Light Novel Review : Sugar Dark

Sugar Dark

“A piece of unique yet well-written literature that can easily captivate the reader with it’s content.”

What is Sugar Dark?

The story follows a boy named Muoru who has been falsely arrested and sent to a cemetery to perform forced labor. There, he calls himself the "grave keeper" and meets a beautiful girl named Meria. Muoru becomes fascinated with Meria as he spends his days digging a hole containing the undead monster named "The Dark." (From Baka-Tsuki)

And is it that good?

The term gravekeeper here means something else. When one usually hear about the gravekeeper, one immediately concludes that it is someone who guards a grave, hence the name. However, in this book, a gravekeeper is something much more deeper and painful. And it was a girl called Meria, who is the gravekeeper, not Muoru. Arai Enji, the author, mentioned in the foreword that he [I presume he’s a guy] was fascinated with the term of gravekeeper ever since started writing light novels and continues to use gravekeeper as a basis until he eventually writes Sugar Dark, and proceeds to twist it around into something new. Sugar Dark then proceeds to win a grand prize award back in 2008 or 2009 thanks to it’s unique nature, which allows it to be published later.

I was thankful to come across this book when I was browsing the website NanoDesu translation, as that time, I was interested with the “Light Novels”. You know light novels, right? A novel originated from Japan which is unique for it’s use of manga/anime illustrations accompanying it. Sugar Dark was written by Enji Arai and illustrated by Mebae, who is not a popular illustrator himself.

So where is the uniqueness of Sugar Dark?

If asked where is the uniqueness of Sugar Dark, then it has to come from it’s unique style of writing. The author makes a heavy usage of metaphorical similiarity in the book, allowing for an easier understand as well as interesting choice of wording found on the book. The book also makes a numerous reference to the modern-era japanese despite not really being set on a modern-day japanese, which was interesting.

Since I don’t understand Japanese, especially it’s written form, the translation from NanoDesu helped me to understand it well enough and while Baka-Tsuki had trouble keeping it in-check with the source material, it still gives footnotes of something which is hard to translate and as a result, creating a unique feel to Sugar Dark. Big shout-out to NanoDesu Translation, especially those who work on this light novel, great job in making Sugar Dark a beautifully-translated light novel.

The story focuses on Muoru and how he was forced to keep digging the graveyard by the antagonist after being falsely accused of murder. Murou, at first, is portrayed as a submissive man who does nothing but whatever he was told by his jailor, but his meeting with Meria, the female heroine of the story, changes his principle and allowed him to mature into someone stronger, who manages to courageously confront the antagonist, as well as having the supporting character help him.

There are four named characters in the story, which is the aforementioned Muoru, Meria Mass Grave [Yes, it was stylized like that according to the translator], Crow or Karasu, and Daribedor. The author describes all of them with distinction and heavily, allowing the reader to better imagine the character and easily as well. The accompanying illustration also helps out the character, though it arrives far bit too late. The accompanying character illustration of Daribedor is notable for being almost on the last bit of second chapter, making me unable to really comprehend how Daribedor is actually envisioned by the writer. The rest of the characters and their illustration are okay, with them appearing near when they were introduced, it’s just Daribedor who had this problem.

Speaking of illustration, it is fair to say that Mebae, the illustrator, keeps his illustration in check and his illustrations were decent at that. When one reads Sugar Dark, it was a bit gore-ish as there are numerous instance of monster ripping apart someone, and Arai making an accurate description of how that person’s inside is being teared out. However, Mebae does not make his illustration that much gore-ish and allows it to intrigue me and much of the wider audience who does not really favor gore.

Returning to characters, all of them are fleshed out accordingly. As the story reached it's eventual climax, we knew exactly how each of them behaves and their personality, as well as their appearance. By the time the story ends, I know how no-nonsense Muoru was, how cute and affable Meria was despite her initial cold behavior, how cunning and assisting Karasu was, and how polite yet deceiving Daribedor was. It was wonderful. There are several unnamed characters appearing, as well as those who are named yet does not really appear in the story, and I choose to ignore them.

