Amagi Brilliant Park (2014)

[甘城ブリリアントパーク]

Director: Yasuhiro Takemoto
Studio: Kyoto Animation
Starring: Koki Uchiyama, Ai Kakuma, Yukiyo Fujii
Episodes: 13

Synopsis:
A former child actor is made into the acting general manager of an enchanted theme park on the verge of closure.

Impressions:
I have to give credit where credit's due. I probably would've gotten to this eventually as I went through KyoAni's filmography, but I was drawn to this series after seeing a clip on Youtube. I was wondering, "Why is FMP's Bonta-kun here?" Well, it turns out that the story is by Shoji Gatoh of Full Metal Panic! fame. The concept drew me in right away, a horrible theme park about to go belly-up being put in the hands of a cynical egomaniac with a cast of quirky characters that have to come together to make things a success. There's a nice juxtaposition of fantastical elements and a rather realistic look at the trials and travails of amusement park management. Of course everything is presented with the sort of visual flair you'd expect from KyoAni. The biggest complaint I've seen is that while this is billed as a romantic comedy, there's not a whole lot of that going on. Yes, there's a bit of something going on with Kanie and several members of the female cast, primarily Isuzu and Latifah, but this isn't given a lot of focus. The core story and its humor was more than enough to satisfy me, though, and I'd happily recommend giving it a watch.

Rating:
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