winona39 - 2015-09-27 17:19:15

Ok, I actually don't remember why I planned to watch this particular anime. Maybe it was cause I thought the premise was interesting, the fact that I haven't seen a kids show in a long time and one about education, or I thought that there'd be more girls in this... but nevertheless, today I'm going to be reviewing the anime called Element Hunters... maybe the title just sounds really cool to me I dunno (or it'd be similar to early Pokémon) c:

Story: In 2029, a large scale ground sinkage occurred in the Mediterranean Sea. Chemical elements such as oxygen, carbon, gold, molybdenum, and cobalt disappeared from the earth's crust suddenly. The human population was decreased by 90% in sixty years. Researchers found out that the disappeared elements were drained into a planet "Nega Earth", located in another dimension. To save the Earth, a special team called the "Element Hunters" is organized. All of the members are under 13 years old, because young and flexible brains are needed to access "Nega Earth".

Now, with the premise of adventure as well as learning stuff about Chemistry, this sounds like it could either be really interesting or incredibly cheesy. The first few episodes did seem to be following a basic formula. The main characters interact for a bit, then get called in to go Nega Earth and find the monster of the week (AKA the QEX which has a chemistry inside their body which makes them more devastating version of a creature in that world... I think that's how its explained), get into a fight with another team of Element Hunters, either one defeats it and takes the element, everything is normal, rinse and repeat... or I thought so anyways.

To be honest, I was surprised with how much I liked this anime. The story is a lot more complex than you can give it credit for, and for a supposed kids show, that's fairly impressive! They obviously don't explain everything in the beginning, so you may feel a bit confused on some parts and what is really going on, but you'll slowly get more and more info and pretty soon, get invested in what's happening.

The show takes the fact that the elements are disappearing from the world 100% seriously, and they don't lighten up on any of it (well... ok they kind of do on one part and is kinda odd, but it still works really well in my book and you'll most likely feel for these people).

I also give credit for trying to make a subject that most kids probably wouldn't find all that interesting (Chemistry) and making it entertaining by also mixing it with some action and adventure. I do remember a couple of the chemicals, elements, and what some of them do, and for someone who has abysmal memory, that says a lot.

However, its not all that smart, I mean there are moments where the writing can get either silly. Like the comedy, good lord is it awful. It doesn't show up much, but its not going to be the humor that you'll remember the most about this show. Another problem I have with the story is that it gets really confusing at some parts. Every time the characters would explain their strategy or go over the monster's weaknesses and strengths, I could barely keep up with them. Guess my brain isn't compatible with that kind of writing :c

Remember what I said when I thought the show would get formulaic? Hoo boy, that is not at all the case. This is actually more character and story based than about the fighting QEX's, and it gets especially apparent in the second half. Everytime an episode ends on a cliffhanger, its near impossible to not want to watch the next episode. When I ask myself that I'll only watch six episodes a night, I ended up watching 9-10, it was crazy! And the character developments are outstanding, almost all of them go through their own character arcs and have episodes dedicated to them to know what their like and I love shows that do that. It worked in Ground To Control Psychoelectric Girl and it works here also.

Now, the story is obviously not perfect, in fact my two biggest problems are one: There is a one dimensional villain in this. Yeah, we have monsters attacking that have been absorbing the elements from our Earth and we have another bad guy who is not as interesting. Why is this cliché a thing still? The villain is not even a very good one and just pisses you off because reasons.

My other problem is, well, I'm not a big fan of the climax nor the part before that. When we finally do find out what was causing all the trouble, its so confusing and dumb, and the part before the climax is also like that. There's also a character backstory that's shown in the beginning, but near the end he/she ends up getting a completely different backstory altogether! It's like they forgot about it and decided to not look it up again and just made it up! Neither backstory is very good by the way. But at least the ending after the climax is very nice~

There are some bad stuff in the story, but the good easily outweigh the bad and more than make up for them.

Animation: Well, the animation isn't the best. The character designs are alright, a bit wonky on the faces, but they look presentable. Those special suits the main characters get (as well as the other Element Hunting team) later on look really... questionable and tight. [And for some reason the anger symbol is white and not red... its a nitpick but I'm so used to seeing it red]

The backgrounds could have been better. Sure the normal world and the one in the space colony look pretty nice, but Nega Earth for the most part looks... meh. They mostly focus on the mountainsides and grass areas which look real bland and mediocre. You see them so many times that it kind of seems more like a Monster Hunter anime than anything. There are a few areas that are different and look cool, but there so few and far between.