The pacing of the story was also great. There are only 3 chapters, or holes as being written in the story, but each of them are accompanied by sub-chapters that makes it easy to sometimes stop the read, or to mark the sub-chapters. And each page does not have a wall of text with them, instead, there are a huge line-space in between each paragraph to make it easier to understand and easy to read.

The plot itself was remarkable. Muoru, who was falsely accused of murder, was forced to dig holes to bury monsters that Meria defeated. The way of Meria defeating the monster itself was not something common, and it was painful reading it.  The story focuses on how Muoru initially tries to escape from his imprisonment, then it changes into one where Muoru resolves to release Meria from her fate, which is worse than death. Crow himself was intrigued by Muoru and proceeds to help him out. The difference between Crow and Meria is that since Meria is a gravekeeper, Meria cannot adhere to the sunlight, whereas Crow does not really like the night and as a result, both character never interacted with each other until the story reached climax, with Muoru acting as a stand-in for the two characters.

Of course, the way the story was build-up to the climax was great and there were no plot-holes on it. Everything was told from the first to start, with accurate description being made to any terms on the story, such as the gravekeeper term itself, which in this story, stands for someone who has to endure an everlasting pain of killing a monstrous being spawning in the grave. The reason why the monsters appear? Well, they gather for something bigger, which Muoru later faced in the story’s climax.

The genre was initially… Well, how do I describe it… At first, I thought it was going to be a dark-themed action as there is a reference on a monster. However, it turns out to be a drama story, which satisfies me a lot, between Muoru and Meria with a lot of supernatural and fantasy spices, before it transpires finally into a romance between them. Thank you a lot for not blessing me with an action-oriented story though, as I thought this was going to be it.

If I am being told to spoil one or two event, then I want to mention two thing. First is how Muoru asked Crow to fetch him a big construction-helmet, which he initially used for his digging labors, before the curious Meria asked him what was that helm for. Muoru answered by putting the helm to Meria and as Meria struggled to keep the helmet fit, as the helmet was too big for her head, Muoru proceeds to kiss the helmet holding her head and I was really surprised but pleased reading the chapter. Well, it was hinted that Muoru has already fell in love to Meria ever since he met her, but this strengthen all that claim and he even mentioned it in his mind that he “loves this girl”.

And another is how he and Meria had a last meeting before Muoru’s biggest task to confront the last monstrous being. Meria, who is implying that Muoru is tryong to leave her behind, hugs her from behind. Muoru, overwhelmed with feeling, faces her and embraces her. It was really heartwarming and cute, until he snaps Meria’s neck. My god, that time when I was reading, I was surprised. But it was necessary for the story to proceed. Read the rest if you are interested though, as I will only limit myself to two spoiler right now. The story was too good.

And it was around 300 pages or so, making it a good read for those interested in a longer story. It is a one-shot light novel as well. While the author mentioned that he is planning to write the sequel for it, it has never come out and I presume this is the only novel in the series. Sugar Dark would also be adapted into manga series, which I later plan to read. If this series would be adapted into an anime series, a 12-episode one would be better to accompany it’s unique nature of the story, as well as to adapt it faithfully to the end. One-shot novels are never great when it is adapted into a 24-episode anime. Even sometimes 12-episode anime were too much for a 200-long light novels, with Chuunibyo the prime example for it. It is, however, something to be talk about in another review.

All in all, Sugar Dark is a great piece of light novel with unique nature. It’s uniqueness is it’s core strength for why it is so interesting to read. The plot can be fairly easy to understood by almost all-reader and the accompanying artwork is decent. With this being the sole release of the series, i can say that upon finishing the series, one will not really need a continuation, though a continuation will not be rejected by those who want it.

