I'm usually immune to the strangest concepts but this one certainly makes a lot of effort to convince me that the Japanese are weird. Today's review is on Akikan.
Now be prepared for a weird plot.
Kakeru Daichi is a normal perverted guy until the can of Melon Juice he drinks turns into a beautiful girl who is called Melon for convenience sake.
He has been chosen for a government project called the Akikan Elect which is meant to decide which can is better, Aluminum or Steel, to decide this the Akikan's themselves must fight it out to decide but the story decides to do away with the fighting very quickly to avoid becoming Mai-Hime and become a comedy romance anime instead which doesn't really change things an awful lot.
The problem is Akikan seems to be caught between two genres, the novelty fighter & the romantic comedy, it equally doesn't help that it sometimes delves into harem territory especially as the cast grows more female characters.
But to Akikan's credit at least it tries to be different, the main male lead is not an accidental pervert but a full blown pervert which breaks the first law of Harem instantly, only two girls actually like him since Akikans only fall in love with their owners so it's less Harem and more simple love triangle.
The Akikans themselves are made up of a tsundere, a devoted servant and a super cute little girl. There are only three males in the story, one is the lead, one is the invisible friend and the other is a proud Yaoi character who's clearly in the wrong anime.
The other females are Yaoi guy's over worked secretary, the little Akikan's child minder, a feminist witch and a girl who seriously can't see how much of a pervert Kakeru is. And there's another Akikan but she's introduced so suddenly and so late that we barely get enough time to take her character in, with that in mind the ending is rushed and suddenly reverts to the action plot it started with.
It's habit of throwing in sudden changes is like the director suddenly remembering he's got a deadline and throws in something weird that ends up breaking the flow of the story, made more obvious by the sudden upgrade in art in Episode 11 or the constant breakdowns in serious tones for more of Kakeru's perverted mindset, it's a sheer mess that's poorly managed throughout. Finally to note, there is no dub, probably just as well.
Final Verdict: For such a bizarre concept it strangely manages to work but needs more care and a few more solid foundations to really work as a proper anime. I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but it needs a couple of cliches. It's bargain anime at it's finest so give it a look.
