(Nitsuj): Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj and please give a warm welcome to the newest member of team Nitsuj, the sly fox from the Land of the Rising Sun, Yume.
(Yume): A charm to meet you all. It’s an honor to be here.
(Nitsuj): I met Yume while on my trip in Japan and over the last few months she’s been training to join us. In honor of Yume joining I’m gonna do a review with her and I’ll let her chose the anime. So, Yume, what are we reviewing today.
(Yume): We’re going to review that I quite enjoyed and was one of the animes I watched for training, Musaigen no Phantom World. Roughly translated to Myriad Colors Phantom World this anime is based off a light novel written by Sōichirō Hatano. Despite getting started in 2013, the author has so far only written 3 volumes. This fantasy series follows a group of high school students living in a world where the line between fact and fiction has been the destroyed and it’s their job to keep their world safe.
(Nitsuj): Despite being a short series so far Kyoto Animation (Amagi Brilliant Park and Full Metal Panic) decided to take a risk with this series and turn it into an anime at the beginning of the year. Was it a smart move on their part or was it a rush project. Let’s take a look at Musaigen no Phantom World.
Opening and Ending Theme
(Yume): The opening is “Naked Dive” by SCREEN mode and I love this opening so much. The flow of this song fits perfectly with the anime. It’s upbeat and quite pleasant to listen to.
(Nitsuj): The ending is “Junshin Always (純真Always)” by Azusa Tadokoro. Another upbeat song. If anything it’s more upbeat than the opening. In fact, I think this would of made a better opening than Naked Dive. Not really much to about the song. It’s upbeat, Azusa sounds good, and it’s a fun song to listen to.
Episodes 1-4
(Yume): The anime starts off with our main character Haruhiko voiced by Hiro Shimono (Keima from TWGOK) giving us exposition. He explains that due to an incident 10 years ago the brains of humans underwent a change where fact and fiction now intertwine with each other (Nitsuj: In English please). Basically, beings known as phantoms have begun appearing in the world and students such as him are being trained to fight these beings before they cause trouble. After that exposition Haruhiko gets woken up by Ruru a phantom voiced by Azusa Tadokoro (Fino from Yuushibu) a good phantom and helper of Haruhiko. He rushes to school where his teammate Mai voiced by Sumire Uesaka (Fubuki from Kantai Collection) is fighting a phantom at the school grounds. We get our classic anime tropes here such as Haruhiko and Mai being the worst team in the school and never catching a break no matter how much they try. For example, they manage to defeat the phantom by Haruhiko making a sketch of the creature and capturing it in the drawing (Nitsuj: Explanation please. (Yume): Magic) and then Mai destroys it with water magic (all while groping her body. (Nitsuj): Nice). Despite successfully beating the phantom they don’t get paid because they destroyed school property (glad to be of assistance). Mai says they need to recruit more people to their team and as Haruhiko is walking home from school he spots a girl from his school named Reina voiced by Saori Hayami (Haqua from TWGOK) surrounded by phantoms but not panicking at all. Instead, she just eats them all like Kirby (adorable and cute all rolled in one). Haruhiko quickly approaches and goes off on a tangent about how she’s similar to a monster from Greek mythology (Nitsuj: Clearly he’s not used to talking to girls. (Yume): Nerd~) which scares her off (scene here:https://youtu.be/_l1PJ3AxeGI ). The next day at school he tries to recruit her again but she’s not interested in joining however she does agree to shadow them for a mission and luckily they have a mission which involve getting rid of tree phantoms who are causing a disturbance in the area because of their limbo festivities. Mai tries to fight them but her fighting isn’t effective against them. Haruhiko explains that the trees are sad because they’re stuck in limbo and can’t pass on because they weren’t given a festival celebrating their deaths (what a bunch of babies. My temple got destroyed but you don’t see me crying about it. (Nitsuj): You hated your temple. (Yume): True. But it was still my temple). In order to help the phantoms pass on they decide to join in the limbo game in order to honor them. Haruhiko and Reina lose to one of the trees leaving only Mai to face it. In the final round the tree breaks in half (wow, it shattered its own spine) and Mai wins by defying physics with her breast (scene here: //youtu.be/taYnTAERNno, oh look it’s the Boobatrix Reloaded. (Nitsuj): *Chuckles* Yeah. Wait, how’d you know about that joke? (Yume): I looked up your past reviews for training purposes). With this the trees are pleased (Trees: We got to see the Boobatrix, we can die happy now) and Reina eats them so that they pass on. Reina decides to join them and we end with them returning to the school and walking pass a girl who will no doubt play a vital role in the future.
