Photo Kano: First Impressions

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Every once in a while, some of us make mistakes when allotting expectations to series before they air.  By the looks of it Photo Kano was my mistake.

On paper, I don't see what could have been so wrong with expecting something from Photo Kano.  It's the spritual successor to Amagami which enjoyed - we don't speak of season 2 -  and it was at the hands of Madhouse.  Granted the staff wasn't the best but I figured it wouldn't be a big issue.  Guess it was a rather big issue.

If I had to guess, then I'd say Madhouse has run out of money on its loss-making anime and are now in need of some funds.  Evidently they knew Photo Kano would be a safe bet to earn them some money quickly, given the popularity of the game series which it stems from.  My question is: did Madhouse really think it would be okay to give us 20 minutes of fan service angles?

It's not surprising that the animation is great.  Generally, as a rule, if you're going for the fan service you'd make a full effort in terms of animation quality.  If that wasn't evident, the Vividred style camera work was the overkill cherry to top of the boobs and butts sundae.

Notice how I haven't brought up the story yet? Well that's because there's not much to say about it.  Photo Kano is a harem, plain and simple.  The episode introduced all the girls in some capacity - focus differs depending on girls - which would instantly lead to people picking their potential favourites.  Given that harem shows are solely enjoyable depending on which girl support, whether you like the girls or not will dictate if you continue watching this series.  For me the girls weren't all that great, so there's nothing tying me to the series as of now; they all seem to be in the habit of pouting and that's just plain boring.

Honestly, this episode was bad.  Putting aside it's obvious aim, I feel as though it'll try to be more serious than it should be.  Alongside a cast of mediocre girls, we're left with the blandest and most forgettable character I've seen in a while.  Right now I'm convinced that we've been deceived by the title of Amagami's spiritual successor.