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| From https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZjVmNDI2ZDMtOTM2Yy00ODViLWFkZjUtNTBjO TRkZjY3OTNlL2ltYWdlL2ltYWdlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTk2ODMxMzI@._V1_.jpg |
Director: Masahiro Takata
Screenplay: Motoichi Adachi
Based on the manga Lychee Light Club by Usamaru Furuya
Voice Cast: Akiyoshi Nakao as
Tamiya, Ryou Kimura as Zera, Daisuke Hirose as Kaneda, Hisanori Satō as Raizou,
Kōichirō Tomioka as Dentaku, Mao Kato as Dafu, Norihisa Hiranuma as Niko, Ore
no Graffiti as Lychee, Rin Honoka as Canon , Yasuko Mitsūra as Yasuko, Yuki
Tamaki as Jaibo, Yuya Miyashita as Akobu
Synopsis: Nine boys in an all-boys school create a robot that runs
on lychee fruit to kidnap the most beautiful women possible...however unlike
the original Usamaru Furuya manga and
stage play, the Lychee Club in this world are too busy bickering about commercialising
robot Lychee for profit and other tangent delaying their plan to rule the world.
This'll be another confused
review. Another micro-series, eight three minute long joke episodes, but
peculiar in this case as it's based on Usamaru
Furuya's controversial but acclaimed manga, an incredibly dark and
disturbing manga which has yet developed a large reputation, enough that the
experimental author's source material has been adapted both for this weird spin
off and for a live action film. For what has been described as dealing with
violence, transgressive sexual content and is generally viewed as a serious
work it's managed a strong popularity or enough buzz to lead to these
additions. Litchi DE Hikari Club is
a perplexing little take whether you have read the manga or (as for me) haven't.
Here a group of bishonen boys in uncomfortable fascist looking uniforms,
(intentionally disturbing in the manga), have built a robot powered by lychees with
the purpose of kidnapping girls, only for one named Kanon to undermine their
plans, an important figure in the manga and here the only main female figure in
the cast.
Clearly, obviously, context is
lost when a gag spin-off to a serious work is watched by itself. These
spin-offs are a curiosity which have a long lineage - in some context they make
sense when the production staff decide to lighten the mood and have fun, be it
the omake specials for serious series like Black
Lagoon (2006), literally bonus material or if you have a franchise so vast
like Gundam you can get away with a
piss-take version with the characters out-of-context and arguing. Sometimes questions
have to be asked who came up with some of these one-offs vastly different from
their source. This one is still peculiar even in that context as it was made as
an anime series in its own right, streamed on CrunchyRoll with the danger that people like me would've presumed
it'd be a straight ahead adaptation and not a comedy.
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| From http://www.anime-kun.net/animes/ screenshots/litchi-de-hikari-club-97761.jpg |
The other issue is that, even if you're going to be an in-joke leaden series for fans, like the Gundam parody, you still have to be a good series, and especially with my introduction with these micro-series, many don't even really use their three minutes or so well enough. One of the few exceptions was Gdgd Fairies (2011-13) which, despite being fifteen minutes per episode, was mainly a series of vignettes and made sure that a) the jokes were funny even if you didn't get the otaku references and b) got far more ambitious and weird over its two seasons. This anime has moments where its premise, about this serious ultra disturbing manga if the cast were mainly idiots, succeeds; in which all the cast baring Kanon and the robot Lychee, who are Best Friends Forever, are completely incompetent and spend their time on inane ideas. Ideas such as wondering if Lychee can eat anything else barring his namesake, accidentally turning him into a gourmet chef or the ill advised creative expansion into black star Lychee Club beach wear, ideas which are funny in any context especially with knowledge of the original source material. It helps that here, with simplified but distinct character designs, every member stands out vocally and in appearance, and all have idiosyncrasies that cause them to be dumber or weirder than the other, a group of immature man-boys who may want to rule the world with their violent ideas and fascist symbolism, but cannot see that sacrificing one's eye if not the same as gimmick objects from a magazine advertisement or a jar of scabs, much to the grievance of the member who sacrificed his eye for use in Lychee when every fellow underling offers the aforementioned examples.
But...it's still a slight work,
and never lifts itself into something special or legitimately weird. Definitely
not as strange as a band being created to interpret these characters through
actual music and concerts, an idea which has all sorts of potential
tastelessness behind it alongside being also of interesting or even great as a
marketing scheme. This anime, rather than taking advantage of the material, or
scared of trying to adapt a manga with the content it had, ended up being the
least interest direction you could've gone, a shame especially as this review
is another short and befuddle one, and in terms of genre its definitely not
horror like its source material in the slightest, as ill-advised as the club
leader's ghastly swimwear.
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| From https://ru.myanimeshelf.com/upload/dynamic/2012-12/19/_ DeadFish__Litchi_DE_Hikari_Club_-_07__ 720p__AAC_.mp4_snapshot_01.11__2012.11.13_12.24.54_1.jpg |
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