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Synopsis Dog Days takes place in the world of Flonyard, an alternate Earth inhabited by beings who resemble humans, but also have the ears and tails of specific animals. The Republic of Biscotti, a union of dog-like citizens, has come under attack by the feline forces of the Galette Leo Knights. In an effort to save Biscotti, Princess Millhiore summons a champion from another world in order to defend her people. That champion is Cinque Izumi, a normal junior high student from Earth. Agreeing to assist Biscotti, Cinque retrieves a sacred weapon called the Palladion and prepares for war.
In Flonyard, wars are fought with no casualties and are more akin to sports competitions with the goal of raising money for the participating kingdoms. Cinque is successful in his role as Biscotti’s champion, but learns that a summoned champion cannot be returned to their home world. The scientists of Biscotti will endeavor to find a way for Cinque to return home, but until they figure something out, he must serve Princess Millhiore by continuing to fight as Biscotti’s hero. Overall 7 Story 5 Animation 7 Sound 8 Character 8 Enjoyment 8 On a personal note, I had quite high hopes for this show. With a good amount of successful anime stemming from being original anime series, Dog Days, having that element, combined with having an excellent seiyuu cast and being animated and directed by the staff from the animation studio Seven Arcs, seemed highly promising to deliver a successful show. However for the most part they did not.
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Story and Setting Dog Days is a 13 episode original series which revolves around a boy called Cinque or Shinku who is transported into a medieval fantasy land called Flonyard as a hero of the country Biscotti, to fight against the nation of Gallette. From this premise, it was possible for the show to develop into something complex, but the setting of the show, being light-hearted in a manner suiting children, nullified most prospects of there being any serious conflicts or development from the get-go. As viewers will soon discover in Episode 1, war between nations is almost perfectly safe, with inhabitants either turning into animal fluff-balls or having their clothes blown off, a somewhat hilarious foil to the seriousness of actual warfare. However, this is not to say that Dog Days is a show completely suited to children.
Seven Arcs being Seven Arcs, there are traces of fanservice here and there and a darkish twist when the 'villain' emerges. The story, being set in a medieval war-like setting gives way to the strength of the series, that is the action scenes.
Most of the fighting and action scenes were nicely choreographed with bows, swords, staves, shurikens and even magical artillery as weaponry. There was much flashiness, especially from the character's special Seal Cannon moves which are comparable to the much loved beamspam from the Nanoha series. The action was also quite prevalent throughout the series with several episodes being fully devoted to fights between the characters. Despite the action, I have criticisms of how certain fights were completely skipped and looking back now, I felt the series could've been improved if they choose to extend the fights instead of focusing on minor show elements such as fanservice. The overall plot though is unfortunately very shallow and unimaginative and is something I have to be very critical of. There are perhaps only two major important points in the story, one which is resolved in the time span of one episode and the other is full of glaring plot holes and unlikely coincidences. This brings me to the pacing of the series.
Dog Days can either drag out one conflict or story element for several episodes, or resolve another story element in a single episode. This I found was quite detrimental to the series and marked a serious flaw in the storyboard and directing of the series overall. My final opinion on the story is that I'm quite disappointed with it.
It had potential to become something interesting and complex, but Seven Arcs decided to pull off the same twist too many times. Attempting to garner sympathy for the 'villain'. Characters Character designers these days are attempting to add more and more different elements to the characters and their outfits and designs and for the most part they are quite successful.
Dog Days also follows in this fashion, creating a very large cast of different unique and mostly flavourful characters with their own quirks, features and personality. Each major character who participates in combat (that is to say the great majority of them) possesses their own unique Seal, which is displayed as an emblem when they perform special attacks. Each character also fights in a unique style which is separate from the other characters using a large variety of weapons from bows, magical artillery, giant axes to even anchors. The characters also all have separate personalities, despite some being archetypical, it was strange yet pleasant that Seven Arcs managed to juggle all the different natures of the characters together.
For example, our male hero, Cinque, fights with his divine staff/sword (and no it's not Raising Heart) Paladion with incredible acrobatic, athletic manoeuvres and with his multiple Seal Cannon techniques such as summoning a divine jetboard or playing with flaming sticks. It's actually quite refreshing to have a male protagonist like Cinque who doesn't get beat upon or is a hesitant sissy when the action comes and for actually making a likeable male protagonist in the sea of boring males protagonists out there, Seven Arcs deserve some credit. My only criticism is with such a large cast of characters, it's nearly impossible to give all of them the screen time that fans would desire. The character Godwin Dorure, who is voiced by Norio Wakamoto, is one example of a character I would've liked to have witnessed more. I felt other important characters such as Yukikaze and the Countess d’Arquien also needed more screen time. My final opinion on the characters is that I'm pleased with depth of uniqueness most characters possess in things such as personality, fighting style and appearance. With such a large cast of characters, viewers will probably find a character they'll like to cheer for, although this brings me back to my criticism of the amount of screen time characters get.
Art, Animation and Music The art and animation for Dog Days isn't a strength but nor is it a weakness. There are a few pluses for the show, notably the fighting and the art for the seal cannons and their emblems. They are very flashy and pretty to look at, and the design for the Emblems have quite a bit of depth to them. One of the more average aspects of art for the show was the rather uninspiring backgrounds.
With the potential of the fantasy setting, Seven Arcs could've been considerably more creative then the very average backgrounds of floating islands, blue skies and clouds and lush green battlefields which is used quite a bit throughout the series. A minus for the show in the art and animation department was the crudely drawn faces of the grunt soldiers which features throughout almost all the episodes and in one of the later episodes, a singing scene which the animation really goes downhill. What I feel is an underrated, or rather unmentioned aspect of Dog Days is the music. The battle music is slightly similar to music I've heard from games, such as Megaman, especially the music from battles which is to say they're of good quality. The music in general feels appropriate for the scenes they're accompanying and adds to the atmosphere.