In episode 2 now that the group has Reina on their team Haruhiko decides he needs to work on his summoning abilities in order to be of better use to the team (that and work on strategies). Later on the group is called to take care of a phantom that has possessed a security bot in an abandoned warehouse which belongs to the company that unleashed the virus that blurs the line between fantasy and reality (Nitsuj: Coincidence? I think not). This job was originally given to Koito the girl who Reina saw in the halls last episode but their teacher wants them to assist her since she chooses to work alone and not rely on others. She’s voiced by Maaya Uchida (Lili from DanMachi). She arrives at the abandoned warehouse and faces the robot where we see her power is soundwaves (Nitsuj: Do a fus ro dah). The robot manages to cancel out her powers with its own sounds and she gets saved by the others. Teaming up they all manage to defeat the phantom but get dirty in the process. Koito thanks them for the help but says she isn’t all that impressed with Haruhiko (I have to agree with her. He’s smart, but you have contributed nothing but useless trivia). Mai and Reina go to Haruhiko’s house and use his shower where we see Ruru playing with some device she found in the warehouse. Haruhiko tries to see what’s on it but it shuts down on him however he says he’ll continue investigating it to see what it is. The next day the group get called on a job at a college girl’s dorm (Nitsuj: My kind of job). A UFO phantom has been coming and taking pictures of the girls whenever they change (Nitsuj: Sounds like a good guy to me. Don’t see what the problem is. (Yume): How about the fact it’s against the law? (Nitsuj): Not in anime) and now the group has been asked to catch it. They go and camp out in one of the girls’ room (Nitsuj: AHH~! Too pink! My eyes! (Yume): I have to agree. This room is way too pink even for a girl) but the phantom doesn’t show up. Reina suggest that they should change and they kick Haruhiko out where as they get undress the phantom shows up and hilarity ensues as Haruhiko keeps getting thrown out the window because of misunderstandings. In the midst of the chaos Haruhiko puts his summoning skills to use and tries to summon a demon but instead summons a puppy with wings (cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute~). The puppy manages to catch the UFO and Reina eats it. Koito comes around to see how they’re doing where she sees all the damage and hard time they had catching the UFO and says her thoughts about them have gone down (has anybody told you, you can be a real bitch sometimes Koito?).
Episode 3 is all about Mai. 2 phantoms have been appearing on the bridge and challenging people to fights in order for them to pass. On their way to the bridge Mai talks a little bit about her childhood and how she herself used to be a timid and shy girl who often played by herself because of her shyness (*Yume and Nitsuj burst out laughing* Scene here: //youtu.be/iER5UgjjYV0). They arrive at the bridge where the phantoms can talk (this is new) and they’ve been waiting for Mai to show up so they can fight her. Mai gets overpowered by the phantoms and they’re forced to retreat (Nitsuj: Tactical retreat. (Yume): AKA walk of shame). Realizing she needs a helping hand in her fight, Mai tries to train Haruhiko and Reina in martial arts but that plan goes about as well as trying to train a turtle for the 100-yard dash (Nitsuj: Pointless, impossible, and a waste of time. But still funny to watch. Scene here: //youtu.be/Jp7-Er-uNaY). Haruhiko suggest they try copying her memories into him (using science) and their teacher who’s studying human memories supports this idea (she just wants to ship the two). So the next day Haruhiko and Mai go on somewhat of a date to all of Mai’s favorite spots when she was a child such as the amusement park, the movie theater and the park where those two phantoms show up again to fight her. Haruhiko joins in the fight where his head collides with Mai and they enter the subconscious of each other (as a person who specializes in mind manipulation I must say this is a poor representation of the subconscious. It’s far too clean). Haruhiko copies Mai’s martial art skills and also discovers that the two phantoms they’re fighting were actually Mai’s friends when she was little. It turns out that shy and timid child Mai thought she was was all a lie she made herself believe. In truth, she was a very loud and outgoing girl who would always wrestle the two phantoms in the park and make them cry (Nitsuj: You’re the salt of the Earth Mai). It’s now 10 years later and the phantoms want revenge on Mai (Nitsuj: I don’t blame them. The mental and physical trauma she must have inflicted on those girls). Even though Haruhiko knows martial arts now he still has low stamina and isn’t a match for the girls until he activates Mai’s element powers (Nitsuj: Oh God no! (Yume): Oh God yes). This gives him the strength to keep fighting and with their combined powers Haruhiko and Mai beat the phantoms (scene here: //youtu.be/9_SrCyPyGeA) but they vow to one day return and fight Mai once again.
