Amagi Brilliant Park Anime Review
A magical theme park that isn't a fairy tale!
PRODUCTION INFO
Amagi Brilliant Park originally started off as a light novel series written by Shoji Gatou and illustrated by Yuka Nakajima in February 2013. Since then there have been three manga adaptions and an anime adaption animated by studio Kyoto Animation and directed by Yasuhiro Takemoto.
SUMMARY
When Seiya Kanie is forced to attend a date with his schoolmate, Isuzu Sento, he is taken to the worst, most run-down amusement park in the area: Amagi Brilliant Park. After he tries all of the rides, Seiya soon discovers that Isuzu actually works at the park, and she wants Seiya to take over the manager position to save the park from being closed down. Reluctant at first, Seiya begins to change his mind as he finds that there is more magic to Amagi Brilliant Park than meets the eye...
WHAT TO EXPECT
This anime is very light-hearted, but it can also get very intense at times; especially near the end. The main characters are funny, as are the episodes in general. Despite all the humour, the seriousness at the end is strong enough to make you cry. It can get quite sad, but that's only at the end.
MAIN CHARACTERS
Seiya Kanie is a total narcissist, and he's only interested in what will benefit himself. Only after he gains some mysterious power and a personal dislike for the man who wants to close down the park, does he decide, finally, to help keep it intact. In order to do this, he must work alongside everyone as Amagi Brilliant Park's manager, and make whatever changes he can to bring in enough customers before the end of July.
Isuzu Sento is the First Royal Guard of Princess Latifah. She's also the strange schoolmate of Seiya who (with force) took him in to revive the park. Isuzu is kuudere without the dere, although some may argue she should be. Her personality is stoic, but she's a bit trigger-happy, with her unique gun that doesn't cause inguries, so you don't want to make her mad. The bullets may not do damage, but they are designed to be painful!
OPINIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
I liked Amagi Brilliant Park since the beginning. I can relate to it somewhat, having run a blog and whatnot; visitors are very important! I also loved Seiya's personality. His narcissism is not gross, but instead amusing and it gives him great character. It doesn't define him as a villain, either. Despite his narcissism, he's a very good character, and throughout the show you can watch him grow into a better person still. Character development is impressive in Amagi Brilliant Park. Isuzu and Latifah as well, are both very interesting characters. When you take away all of the light-hearted entertainment, there's quite a lot of mystery surrounding those characters and the park. One thing that did bother me about Amagi Brilliant Park, is that Seiya gained a power in the first episode that was not even mentioned again until the last couple of episodes. That made it feel like it was added just to get from point A to point B in terms of plot, and left for the majority of the show, forgotten. The series did have a well-thought out plot besides that, though. It all came together at the end, too. I really thought that the ending was well worth every moment of random plot. As for recommendations, I think that Kaleido Star is the closest to a good match as I can get. Amagi Brilliant Park is pretty unique in terms of theme, so it's a bit hard to pair it with others...
RATING
★7/10★