At least the animation is good (except for the opening, it looks stilted and the ending is recyclable) and the lip syncing is decent too. Also the fight scenes aren't too shabby either (though I wish that monster in the opening would... sigh).

Sound: Now here my least favorite part about the show: the voice work. It makes Lilpri almost masterful as ARIA. Might not say much but the voice acting is really bad. Now when it comes to just talking, they do a fair job on acting. But, when it comes to putting out emotion and the like, its really not well done. They act like they have no direction or are just half-assing it. I think the worst offenders have to be Juno and Ren, they way they say certain lines is irritating (for the former) and laughable (for the latter).

Now as for the opening, it's actually quite good. The beginning sounds somber, but then gets a little more uplifting as it goes on, and then it becomes epic and hopeful as it gets to the chorus, the last few lines are my favorite~

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLgI4fybWn8

The ending song on the other end, is a lot more campy and upbeat than the OP. I don't know how to explain it without showing you but... it's about chemicals I guess? They do talk about it later on in the show so... that's important I suppose?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHxhGomJ8PI

Characters: Now this might be hard to talk about without spoiling some stuff, but I shall try my best. Now most of them sound generic on paper, but they do slowly grow and get some good character development and interactions in them. Now, I'm only going to talk about them for when they first start off, there's a lot of stuff I'll be leaving out (and again, I'm not that great at explaining shtings like this).

First off, we have Ren Karas, an energetic middle-schooler who always looks for exciting adventures. He lacks the patience for learning and prefers to meet challenges head on; however, once he became an Element Hunter, Ren took the time to study chemistry in order to better eliminate QEXes. Ren tends to act before thinking a lot; however, his ingenuity has helped his team win various battles. He's an alright main character and does develop, but there are times where he can get pretty dumb at times.

Chiara Ferina is a serious, intelligent, young girl who is best friends with Ren and Homi. She transferred to the same town Ren lived in three years prior to the storyline, and because of her dedication, hard work, and independence, she plowed her way up to class chairman. Chiara considers herself the leader of the Earth Team, frequently putting her at odds with Ren. (Also I would like to give credit for not having her and Ren together, I thought they would since a lot of anime do that but that's not the case so kudos). She maybe strong, but she can be pretty annoying and mean sometimes :s

Homi is a bookworm who, up until he meet Ren and Chiara, has always been alone. Though he is not physically healthy due to his cardiac disease, Homi is the smartest team member out of the Element Hunters from Earth and often acts as the team's strategist. After saving Sena, his dog, he befriends Ren and Chiara.

He was actually adopted while he was younger by an elderly couple whom he now calls his grandparents. When Homi was little, he used to catch butterflies with his grandfather before he died. Now, he lives with his grandmother. He doesn't get as much development as the other two, but he's still a pretty likeable guy.

Then there's the secondary characters:  Aimee Carr (the one who gives out the orders and is more important later on in the show), her right hand woman June (who sounds pretty annoying), and also the other Element Hunting team consisting of Ally (whose honestly my favorite character in this show and is the most developed c:), Rodney (who I started off hating but he gets better), Tom (who sadly contributes to nothing when it comes to drama and has an annoying laugh), and later on another one who I won't spoil.

Aside from Tom, I really enjoyed the main and secondary characters. Now as for the others, they are either alright at best, interesting but not well fleshed out, or are just plain bad. (Also why is there a one note villain in this!? The QEX are more interesting and better than this awful villain that you see a few time and never gets mentioned again!)

Enjoyment: Pretty enjoyable in all honesty. Sure it starts off ok, but it does pick up quickly and gets better progressively in terms of story and characters. However, not everything was done especially well, like with the voices, climax, and stupid and pointless villain near the end, but I think the good easily outweighs the bad in that regard c:

Overall: If you're sick of seeing kiddy shows, I'm not sure if this will change your mind on anything, but if you want to see a show with education mixed with excitement and action and development on stories and characters, then I think this could be a good watch... unless you can't stand sitting through more than 13 episodes of any anime that is.

Pros: Addicting and developed story and characters, pretty good music, good action and intensity, doesn't sugarcoat anything.

Cons: Lame villain, climax is weak and comes out of nowhere, the twist could have been better, mediocre art.

Also recommend: Uh... Cyberchase (non-anime)?

Thanks for reading my 94th review~