(I have no idea what to abbreviate that to; maybe OreTsuba? Pearz says "Under the Harem Sky", which is actually very apt.)
So about an hour ago, as I lounged in Rho's chair and leaned over at Pearz' screen, I saw some serious softcore porn-like blurs. Having nothing else to do, I watched the first episode of Ore-tachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai (with the English name called "Under the Innocent Sky", somehow) with her.
Going into this, I had no idea what was to come, except the vague sense that it would probably be harem (because Pearz said it would be) and ecchi (because it's hard to ignore the first scene). I expected a lot of agonizing moments where it would be hard to watch - but I'm mysteriously pleased to say that the entire episode flowed quickly, concisely, and almost pleasurably. While it probably has both of the things I expected - ecchi and harem - it also seems to have some plot, if you look passed at least one of those traits.
This entire episode is basically an info dump in some subtle-yet-glaring ways. The first scene is what we can only take as gibberish for now ("J.O. Ore X.P.D." Right), while we get flashes of different girls in their elements, without any voicing. We'll see the girls throughout the episode, where they will get nice name tags on the screen (the version I'm watching did not translate the tags and I can't read Kanji, so...).
The first scene after the flashing of girls is...more flashing of girls. This time, literally. It became hard to take the episode seriously right at this point, less than 3min in, but something unknown kept me watching.
The scenes continue, introducing more characters (nameless until I either learn better Japanese or find some better subs). Most interestingly, every scene (separated by a distinct change in location and cast) consists of a main male lead, females that are part of a harem, and sometimes some extra males. The first scene, with Boy #1 (unnamed until the end of the episode), contains 3 girls that are to be part of his harem (including Onii-chan Fetish Girl and the Imagined Naked Girl).
Next scene is set in a bar/restaurant, where we see Boy #2 (Chitose Shuusuke). Quite hilariously, both Pearz and I dubbed him "The Best Friend" (the archetype in harems that's there only to make the harem lead look good while never actually getting any semblance of a girl), so I guess we weren't really paying attention to the fact that he narrates this entire scene and thus is probably of some importance.
Regardless, he's clearly not the main lead of his little harem. Of all the girls introduced in this scene, each went for Scarf Boy rather than Chitose. In fact, if anything, Chitose really fit The Best Friend archetype, despite his all-important job of narration. I held on to this belief until the ending, where it all became pretty clear.
I'll try to limit the ecchi shots after this; I mean, nothing was actually gained from these shots except severe fanservice and selling out...neither of which is really the point of this recap. Specifically for the above moment, I have no idea why it was "necessary", per se. I don't know what world this Innocent Sky is hovering over, but this doesn't really happen in the one that I live in. Oh well.
We move on to the second last scene, following Boy #3 (Narita Hayato) around at night while he goes about his business at his local haunt, Yanagihara (there's even a nice explanation [*cough*info dump*cough*] about it at the beginning of the scene). I have no idea who is narrating this scene; it doesn't really sound like Chitose, and it's definitely not Narita (or Dora, as he will be called suddenly and inexplicably, pretty soon).
It's questionable if Narita/Dora is the lead of his particularly harem. It's a "probably", considering he has a loli after him (undeniable) and we see other women conversing with him. (With the way things have been going with harem anime recently, "conversing" usually means "severe interest". It's just true.) This scene was actually the most info-dump of all of them; this guy apparently knows a lot of people.
We move into the last scene, which actually wraps up everything with a slightly sloppy bow. First of all, we see Boy #1 from the beginning once again, except now we see his face and xx time has passed. He gets named, to Haneda Takashi, so I guess there isn't a reason to give him a number anymore.
This is where things begin to get clearly interesting...assuming he's not insane. He'll go on and continue to explain certain things about skies being connected, other worlds, heirs to thrones, and so on. It's pretty important stuff - and it begins to put the episode, and perhaps the actual series, in a lot of context. For one thing, the TV from the very beginning makes a lot of sense. Someone (or multiple someone's) is watching these people - considering this boy says he's one of the Four Wings of Color, I assume that has something to do with it.