In episode 4. I can’t. It’s too trippy. Hold on, I’ll be right back.
(Nitsuj): Where you going?
(Yume): To get a professional.
*Yume goes into the system and after a few seconds re-emerges with Shizuku*
(Shizuku): What the hell am I doing here for?
(Yume): Review this episode.
(Shizuku): Why?
(Yume): Because only an insane person could understand this episode. Now review.
(Shizuku): Well okay. So the episode focuses on the Kirby girl- (Nitsuj): Reina. (Shizuku): Reina. Thank you. Where we learn a little bit more about her. We find out that her parents despise phantoms and aren’t really that fond of her having powers. In fact, Reina hasn’t even told them she’s part of the school’s club that deals with phantoms because her relationship with them isn’t all that good. We also find out that she has an older sister who enjoys biking (hey me too) and left the house because the parents didn’t approve of it (it’s not like she was a part of some gang). While all of this is weighing on Reina’s mind she unknowingly becomes possessed by a phantom that sends her into her subconscious where she meets her ideal family. They’re friendly, open, happy, and take an active interest in Reina’s school life as well as entourage it (nice folks. Too bad they’re bunnies). Even Haruhiko and Mai get roped into her fantasy and become her siblings (scene here: //youtu.be/Cp5pcSsh7Ec) until Haruhiko is able to snap her out of it and reveal the fake world (scene here: //youtu.be/8V3pbty5TBo). Once the fake world has been revealed the bunny parents offer her the chance to leave and return to the real world or come with them and become their real daughter. And in a shocking twist she actually decides to go with them (damn! We haven’t seen the parents and barely know them but the fact that she’s willing to go with the bunnies just speaks volume to their characters. (Nitsuj): Yeah I agree. This one scene just cemented Reina’s relationship with her parents without using words. Reina’s parents are people who she can’t stand but can’t turn her back on them because they’re her parents). As Reina is walking towards the bunnies Haruhiko calls out to her and gets her to come back by talking about his family situation. It turns out he too comes from a bad household where his mother left his dad because he engrossed himself in his work but he still holds on to the hope that someday his mom will return home and when she does he wants to be there to greet her. Once Reina decides to stay in the real world (and accept her painful reality) the bunny parents vanish and this ordeal gives Reina the strength to talk to her parents about the phantom club and convince them to let her continue as a member of the club. It’s a small step but Reina is steadily approaching her happy home that she always dreamed about. How was that?
(Yume): Very good.
(Nitsuj): Agreed.
(Shizuku): Thank you. Need anything else?
(Yume): No I think we’re good. You’re free to go now.
*Shizuku goes back into the system as Yume and Nitsuj continue the review*
Episode 5-9
(Nitsuj): Episode 5 focuses on Koito where we discover her past (Yume: And find out why she’s such a stuck up wench). It turns out that when Koito was younger she was just a regular kid. She went to a normal school, had friends and everything. But one day a phantom attacked the rabbit cage at her school and she awakened to her powers which at the time were very powerful and dangerous for a child. Because of her powers everyone became afraid of her and distance themselves from her (what!? How was she not the coolest person in school? Your voice is a weapon. That’s awesome). Even her parents were afraid of her. Koito decided to cut herself off from the world and become a loner who doesn’t need friends nor does she want them. In the episode the same phantom she sealed as a child has returned and she’s determined to beat it once and for all this time (Yume: The circle is now complete. When you first fought she was just a novice. Now she is the master). During the fight Koito gets distracted by Haruhiko and inhales some pheromones which affect her voice so now she can’t use her powers. She gets saved by a girl named Kurumi who also has powers which allow her to turn her stuffed teddy bear into a giant who can fight (and that bear packs one hell of a punch. Scene here: //youtu.be/qwgvO6iq6Vs). The phantom escapes and Mai and Koito decide to have a competition to see who can eliminate the phantom first to get the reward. Haruhiko feeling responsible for what happened to Koito decides to be her partner for this job (Yume: He likes her). Haruhiko tries to get on friendly terms with her but she just won’t let him in however he does hear her backstory from his teacher. Eventually Koito’s voice gets better and she goes to face that phantom again by herself where she gets trapped in a corner and saved by Haruhiko and the others (scene here: //youtu.be/5hU3izBfTQA). Haruhiko manages to seal the phantom and we find out this wasn’t the same phantom Koito fought as a child (it’s still a cool looking phantom. (Yume): Yes). At the end of the episode Koito thanks Haruhiko for his help and even acts a little cute while doing it (scene here: //youtu.be/b3ihhKFYzV4).
