Kanamemo Anime Review
A cheesy comedy that tries to be a sad story.
PRODUCTION INFO
Kanamemo began as a manga series in June 2007. In 2009, it was adapted into an anime by studio Feel and ran through the summer season. Kanamemo is also available on Crunchyroll in English.
STORY
Kana Nakamichi is a middle-school girl who lost her parents long ago. Since then, her grandmother has been the only one to look after her, but now she's passed away, too. Kana is left without a home to return to when she applies for work at a newspaper company. At this building, she is taken in and starts living a new life without any relatives to take care of her while delivering newspapers.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Despite the seemingly-innocent idea behind this story, Kanamemo is actually full of dirty jokes. There are clean ones, too, but if you're looking for something "sweet" and "pure", Kanamemo's not the way to go. Kanamemo is also a slice-of-life, and it can get quite dull. The comedy aspect is not exactly hilarious, either.
MAIN CHARACTERS
Kana is a very average character. Even though her grandmother is dead, she keeps writing diary entries to her, and tells her everything she does, no matter how small or meaningless it is. I know she's young, but is she ever going to be her own, independent person at this rate? She never seems to think for herself so I'm not sure you can really say she has a personality. She's just a very boring character in general.
Totally ignoring any laws Japan has about child labour, the manager of the newspaper branch, Saki Amano, is even younger than Kana and in elementary school. For some reason, she's also the most mature of the group. Haruka Nishida is another employee who is also a disgusting lolicon. She breaks the law several times during the show, though nobody ever reports it or even fires her. Yume and Yuuki are a lesbian couple who also work and live at the branch. They are probably the only normal characters in this show alongside Hinata who won't bore you to death like Kana. Unfortunately, Kana is the main protagonist. Probably the most interesting character in the show is Mika, though. She is Kana's friend and works for a rival newspaper company. Mika's got the workings of a tsundere, and the voice of one too (Rie Kugimiya).
OPINIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Kanamemo has cute art, but it's tough to watch since it's incredibly boring. And as someone who has previously had a newspaper delivery job, I have to say that it's unfair that Kana gets paid with an entire place to live while I got paid so little! It's like, the worst job you can get! Seriously, don't do newspaper delivery, even for extra cash. But seriously, it's so unrealistic that she'd get paid with a home... I know she needs a place to stay, but that's not how it works.
In any case, Kanamemo is definitely not worth your time, unless you breathe yuri or something. Kanamemo is not yuri (at least the anime isn't), but there are some lesbian characters, so it could only work for the majorly obsessed fanboys/girls out there.
Want a slice-of-life comedy that's actually entertaining? Watch Yuyushiki or YuruYuri. Maybe even Wagnaria!!.
RATING
2/10
