[旧文]艾莉森和莉莉亚(Allison and Lillia)–3/10

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I had moderate hopes for Allison and Lillia. After all, the novel was written by the same author who wrrote Kino’s Journey. Now, I’m not calling Kino’s Journey something wonderful. A collection of dark comedies, no matter how good they are, rarely bring anything new to adult audiences. However, most tales in Kino’s Jouney are at least thought-provoking to some degrees, and the show has a good and unique atmosphere. Therefore, I thought Allison and Lillia might be another nice little journey for me. Unfortunately it’s not the case.
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The low production value is the first turn-off for most audiences. The characters all lack moe qualities. The animation is terrible too. What’s more disappointing is the fact that throughout the 8 episodes I watched, I haven’t even seen one face that is not distorted. I always thought Madhouse was a decent studio, but I don’t know what they were thinking when they made this show.
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Low production value sometimes can still be saved by good scriptwriting and characterization. Sadly Allison and Lillia has neither. I’m sure that a junior high student can write better scripts than this. Allison tells mini-stories on a 4-episode basis. The first story is about Allison and Will looking for a treasure that can end the war. The story is a little bit interesting at first, but then it gets boring soon after the first episode. Their encounter with that old woman and the death of the old man at the army base brings nothing to the story. The final relevation is also very disappointing. TBH I was expecting much more than a drawing. The second mini-story is even worse. Helping a princess getting her revenge, I mean come on…Sadly the boring plot is not the major problem with the scriptwriting. How the writer resolves crisis is beyond my comprehension: using a watch to block a knife, falling off a tower because a plane flew nearby, and being able to draw a gun and shoot someone when that someone already holds a gun. Allison is filled with this kind of unrealistic details. The characterization is no better either. None of the characters annoy me, but they lack complex emotions and subtle changes that are essential to good characterization. How they acknowledge what goes on around them is also missing. I don’t know how good the Lillia part is going to be, but I won’t be able to find out since I’m dropping the show.