We get a lot of confirmation of various things with the ending song (it could be the opening song; need to wait for ep02 to see). For one thing, every scene specifically focused on those boys for a reason; they're probably three of the Four Wings of Color. (This leaves the fourth one unknown; there's a chance we met him already but unless he's drastically different in one way, I doubt it. It would break the flow of specifically introducing the boys too much.)
This entire song is set in the "whole other world" environment that actually reminded me a lot of Kyou Kara Maou (and probably a lot of other things, considering KKM itself was a pun). We see some other characters that we momentarily saw before, still nameless for Poor Me That Doesn't Know Kanji. Essentially, it wraps up the confusion of the previous events, especially the unexplained but structure info-dump.
A lot about this anime is still up in the air. Looking passed the constant fanservicing, this is actually setting up some shoujo. However, shoujo wouldn't have so much fanservice, thus the slight confusion about what audience this is actually aiming for. Regardless, there's enough potential for me to want to watch further.
So, I guess the bottom line is that this anime seems to have a plot (strength unknown at this point), but you would need to look passed the constant (and I use this word very aptly) fanservice. The nice thing, though, is that there seems to be some appeal to both genders; the women are plentiful and the men are very clearly bishounen. I'll definitely watch the next episode, and judge the remainder of the series based on every successive piece of information I get.
~Aaro off
So about an hour ago, as I lounged in Rho's chair and leaned over at Pearz' screen, I saw some serious softcore porn-like blurs. Having nothing else to do, I watched the first episode of Ore-tachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai (with the English name called "Under the Innocent Sky", somehow) with her.
 |
| The title screen, although it happens a good 3min into the episode, without an opener. Such teases. |
Going into this, I had no idea what was to come, except the vague sense that it would probably be harem (because Pearz said it would be) and ecchi (because it's hard to ignore the first scene). I expected a lot of agonizing moments where it would be hard to watch - but I'm mysteriously pleased to say that the entire episode flowed quickly, concisely, and almost pleasurably. While it probably has both of the things I expected - ecchi and harem - it also seems to have some plot, if you look passed at least one of those traits.
 |
| The first "real" scene of the anime. It sets the tone exactly right, just so everyone knows. |
This entire episode is basically an info dump in some subtle-yet-glaring ways. The first scene is what we can only take as gibberish for now ("J.O. Ore X.P.D." Right), while we get flashes of different girls in their elements, without any voicing. We'll see the girls throughout the episode, where they will get nice name tags on the screen (the version I'm watching did not translate the tags and I can't read Kanji, so...).
 |
| I couldn't help it. This really needed to be shown. |
The first scene after the flashing of girls is...more flashing of girls. This time, literally. It became hard to take the episode seriously right at this point, less than 3min in, but something unknown kept me watching.
 |
| No one was actually naked here. The power of imagination can't be denied. |
The scenes continue, introducing more characters (nameless until I either learn better Japanese or find some better subs). Most interestingly, every scene (separated by a distinct change in location and cast) consists of a main male lead, females that are part of a harem, and sometimes some extra males. The first scene, with Boy #1 (unnamed until the end of the episode), contains 3 girls that are to be part of his harem (including Onii-chan Fetish Girl and the Imagined Naked Girl).
 |
| Chitose introduces himself. He'll continue being the narrator until we leave the bar. |
Next scene is set in a bar/restaurant, where we see Boy #2 (Chitose Shuusuke). Quite hilariously, both Pearz and I dubbed him "The Best Friend" (the archetype in harems that's there only to make the harem lead look good while never actually getting any semblance of a girl), so I guess we weren't really paying attention to the fact that he narrates this entire scene and thus is probably of some importance.
 |
| Pearz and I assumed that the nonchalant Scarf Boy was actually more important than Chitose. |
Regardless, he's clearly not the main lead of his little harem. Of all the girls introduced in this scene, each went for Scarf Boy rather than Chitose. In fact, if anything, Chitose really fit The Best Friend archetype, despite his all-important job of narration. I held on to this belief until the ending, where it all became pretty clear.
