Megane-bu!

Now, allow me to explain Meganebu! in a mildly-large nutshell: an under-budgeted club with an intense adoration for glasses try to complete their project of making X-Ray Glasses, all the while intensifying the love for glasses and getting the unfair School Council to boost their budget in order to make their project a success. Sounds short and simple, right? *BZZZT* Wrong! Meganebu! is a bit more than that. This twelve-episode joyride of an anime fuses five boys' love for glasses with a great amount of comedy, shenanigans, conflicts, X-Ray Glasses failures (Usually ending with explosions) and overall hilarity. I'm gonna go more in-depth here, so sityour butts down, grab a snack, drink, or what have you, and get ready to read the most amateurish first review of my life. STORY - 7/10 The story of Meganebu! is actually fairly basic, like I mentioned earlier. The five members of the Glasses Club all want to complete their X-Ray Glasses to present to Hima high and boost their club budget (and peep on pretty girls), but with each time they make them, comes the bitter taste of failure. Even worse so, the Hima Student Council is pulling shady tactics to make sure the members of the Glasses Club disbands by crushing their passion for glasses. Along the way we encounter loads of laughs, a fair amount of conflict, and general enjoyment as we watch, as well as sympathy from glasses-wearers like me as we watch the boys discuss the things you ought to do to keep your glasses in perfect shape. ART - 9/10 I was astounded by the lush art and vivid imagery that Meganebu! contained. It had a very nice fusion of colours that meshed together beautifully. Given that I'm a junkie for art like this, it kinda wow'd me to see how lush and vibrant the colouring, lighting, and shading for both characters and environments were to make the art as greatly detailed as it is. (I'm mildly reminded of the way Kyoto Animations designed the water in Free!, so that's also a bonus!) SOUND - 8/10 Given that director Soubi Yamamoto incorporated more explosions in this anime than any Michael Bay film, of course the sound effects have to be of a great quality; otherwise, it'd just be cheesy poofs of colour. Not to mention Mucc's excellent opening song and Tomohisa Sako's gloriously catchy ending theme tipped the scales in positive favour for the anime. The background music is also a great thing to listen to as you watch, as it can fit the situations fairly well, whether they're a moment of suspense, action, or just straight-up shits and giggles. CHARACTER - 7/10 The main cast of Meganebu! consists of five boys in the Glasses Club (After all, the anime's title does translate to Glasses Club): Akira Souma, the eccentric president leader with an especially deep admiration for glasses; Yukiya Minabe, the stoic intellectual member of the club and Akira's childhood friend; Takumi Hachimine, the rather airheaded member who loves cream puffs almost as much as glasses; Mitsuki Kamatani, who was introduced to the world of glasses by Akira himself, so he's developed a deep admiration for Akira; and last but not least, Hayato Kimata: the provisional member of the club due to (the creators' running joke of) him wearing fake glasses. With a neat little amount of side characters such as the two more reoccurring teachers Shirogane and Kyousuke, the Hima Council that everyone can't help but get a kick out of despite their antagonistic roles, and even a lunch lady who would later teach them the vital value of proper nutrition and eating habits, this sets up the stages for these twelve episodes very well, providing obstacles and ways to overcome them. What's also nice is how the unimportant characters that we don't need to learn about are two-dimensional white figurines dressed in whatever the situations and settings are; yet we still hear them speaking and doing actions, which indicates that they aren't just animate props, but humans with their own lives to go about and own stuff to do. ENJOYMENT - 7/10 At first, I was a bit skeptical to watch this, not because of how it looks or its synopsis, but because of the animes I already had on my plate at the time. However, I made time, and I gotta say, I enjoyed starting up this anime. This was a fun anime to watch, and I'm glad I got the chance to watch it. OVERALL - 8/10 If simple math didn't give away the final score, I don't know why you're reading this in the first place.... I kid, I kid. Moving on. So yeah, the story, the art, the sound, the characters, and my amusement overall brought the calculations to a 7.6/10 (or 8, if you're lazy and like rounding). This show deserves this score for good reasons. It's not the best, but it's a damn sight more enjoyable than a certain amount out there right now.