Rambling About The Lenticulars

With Studio Trigger’s future line-up looking the most creatively dry it’s been for a while–  more Edgerunners, more Dungeon Meshi– I was desperately longing for something original from them, from the ground up with no bullshit. Some people are trying to spin Edgerunners 2 into a “well it’s kinda sorta one!” but I just can’t get behind that. Really I’m still trying to sort out my own feelings on that announcement months after it happened. Ikarashi and Kanno you two deserve so much better!

Anyways.

So nothing but sequels on the horizon, and maybe an original Imaishi project in 2028 assuming he’s still on his three year cycle– until right out of nowhere The Lenticulars got announced! In the form of a vague PV of Amemiya walking around town and reminiscing about his time in school as a teen. I love the naturalistic off-kilter atmosphere Gridman and Dynazenon have, with the latter show being one of my favorite cartoons of all time, average people reacting casually to earth-shattering events as the result of the fantastical and mundane clashing together to form a new normal is my bread and butter! So I’d assume it was gonna be more of that, or maybe even something more straightforwardly focused on the daily life aspects without a fantastical bent. Either way I was pumped, this was just what I needed. An original TV series by one of my favorite directors at Trigger! Sure, he didn’t specifically state what format it was gonna be and sure the studio didn’t allude to it beforehand in any meaningful capacity, but it’s gotta be an original, right? Nope. When I tell you I was so let down. 

The “show” was eventually dropped on Trigger’s channel and I already felt my excitement deflating when I saw it was a five minute thing, and then I watched the first minute or so and turned my phone off in frustration. I had unfairly dismissed it as Inferno Cop/Ninja Slayer bullshit. Sliding PNGs on flat filtered backgrounds– wasn’t the best first impression for sure, and unfortunately my feelings about the studio’s future output were still validated. I was set on ignoring it for the time being because I didn’t expect much out of it, but after getting over my bad kneejerk reaction I decided to give another shot– a fair and proper one this time.

Calling it “Inferno Cop-bullshit” was wrong of me. It’s very much a straightforward teen romcom filtered through Amemiya’s lens. He's credited for basically everything (Animation, designs, scripts, series comp, boards, direction..) so you're truly getting his unfiltered take on the genre. It’s cute and sweet but his love for dry and awkward humor balances things out and prevents it from being too overly saccharine. Even then he’s not too detached about it all either– he pokes fun at his cast without punching down at their struggles.

It's crafted infinitely more interesting compared to its ilk too. It's not just sliding drawings: There's more interesting staging, location variety, and even delightfully limited animation than I was expecting. Instead of finding this approach annoying it comes off more light and playful instead.

Glad I gave this a second chance, I can see myself sticking around for however many episodes this is gonna be. I heavily suggest you give it a shot too. Only five episodes out and each of them run a little under or over five minutes. 

(Now hopefully a full original Amemiya show is still in the cards proper…)