 |
| Once again, properly setting the tone of this anime. Very concise. |
I'll try to limit the ecchi shots after this; I mean, nothing was actually gained from these shots except severe fanservice and selling out...neither of which is really the point of this recap. Specifically for the above moment, I have no idea why it was "necessary", per se. I don't know what world this Innocent Sky is hovering over, but this doesn't really happen in the one that I live in. Oh well.
 |
| Can't show it properly, but his hair bounces when he walks. Service for girls. |
We move on to the second last scene, following Boy #3 (Narita Hayato) around at night while he goes about his business at his local haunt, Yanagihara (there's even a nice explanation [*cough*info dump*cough*] about it at the beginning of the scene). I have no idea who is narrating this scene; it doesn't really sound like Chitose, and it's definitely not Narita (or Dora, as he will be called suddenly and inexplicably, pretty soon).
 |
| Why, hello, Alice. It's nice to see you too, you "forbidden" loli fruit. |
It's questionable if Narita/Dora is the lead of his particularly harem. It's a "probably", considering he has a loli after him (undeniable) and we see other women conversing with him. (With the way things have been going with harem anime recently, "conversing" usually means "severe interest". It's just true.) This scene was actually the most info-dump of all of them; this guy apparently knows a lot of people.
 |
| This seems to be his catchphrase. A tsundere male, I see. |
We move into the last scene, which actually wraps up everything with a slightly sloppy bow. First of all, we see Boy #1 from the beginning once again, except now we see his face and xx time has passed. He gets named, to Haneda Takashi, so I guess there isn't a reason to give him a number anymore.
 |
| I guess Boy #1 - Haneda is the MAIN main? Very girly, in comparison to his counterparts. |
This is where things begin to get clearly interesting...assuming he's not insane. He'll go on and continue to explain certain things about skies being connected, other worlds, heirs to thrones, and so on. It's pretty important stuff - and it begins to put the episode, and perhaps the actual series, in a lot of context. For one thing, the TV from the very beginning makes a lot of sense. Someone (or multiple someone's) is watching these people - considering this boy says he's one of the Four Wings of Color, I assume that has something to do with it.
 |
| This kind of thing is actually really shoujo, so now the genre is questionable too. |
We get a lot of confirmation of various things with the ending song (it could be the opening song; need to wait for ep02 to see). For one thing, every scene specifically focused on those boys for a reason; they're probably three of the Four Wings of Color. (This leaves the fourth one unknown; there's a chance we met him already but unless he's drastically different in one way, I doubt it. It would break the flow of specifically introducing the boys too much.)
 |
| This is the girl from the first panty shot, now shown in Gretagard, named Watarai Asuka. |
This entire song is set in the "whole other world" environment that actually reminded me a lot of Kyou Kara Maou (and probably a lot of other things, considering KKM itself was a pun). We see some other characters that we momentarily saw before, still nameless for Poor Me That Doesn't Know Kanji. Essentially, it wraps up the confusion of the previous events, especially the unexplained but structure info-dump.
 |
| Despite having a very outspoken harem, he definitely has a girl he likes, hm. |
A lot about this anime is still up in the air. Looking passed the constant fanservicing, this is actually setting up some shoujo. However, shoujo wouldn't have so much fanservice, thus the slight confusion about what audience this is actually aiming for. Regardless, there's enough potential for me to want to watch further.
 |
| What kind of diseased bird drops that many feathers at a time? Seriously. |
So, I guess the bottom line is that this anime seems to have a plot (strength unknown at this point), but you would need to look passed the constant (and I use this word very aptly) fanservice. The nice thing, though, is that there seems to be some appeal to both genders; the women are plentiful and the men are very clearly bishounen. I'll definitely watch the next episode, and judge the remainder of the series based on every successive piece of information I get.
~Aaro off
