10 Second Anime - Musaigen no Phantom World - Episode 1

Translated: Myriad Colors of the Phantom World. Children with special powers band together to banish "phantoms" for fun and profit. A mash-up of the harem comedy and fantasy battle genres, Phantom World presents a self-aware light-hearted comedy. Haruhiko and Mai recruit Reina to join their rag-tag group of Phantom Hunters. Season Premiere.

Episode 1 - "Phantom Age"

First Thoughts.

This show looks to me like a cross between Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! and Natsume Yuujinchou. Since KyoAni did Chuunibyou, that's not so surprising to get that impression. It's like they took the unserious atmosphere of that show but played the super powers straight. There might be some drama later on in the series, but I get the feeling it will be about relationships and the motivations behind Phantom Hunting. I don't think we'll get underlying ugliness like Kyoukai no Kanata had, which was a serious fantasy show with light-hearted elements. I think we have the reverse here, which will mean a fun episode every week until the last 3 or 4 weeks when we need to introduce some drama to have some kind of extra happy conclusion. The harem hijinks and sexy character designs are already enough to be entertaining.

Heh.

Dat Exposition.

The point of the optical illusions, ah, allusions was to emphasize that the Phantoms were always in the world, it's just that after that certain biomedical accident people can now see them. Much like an optical illusion, once you get the "trick," you can't unsee it. Also, the adults may be able to see the phantoms, but it's the kids who were born later that can actually affect the phantoms with similar powers.

Dat Harem.

Oh man. We got mosaic censorship in the opening credits! The first episode already gave us at least glimpses of all the girls Haruhiko will be assembling for his harem, er, Phantom Hunting Club. Mai is obviously the boob girl for the show, along with the leg girl, the kicking girl and the impatient girl. We just met Reina, who has a large appetite for food and phantoms. Koito is mysterious, so far. And Albrecht the teddy bear phantom belongs to some little girl Kurimi we haven't really met yet. Of course, Ruru, Haruhiko's familiar is going to steal the show with magical cosplay. She appears to be a genie.

Dat Mai Action Fanservice.

You know Mai is supposed to be best girl because we first see her in gym bloomers kicking high and showing off her legs. Even better, her special abilities involve some charging mechanism where she rubs certain parts of her body associated with mythic elements (water, fire, air, earth, etc.). You knew boob rubbing was going to show up at some point, but to be rewarded within the same first episode? Heaven.

Dat Ruru.

I suppose her name is actually Lulu, but we'll go with the official Japanese romaji for Ruru. All the sexy comic relief Ruru provides is a major clue that this is not a show to be taken seriously. Usually familiars keep reminding the hero of his or her mission, when to transform and to dole out well-timed information. Ruru does none of this except to cheerlead and steal pudding. She's a "good girl," in her words, and so far that's all she needs to be. It's the rampaging phantoms that need to be exorcised.

Dat Mai Again.

And then we had the boob groping. Utility pole spirits made of wood need to be countered by metal, so that elemental power resides in her boobs. Okay, it's in her lungs, but still.

Apparently, Mai's boob power wasn't enough. Which led to the funniest thing I've seen in a long time.

Dat Limbo.

The pole spirits, according to Haruhiko, conflated the Christian concept of Limbo with limbo dancing, so to exorcise the naughty poles, they needed to win their limbo contest. Ha!

No matter how ridiculous the explanation, we still got to the glorious, soon to be infamous, boob bouncing limbo scene.

I can't even. Actually, I could totally even. Again and again. Mai's big boobs almost worked against her, until she figured out she could bounce her chest to flatten them. I have to assume she wasn't wearing a strong underwire there... Flawless victory!

The end credits showed the full harem, including Ruru, hip bouncing together. In Summer uniforms, no less. I'm looking forward to the crazy comedy that will be required  to assemble the whole crew.