Title: Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita
Genre: Comedy, Science Fiction
Rating: 8.5/10
Summary It’s been several centuries since human beings declined due to the steep drop in birthrates. The most prosperous species on the Earth are “Fairies”, 10 cm tall creatures with high intelligence. I became a UN arbitrator between the humans and the fairies and returned to my hometown to help my grandfather. I thought my job would not be a tough one and visited one of the fairies’ habitats to say hello to them but…
Review: I’m glad that a lot of people decided to give this anime a chance instead of just writing it off. I can’t say that I expected everything that happened in Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita from the summary. It didn’t seem like the type of anime that would tickle my funny bone with the whole mankind going extinct scenario. From the very first episode I was busting up laughing. It wasn’t the typical comedy that use exaggerated facial expressions and odd reactions to get a laugh out of the audience. The humor in this anime was far more sarcastic, a style that crawls right up my alley.
The art style for
Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita was some of the best simple, paint-style arts I've seen. The backgrounds were beautifully done with light edges and sketched lines. The bright colors were a big contrast to the dark content. It was as though the series was saying, "Sure we're edgy and sarcastic, but we're doing it for the lewls". I have to say the only thing that really lacked were facial expressions. Normally that wouldn't sit well with me, but this anime made it work. Many of the characters were meant to have that static, apathetic vibe around them. It actually made it quite entertaining hearing their quick quips from a stone-cold face. Moreover I found the art style to be unique. I was able to recognize the anime right from the start instead of skipping ahead and finding key characters (which I need to do more than I care to admit) to figure out what I was watching.
The characters were what made this anime so great. The first thing I noticed was the lack of names. Since the entire anime was done in a first-person perspective, the main character obviously didn't refer herself by name. The closest thing we got to a name was "Ms. Sweets" which was just something the Fairies called her because she could make sweets (not very original are they?). She was accompanied by Assistant, Grandfather, Y, and Curly. As someone who doesn’t memorize names very well this was a blessing. It was also something different than the typical long string of names you get in most anime. This was just another reason why this anime stood out so much; nearly everything about it was special. The beginning of the anime was strangely appealing with loaf of bread ripping itself apart spewing strawberry jam everywhere in its fit of self-loathing. I knew from that moment on
Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita was something to look forward to every week. The final episodes were a lot more serious though. They had a bit of light comedy here and there, but it also ended up having a bit of character development. Seeing the heroine as a young lass was quite a shock, and it also explained a lot about her character. It created this great balance between witty comedy, unique stories, and character development. For that it deserves the top marks, and I’m probably going to re-watch the series some point in the future. I wish I could say more about how the anime peaked my curiosity and tickled my funny bone, but with such a strange sense of humor it’s difficult to explain what exactly made it so entertaining. The only thing I can suggest is to watch this anime, I’m sure you’ll like it.
Final statements: Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita is definitely an anime that screams different. It had a unique art style, comedy, characters, heck even names. It was easy one of my favorite anime of Summer 2012, and with a
high priority watch I really hope that they come out with more episodes. The OVAs didn’t satisfy the comedic craving.
