Note: This episode review was originally part of a blog post I wrote on MyAnimeList.
Alice & Zoroku is one of the anime that I was interested in the most this season and after seeing this double-length premiere, I am feeling very hopeful about this show. Not only were my expectations met, they were even exceeded.
What had me most curious about the premise was the elderly florist Zoroku (Akio Otsuka). It’s so rare for anime to star an elder in general so that fact alone was worth checking out. As I had hoped, Zoroku proved to be the most likable character in the episode. Part of the success is Akio Otsuka giving a great performance as always but I really do love the character’s levelheaded and stern attitude. I’m sure the surreal nature of the show and the cuteness of Sana (Hitomi Ohwada) is what will draw most newcomers in. To be fair, I do love how weird the show can get and Sana is genuinely pretty charming at times. But what really worked for me here is the grounded tone Zoroku establishes to the whole situation. I also love the chemistry he has with Sana. It’s a nice dynamic that is very supportive and kind yet also disciplinary and educational if need be.
The real area of concern for the anime is the production value. Sound isn’t a huge issue. I quite like the soundtrack by TO-MAS and the cast seems solid. The art, however, feels a bit on the cheap side, even by studio J.C. Staff’s standards. There’s a lot of off-modeling going on with the minor characters and extras and the backgrounds feel extremely uninspired save for a few key locations. I don’t know if there’s going to be a lot of CGI cars in this show but it really did not look great in this episode. There’s also a glaring amount of continuity errors. Take the chase scene for example. Zoroku decides to stop his car at one point but the interior shots still show the backgrounds moving when it shouldn’t because the car is parked. Something that simple was missed during production and that’s really hard for a viewer to ignore.
To be fair, art quality doesn’t always secure the show’s entire quality. If the story or experience of the show is good, then I’d consider it a success and right now, I am enjoying the story an awful lot. As long as the visuals don’t get too distracting or the craft behind the show can compensate big time, I’d say we’re in for a treat with Alice & Zoroku.
Watch Alice & Zoroku on Crunchyroll & Funimation
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