Anime-Gataris

Episode 4

How does a high school anime club make such powerful enemies? The possibility of a threat much bigger than the Student Council, paired with the episode title “Club Room Go Boom!”, had me on my toes until the end. After the Anime Club worked so hard to keep their club room, I kept waiting for it to explode. Could the titular ticking time bomb be in the possession of the student council or somebody more sinister? Maybe in a copyright-skirting Numazon package? I'll spare you the concern I felt—there is no bomb. The title comes from a throwaway joke that barely registered when I first saw it. I was simply expecting more from this anime than it was prepared to give. Despite what last week's showing said about twists occurring in episode four instead of episode three, there is no twist today. When it comes to anime references and industry talk, Anime-Gataris is top notch. I just made the mistake of expecting more ambitious storytelling otherwise.

The Anime Club simply wants to sit around watching and talking about anime, but the Student Council isn't finished with them yet. If the club can prove they aren't useless by successfully helping out some of the other clubs, the Council will let them stick around. It's just another meaningless hoop for the club to jump through, and we have no reason to believe they won't succeed. But it proves to be not so simple—cue a montage in which they don't simply fail to help the other clubs, but they even make their predicaments worse! Kai causes an explosion while doing some microwaving for the Cooking Club, giving us the titular boom". In the end, President Erika saves the day and partially redeems the episode. When Erika realizes that anime does create something—bonds between people—she inspires the club to work together to create costumes for the drama club. Somehow, their love of cosplay and idol anime means they're capable of producing some pretty high-quality outfits!

Now the club can go back to talking about anime, right? Wrong. There's an even more sinister force at work, something that hasn't even been introduced yet. So far, Anime-Gataris has stuck to the lighter side of things, but I keep bracing for a dark turn that never comes, because of the show's description on Crunchyroll: “Fighting off the incessant shut-down threats of the student council, and completely oblivious to the coming apocalypse, the anime club talks about anime…” Wait, what? This seems like such a weird thing not to bring up one-third of the way into a show. Knowing about this official description has had me on edge this whole time, so the anticlimaxes are feeling more and more disenchanting.

Instead, this show shines when it focuses on fandom. Erika's memories of making friends while studying abroad in Los Angeles (I see you, Anime Expo convention center!) are character-deepening and sweet. Nakano's idol anime obsession is relatable for those who know similar idol fans or are one themselves. Miko presenting sakuga of her own face was a great gag, and the discussion about production committees was super-informative too, explaining how production committees judge the success of an anime and whether or not to produce more. As for references, perhaps the most recognizable were Evangelion's shadowy Seele organization and KONOSUBA!'s its “useless goddess”. (Sorry, Aqua!) Next week, I need to realign my expectations. No matter how much this show tries to rile me up over some impending doom, I need to keep in mind that this is a low-stakes comedy for now.

Rating: C+

Anime-Gataris is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Lauren writes about geek careers at Otaku Journalist.