If only I could make Engi blush in that first pic with photoshop -.- I've never really talked about Yumekui Merry after the season preview because unlike the controversial Madoka Magica, moelicious Infinite Stratos or widely debated Fractale, there isn't really much to talk about for every single episode. Not that its boring in any way; Yumekui Merry is kind of predictable, but the series took a rather slow and comfortable pace developing the story and the characters thus I don't find the necessity or motivation to write about that. That's unlike Zombie where nothing exciting seems to happen though. But the point of this post is to talk about how much more interesting it has became after the unimpressive verdict I gave it in the season preview and how it's becoming one of my favourites; even if I don't talk about it much. If I would describe what's the best thing about the series, it would subtleness... That's something very rarely seen in anime nowadays, which mostly rely heavily on archetypes, cliches and fomulaic dialogue to create those funny or cute moments. That is what led to the failure of that one eroge adaptation every season... boring old reused scenes and situations. Not that it always didn't work out; Infinite Stratos found the perfect combo of character design, voice actor, personality and situation for that one character everyone can't help but love: Charlotte. Yumekui Merry's subtleness is in the way the series create the cute, moe or funny situations not in the predictable manner that other series usually do. It was only in the most recent episode (nine) that I have a strong opinion on this though. Most of episode nine is information dumping and setting up for the next (final) part of the series, yet it's full of the cute moments of Yui and Engi that I can't help but love. It reminds me of K-ON where they can make every scene lovable, but that is a slice-of-life moe blob series; this isn't. Yui's seiyuu is surprisingly likable. Her VA, Akiya Tomoko, is an unfamiliar name and after a bit of research, her only big role is in Ojamajo Doremi... a kiddy show I'm sure hardly any one watches. Although many might disagree, I just really like the way she can act out many different situations in the dialogue without having a drastic change in her tone, and maintain the cuteness in the voice all the time. That's somewhat similar to the charm of Omigawa Chiaki, although the tone of the voice she maintains is more towards hysterical. Engi quickly become one of my favourite characters this season and honestly right now I can't tell whether I like Charlotte or her more. Engi have this strong and impersonal front, but can be really caring, gentle and warm inside. And it's so cute when she gave that rare smile above. Onward to the final leg of the story. Don't let the hype bring down the amount of cuteness this series has! Bonus: The eyes says it all.
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