Those who enjoyed supernatural story should really pick this one up, as it is the central theme of the story. There is no action inside this story, however, and the battle I mentioned earlier… Well, you understand how the gravekeepers ‘battle’ them monsters upon reading Sugar Dark. For me, it was an audacious pick, since I am not really that down with supernatural stories, and I myself assume that the story was going to be action at first, which left me dumbfounded upon knowing that this was not the case and immediately felt I was blessed reading this. I was left with a smile that stretchered from ear to ear upon finishing this to be honest.

The good : Beautiful story with unique plot. Characters were unique. Interesting Theme.

The bad : Illustrations were, while being decent, not that remarkable. Background are not really focused here.

Highlight scene : Those two scenes I mentioned earler.

Final Score : 4 out of 5. Again, not more and not less. Looking forward for the author’s next work.

To be honest, I can easily see why it won the grand-prize award upon finishing it… It took me 2 months to finish reading Sugar Dark, as I read it only during my spare time in college and sparingly at home.

Note : This is the first time I reviewed a light novels, as I am a bit new to the light novel world to be honest. But, be prepared for a lot of light-novel related entry in the future.

Anime Review : Suki-tte Ii Na Yo

Suki-tte Ii Na Yo

“A truly wonderful movies, held back by one small but strong force that it never has stumbled upon”

What is Suki-tte Iina Yo?

Also known as “Say, I love you”. It follows the story of the fateful encounter of Mei Tachibana and Kurosawa Yamato and their path ahead as they slowly grow to love each other. As they grow to love each other, Mei, who was a loner at first, finally learns the true meaning of friendship.

And, what do I think of it?

First of all, let me clarify that I have yet to watch the OVA by the time I write this review, as I plan to review the show from episode 1-13 only, bar the OVA. So, whatever happened in the OVA is still as dark as the night for me, and I tend to not include OVas in my review as sometimes, it is unrelated to the main plot or some are even there just for the sake of either being there or some unnecessary fanservices. With that said, I am omitting the OVA from this review.

And let us begin.

Usually, romance series must have a deciding factor so that it can be called original, be it characters, theme, central plot, or whatever. The recently airing Kuzu no Honkai and Tsuki ga Kirei both has their own central thing that they are focusing on. Kuzu no Honkai plays with the theme “Forbidden love”, while Tsuki ga Kirei focuses on how our two couple are still insecure of being in love with each other and their eventual quest to know their relationship, as well as the focus on LINE messaging system. In 2015, a prominent title which has just been released in English also has a factor which makes it popular, which is Ore Monogatari!!! And it’s focus on Takeo Gouda as a “Gar” in a shoujo-like manga and follows his story of how he and Yamato become a couple.

Without these factors, all romance anime will just fall to the sideways and be treated as a mediocre series. The tropes within romance anime has been to clichéd and without these factors, it wouldn’t bolster the popularity of the genre. So, what makes Sukitte iina yo special? And is it good?

Sukitte iina yo, or allow me to call it just “Sukinayo” from now, is a beautiful anime series about how two high-schoolers became a couple just because of an accident. Yeah, the meeting between our protagonists, Mei Tachibana and Kurosawa Yamato was surprising indeed. That kick out of nowhere was unpredictable.

 However, aside from that, all of those clichéd tropes found in a usual romance anime is there, such as the fact that Mei is a tsundere-like character, Yamato is a bishounen type of guy, object of interest that connect them [Which is a cat, to be honest], rival turned allies, true rival, and of course, a male rival to deter the resolve of our male lead. Everything is there. However, those are not the core strength of Sukinayo. Sukinayo’s core strength lies in the use of tragical past to tell the backstory of each character, whether they are supporting or not, and we shall get to that later.

Despite all the cliched tropes found in the show...

It manages to create a great first impression.

I want to talk about the plot first.

The plot was… Predictable, and by golly, I was able to predict each and every movement that every character is about to do. And while doing that, I sense a similiarity between this anime and the previous anime I reviewed, Kimi ni Todoke. The main heroine, Mei and Sawako, has several similiarity, to the point that their difference lies only in the fact that Sawako looks scarier than Mei. They have issues and willingly becomes a loner, until the male lead finally opened their eyes. They have a feature that only the male lead knows. However, does it mean that Kimi ni Todoke is way better than Sukinayo? Wrong. Sukinayo could definitely not surpass Kimi ni Todoke, but the importance of tragical past here is highlighted.

As I mentioned earlier, everyone in Sukinayo has a problem with the past, even the true rival of Mei. And the way it is resolved is well-written and was satisfying, without leaving any loose ends. I like an anime when it ties up all loose ends.

The plot moves with a normal pace. It’s not fast, but it is definitely not slow. The formulaic pattern where one arc ends, and it is immediately followed with another arc is also intriguing, as not all romance anime does this. Remember how Ore Monogatari!!! Follows the two episodic format, and Kimi ni Todoke has a breather episode everytime an arc ends? That’s definitely what I am talking about. Maybe I am relating this to Kuzu no Honkai, but in terms of execution, both are almost similar. Sukinayo was better though in my opinion.

Everyhing revolves around our main couple.

And in my opinion, it was good.

Before I continue my episodic review, allow me to delve in to the characters section.

Our protagonists are Mei Tachibana, who serves as the female lead, and Kurosawa Yamato, who acts as the male lead. Both have interesting personality and backstory that allows me to feel connected with the character. Yamato was once a sly boy, according to Kai, and tends to let everything flow around him, until Kai eventually left and that changed Yamato entirey. While Mei is… Well, nothing much is revealed about Mai, except for the fact that she was bullied once and was afraid to have a friend and decides to become a loner. Their eventual meeting, the kick and the stalker, and subsequent character development stood out as the best part of this show. We could enjoy how Mei, who was a loner before, now could no longer live without the comfort of friendship. And Yamato, who was once too kind to everyone, finally has someone he can devote himself into. That was beautiful.

Also, Mei has this problem where she was kind of stunned and just stood there without saying anything when something bad happens, causing misunderstanding to rise and surround her and Yamato. I thought that she at least need to say something or do something so that people don’t misunderstand her, but I think that is her selling point as a character. Well, she was a loner at first, so it was to be expected…

Both character undergone a terrific development...

Which makes us, the viewer, able to connect with them.

After Mei and Yamato, we have Asami and Nakanishi. They are surprising as they are rather static at first [Especially Nakanishi], but their eventual development as a couple still surprised me, and Asami also got several of her moments, which defines her as a character. However, a character that stood out as the third best for me is Aiko Muto.

Aiko, at first, started as a rival to Mei and opposes everything that she did, until Mei saved her from Hayakawa and delivered one of the best quote in the series. That changed Aiko and eventually, she becomes Mei’s friend and consequently, her wisdom proves to be pivotal for her and Yamato’s development as pair. She has a tragic backstory too, and the implication that both she and Yamato slept together was a bit bothersome for me, but overall, it helped Mei grow as a character, and proves how important Aiko was to the story. Everytime she appeared and a storm is brewing, I just kind of begged her to at least impart one or two word of wisdom to open the eyes of those around her, which she always delivered. Oh, and the fact that she was able to move on from Yamato and deciding to focus on her own boyfriend instead was interesting.

Aiko makes much more impact in the story rather than Asami.

Here is one moment where Aiko gives her word of wisdom to Yamato.

Next up is Nagi, who is Yamato’s younger sister. To be honest, she serves only as yet another obstacle for obstructing the relationship of Mei and Yamato, persistently at that. However, I liked her episode, as it does not stand just for the sake of being there, but is there to tell Nagi of her tragic past.

Then we have Kai, who at first, appeared as a male rival to Yamato and a threat to their relationship. However, Kai would then become an apparent ally in their relationship and he helped them in lot of times. To be honest, Kai is not that important for me, despite his backstory and all, but his inclusion was necessary to strengthen the plot and to make sure it progressed well. All’s well that end well I must say.

