Akikan! Review (PG14)

Akikan! 
Storyline **
Graphic Style **
Character Structure *
Soundtrack ***
Entertainment *


What can I say about this sad excuse for an Anime? Not much. This kind of Anime is why I believe that Japan is just running out of ideas. Let me try to sum it up what this is about in a simple sentence: Soda cans made of steel or aluminum fight to prove their superiority while learning about sex.

It's ridiculous. You take the standard "loser boy somehow ends up living with amazingly hot girl" storyline and just drive it in the mud and puke on it. "Akikan!" literally means "empty can" and in this story, a perverted high school boy named Daichi Kakeru comes into ownership of a melon soda can by buying her out of a vending machine. Upon drinking the can, she turns into a 'hot girl' clueless about the real world. Despite being clueless about the real world, she can somehow figure out what some perverted things mean sometimes and other times, she doesn't know what in the world she's talking about.

The episodes generally run without much linear storyline and lacks a great amount of character buildup. Kakeru, for example, end up going on dates with his classmate and Melon (his can). All other characters tend to be forced in. Yell, another soda can, is forced into the storyline to become Melon's rival and later friend. The show decided also to throw in a grape soda can in the form of a super-cute chibi, a super-busty lady with no real role in the storyline, her boss who is a governmental worker overseeing the cans fighting whilst sexually harassing Daichi, and some lesbian witch who randomly pops in during episodes to sexually harass Yell's owner.

The way the characters were drawn in the Anime served to be painful. The highlights and shadows seemed to be drawn on without much thought. The hair had no flow and no real shape to them. The clothes didn't make sense after the cans go 'in uniform'. Special effects were mundane and boring. It looks like someone who is new to photoshop and the pen tool decided to make an Anime. And while it may have taken them forever, the quality still sucks. However, I'm not going to say it's the worst I've seen. I can't think off the top of my head the worst drawn Anime, but with today's technology and resources available to present a 12-episode Anime, it should have been executed better.

It wasn't entertaining either. Whether it was because the storyline wasn't quite linear or because the graphics sucked or because the characters sucked, I don't know. It could be all three. This anime got boring real quick. The sexual puns couldn't even be considered amusing. People who made this tried too hard and failed.

I really can't say much for this Anime. I really can't. The only thing that it has going for it is its soundtrack and even that gets old after awhile. The soundtrack is limited and because the situations are so predictable, even the good music becomes old after you predict its coming in specific events.

I just suggest you refrain from this Anime. No action lover would like it and no romance lover would like it. This wouldn't even appeal to ecchi lovers. Like I said, this Anime tried and failed. Best kick this one to the curb, folks.