First Date: Prism Ark
- Title: Prism Ark
- Studio: Frontline
- Genre: Fantasy
Ratings (out of 5):
- Story: ♥♥
- Animation: ♥♥♥
- Characters: ♥♥
- OP/ED Themes: ♥♥♥
- Overall: ♥♥ (Bleah!)
Thoughts:
Oof. Prism Ark’s first episode opens with the main couple about to share a smooch, when a baddie shows up and a big freakin’ battle ensues. During the battle, in which we are introduced to a half-dozen other characters of varying inspidness, the audience is also forced to endure some seeeerious explication. First, a history of the worldsetting, and then an extended series of flashbacks involving the female lead’s past with the male lead, who apparently dyed his hair and changed his name, or something.
It oddly feels as though the series is a sequel to something, and that the first episode is recapping that first thing. Except, uh, it’s not.
So I think what happens next is we jump back to a time inbetween the childhood seen in the extended flashbacks and the present. After spending some time there we eventually get back to the present…but will the “present” prove to be close to the end of the anime, or will there be a whole other arc after it?
All in all, the timing is just plain way off. “In Medias Res” is a Latin phrase that means “in the middle of things,” and it’s a common literary technique– that is, starting the story in the middle, covering backstory as necessary, and continuing through to the end. The result is that the viewer is drawn into the action directly and becomes interested in the rest.
It’s tricky to pull off if you have extended backstory like Prism Ark, but some shows do it well. Fullmetal Alchemist opens with a 2-episode “present” arc, then jumps up into a whopping 7-episode flashback (eps 3 through 9) before returning to the present and continuing through the end. But you’ll notice that they spent a full two episodes drawing the viewers into the character and the story before explaining the rest. Prism Ark is nowhere near as careful.
On top of poor timing, boring exposition, and kind of stupid flashbacks, the show has pretty dull, stereotypical characters (including the aforementioned baddy, a nun named “Sister Hell,” and no, I’m not kidding), not to mention mediocre animation at best.
Tags: fall-2007, first-dates, prism-ark
October 22nd, 2007 at 6:48 am
unfortunatly, Prism Ark is a sequel to a H-game “Prism Heart” now Why the heck are they releasing part 2 is beyond me, the first episode did kinda feel like they were grasping to try to explain to the audience, however in this they didn’t pull it off very well, I am interested to watch more(MAJOR Halko Momoi fan) but this series may be dropped if it doesn’t pick up.
October 22nd, 2007 at 2:53 pm
if [ "Sister Hell" == "bondage nun" ]
then
DO WANT.
fi
October 22nd, 2007 at 3:52 pm
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