3ET: Meganebu

I think I ate some bad camp. I'm tripping balls right now.

Studio: Studio DEEN

Director: Yamamoto Soubi

Writer: Akao Deko (Arakawa Under the Bridge, Nazo no Kanojo X)

Main Cast:

Akabane Kenji as Souma Akira

Suwabe Junichi as Minabe Yukiya

Tamaru Atsushi as Hachimine Takuma

Kimura Ryouhei as Kimata Hayato

Miyata Kouki as Kamatani Mitsuki

Character Design: Nakajima Atsuko (Hakuouki, Trinity Blood)

Music: Tsutsumi Hiroaki (Choujigen Game Neptunia)

I may be accused of being flippant and dismissive towards fanservice shows aimed at people who like girls. I'm not entirely sure this is a bad thing because shows with tons of fanservice tend to be terrible, and I try to avoid terrible anime. Which brings me to Meganebu, a show about boys that doesn't have the pure fanservice element that some of the other shows. But, it does feature an all-male cast who seem to fall into certain archetypes. What do I do with a show like this?

The plot is about a club at a technical high school that is obsessed with glasses. The five boys who make up the club are trying to develop X-Ray glasses so they can see naked women. As for the characters, they are pure archetypes with little or no actual characterization. Akira is the leader and a complete moron, Yukiya is the quiet one, Takuma likes to sleep and is obsessed with cream puffs, Mitsuki is obsessed with Akira, and Hayato is the one who takes everyone's abuse because he wears fake glasses. This is a major point with the club, as they are so obsessed with glasses that they do not wish to interact with anyone who doesn't wear them. It's a silly premise, but it's one that can't sustain itself for more than an episode before it gets repetitive and boring.

"I think I found out why we're less popular than Free. That show had a plot! And characters!"

More than anything, I found the show to be stupid. That would be fine, if it were funny, but it's not. Watching Akira berate Hayato for having good vision is not funny. Takuma's cream puff obsession is not funny. Seeing the X-Ray glasses explode the first time is funny, but not the second. Mitsuki's "gay but not saying it's gay" crush on Akira is not funny. And any attempts to make me like any of the characters fail miserably. It feels like an otome-game, but without the female main character to focus on the boys. Without that, there is nothing for the boys to do except be stupid, and since I don't find them funny, there isn't much a reason for me to watch.

Meganebu is a fail. Yes, it's campy and ridiculous, and therefore not really meant to be taken seriously. But, I can't accept that as an excuse for liking this. In addition to being one of the dumbest things I've seen in a long time, it also looks cheap, almost like a motion comic instead of an anime. In fact, I'd say this was a cynical cash grab trying to grab the market of folks who like boys, and in the end that's just as shameless as the cash grabs at the other market.