatest cast ever seen in a harem but still more that cardboards. I give it a 6. It could be more without the retarded excuses for fruit battles and kissing to replenish magic energy.

The animation is pleasing without being exceptional. The amount of details and colors is rather standard for its age and even sloppy at many points with obvious signs of deformity. The show has the courtesy to not go for a million pantsu shots per second or clothes made of paper. The fan service is mostly based on kisses, falling on someone, or just wearing swimsuits. Nothing too bold and offensive to the point of degrading the girls… too much. Also, the characters are occasionally making silly gestures and body poses that enhance the jokes and makes the cast more likable. I give the animation a 7 just for that.

It is still poor if you try to compare it with high budget shows. The fighting scenes for example have really lame choreography that comes down to yelling names of attacks such as Melon Bomb and Sour Grape. Furthermore, most special effects are simplistic computer filters.

The music part takes time to grow on you. At first the squeaky voiced girls and the terrible OP and ED songs are making your teeth cringe. After the more serious moments kick in, you get to listen to them from a more serious angle. Also, that dreadful ending song has several variations in the second half just for the heck of it. Minor details that make the acoustic part more likable. Sound gets a 7.

Despite the rather positive views I have for a harem show, I still say it has no replay value. It’s not like you can’t get the same story elsewhere with more interesting presentation or better colorful characters (even Fate/Stay Night does a better job). But, again, I admit that for a harem specimen, it is half-good.

I am sure by the time I am done with this review, someone somewhere is gonna be pissed on how could Akikan have an 8-plus rating, but if you think so by just looking at the poster and thinking its just your average ecchi harem with a stupid male lead, well then you are simply wrong.

A lot of people said that Brains Base has lost it after some exceptional shows like Kurenai, Kamichu and Natsume Yuujinchou, but I believe Brains Base delivered where most of the Harems fail. Although the animation is not what you would call the best and the concept is one of the most crazy ones you will see on paper, its amazing how the plot actually develops with each episode keeping a fine balance between drama and comedy unlike series like To-Love-Ru which are actually based on very good mangas

But Brain Base's achievement in this series is not the plot distribution but the brilliant characters. We have an amazing male lead, and no matter how dumb he looks, he is definitely a very cool guy. An achievement like this was last seen in He is my Master, but Akikan definitely beat the former. The girls are beautiful, and each one actually has a good reason to fall for the guy. Every character no matter how small is cool in their own way. For those who have watched, they would agree that even Jigoro got his due credit in few episodes

Overall the series has been a very enjoyable one. Every episode had something to look forward to and the character interactions were simply lovely. If you gave up on this series by looking at the concept or the cover, then please watch it and decide for yourself.

PS: I dunno how I forgot this part, but yup, the Voice actresses according to me were fantastic in this series

On paper, Akikan! sounds like a terrible series - yet another harem show with a ludicrous premise and nonsensical storyline. It is all these things, and yet somehow weaves them into something wondeful.

Partly it's the presentation; the sound in particular is superb. The opening themes are a perfect match for the tone of the show, and the extravagance of having two in a show this short is justified by their reflecting a genuine shift in direction (along with the fact that both are wonderful songs, of course). The ending's approach, building up gradual variations around the same song, grew on me as the series progressed; while the initial, bare versions are unpleasant, the gradual emergence of the final layered result makes a brilliant mirror for the character development as the show goes on. Of course, we must not allow the music to distract from the superb voice acting: clear, yet distinctive voices for a large cast (particularly by the standards of a 12-episode series), reflective without needing to rely on any implausible styles. The series wisely resists adding any special effects to the akikan voices, while the visual effects are perfectly handled; exciting but restrained, with battles featuring releatively few effects precisely where they're needed, obviously supernatural but never falling into "beamspam".

While the animation is not immensely complex, it's cleanly drawn and the character designs, particularly of the titular Akikans, are superb, evoking their natures while still being beautifully human in aspect. This meshes well with the surprisingly delicate characterisation that emerges as the series goes on; while the show could do with fewer one-joke side characters, the lead triangle have clearly had a lot of thought put into them. All could be easily dismissed as common archetypes, but to do so misses the fact that these admittedly standard characterizations have been built up realisticly from their respective life experiences. Likewise with the larger scale; generic harem comedy it may appear, but the situations arise naturally from the characters and premise.

That's not to say the plotting is perfect; far from it. Too many competing threads are introduced, and while the ending is a suitable high note, it doesn't come close to resolving everything that's occurred. That the "big villain", such as there is, only appears in the last-but-one episode may upset some, but the creators deserve praise for making a clean break between dramatic and comedic episodes; the four episodes preceding this are unashamedly "filler" in terms of the large-scale plot (but by no means devoid of important character development), but this allows them to be complete episodes in their own right, and the contrast with these greatly increases the emotional impact of the final arc. Overall this works very well, and is far better than having six episodes with a mix of plot advancement and comedy; I just wish the series would have tied up the earlier "Akikan Elect" dramatic plotline, rather than introducing a new source of trouble.

But this is a minor gripe on what has been a wonderfully enjoyable series. It won't be to everyone's taste - it maintains a lighthearted, comedic tone even in the more serious episodes, while there are episodes with barely any plot at all (that's not to say slapstick; there is a truly brilliant episode towards the end which simply shows the ordinary activities of the akikans on a rainy day, which brought to mind the similar Haruhi episode and cemented my admiration for the plot pacing in this series), and even the most dramatic episodes at the end could be seen as simplistic. But while it's true that this show is unambiguous about good, evil and the power of love, the subtlety is to be found in the characters, in their development and relations, and it is this that makes Akikan! such a joy to watch. Without once sacrificing its status as a genuinely funny comedy, it creates sympathetic, likeable characters who nevertheless have believable conflicts. It takes the cliches of the genre and reminds us why they became cliches, telling a story which although unoriginal, is none the less powerful for it, because everything flows naturally from the characters; we've seen why they've turned out this way. So while this will not be a revolutionary show, it is a truly superb and deeply enjoyable one.