Friday, June 12, 2015

Gugure! Kokkuri-san

Gugure! Kokkuri-san

Name: Gugure! Kokkuri-san 繰繰れ!コックリさん

Status: Completed
Episode: 12
Released Date (for eng subs): Every Monday

Summary:
Kohina Ichimatsu, the self-proclaimed doll, called out the fox ghost Kokkuri-san with a suspicious incantation! But it was a story of the past where Kokkuri-san was able to answer any question you had. Nowadays, it relies on a certain search engine, but is actually bad at anything digital. He was going to possess Kohina, but got worried about her living all alone and devotes himself to do chores as if he was her mother. On top of that, the dog ghost Inugami who is infatuated with Kohina and the old good-for-nothing supernatural raccoon dog Shigaraki decide to root themselves with her as well! 

Summary Source: Crunchyroll


Personal Ratings: 2.5
Idea: 3 / 5
This anime is a slice of life, comedy anime. There is a lot of different kind of anime that comes under these two genre, so don't think it's all that unique. The idea and setting, however, it's set in both the olden area and the modern area, so it has it's own uniqueness in that area.
I think that the uniqueness of this anime comes from using the popular superstitions "kokkuri-san" game. At first I really liked this idea, and was really thrilled when they use certain belief in their jokes, however, it kinda seemed like they forgot about this fact half way down.

Execution
Development: 2 / 5
In comedy animes, there is usually not much plot to develop because of the nature of the genre. No exceptions to this anime; there was really no plot to develop, each episode was on it's own. Though, there was some development in the last episode, about Kohina and her loneliness.

Emotions: 2 / 5
It's a comedy anime, so it's basically suppose to make you laugh, but it totally didn't make me laugh at all. There were episodes which I thought was pretty funny, but in the end none of them did make me laugh. Though, I did feel a bit emotional in the last episode. 

Planning: 1 / 5
There were absolutely no signs of planning at all. I'm sure that most comedy story lines are usually this way, there they just start out with a basic story line and build it up along the way, without thinking too much about it in the beginning.
Each episodes can be seen by itself, though the base of the story line is in episode 1. It might have been better if they did show Kokkuri-san and his past, or his side of the story. From there they can show us the characters who are related to him, and then introduce them later in the episodes.

Character Development: 3 / 5
Main character here would be Kohina and Kokkuri-san. Kohina's character development would probably for her to be more human-like, interactive, and to make at least one friend. Honestly, there is barely any development in her character. I really wanted to know if her acting like a doll is really due to her being lonely, of is it just because she wants to be one; until the end, they didn't really give us a conclusion as to the reason behind her behavior. Though her behavior didn't change until the end of the anime, they did show us more sides to her personalities. Other than her main personality of being emotionless and liking cup noodles a lot, they did show us about how she interacts with other characters, which enables the viewers to see more into her character. Though I think because of her mundane personality, her character tends to get swallowed up by Kokkuri-san.
As for Kokkuri-san, his character development would be he involvement with Kohina. There is that difference as to how important he is to Kohina from the first episode to the last episode, you can see that the position he stands in Kohina's life and by the way he acts, that there is that development, even though Kohina may not be treating him any differently.

Side Character Development: 3 / 5
Side characters would include all the "full-time" characters that appears; Inugami, Shigaraki, Tama and Yamada.
Inugami can be considered a main character, but I didn't want to mix him in with the two mains. Inugami, is basically the same type of character as Kokkuri-san, and have very similar points. But their personalities are very different. Inugami places a lot of importance into Kohina, so even if Kokkuri's and Ingami's personalities over powers Kohina's, Inugami's obsession over Kohina ensures that she doesn't get lost.

Seiyuu: 4 / 5
I really loved the seiyuu cast, but I maybe a little biased on this, because I follow most of the seiyuu cast in this anime (OnoD, Sakurai, Chiwa, Rina) But honestly, I really did think that OnoD did do a good job with this comedy anime, compared to his usual cool and low voice. His voice really made the scenes a lot more funnier.
Rina also did a really good job with the narration. Narrations, I find, is usually done by a male, but I think using a refreshing female voice here did lift up the slightly moody feeling that came from Kohina.

Other:
Like in most comedy shows, this anime doesn't stick to the form of reality, and pulls out really outrageous ideas.

Art Ratings: 4
Character designs and animation is really very well done. It has that simplicity incorporated into the characters, which suits the whole story line.


Similar Animes:
Kami-sama Hajimemashita
For these two animes, it's set in a modern theme, yet they both incorporate mythical believes. They both have a fox ikemen main character, and is both under the comedy genre.
The only difference would be that Kami-sama Hajimemashita is more towards the romance genre that comedy.

Barakamon
Set in a modern, yet still have that 'olden' feeling; for Kokkuri-san it's because of the many mythical characters, while for Barakamon it's because it's set in the country side.
Characters are also similar, where the main characters are 1. A male adult 2. Female kid. (just for your info, OnoD voice acts both the main character in both anime).
Their both under the slice of life and comedy genre. The only difference would be that Barakmon is more slice of life and sticks more to the logical side of life. 


Recommended for:
Gender: Both
Age: 13 and above
My Ratings: PG-13