Outbreak Company Anime Review, or the other name; Moe Invader

On the list of underrated gems in the fall season is Outbreak company. What is Outbreak company? It is every Otaku's dream. Imagine a world where you job was literally to teach people about anime, and get paid exorbitant amounts of money for it, while managing a harem consisting of a queen, maid, bodyguard, and wolf-girl. But the best part of all, the harem doesn't have a childhood friend!

So here's the premise, because I forgot to do this earlier. A guy is hired to teach people about Japanese culture, because there's a portal that leads to another world and Japan wants to have good relations with them he travels there and stuff, and gets a harem and some fun adventures. Yes, that was a run-on. Yes, that is completely indicative of my grammar. Enjoy the review.
 

Animation-- Normally I have plot up first, but since I personally think that the anime has a very, very interesting plot device, I thought I'd save it for the end. Animation is pretty interesting. The studio that made this anime is Feel. If you don't know them, they did anime like Ghost in the Shell; Standalone complex, which I vaguely remember had a really good plot. Seriously, I watched that when I was five or something, which is probably why my favorite game as a kid was Destroy All Humans. They also did Strait Jacket, which had great animation, and an immerse atmosphere. They are also responsible for things like Kiss X Sis, and Girls, I am Your Father, an anime that disturbs me on levels that i can't express in words, so here's a gif of Miley Cyrus as a turkey twerking.

You may hate me now, but trust me it's better than the real thing.

They also did So, I can't Play H, which I can't tell if I love or hate. Basically they have a experience. Some of the anime, had me facepalming so hard, that a committee composed of Picard, Kyon and Will Riker, were telling me to calm down. Or at least I think they were. At the time I was really high...on top of a building! Insert finger snap guy here. At the same time, they know what they are doing animation wise. It's not surprise that this anime has an interesting an appealing art-style. You can tell that the characters aren't just a generic template from some random art-book, and are actually fully realized characters. Backgrounds, are especially impressive, with a standout being that castle. Action scenes, when they happen, are short and sweet. Exactly how they should be.

Lookitlookitlookt!!!!!111!!!

Characters-- You know how i was talking about harem leads having the personality of a rock? Let me salvage some credibility here. Not all of them do; case in point Shinichi. Shinichi is someone commonly known as an otaku, or for the American translation, a shut in. What, that's not good enough for you; I have to make a joke? Ummmm, he's every Call of duty play--no that's overused. How about...oh here's a simple one; he's everyone ever who's played Fallout. The best part of his character is his overabundance of knowledge on anime. This guy is actually a walking encyclopedia of anime. This plays for some pretty fun moments, as he references all sorts of character archetypes in anime, inside anime jokes, and even some attack on titan references. In fact this author really likes AoT. I mean at the beginning, they read AoT, one of the characters shares the name Petra, and finally a scene is re-created word for word. However instead of the epic fight between a teen with anger management problems and a giant naked guy, it's a guy who wants to get naked with a girl who doesn't know the meaning of the word anger. Seriously this anime is walking reference. It might as well have been World of Warcraft Dressing up as the Easter Bunny, while dancing around a tree surrounded by every GTA game ever. I mean come one, why don't we just call this one Terraria and be done with it. Oh and it also references memes.

 
 Anyway, getting back on track, other characters include Petra, who is the queen of the land that Shinichi arrives in, Myucel the maid, and other side characters that I'm too lazy to write about. The anime had a fantastic start, the first four episodes, keeping me fully engaged, and enthralled. It wasn't just a slice of life romantic comedy, it was something different. There was more character development in these four episodes alone than all of the first season of Freezing. Okay, that was like trying to compare Hamlet, to Avatar the Last Airbender (the movie), but still. The beginning for me was like Pet girl of Sakurasou Hall, a great start. The characters in here are really interesting, and they only get better as the anime progresses. I'll talk about that later. If I was a critic working for some quote on quote reputable site, I might say 'all the characters are simply stereotypes, fulfilling their role well but never adequately becoming a part of the metaphorical, bilateral gender roles that they strive for. Unfortunately, I'm all out of brandy to swirl so instead, I'll say that while the characters are all stereotypes, the anime is aware of this, and makes fun of it. Shinichi in particular, has some great development towards the end of the anime.

Sound--As cool as it would be to have a silent anime, This anime does in fact have sound. And the sound is good. The fact that one of the OST involve a guy singing Da Da Da over and over again is a testament to how good these OST are.   The voice actor for Petra is the same as the one who does Iona in Arpeggio of Blue Steel, and the voice actor for Myucel is plays Himiko in Btoom!, the newest edition to Ichika's harem Kanzashi in Infinite Stratos, and Pinkie Pie in the Japanese dub of My Little Pony. The opening and ending are both well done in both animation and sound. (Skip to about one minute in for ost)

Romance-- What do you want me to say? That this tells a engrossing, interesting romance that sets the bar for romance anime everywhere? No, that's Mirai Nikki. In this anime what I remember, is a loli screaming her head off, and maid doing the whole 'master' thing, and nothing happening. The romance in this show is unfinished. While it has some nice moments, I can't judge it yet, because there has been no conclusion. That's it, moving on.

Plot--If any of you have read my Mushibugyo (if you haven't, here's a conveniently placed link with no ulterior motive at all http://posianime.blogspot.com/2013/12/mushibugyo-anime-review.html) You know that I hate it when an anime wastes my time. Mushibugyo did not do this, but many Shonnen time sinks do. The first four episodes were fantastic, it really got me involved with the series, and made me care about the characters. Ironically from there, it did not do what Pet girl of Sakurasou did; becoming a soap opera complete with so much heartbreak it makes Bring Me the Horizon sound like George Baily on Christmas Day. Instead it just went back to being a slice of life. Now while all the references were appreciated, i couldn't help but feel a bit...bored. The episodes wasted my time. You see in another slice of life series i could stand this. Why? Other slice of life shows have a good script. In NouCome, for instance, nothing really happened throughout the anime, and yet I was still trying to find my ass after I had spent the past twenty minutes laughing it off. Most of the humor in this show is references, and while it’s funny at first, it gets old after some ten episodes of it. So by the time I got to episode eleven, I was watching it in memory of the first four episodes. It was boring, I didn't want to watch it, I just wanted to watch more Mirai Nikki, and then I was blown out of the water. i sat there for a few minutes flopping around a bit, and opening and closing my mouth a few times. When that didn't work I tried to contemplate what the f*** I just watched. This is why Outbreak Company became one of my favorite anime of the season. The two last episodes are amazing. They are just as good, no, even better than the first four. It shifts the genre Magical Girl Madoka style, not Flamenco style. Okay, with my samurai flamenco bit, I may have given the impression that I hate it when a genre shifts. Nope! I absolutely love it, as long as it's done well. Flamenco did not do it well at all, and the leap was confusing and frustrating. Other anime like Madoka, this, and another one of my favorites Hentai Prince and Stony Cat (which you should totally watch by the way, via subtle link here http://www.crunchyroll.com/henneko-the-hentai-prince-and-the-stony-cat-) do this very well. They make the anime refreshing and interesting. I won't say more. It's not M. Night Shama-lama-ding-dong, it actually does make sense. Kinda, but that's for another time.

So should you watch this anime? Yes, most defiantly. There's a lot of fun to be had with it, and while some parts are boring, I'm sure some of you out there do not have the attention span of a butterfly (unlike me). I want another season, I'm interested in where the plot is heading, and its possible that the romance will improve as well. Give it a try at the very least, because this anime gets a very good recommendation from me.
 
As always likes, follows, comments, all that good stuff would be good and fun. I'll siya next time, and sorry again for the delay.