steuber.gardner - 2015-05-11 22:29:56

Fireball Charming is a memorable series of 13 shorts of almost 2 minutes each. The anime was created by Jinni’s Animation Studios in collaboration with Disney Japan and aired in 2011.
Actually this is not the first time that this happens; in fact in 2008 the same collaboration produced Fireball a series of shorts that is the sequel of Fireball Charming.

STORY: 7

At this point in a normal review you will get at least a synopsis of the plot, the problem here is that said plot doesn’t really exist. Although in both Fireball and Fireball Charming some context is provided...
Fireball Charming is set in a distant future where robots and humans are at war with each other and feature the duchess Drossel von Flügel a female humanoid robot and Gedächtnis a robot that is her servant and guardian.  The characters never leave the huge mansion where they live so you will rarely see the outside.
As I said before there is no real plot, the episodes are small random comedy skits that are well thought and beautifully executed.
I will assure you that you will laugh at some of the jokes.

ART & ANIMATION: 10

Fireball Charming is entirely done using CGI like its predecessor Fireball. Anime that are 100% CGI are rarely good and this one is an example of that small group.
In 2011 this was probably the best 3D anime produced with Cat Shit One as a close second, and even for today standards Fireball Charming is a beautiful anime.
If you focus on the graphics and animations you will note a lot of minute details in the 3D models, especially notable on Drossel, such as the arms and legs joints that accurately modeled and move appropriately based on the pose.
Drossel’s random gestures are hypnotizing to watch thanks to beautiful animations and help accentuating the feel that the robot is alive.

SOUND: 7

The music in the anime good, but it’s nothing special in my opinion. The sound effects on the robot movements are good and noticeable.  The voice acting is spot on, to get characters that feel alive you need: good voice acting, good animation and art and an interesting personality so far we are two out of three.

CHARCTERS: 8

Finally the characters, probably the most important part of this anime, as said before we have two main characters lets start analyze Drossel first.
You can think of Drossel as the star of the show, she act like a spoiled princess that does what she wants. Usually she runs the gags and sometimes she seems aware of the viewer. Even if she doesn’t speak her character is characterize by random movements and strange poses.
Gedächtnis is the servant and guardian that acts like an older person and tries to contain Drossel, without him some of the jokes would not exist.

ENJOYMENT: 9

The jokes are good and easy to laugh at, since the episodes are short it’s almost impossible to grow tired of the characters and after the last episode you will probably want more.

OVERALL: 8

In my opinion this is a must watch, if you are not sure look at it this way, even if you don’t like it you will not “waste” a lot of time, so I will recommend to watch it.
On a final in my opinion you should watch Fireball Charming first and then Fireball because in the chronological order you will miss additional quotes that at first (in Fireball) don’t make sense.