Kai did not make much impact during his run for me.

Finally, we have Megumi Kitagawa. A model who fell in love for Yamato. She had a tragic past and wants everything to resonates around her. At first, I knew that she was going to become some sort of trouble, and I was right. Originally, I thought it was Asami who’s going to become Mei’s first rival, turns out it was Aiko, and then followed by Megumi, who stands as the true rival and opposing obstacle in front of Mei and Yamato. She has a façade of a kind girl, whereas her true personality is more wicked and sinister. Is it clichéd? Definitely.

However, her method for sabotaging Mei and Yamato’s relationship was remarkable, such as by telling him of her tragic past and make him sympathetic of her, as well as making Yamato unconsciously went to her place every night without telling Mei, and etc. It was well-played for her initially, too bad she does not wear the plot armor. Eventually, her façade is broken thanks to a well-timed Aiko’s advice to Yamato, as well as Kai’s word of wisdom and she eventually has a breakdown. However, her change of heart moment stood out as yet another best moment in the series, where she finally resolves to become herself and finally accepted her childhood friend. If not for her earlier sinister method, I think I would have liked her. I mean, all the things that she did was irreversible, but at least that episode made me felt symphatetic for her, well done.

Of course, if I want to liken her to someone similar in a past romance anime, then that would be Kurumizawa Ume from Kimi ni Todoke. Big shout-out to her as Kurumizawa was my favourite character in Kimi ni Todoke, and her method for making Sawako and Kazehaya become distant is also remarkable, but not as great as Megumi to be honest. And Megu was better in the terms of development, as opposed to Kurumizawa, who was forgotten after her arc ended in the season 1, good thing season 2 revitalizes her character.

From a methodical and sinister character...

She undergoes one of the best development in the show.

That’s it about the characters. Perhaps I might have missed some, but I did it deliberately, as several characters such as Aiko’s boyfriend, which I did not catch his name, and Hayakawa was just a bystander. Mei’s mother was also excellent whenever she appears, but she has only limited screen-time, but when she cried upon learning Yamato is Mei’s boyfriend is something to behold. I can feel her parental satisfaction from that, knowing that her only daughter has finally opened up and actually accepted someone to accompany her.

Now the theme… As I stated before, the central theme of this anime is tragic past. Each character has their own tragic background, which motivates them into doing things they did. Such as how Mei avoiding people all the time, Kai becoming bigger and wanting to have payback, Asami and how she has a problem with her figure, Aiko and her past with her looks, Nagi and her past of being bullied, and Megumi who was treated as an ugly child who was so tall. Thanks to their interaction with each other, everyone was able to resolve and become a stronger and better person. Yamato was the only problem I had, as his backstory is not that strong and remarkable.

Tragic past and emotional scars serves as the show's major focus and strong point.

Background was okay to say the least. However, it relies too much on using the same background over and over again. Just how many times I have seen that slope and bridge while watching the series? I had a hard time remembering. Musical scores were okay too, but that’s all I can say about it.

The performance of the voice acting was interesting to say the least. However, there were several times where I felt the case of mistaken identity. When I heard her voice, I always thought that Mei was voiced by Kana Hanazawa, but only to know it later that she was voiced by Ai Kayano, and Ryoko Shiraishi being the voice of Aiko Muto, who was voiced by Yumi Uchiyama. I don’t know whether that’s a good or bad thing, however I enjoyed the voice acting.

The most remarkable thing for me was the fact that they actually used an actual cat’s meowing for the cat sound, casting aside the need for voicing the cat with voice actor. This was a bold move, but a fresh one at that. At first, I was astounded but grew to like it, as the cat no longer has a humanly ~Nyaa, and instead, sounded like an actual cat. There’s even purring on several occasion, which I liked.

The cat was cute, and accompanied with a real sound of a cat.

