The Series:
The second volume of Shuffle settles down to a fairly common
formula; putting the lead character Rin in different awkward situations
and having he and his friends pull together to solve whatever problems
may crop up. This light comedy/harem show is still a lot of fun,
especially for viewers who enjoy the genre.
Series Background:
Rin is an orphan who lives with the hottie of his high school class,
Kaede, and her father who is always away. Kaede (who has a fan club
consisting of guys who hate Rin) is totally devoted to Rin, getting up
early to make him a fancy breakfast every morning, packing his lunch, and
generally waiting on him hand an foot. Rin, though he appreciates
it, doesn't seem to care all that much.
Things change one day when two new transfer students join Rin and Kaede's
class. Sai and Nerine seem to be normal high school girls on the
outside, but they are rather special. Sai's father is king of the
gods, and Nerine's dad is king of the demons, making both of them princesses.
In addition to that, they've come to Earth to find a mate, and both of
them have their eyes on Rin. Their father's both promise Rin all
of the powers of their respective empires if he'll marry their daughter
and Rin is barely able to fend off the pair of forceful kings.
When Rin goes home he discovers that Sai and Nerine have both moved
in next door, one on either side. With both girls now wanting to
walk him to school every morning, it's enough to drive poor Rin crazy.
Things just get worse however, as he runs into a quiet young girl on the
street one day who follows him home. This girl, Primula, is from
the Realm of the Demons and won't leave, so she ends up moving in with
Rin and Kaeda.
This volume:
The four episodes on this disc tend to be a bit more generic.
All of the major players were introduced in the premier volume and the
situation was set up. Now we get down to the day to day events that
make up the series. In the first episodes Keada starts to feel a
bit left out of things. With Sai and Nerine hanging all over Rin,
she starts to feel a bit awkward even though Rin doesn't show any interest
in the princesses. So she tries even harder to impress Rin, but pushing
herself so hard she comes down with a cold. Even while she's sick,
she doesn't want to stop taking of Rin, but when he realizes what she's
doing, he takes control of the situation and forces her to rest.
Next Rin notices something about Primula; she never smiles. Left
alone all day long while the other kids are in school, Rin starts to worry
that she's lonely. He wants to take her out on the weekend and do
something really fun, but when the two of them get caught in a rain storm
he realizes there's one thing that she really needs: a bra.
Apparently in the Realm of the Demons they aren't needed, but on Earth
they are so the girls all get together to take the shy young girl shopping
for underwear, and drag the embarrassed Rin along with them.
Rin's friend from middle school takes center stage in the next episode.
When a popular athlete gives Asa a present, she's not sure what to do.
He's a nice guy but she's not sure if she's ready to date anyone yet.
She likes to tease people, especially Rin, but is she really ready for
a relationship?
The final episode on the disc is pretty amusing. Sai picks up
a horoscope magazine in the supermarket and discovers that (according to
the magazine) the time is right for her to ensnare the one she loves.
She plans on asking Rin out on a date, but first she has to follow the
magazine's advice and get some lucky panties.
This is a funny show, in the spirit of other harem series. It's
not too realistic, but it does have a good amount of humor and all the
fun associated with the genre. Having said that, the episodes
on this disc don't really stand out. Yes, the show is enjoyable,
but it seems a bit generic in some ways. The fact that two of the
girls are princesses from other realms has been played down to a large
extent and the plots don't really break new ground.
The DVD:
Audio:
The disc offers viewers the choice of the original Japanese audio track
or an English dub, both in stereo. I listened to various episodes
with each audio track and they were both solid. The English voice
actors did a good job with only one supporting character having an irritating
high-pitched voice. I tended to prefer the Japanese track, but not
by much. The quality was similar on both tracks, with no common audio
problems being evident. The mix itself was pretty sedate with the
voices firmly anchored on the screen for most of the show. There
wasn't much use made of the soundstage, but that's not too surprising given
the nature of the show.
Video:
The 1.78:1 anamorphic image looks pretty good, which shouldn't come
as a surprise since this series was made in 2005. The lines are generally
tight and the colors are solid. On the digital side things also look
pretty good. There is a little aliasing here and there, and a tiny
bit of posterization, but these are hardly worth mentioning.
Extras:
Not much in the way of extras....only a clean opening and closing.
Final Thoughts:
This is a funny and enjoyable show. While this second volume doesn't
live up to the potential that the first one had, it's still a fun and entertaining
show, if a bit generic. This volume is still worth watching, especially
for fans of harem shows. Recommended.
Buy: