Romantica Clock

Before everybody gets their otaku panties in a twist about this "show," and how incredibly short and uneventful it may be, go read the manga. This mini-series has basically compiled itself to be a very short add to the manga while still giving the audience teasers to what the series is about, but clearly the manga elaborates on these details and gives the reader much more background to the characters and plot to the story. So don't see this as an anime "series," see it as a teaser trailer to the manga series. If you're interested in what you see but wish there was more ... to it, go read the manga. If you find this "mini-series" annoying but are wondering "What the hell man?!", go read the manga. If you just like cute stories, go read the manga. The manga is enjoyable, and well put together. In the first chapter you get a lot of background story to the characters and a better understanding of what the story is going to be trying to accomplish. It's a good read. So don't knock the teaser trailer until you've read a few chapters of the manga.

The art style is pretty. Sibling rivalry is not the most groundbreaking plot, but more than rivals, Akane uses her twin brother like a motivation? In the first episode, when the glasses guy insulted Akane, her twin brother said, "She isn't stupid; she is just dense." Why do both of the twins think this is a defensive line? It's not his intention, but he actually takes the side of the jerk with the glasses. His twin sister gets touched since she thinks he protected her. If I were her sibling, I would just beat that guy up. Also, why does the female lead get moved ... by everything his twin brother does and says? If it was a realistic manga, we would see them fighting all the time like most siblings do, but this is probably just a cute shoujo manga.

So, Romantica Clock is another one of those new 'anime shorts' that have been coming out lately. Even then, there's a fine line between what Romantica Clock is and the other anime shorts. Romantica Clock lasts for an astounding 4 minutes and 30 seconds, all episodes combined. At the end of each episode, it shows volumes of the manga this anime short was adapted from. Any way you look at it, it's an advertisement. With that in mind, does it even make sense to judge it by normal anime standards? I don't know any other way to judge it using MAL's arbitrary score system, so ... I'll completely avoid mentioning it in this review.

There is no real narrative here. It's very much a character-driven story, but to sum it up: It's about the relationship between Akane and her twin brother, who she perceives as better than her in every way. She aims to become better than her brother and aim even higher in life than him, initially out of jealousy, but she's now using it as an excuse to interact more with her brother and establish a stable relationship that they once had. I'm really digging deep here, and that's about as far as the narrative goes. As you can see, it's not anything ground-breaking and the premise is rather cliche. Throw this in with the rest of the Shoujo anime.

This premise might be interesting if both Akane and her brother were interesting characters, but they're really quite bland. Especially her brother, who is merely a stereotype that we've seen from every anime ever. The guy who speaks with an emotionless tone but actually experiences a plethora of emotions, though he has trouble getting this across. Akane is the generic, cheery girl who is an airhead most of the time. What about those characters sounds interesting? By themselves, there's nothing. Presumably, the interactions between the two are the highlight of the characters, then? No, not really. The characters are just dull, bland and utterly generic.

The art and sound are serviceable; nothing to write home about, but nothing that might provoke profuse bleeding of the eyes or ears. Simply mediocre.

I got no enjoyment out of this whatsoever, but if the premise sounds interesting to you, give it a watch. If you have 5 minutes to throw away, why not throw it away for Romantica Clock? Of course, you'll end up having to read the manga if it actually intrigues you and if you're not the type of person who likes manga, just give it a miss. Romantica Clock fails to even hit mediocrity, after all.