Episode 6 is all about Kurumi. In the episode Kurumi is struggling with the pressures of helping out the others and wonders if she can be of any help to them (you have a bear that can grow 10x it’s normal size and has a mean hook. You are a valuable asset to their team). She worries about this so much that she falls into a phantom world with Haruhiko and Ruru which is a reflection of her mind and troubles. In this world Kurumi is the princess of this kingdom full of talking bears (Yume: We’ve entered the world of Gummi Bears) who are fighting against the evil bear king Salmon who wants to marry Kurumi (call the cops) and have all the delicious honey for himself (Yume: Does anybody else think this sounds like an abandoned idea for a Saturday morning cartoon?). Also, her stuffed teddy bear comes to life and is her smooth talking knight who protects her with his life (Shizuku, we have another strange episode please come back). While all this strangeness is going on we do learn a little bit more about Kurumi such as she has a bear fetish (Yume: She’s far too young to be having fetishes) and is quite shy around others because she doesn’t know how to talk to them. Eventually Salmon finds their hideout and attacks where he injures Abreact with an arrow to the ribs (oh you’re fine get up). They escape and hide in a cave where Salmon shows up in a bear mech and Kurumi decides that she’s done playing the damsel in distress (thank you) and faces Salmon herself where she does a Sailor Moon transformation (I am way too sober to be watching this series) and defeats Salmon (scene here: //youtu.be/m4PE97wa9-8). This allows them to return to the real world and this whole ordeal helped Kurumi get over her anxiety and problems.
Nothing much to say about episode 7. Kurumi recruits the gang to find the kitten of one of her schoolmates. While that’s going on everyone at the school begins to act like cats. They climb stuff like cats, laze around in the sun, and they’re drawn towards catnip (Yume: Plus, they live in sewers and play all day). Eventually all the students start to grow cat ears and tails (scenes here: //youtu.be/EKzhHfRxx5s, //youtu.be/TonAEz0NIA0, and //youtu.be/7VZKC_NEcu0. cute but nowhere near as cute as the fox ears and tail. (Yume): Why Nitsuj are you trying to seduce me? (Nitsuj): Tell me it’s not working?). Koito believes that these weird events are being caused by a phantom at the abandoned school mansion which once used to be called the cat mansion since once it was closed down it became a hotspot for all the homeless cats (they had raves on Saturday nights) until it finally got condemned and closed off. The group goes to investigate the mansion where they believe the phantom has the lost kitten Rudolph and after entering the phantom world they find Rudolph in the clutches of the phantom which is a giant cat with a mansion built on top of it (did Miyazaki have a hand in this anime because this sounds like something he would come up with?). The phantom cat is actually peaceful as it’s a representation of all the cats who used to come to the mansion and get fed by the students until the placed got condemned. Rudolph somehow got inside and the phantom became overjoyed to finally have a friend to play with after all these years. Reina and Kurumi convince the phantom to give Rudolph back and it returns them to their world vanishing from ours (scene here: //youtu.be/AZqBXhXPrS4). The group decides to fix up the mansion to make it where students can start visiting again and the school board decides to turn it into a tea mansion.
