As this season's
reverse harem anime, I'd say that this turned out a lot better than last
season's reverse harem - Hiiro no Kakera. I'm not a huge fan of
reverse harems because there aren't really many reverse harem that came to my
liking. Although I have to admit that practically just like seeing all those
bishounen with their sexy voices done by amazing voice actors.
As an opening
episode, I have to say that this works out pretty well. BUT how do I really say
when an opening episode plays its part well? In my opinion, an opening episode
is good when it clearly gives off the premise of the story well. The first
episode should at least tell where the story will revolve and also give a quick
introduction of the characters (or at least the main characters). So how did Arcana Famiglia go? The first part of the
episode has actually given a quick introduction of the role of the Arcana
Famiglia in the island of Regalo. Also, we get to see the two main heroes of
the series - Libertà (Fukuyama
Jun) and Nova (Yonaga
Tsubasa) - as well as the heroine of the series, Felicità (Noto Mamiko). The
second half, on the other hand, we were introduced to where the series will (or
should) revolve, the Arcana Duello. The Arcano Duello is suppose to be a battle
of those who have a power of an Arcana. The victor of the battle will be called
the next 'Papa' and become the head of the family. The twist comes when Papa
(or Mondo) also proclaims that the victor will have the right to marry his
daughter, Felicità.
For the characters,
generic reverse harem of course comes with generic characters. Felicità is
practically one of those fierce heroines and that's what I like about her.
Also, her Arcana: Lovers is pretty good. It allows her to see what's within a
person's heart. For the two heroes I've mentioned earlier, they practically go
with the typical duo of a series. They don't go well with each other and they
seem to have different ways of thinking but at the end of the day, it will
always seem that they get along with each other the best. Fukuyama Jun as
Libertà reminds me of Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon's Aoi Tori which was
also voiced by Fukuyama. With the Fool Arcana, I have no idea what he can do.
BUT going through with what the Fool Arcana
actually means: the card of infinite
possibilities. Now that's pretty interesting. Tells me that he's going
to be a pretty strong guy. As for Nova, I guess I practically like him because
I like characters with the serious personality. With the Death Arcana which
symbolizes death or end, I'm also interested on what he can do.
Now I wouldn't go so
much on the music since it isn't anything interesting in this series. What I'd
like to talk about is the voice acting. Reverse harem series doesn't only go
with the looks of each bishounen but their voices are also part of their characters.
First of all, Fukuyama's voice as Libertà, as I have mentioned before is
similar to Aoi Tori of Horizon. It was
pretty easy to identify. Now for Nova, I'm pretty new to Yonaga Tsubasa's voice
and hearing him before as Niiya Teiichi
from Tasogare Otome x Amnesia and now as Nova is
pretty interesting because they somehow sound different. Niiya sounds more high
pitched. LOL. I wouldn't go to all the characters because it'll be pretty long,
I'll just go through one more: Sugita Tomokazu as
Pace. Hearing him in Hiiro no Kakera as Onizaki Takuma
with that big Sugita voice is pretty disappointing. I'm pretty glad how he
leveled down his voice in here to sound more bishounen and I really like it x3
As for the art, I'd
say that it's pretty decent. I have admit that I love the character designs.
Felicità and her outfit could be one of my fave this season. Among the set of
supposedly bishounen, my fave has got to be: Nova, Pace, Luca (Nakamura Yuuichi)
and Jolly (Yusa Kouji). Background
art is pretty much decent. It doesn't seem to standout or anything. I wonder
what's up with J.C. Staff in here but I'll be looking forward to the next
episodes. I've always liked J.C. Staff's style in terms of background art
because they're good at detailed stuffs as I have mentioned in my Bakuman. 2 series review. Anyway, the
battle scene over at the first part was pretty good. SO there shouldn't be any
problems in terms of J.C. Staff's animation :D
In an overall look
on this episode, I'd say that it's a pretty good opening episode and a decent
reverse harem. I really like the idea of the Arcana being used in the series(:
With how the second episode will go, I just might decide to blog this series :D
