UlasanAnime.com – Sometimes reading the thoughts of others can articulate feelings you’ve had but couldn’t express, and this sentiment perfectly captures the current situation.
The term “uncanny valley” might not fully encompass the peculiar blend of excessive realism that disrupts the narrative flow of Izetta’s adventures. The hope invested in the series began to wane with the opening sequence of episode two. A bridge of suspended disbelief could have guided the audience beyond this uncanny valley, but the fantastical elements—a busty witch without panties, riding a colossal gun, and engaging in tank battles with swords—proved too much for the goodwill generated by the show’s otherwise engaging, albeit loosely historical, setting.
Despite these reservations, I continued watching the series for six episodes, and the overall experience was merely adequate. It’s understandable why certain European viewers might have remained loyal to the series through its ups and downs; their national pride is invested in the fictional narrative, and that is commendable.
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However, for those of us without such a personal connection to the fictional nation, it’s questionable whether investing time and attention in this simplistic, pandering narrative was the best use of our resources. The series felt like a direct appeal to audience desires, masked as something more substantial.
This experience can be contrasted with Keijo!!!!!!!!. In that instance, viewers also approached the series with certain expectations, only to receive something slightly different. Yet, Keijo!!!!!!!! managed to subvert expectations in a positive manner. It serves as an excellent example of a story effectively utilizing both its strengths and weaknesses to create an enjoyable experience.
The current media landscape, particularly for otaku, seems to favor “iyashikei” stories that offer a sense of healing. This healing isn’t necessarily derived from profound emotional catharsis but rather from the gentle embrace of poetry and finesse, even when the portrayal of life is remarkably ordinary. The series missed an opportunity to tap into this desire effectively.
Sometimes reading other people’s blogs give you a way to convey what you wanted to say but couldn’t find the words for, and such is the case here. I don’t know if I am happy with “uncanny valley” to describe where Izetta’s hijinks fall in with Too Much Realism way to explain how some things don’t jive. To me the hope I had with the series shattered when the OP came on in episode 2. If there was a path that leads us beyond the uncanny valley, it would be the bridge of suspended beliefs. Too bad the whole busty witch with no panty shots riding a big gun flying around shooting tanks with swords thing is way over the load bearing limitations of strands of good will and its fantastic, make-believe setting of not-historic-but-you-know-what-is-going-on.
I still stuck with 6 episodes of the show and it turned out to be an OK experience. I can see why certain European countries would like to stick it out with the series through thick and thin, and props to them. For those of us who don’t have a bone in the national-pride-game-because-my-country-is-(not)-in-a-fiction, however, I’m not sure you would have trouble finding a better use of your time and attention than to follow this silly thing that is really just full-on-pandering in disguise.
I’d like to compare it to Keijo!!!!!!!!, where we all go in expecting something and in the end got something slightly different, too, but in that situation our expectation betrayed us in a positive way. (I’d add Keijo!!!!!!!! is a great example of a story use both its strengths and weaknesses to delight). It’s like a post-Aria otaku media world, where we want our wide faces iyashikei stories not because they heal, but because we’re healed through much poetry and finesse, even if the portrayal is the utmost ordinary.
