Over the years, the term “moe” has grown to have a number of meanings. In recent years, though, the common definition came to refer to “cute girls doing cute things.” From K-On! to Lucky Star, viewers were given numerous potential outlets to fulfill their creepy desires. While some of these titles were able to cement themselves into the subculture’s zeitgeist, there were many others that simply didn’t measure up. Hyakko is one of these “ugly ducklings,” as it lacks the visual flair and strong base of the genre’s giants, leaving viewers with a disappointing mess that struggles to rise from the depths of mediocrity.
The series revolves around four students at Kyushu’s prestigious Kamizono Academy. The four girls were brought together through an auspicious turn of events that are set into motion on the first day of classes. Ayumi, the new girl in school, finds herself hopelessly lost on her way to class. As she stumbles through the school’s massive campus, Ayumi stumbles across Tatsuki who, though she won’t admit it, is also lost. The two wander blindly through scenery that begins to look oddly familiar to the two of them, until they happen across a truly inspiring act of stupidity. They could only watch, partly in awe, partly in disbelief that the fiery blonde in the window of some unnamed building was actually leaping out toward the unreachable blue skies. But since people can’t fly, and the unreachable blue skies are named such for a reason, the girl plummets to the sidewalk in front of the two observers, suffering the most minor of injuries. The girl, who introduces herself as Torako, is a perky bird that quickly muscles her way into the growing circle of friends. To round the group out, she drags her friend Suzume, a small girl with an appetite the size of Mt. Fuji. While the four didn’t realize it, they would quickly become the closest of friends, sharing the best of times and the worst as they push boldly forward through the journey that is life.
Chances are that we’ve all heard this trope-filled claptrap in some form or another. Maybe in one form, the girls were in a band. In another, they might have been busy being sad in the snow. Perhaps in another, they were art school students that share an apartment complex. But, with Hyakko, the viewer is expected to think this is something new and unique! There’s a new school! New plots! New situations! Except, well, there aren’t.
The plot lacks any shred of originality, to the point that every episode feels as if it’s been done (and done better) elsewhere. Nearly every major plot point, character detail, and joke is telegraphed to the point that even would be able to guess what will happen far before it actually occurs. The few that aren’t tend to be droning, frustrating attempts at humor that don’t know when to end. These will often leave viewers shaking their heads in annoyance instead of sharing a laugh. For example, in the first episode, there is a running gag about the girls getting lost in the school. Actually, the entire half of the episode is the running gag, but I digress. The girls wander aimlessly across this school’s supposedly giant campus, while passing the same familiar landmarks and making the off comment about said phenomenon. It isn’t until the end of the segment that Ayumi realizes that (surprise!) her cell phone has a GPS! Let’s repeat that: her cellular phone, presumably new, has GPS navigation – a feature that’s been standard in Japanese phones since the mid 2000s. And she’s just now realizing that her phone can tell her where to go without wandering in circles for hours on end! The end result is little more than an exercise in futility, clumsily disguised as a joke.
The flat humor and generally uninspired plot would be somewhat tolerable if the characters delivering it were at least somewhat interesting. Unfortunately, Hyakko fails terribly at this, and instead trots out the corpses of every single moe trope under the sun to make them dance for nickels. The cast is comprised of a gaggle of tropes, from Genius Girl With Glasses, to Pedobear Bait Little Sister. The characters don’t grow or change. It’s even a stretch to call these one-dimensional stereotypes “characters.” They’re little more than dolls, going through the motion with badly painted smiles and clumsy recreations of human activity.
To make matters worse, the show can’t even hide behind the veneer of a slick presentation. Character art is sloppy and inconsistent, to the point that it becomes a distraction from the program itself. Backgrounds, while inoffensive, are reused often, which quickly becomes repetitive. The animation is generally lackluster, with choppiness creeping into select key scenes.
While Hyakko isn’t the absolute worst anime series to hit the airwaves, it certainly isn’t good. From the stale concept to the shallow characters, there is little to give it an advantage over the many other series of its ilk. Those looking for their next moe fix, or even a new slice of life show would be best advised to look at the many other offerings on the market before they set their focus on this.