What about the comedic moments? Well, there’s hardly any comedic moments in a series so focused on romance such as this, unlike Kimi ni Todoke, which has a lot of comedic moments. However, when it did have one, it was funny. Such as this instance of funny Mei’s face after she was forced to endure Roller-Coaster and several thrill-inducing rides. She cried but she could not release any word or fear, which was both funny and cute.

This face was both hilarious and cute for me.

Oh, and there is this one episode that I just had to mention. The introduction of Kai in episode 9 felt unnecessary for me, as it should have instead tell the story of how Megumi’s plan failed in her face and his introduction should have been pushed to episode 10, instead of the second half of episode 9, with him making several on and off appearances on episode 9. The way episode 9 is delivered makes me felt disconnected with the plot that has been going on and

Last episode felt like a good finale and the episode showed almost everyone whose life has been changed thanks to the interaction with each characters. Even Hayakawa and Nagi got their moment of reckoning, where Hayakawa now devotes himself to a single girl, while Nagi had an admirer, to which she admires herself. And with that, Sukitenayo ends.

Overall, this is a great show, a beautiful one to be exact. I truly enjoyed every moment watching it, and the suspense I felt whenever a storm struck the show was thrilling, and I was practically yelling to Aiko to do something about Mei whenever Megumi’s sinister ploy began to play around in the palm of her hand, and thank god Aiko always delivered… Boy, I just had to keep mention that now, don’t i?

And, while both protagonists are presented with great character development, I think their lack of information as to what happened in their past was one of the main problem of the anime. Despite that however, I still enjoyed their interactions. Aside from it, what else do I think is bad from the series? Oh, the fact that it forget one of the background character? Cliched tropes? Well, nothing’s perfect. This is still an enjoyable show to watch.

Sukitenayo does not wander too far from it’s clichéd tropes found in any romance genre, yet it still twists it with an added tragical past factor, which helped in the development of the characters, and I think the character development parts are the best part of the show.

Sukinayo contains lots of cliche factors.

Any romance genre lover should really pick up this series, as it contains all those factors that those who actually a fan of the genre would love and enjoy. Casual fans should also pick this up, but if they get turned off with the tragic background theme, then they should just avoid this series entirely. Oh, and any action-lover fans won’t benefit from watching this series, since this is devoid of any humor or comedic antic that should help them relax from any action-oriented anime that they have watched, but I won’t stop them from picking this series up should their curiosity be piqued.

The good : Aiko Muto. Focus on character development, which was a tremendous job. Good voice-acting. Tragic background as central theme. The cats are voiced with an actual cat voice for heaven's sake. 

The bad : Clichéd tropes are abundant in the series. Some might get turned off by the tragic background past as the central theme. Too short.

Highlight scene : Everytime Mei and Yamato are together.

And thus, our favorite couple lives happily ever after...

Final Score : 3.5 out of 5. I could have given it four, but there are several things that bind the series down. Really need a sequel but it was wrapped up quite nicely.

A shift in tone, a look at when this happens in anime.

Gabriel DropOut

When an Anime tone shifts…

So I watched the second OVA of Gabriel DropOut a week ago. It was released a week ago or so, so if you haven’t check it out, make sure you go and check it out. There was a problem though. That time, I went and watched Gabriel DropOut hoping for a good chunk of laugh, as it was a slice of life comedy show and a consistently good one at that, however upon finishing, I was not left with a good laugh. Instead, the tone shifts from that of a comedy situation into one that almost fall as a tragic ending. I cannot spoil the story but it was heavy and sad. 

The mood was heavy, the situation was very tragic, moreover I did not end with any laugh, but instead a good feel of satisfaction thanks to a good climax. Sure, it was good, but that was not the usual Gabriel DropOut that I know and love. The sudden mood shift within that particular OVA makes me almost perceive that what I was watching is not Gabriel DropOut.

It was business as usual for Gabriel and the others-

...Until the mood darkened.

That was pretty surprising though, but this is not the first time I encountered anime such as this. I’ve come to several anime, and manga as well, that shifts it’s tone so heavy that the story changes and revolves within it. The result, however, is not always what is predicted. It could fail, but it could also be successful.

Shifting tone is a gamble, a very big gamble. But one needs a better reasoning and a good theme for it, so that the shift does not surprise a lot. Take for example Gabriel DropOut, it doesn’t stray too far from it’s typical slice of life genre, but it just adds a dramatic spice to entice emotions from people watching it. It was a good example. Non Non Biyori tends to do things like this too, and since it was done perfectly, people can accept it. On the other hand, if the tone dramatically changes without any warning [Such as when a slice of life, not far from 2-4 episode and is turned into a mystery murder], people watching it won’t be able to comprehend what just happened and that will leave a bad taste in your mouth. 

It was surprising that the normally goofy Gabriel DropOut shifts tone into something heavy.

The prime example of this would be Sket Dance. Sket Dance spends several episode playing out this trope and not rarely it was panned out by people. The earliest instance when this happened was on the seventh episode, when the Sket Dan is trying to help out a guy confess to a girl who is about to move away. It does nothing and does not spice up any emotion or entice any feelings whatsoever and is a dramatic shift from a regularly comedic skits of Sket Dance. Many fans of the series, including myself, was a bit disappointed by how this turned out and how it did not deliver the emotion it wanted to trigger, and as a result, these one-shot dramatic moments were later turned down and even vanishes completely as the series progressed, up until the finale.

While all those one-shot moments of Sket Dance that tries too dramatic fails horribly, it does not when it tries to tell the backstory of the established characters, with Switch and Bossun’s flashback episode my favourite. All of it was partly because these characters have already been established and fans are eager to learn more about that particular character, such as how the Sket Dance is formed and how Himeko and Switch eventually joined the goofy helper club, as well as how Bossun got his conviction to help people whenever necessary. That was great, to be honest.

The usually funny and comedic Sket Dance

Tried to be dramatic yet it fails.

Though episodes telling the established character backstory was well-written

Additionally, there are several times that an anime changes the tone and sticks with the flavor of it, and to a great success at that. While all I know was the manga, I loved both series and their shift in tone surprised me greatly and I enjoyed the change.

First up is my personal favourite of Gakuen Alice, by Higuchi Tachibana. Gakuen Alice spends 5 volumes trying to be comical while at times, spices up the dramatic tension of the story such as the introduction of the Z organization in the third volume through Reo Mouri. While Reo was responsible for making the tension rise on that occasion, it wasn’t until the volume 6 that it entered first-ever dramatic arc, when Hotaru got shot and Mikan tries to save her life by infiltrating the Z organization’s hideout. It spends almost three volumes resolving the arc, and by the time volume 8 ends and a supposed background character got killed, the comical mood of Gakuen Alice has shifted to one being a drama.

Dramatic shift also proves that when you embrace it, there is no turning back. Gakuen Alice tries to return to it’s roots at several points but it doesn’t work. The author cannot grasp what makes Gakuen Alice so funny anymore and as a result, it was unable to return to it’s roots and instead, went to the tragical drama route. While that may upset several fan of the series, the series manages to resolve everything by the end of the volume, but at the cost of several tragical dramatic moment [Such as killing off several characters, betrayal, retribution, and amongst other things]. While it ended on a high note, I barely recognize the manga at it’s final volume. It no longer contains any comedic value and is now known for it’s dramatic value.

A good reminisce that. I must say. I can hardly wait her next work, though nothing is looming on the horizon at the moment. 

Gakuen Alice is notable for embracing their tone shift and

Another example of this would be the Mahou Sensei Negima. At first, the series is only about a child teacher [Negi Springfield], who happens to be a mage, teaches a school in Japan, all while creating mischief thanks to his magical affinities, and almost everything ends up with a fanservice [Or more specifically, ecchi] scenes, such as a girl being stripped off her clothes, or a girl’s skirt getting lifted up, or a breast get fondled or something like that. It was a good comedy harem series, but it was clear that if something is not done, the series would lose it’s footing.

Then, Akamatsu does the unthinkable. It introduces a character and tested out Negi’s magical skill by threatening to kill of his students. It was surprising but it was succesfull, and Akamatsu decides to cash in on it by introducing the school-trip arc, where the tone from the comedy harem genre shifts to that of a shounen-action series, and from there on, the series has been known for it’s magical battles, action scenes, and of course, it’s fanservice scenes. While it may change, it never stray far from it’ s roots of being a good ecchi manga, or perhaps it was just the author’s mind that just won’t let go his principle of putting so many fanservices. Either way, it was a pretty good series and I enjoyed reading it.

Though shifting tone may also expose that genre’s problem, and in Negima’s case, it was the huge amount of character put into the manga, to the point that the manga became too overcrowded with casts and it was so hard remembering them and their purposes in the manga. By the end of the manga, I can only remember half of Negi’s student, Jack Rakan, and Colonel Sanders (By golly his alter-ego was so funny).

That bold Akamatsu's cash-in allowed Mahou Sensei Negima to thrive and release 38 volumes under it.

And another case of this would be the Air Gear series. At first, Air Gear was known for it’s ecchi elements combined with the sports genre where someone uses an “Air Gear” to participate in a skating competition. It was good and I loved it, up until the fourth volume, when it was revealed that an Air Gear is something so valuable in that universe. And then, the genre shifts from that of a ecchi-sports manga to that of a steampunk-like action shounen manga with an added battle-like setting.

While it proved to be popular with fans and everyone alike, I was left fuming, as I enjoyed the main character’s antic when the Air Gear was just used for competition and turf war. That time, it was funny, surprising, and has it’s own charm, but when it changes, the plot just got convoluted, the purposes was unclear, and I ended up dropping the series by the time I got to the tenth volume. I guess that was a bad example of a tone shift, but just for me and several other people. Other might enjoy it but I can say that I do not enjoy it.

While it was well-received, i personally did not like the shift in tone for Air Gear.

Lastly, the example that i have of changing tone or genre lies in the Pokemon anime series. From it’s regularly action-adventure genre where Satoshi [Ash Ketchum] is capturing pokemons in different region, Sun and Moon introduces an all new genre where Satoshi is now enrolling in a Pokemon School. It eliminates the need of Satoshi’s companion, the removal of the usage of Character of the Day (Though I predicted that it’ll be back again in the future just like episode 23), and eliminates the need of any rival. 

It was a breath of fresh air for a series that has been stale since the Best Wishes series, where the formula has been too predictable and boring. However, credits to the sequel of the Best Wishes series, the X & Y series, for introducing romantical tone in the form of Serena, who was introduced as Satoshi’s childhood friend who had a crush on him, and she even kissed him during the final episode of X&Y series. However, it was the Sun and Moon that pulled me back to watching the Pokemon regularly again and now, I am always looking forward for the new episodes and never missed it whenever something new comes out]. However, the Sun and Moon’s art style might have turned off several people, but if they did get turned off by it, then they are missing something good.

  

Pokemon anime series have been stale since Best Wishes series,

but it manages to rebound back thanks to X&Y, particularly Serena,

and it finally returns back into form thanks to the reinvention of the genre by Pokemon Sun and Moon.

Those four series are the prime example of what happened when the tone of an anime is changed and what awaits them in the future. It may prove both beneficial and disastrous for the long-term effect but overall, what I have watched and read that fall under this trope has been succesfull. The brief change of tone might prove to have a backward result, as some might have not enjoyed it at all or it can turn a good series into a bad one, though not every anime has this problem.

I look forward for another surprising tone shift in anime, though i believe it would take some time for me to experience such thing again.