We get the obligatory fanservice episode for episode 8 (Yume: Aww~, if I had known ahead of time I would have worn a swimsuit. (Nitsuj): Two piece or one piece? (Yume): Two piece. (Nitsuj): Ohh~ God you are such a temptress). The school’s open space has been taken over by a big monkey relaxing in a hotsprings with smaller monkeys. Because of this classes are cancelled (awesome~) but the students are told if they don’t get rid of them they’ll have to make up classes during summer vacation (fuckers). All the students with special powers each try to take the monkey down but all of them lose (scenes here: //youtu.be/33GwK6A0544 and //youtu.be/lM0Apej1aag. (Yume): Well on the plus side it is nice to see the other power of the students). After many attempted failures Haruhiko comes up with an idea to get the monkey out of the water so he can seal it. He paints Mai’s butt red to lure the monkey out (Jack Frost: Strange idea. (Pyro Jack): But at the same time quite arousing. (Yume): Are they always like this? (Nitsuj): 24/7. (Yume): And here I thought you were the pervert. (Nitsuj): Welcome to my life) and it seems to work but the monkey captures Mai and Haruhiko summons Cthulu (which comes in the form of an octopus) to fight the monkey (I know where this is going) and saves Mai looking like a badass. Surprisingly he holds his own against the monkey and doesn’t do anything perverted (scene here: //youtu.be/DawfxiMtZxw, this did not go where I thought it was going). After Cthulu weakens the monkey they capture it where it begins to cry out of sadness (Yume: Don’t be such a sore loser). It turns out the monkey’s wife left him and he was relaxing in the hotsprings to forget his troubles (dude, we have bars for that. . .or the Cleveland Browns). They start to feel bad for him and decide to find him a new wife (Yume: Make way for the next Bachelor) so they dress up Haruhiko in a monkey outfit and give him away to the monkey to end the episode.
In episode 9 the group voluntarily join the drama club to help their senpai Ayumi who is the only member (Yume: Shut this club down immediately) who wants to win the local competition and move on to regionals (man when did school plays become so competitive?). After much practicing and rehearsing (and Ayumi yelling at them) the day of the contest rolls around where we discover that Ayumi is a phantom. She’s the embodiment of past drama students who were sad and frustrated that they failed to reach regionals 10 years in a roll (Yume: Wow, I think it’s time to seek outside help if you’ve been failing that many times). She’s harmless and all she really wants to do is put on a good play and advance to regionals so the group continues to do the play with her where as she gets into it and makes the stage real and everyone in the audience becomes a background character for the play having their own lines and everything (this is quite the interactive play). Everyone performs their lines accordingly and defeat Ayumi making the play a huge success winning the competition and moving on to regionals where the next goal is nationals (Yume: And sacrificing their summer in the process. (Nitsuj): And that would be my cue to leave).
Episodes 10-13 and OVA
Episode 10 is a Ruru episode where she wants to know what it’s like to be a human for a day (pretty good. Just ignore all the political extremist and idiots you come across in the day and you’ll be fine). A phantom witch overhears her and volunteers to grant her wish because she’s a good witch who likes granting the wishes of phantoms with no strings attached (I like this witch). She gives Ruru a necklace but tells her that if anybody finds out who she truly is she’ll return to normal and she’ll lose her ability to fly. Ruru goes to school as the new transfer student (and I’m not gonna lie she’s quite pretty in human form) where Haruhiko gets put in charge of her (Yume: Stick her with the person you know won’t try anything perverted). Once in school she goes to all the clubs to tryout the different sports and events all while making sure no one knows who she is with a fake sob story that the girls easily fall for (oh come on. You gotta be kidding me? They actually fell for that story?). Later that night they all go to a town festival where the witch finds a firework phantom who wants to go out with a bang. The only problem is he is small so the witch makes him big and he goes on a rampage too close to the festival grounds where if he goes off he could seriously hurt someone (Yume: Forget the bang. He’ll go out burning the faces and bodies of many people). They try to stop him but he’s too fast and once Haruhiko gets caught by him Ruru reveals herself to everyone and tries to save Haruhiko by removing the necklace around the firework but has no luck until she talks to the firework and convinces it to go up higher into the sky with her where it finally goes out with a bang (*holds out finger like a gun* bang). Everyone thinks Ruru is dead but no she’s fine (a little tattered but fine. Scene here: //youtu.be/Vy-FF264BH8). After that everyone enjoys the festival by watching the rest of the fireworks go off.
(Yume): Episode 11 is a rather touching episode. While Haruhiko is up at night working he comes across an essay he wrote as a child. The next day he wakes up and he’s a child where his mind has regressed to that of a child (and he’s so cute~. (Nitsuj): Don’t turn into a shotacon Yume. (Yume): But he’s so cute! Can’t I at least hug him? (Nitsuj): No. Because you won’t stop at a hug. (Yume): At least let him call me Onee-chan. You can’t deny me that privilege). He goes to school where he comes across Kurumi who at first has no idea who he is and mistakes him for a normal child (Nitsuj: She really couldn’t tell that was Haruhiko? There’s really not that much difference between his adult form and child form) until she finally sees his sketchbook and realizes that the child is Haruhiko. They go to the others who believe his regression was caused by a phantom and they decide to investigate his house after school. In class we see all the girls crowd around him because he’s so cute (scene here: https://youtu.be/XlQJ8R2thMY) and after school they investigate his house where they don’t find anything strange but decide it’s not safe to leave him alone so Mai becomes his official guardian and takes him in where he nags about her living arrangements and even shows that he’s more knowledgeable about things more than her (scene here: //youtu.be/k8hnwvUs2pY. (Nitsuj): So even as a kid he was a nerd? (Yume): An adorable nerd). Mai somehow manages to balance out schoolwork, jobs, and spending while also taking care of Haruhiko (wow, that’s the real super mom right there) and even developing a bond with him. One day Mai gets done with work early and the two go to the park and have fun (scene here: https://youtu.be/pE0tJ0piY2I) that is until a sand phantom attacks who’s mad that kids always pee in the sandbox (Nitsuj: Was that really a thing? I didn’t live near any parks as a kid so I never played in a sandbox. Did kids really take a piss in the sandbox without their parents noticing?). Mai tries to fight the phantom but somethings wrong with her and she gets overpowered. Haruhiko tries to help her but he’s too small until his desire to save her finally allows him to return to normal (damn) and he saves Mai. In the end Haruhiko has no recollection of what happened when he was a child which makes Mai a little sad however she does figure out why he turned into a child, it all has to do with the essay he wrote as a child (get ready, this is the touching moment). In the essay Haruhiko talks about a Sunday he spent with his parents in the park (Nitsuj: That sounds normal. What’s the big deal?). But here’s the twist, he made it all up (Nitsuj: Pardon?). As a child Haruhiko’s dad was always traveling due to work and his mother left them so he never got a chance to have that family experience and decided to make one up for himself. Somehow Haruhiko’s powers regressed him back to a child so that he could live out his dream except instead of it being his real parents it was instead the person he admired and respected the most, Mai, who made his dream a reality and the sad part is he doesn’t remember it (Nitsuj: Wow, that is touching).
In episode 12 we finally struck plot (Nitsuj: Plot! Plot! Ploooooooooot~). There’s a dangerous phantom going around being called Enigma who has the appearance of a woman (Nitsuj: And looks like Carmen San Diego with black hair and red eyes) and goes around attacking students with phantom powers and stealing their powers making them her own (a regular Jack the Ripper combined with Rogue from X-Men). Haruhiko and the others face off against Enigma where Haruhiko manages to seal her but her picture vanishes making the group wonder if they really sealed her (scene here: //youtu.be/aLjI8LSKm0A, or if she was there to begin with). Weeks go by and summer vacation starts where Haruhiko receives a call from his mother who wants to meet him in the park. At first Haruhiko wants nothing to do with her (Nitsuj: Than why go to the park?) but the little boy inside of him just can’t pass up the opportunity to spend time with his mother and the two start living together again. At first everything seems well (Nitsuj: For Haruhiko at least. The others not so much) but the others start to worry about Haruhiko and go to his house for dinner where the first thing Haruhiko’s mother ask is whose his girlfriend (straight to the point, I respect that. (Nitsuj): If I had to guess I say the one with the headphones and the one who performed the boobatrix, //youtu.be/qjBRNqwDPrU). At the table Mai receives a call from their teacher who tells them that Haruhiko’s mom went missing a week ago (Nitsuj: Oh shit) and that Enigma has another power, she can control the minds of others to hide her presence (oh shit). Sure enough Enigma has taken over the mind of Haruhiko’s mother in an effort to get to Haruhiko who says that Haruhiko’s power has the potential to be the strongest powers out there (such is the case with all characters in the MC position). She manages to capture Haruhiko with the others trying to stop her and failing. She steals Haruhiko’s powers to end the episode on a cliffhanger (scene here: https://youtu.be/DVrVwaRdNOE).
