English Dub Review: Doreiku the Animation “Awareness”

Warning, the following episode is a trainwreck.

 

Overview (Spoilers below)

As an anime fan, I have come to enjoy the representation of themes and tales that would be impossible to appreciate at the same level in other forms of media. Sometimes, though, things don’t get according to plan and we, as the spectators, are left hanging with one question in mind: who thought that this would be a good idea?

And that’s exactly how I felt through all the sixth episode of Tokyo Slaves.

“Awareness” gives us the chance to see the world through the eyes of the ‘ever loyal’ Zushi the Dog through the first half of the episode and how he ended up with an SCM. My grips with this chapter were mainly because there are other things to be annoyed about, due the handling of its tone. The narrative felt flat and the plot seemed way too… convoluted to the point it felt more like a failed attempt at a comedy than a dramatic storytelling.

And that scene, when Zushi came back from his adventures in the city just find his temporal caretaker hanged, bothers me the most, not because the topic of apparent suicide, but because Zushi himself glossed over the emotional impact of such tragedy, and the show itself tells us how much, or how little in this case, this was important when the background music and color palette of the episode not even vary to a sadder, more subdued tone.

It enrages me because, despite the silliness of the premise, both of this chapter and the plot as a whole, I genuinely felt that I was robbed of a potential emotional investment and character growth that could have been developed with the circumstances at hand.

The best thing in the whole chapter that made me laugh was, at the appearance of other cast members, Zushi the Dog’s line of: “I cannot repay you for being a kind woman right now, but hey, let me turn over so you can rub my soft belly” was hilarious. I definitely did not felt consuming envy and did not want to be in his skin at that moment, no sir.

Anyway, at this point, my brain cells were beyond lethargy and I could not enjoy properly Yuuga’s section during the second half of the episode and his encounter the Deliciously Insane Fujiko, and her obsession with an old acquaintance from Yuuga’s past. Again, the tone, or lack of thereof, was flat-lining my interest in the episode, even though some moments could have been truly funny to behold.

Our take

This episode was, for a lack of better term, a production disaster. The plot was ridiculous with no Boggart around to match, and the drama development was all over the place. I can see what was intended by the producers, a way to connect all the subplots and characters, and how everybody related to everyone else, but it backfired, really bad in a way that turned my desire to keep on watching into a lingering desire to stop hopping for something better in later releases.

At least I got my weekly dose of Best Girl Sachi.