good anime of 2011

Episode Reviewed In: Episode 101

Alternate Titles: Heaven’s Memo Pad, God’s Memo Pad, God’s Notebook, 神様のメモ帳

Original Japanese Release Date: July 2011

Episode Length/Run-time: 12 Episodes

Summary:

Alice is a NEET detective who solves crimes involving the dead. Believing there are only two true professions, detectives who uncover the words of the dead and journalists who bring them back to life and immortalize them she seeks to do the first.  With the help of Narumi, a high school student, and a crew of other assistants she completes requests given to her and solves mysteries through a series of arcs.

Review:

Produced by Studio JC who also brought us Bakuman and Toradora this anime is surprisingly not disappointing.  The series starts out with an extraordinarily generic cast of characters.  The moe girl, school girls, the loud confident woman with big boobs, the strong arm, the crazy and even the generically bland high school protagonist.  However, I was pleasantly surprised by the result and got a lot more than I was expecting from this unexpectedly loveable cast.

The story is broken down into a series of arcs ranging from two to four.  So in all you get about five arcs from the series.  Each arc ends up adding something new to the story, a new character, a backstory, or a connection that is then referenced and built upon for the rest of the series.  So while there is no overarching plot or grander story there is some minor progression for the characters and their lives.  Each arc does a very good job of not over-staying its welcome, lasting just long enough to be enjoyable and complete something without being too long.  What really makes each arc are the characters.  The cast is loveable and provided just enough depth that you can begin to really feel connected to them.  Sadly though, the only one who doesn’t have enough depth provided for them is Alice, the detective.  She has character description, traits, and build-up, but no back-story.  Which is sad because without it she is loveable, I can’t imagine how she’d be with it.  And yes, she is a moe character that I enjoyed watching because while she had her moe moments she wasn’t completely incompetent and even seemed strong when she needed to be.  The show doesn’t hesitate to take serious turns and tackle serous issues, as almost every arc deals with some kind of murder or something equally heavy.

The arcs are not the only thing that’s good.  The animation and the music is also done impeccably.  Crisp and clean in a more realistic style the anime just glistens on the screen and looks fantastic.  The opening and endings are well done and catchy as well.  In-between music sets the mood and actually sounds good, something which you’d gladly listen to on the side or just in your car.

The characters have some minor progression throughout the show, most of them overcoming some obstacle or growing in some way.  For a show that, if you look closely, doesn’t really do much it’s really enjoyable.  I feel like “slice of life” is thrown around too often for shows today.  And because something is “slice of life” I feel like people give it an excuse to do absolutely nothing.  So while I hesitantly call this show a mystery slice of life it seems to carry itself well and have some progression in it.  I don’t think it’s an awesome mystery show either, but whatever it is I found myself enjoying myself all the way through.

Overall, it is an above average show one I enjoyed while watching it but one I likely would not watch again or recommend to most it’s an enjoyable watch.