(Nitsuj): In the final episode we start off I want to say the next day. Haruhiko’s mom has fallen into a coma and the only way to save her is to destroy Enigma who has disappeared on them. Haruhiko tries to stay strong and keep moving forward but his friends can tell he’s in bad shape (Yume: He lost his powers and his mom. He is swimming in a whirlpool of emotions). As he’s walking out of the hospital he runs into his stepdad (well so much for the parents hooking back up) who tells him that his mom always thought of him and wanted to see him but felt guilty about what happened in the past and didn’t think she had the right to see him (lies, you just didn’t want to see him). They all return to Haruhiko’s house where we see that Ruru has changed and become a bit more tamed, well-mannered, and big sister like (Yume: Sort of like me. (Nitsuj): *Busts out in laughter*). Koito busts in and wants to know if Haruhiko finished repairing that data device Ruru picked up from the warehouse that belonged to Alayashiki because apparently they’re behind the creation of Enigma. Haruhiko says no saying it’ll take some time to repair it but Albrecht takes a look at and fixes the device himself as well as hack into the device with ease (scene here: //youtu.be/uV2gn_3jlcU, Haruhiko just got rekt by a stuffed teddy bear). After hacking into the files, we find out that Enigma was a phantom created by Alayashiki in an experiment to create phantoms that could be used for warfare (no rights no laws). Enigma’s powers were far greater than they imagine and she escaped from there facility where she began absorbing the powers of people with special powers that Alayashiki was researching. Her goal now is to hack into the database of Alayashiki and use Haruhiko’s powers where she’ll gain control of all the phantoms and become the queen of the new world where she’ll rule both humans and phantoms. Enigma finally reappears outside of the Alayashiki corporation where her first destination is their hospital which is where Haruhiko’s mom is located (what are the odds?). The group arrives onto the scene where they fight against Enigma but they’re no match for her. Their teacher tells Haruhiko that there’s a way for him to regain his lost powers, Ruru. She explains that Ruru was created by Haruhiko long ago thus making her a part of him so chances are she has traces of his powers locked up inside of her (Yume: A cloud with a personality of its own). In order to reclaim his powers he has to do the exact same thing to Ruru, Enigma did to him, kiss her. After a short delay the two kiss and Haruhiko reclaims his powers (if anything I think he’s stronger now) and he summons Marchosias and Cthulhu in their true forms (holy shit they look badass). With Haruhiko back in action they turn the tide against Enigma and manage to destroy her. With her defeat Haruhiko’s mom gets better and the two share a very touching moment together, all the powers that Enigma stole return back to their users, Alayashiki faces criminal charges for their experiments, and Haruhiko and the others return to their daily lives (scene here: https://youtu.be/iEd5cY1y58M).
(Yume): Last month we got an OVA of the series where it’s summer (Nitsuj: Yay~ fanservice) and the school is going on training camp by the sea. Once they arrive at the end they get tasked with eliminating a phantom that’s been causing trouble in the area. On the first night there the phantom doesn’t show up so they have some fun with Haruhiko starting to notice Mai as not just his senpai but as a woman (about time). The next day everyone hits the beach where we get to see all the girls in their swimsuits (Nitsuj: Yay~ fanservice) where the phantom shows up and unleashes the censorship light on everyone (Nitsuj: Censorship. So, we meet again my old enemy. I thought I got rid of you in Shinmai Maou no Testament). While everyone isn’t really naked the light gives off the impression that they are naked and since human nature tells us to cover our shame and be embarrassed by our bodies everyone can’t concentrate on the fight and some boys actually resign to this way of life (Nitsuj: Dumbasses! Where is your sense of eroticism? A woman’s beauty isn’t measured by how big her breast are or how nice her butt is but by her own eroticism. What she leaves to the imagination when she appears in a swimsuit, that sense of excitement she gives you when the wind flips up her skirt, or when she teases you by showing her bra strap. Thanks to the Internet any man can see a woman naked and think she’s beautiful but to see a woman’s full eroticism on display for you to see is where true beauty can be found and enjoyed. *The Jack Bros. begin to applaud Nitsuj* (Pyro Jack): *Sniff* Beautiful. (Jack Frost): I have seen the light! (Yume): Oh brother). Haruhiko manages to fight through the embarrassment and get everyone to help him defeat the phantom where they manage to get it out of the water and have Reina eat it (oh yeah she could do that couldn’t she? (Nitsuj): Yeah it’s kind of sad they don’t use this as much as they should). With the phantom defeated they decide to enjoy the rest of their camp and we end with Haruhiko losing his swim trunks in the ocean and giving the girls something to look at (yay~ fanservice).
