First Impression: Yumekui Merry

After the dullness of Gosick and the retarded Rio: Rainbow Gate!, I am obviously disappointed with the winter release so far and can't wait to see Fractale. I said I want to avoid this show when I wrote my winter preview so I'm watching this first episode to satisfy my curiosity when a friend said he likes it (albeit only giving it a C).

(c) chiba tsuru

Yumekui Merry is produced by JC Staff so it wasn't surprising that the female protagonist has almost the same character traits like almost the rest of JC Staff's female protagonists: a DFC tsundere. I may or may not have a problem with that but at the moment I'm focusing on the male protaginist. I ended up liking him when I saw the OP and think that this show isn't too bad after all. Even more so when I saw him fighting bunch of cats with stick. I thought that was cute.

Yumeji is an aspiring novelist who has the ability to see the color of dreams. He has been having the same nightmares about cat since forever and understandably, he isn't too keen about it. One day, Nightmare Merry literally fall on his lap (very cliche) and that's how they met. Being around Merry (or her belongings) made him having the nightmare even when he is wide awake. The reason for the nightmare is because the big boss of those cats named Chaser John Doe (I giggled) want to use his body as a vessel or something. What I know is, Chaser wants to go to the real world and is using Yumeji for that while Merry wants to go back to the dream world and is using Chaser for that. I wasn't paying attention.

One thing that really stands out for me is the art and animation. I like the character designs (obviously because of the bishie) except for the coat that Merry is wearing. I think it was outrageous. The backgroud is definitely one of the most unique background I've seen, especially when it comes to the dream world. Credits should be given to the team. I guess one for Shigeyasu Yamauchi as well for directing this well although I do found some parts (like Merry meeting Chaser) a bit too cliche with the speech and shit.

The ED sucks. I don't like that kind of music so it doesn't work for me. I'm getting more familiar with Nobuhiko Okamoto's work. So far he's doing a decent job with Yumeji. This is also a debut performance for Ayane Sakura. I wasn't impressed but then again, I always think that female seiyuu are forgettable except for a few that I like.

In the end, I think the synopsis for this show didn't do justice. I'm glad I pick this up and was proved wrong. This is one of the reasons why I always check out the new show every season because I need to see it to conclude my final thoughts on the shows. Besides, shows produced by JC Staff should be decent enough to watch if nothing else. The same with this one. It was the most interesting show I've seen so far. But I'm gonna watch this for a different reason. I just love all the bishies in this show especially Ijima sensei. I want a teacher like that too :3

art & animation 8/10
story 7/10
characters 8/10
sound 6/10
enjoyment 6/10
overall 7/10

Posted in: first impression, jc staff, yumekui merry