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| 5. Cross
Scars 
Risky Safety is something of an unsatisfying series.
For obvious reasons, anime which are comprised of short 5 to 10 minute episodes
are never usually that brilliant and this series suffers from the usual problems.
The main problem being it's difficult for these kind of series to build up much
depth over the course of such episodes. DiGi Charat works so well because
it has no concern whatsoever for things like plot or characters but tries to be
as funny as possible. Risky Safety, which has some nice moral pointers
to it, admirably tries for some sort of depth but the short episode length just
leaves things feeling rather shallow. The fact that the series concentrates on
this more than its comic side means that things soon start to tire soon after
the half way mark. Another big problem is that the series is far more entertaining
whenever Risky is around and whenever she's not it feels like you're just waiting
for her to return so things can pick up again. Done
slightly differently Risky Safety could have been a little gem of a series
but as it stands it's only entertaining in fits and spurts which is a disappointment
given its early potential. |
| 4.
Iodine
Each episode of this cute little show is really a seven-minute
short, featuring a pint sized apprentice angel and devil pair who happen to share
the same body, that only one of them can use at once. Both are assigned to bespectacled
little girl named Moe, and proceeed to make her life much more interesting by
alternately trying to take her soul and save it. This idea runs out of steam very
quickly, thus various tangents show the pair helping other people in the past,
troubles among Moe's school friends, and so forth. Meant for the younger audience,
the story is quite episodic and doesn't bother with much backstory or exposition.
However, even in short segments, the antics of the cast grow tired by the midway
point and can't sustain the more ambitious ending. The
visual aspect of the show is very well done, creating a light, slice-of-life atmosphere
and having fun with the way Risky and Safety relate to Moe's world physically.
The goal of the show is to be funny and sweet and heartwarming on occasion, so
everything is soft and gentle, from the rounded character designs to the flute
themes in the background. In short, the show's technical aspects and details are
great. It's just the substance that's lacking. The earlier episodes are fine,
but the filler only treads water and the ending seems to be an end for end's sake.
While amusing at first, only younger viewers will probably be very impressed with
the whole. |
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