Final Thoughts
(Yume): So that was Phantom World it’s enjoyable, great, funny, touching, and a good anime. Wouldn’t you say Nitsuj?
(Nitsuj): Uh, not entirely.
(Yume): What!? You didn’t like Phantom World?
(Nitsuj): Oh no I like it, but at the same time it has a lot of problems. While the characters are decent, the music good, the animation nice, action scenes alright, and the visuals very created that it reminds me of something from a Miyazaki film, the anime has a lot of problems that stop it from being great. For starters we never see any development among the characters. While we get to learn a little bit about them such as their past we never see them develop as characters or grow all that much. In fact, they never tell us how Mai and Haruhiko met in the first place. Probably the weakest character of them all is Ruru. She serves no purpose to this anime.
(Yume): Yes, I have to agree there. It feels as if this character was just added in to boost the appeal of this anime.
(Nitsuj): Actually yes, that’s exactly what she is. Ruru doesn’t appear in the light novel at all, the anime just added her in there in order to have a cute mascot and get people talking about the anime. Her character serves no purpose at all until the end. She contributes nothing to the series and just comes off as rather annoying and an extra character. She’s like Navi from Legend of Zelda. She was supposed to help the game but instead she just annoys you to no end. On top of not fully exploring the characters we never fully explore the world they’re in. We never get a sense of where Haruhiko and the others fit in on the totem pole. Are their powers unique, are there other’s out there with similar powers like there’s, do some of them use their powers for evil, the list goes on and we never get an answer to any of these questions. Finally, the anime can be boring and lazy to watch. For the majority of the anime we have no plot until the final two answers. While there are some animes like this that have no plot they’re mostly comedies. This series is more than a comedy, it’s has deep and touching moments as well as explore the minds of people and how our imagination can affect the world both positively and negatively. Even when the plot starts it comes completely out of nowhere with zero build-up and a somewhat lackluster conclusion at the end. Animes with these kinds of stories usually build up to something while advancing the story and developing it’s character but again, a majority of the anime I feel as if I’m standing still and waiting for the bus to arrive. The story is literally waiting for the plot to come and pick it up.
(Yume): Wow, I guess I never saw it that way. I guess I look like a fool for still liking it despite all these problems.
(Nitsuj): Of course not. Like you said the anime can be quite good and when there’s effort put into it you can see that it’s a good series. The visuals are very creative, I liked them and when the anime gets serious and focuses on the characters and their lives it’s something pretty interesting and deep stuff that gets you right in the heart. I don’t what got into Kyoto Animation when they did this anime but it just feels like they got lazy with this series and only did some of the work instead of going 100% like they did on their past projects.
Final Scores
(Nitsuj): My final score for this series is 3/10. I liked it but there’s just too many mistakes and a lack of effort for me to give it a higher score.
(Yume): I give the anime a 7/10. Despite all the faults you mentioned I can’t help but like this series and see the great amount of potential it has when it gets put in the right hands.
(Nitsuj): So averaging out those scores we get a final score of 5/10. I really did want to like this anime and give it a higher score but with everything that happened in it this is the best I can give it. Kyoto Animation, I don’t know what’s going on with you guys but I know and you know you’re better than this. Please return to your roots and start producing high quality shows again.
(Yume): It looks like I still have a lot to learn don’t I?
(Nitsuj): Yes. But there’s always next time and you’ll have plenty of opportunities in the future Yume. For now, you did alright. Signs us off Yume.
(Yume): Thanks for reading and we’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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