Princess Connect! Re:Dive - Season 1

Like any person who has a normal five-day working week, I hate Mondays! Fortunately, in anime season Spring 2020 there was something to lift my mood and banish my depression on those dreaded Mondays. If I had to take just one new anime series (the new seasons of already established anime series notwithstanding) and put it on my imaginary pedestal as the anime series I enjoyed the most all in anime season Spring 2020 - then it would (rather unexpectedly) be Princess Connect! Re:Dive! It is an interesting choice I think, especially looking at most of the other reviews of this show, although I am no stranger to going against the tide. Anyway, I am going to write about the elephant in the room... This show is an adaptation of a Gacha game. These games are free-to-play mobile games, although if you lack patience, stamina, or strong willpower, you can get addicted to microtransactions, spending real-world money on virtual items (the most popular Gacha game now is probably RAID: Shadow Legends), and this anime series is basically an advertisement for the hated Gacha games! However, unlike Shironeko Project: Zero Chronicle, which is also based on a mobile game and also comes out in anime season Spring 2020, this commercial is very good! Jeoffrey needs to highlight the high production values (very well-produced animation, well put together soundtrack), the interesting - if not fully developed - narrative, the congenial and pleasant atmosphere, and a lot of characters he found to be terribly endearing. This is exactly the kind of adaptation that makes me want to download and install the mobile game so I can play it, collect my anime waifus, take care of them and make them into an unbeatable team. Unfortunately, however, the game is only available in Japanese... Of course, anyone could argue this anime series is not a classic and is just another cheap rip-off of KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World! or a parody of Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, etc! However, in my opinion, it was not just a throwaway show that is going to sink into the depths of oblivion. In fact, I believe there are plenty of things about it I shall remember fondly. For example, the "crazy wolves", one of which I had as a profile picture for a while, or even the "Kokkoro WutFace", which I have added to my anime character gallery. Such little things can make something rather insipid into something unforgettable for someone like me. However, there is not only that, it is not often that I like all the main characters and find even a lot of the supporting characters intriguing too. As for the central four characters, well, I love Pecorine and Kokkoro, and Kyarl is a fine tsundere! Some say the main protagonist Yuuki is just comic relief with a damaged mind like Kirito in Sword Art Online - Alicization - War of Underworld and is just as useless, which could negatively affect the show’s rating. However, I really liked Yuuki. I liked his awkward attempts at getting involved in the action which almost always ended up highly amusing. The only supporting character that really irritated me was the llama Rima, who was given way too much screen time for my taste, and I would have preferred to watch any of the other forty-four characters (there are forty-five characters from the game in this show, which is also quite a feat). People may find the overall tone of this anime series boring because it is quite light-hearted with a pleasant feel. Not everyone likes the slice of life genre although I do and I find it quite relaxing, and if it features a lot of cute girls, then I am more than happy. In addition, when it comes to the action, it is colorful, quite dynamic and the occasional use of CGI is not so intrusive. The last episode was especially great, very emotional, had some surprises, and a pretty decent final fight scene. So yes, I get that this anime series is not for everyone, perhaps just a select few, yet I found it very enjoyable and entertaining, it put me in a good mood, and I looked forward to watching it... So I am awarding it 8/10. (12/14/2021) (less) (more)