Overall, there's nothing super flashy to mention about the art of the show aside from the special moves. The animation was average in most parts aside from large dips towards the end of the series. The music is a praiseworthy aspect which accompanies the progression of the scenes well.
Conclusion In the end, Dog Days shapes itself to be a a bit mediocre at best. There's nothing inspiring or largely original with its story or background and the only real strength it has are the characters (which is the case for a lot of shows nowadays), the action (which it decided to skip out a lot of) and the music. For action fans, Dog Days may intrigue you with a decent amount of action. For fantasy fans, Dog Days is likely nothing new and there's probably better shows to watch out there.
Enjoyment-wise, Dog Days proved to be a mildly entertaining light-hearted series with the action and a few comedic scenes here and there and gets an enjoyment score of 7.5. However from a critical perspective, Dog Days fares worse with a score of 7. Overall 3 Story 2 Animation 8 Sound 0 Character 2 Enjoyment 4 Riddle me this; a boy has been summoned to a faraway land full of animal-human hybrids and has become the centerpiece of an on-going war between the kingdom of dogs and the kingdom of cats. This boy is thirteen, small in stature, incredibly gifted athletically, and always believes in the right way, as opposed to the wrong way; the way of evil and immoral purposes. Typically, boys like this are somewhat hard to come by, as thirteen year old boys are usually at the point of transition between childhood and puberty, in which case, their minds begin to wonder, about everything. So, to point out the fact that this boy, who was transported to a world predominantly controlled by colorful-haired, big eyed women, is so pure of heart, it's safe to say that there shouldn't be any issues with his likability, as we all enjoy the good guy.
Except not everyone does, but that doesn't stop Dog Days from making it the message to be learned from its content. It wouldn't be very rare to find someone who has imagined leaving their current reality and partaking in a world where mundane tasks and the perils of responsibility don't matter. Whether they choose to escape their current dimension for purposes of necessity or pleasure, worlds such as the one portrayed in Dog Days are typical starting points for those looking for an image of peace and tranquility.
This being said, the main character, Cinque, doesn't ask to be saved from his less than stellar lifestyle, he simply follows through on his curiosity and steps into a portal to another land. Unfortunately for him, he has no way back. That doesn't stop him from having a good time, however, as he's introduced to the colorful.
Colors of the new world and the inhabitants that make it up. Before long, he's deemed a hero by his summoner, the princess of the dog kingdom, Millhiore, and is rushed into battle with nothing but a ring on his hand. This is certainly not a very subtle introduction. The world in which Cinque arrives in is a bit of a sight to behold. While two kingdoms are at war, it's not the kind of war that one would probably imagine. These two kingdoms are actually on good terms.
The princesses (because kings and queens aren't cute enough to hold a position in this world) are childhood friends, and hold each other as dearly as I do with my own pets. These 'wars' that their kingdoms' people partake in are simply a giant game. There is no evil intent, there is no killing, no injuries, no marauding. Every purpose of these wars is to make sure that their kingdoms' citizens are all entertained equally. I suppose one could infer that if partaking in war was the most enjoyable thing in this world, some might want to partake in an actual war. Just for fun.
The issue with this becomes simple: there is no suspense. If the princess is captured, what of it? They won't do anything to her because this is all just a big game. If your entire army is wiped out, oh well.
Those who had fallen in battle are allowed to come back after a certain time limit. It ruins any sense of dread within the plot, and ultimately kills most of the entertainment value for those expecting an enthralling action anime. The cast of Dog Days is as wide of an array of characters as I've ever seen. We have the hero, Cinque, with his pure intentions and heart of a true warrior. We have the princess of the dog kingdom, Millhiore, and the princess of the cat kingdom, Leo, both of whom are very beautifully designed.
We also have a captain of the knight faction in the dog kingdom, Eclair, who is fourteen years old. Let me just reiterate; a fourteen year old girl is the captain of the knight faction in the dog kingdom army. We also have Rico, who looks as if she just came out of her mother's womb and is already smarter than everyone else on the planet. There are many other characters that could be highlighted, but, overall, they don't hold as much importance to the role of the anime as the characters already listed.
And with an anime that spans thirteen episodes, it isn't hard to imagine that each character gets a healthy dose of negligence. All except for Cinque, because he's the hero, of course. Speaking of which, Cinque is as unlikable a character as I've ever seen from a (implied) harem. His constant obsession with meeting everyone's standards and his one for all attitude is enough to cause an uproar among the minds of those waiting for a more original character. He's optimistic, he's everything any person would want in a hero, but what hurts him the most is that he simply doesn't act his age. This boy is thirteen.
Why is he so willing to go along with everything that is entrusted to him? Wouldn't someone as young as him think, maybe, the fact that he cannot return to his own world would be somewhat of a hindrance to his mindset as a person who enjoyed their former life? Not to mention, the minute skin shows (and it shows a lot), he's the first to turn away with no desire to look back. Thirteen years old. Other important characters include the two princesses, Millhiore and Leo; Eclair, and Rico.
Millhiore is the standard love interest for the main character and a not-really-original-anymore archetype for the not-so damsel in distress. Leo is among the first victims of this series' desire to show some developed chests, and her personality is the equivalent of a dedicated older sister towards Millhiore, somewhat like the relationship between a dog and its owner, except she's a cat. Eclair is among Cinque's (implied) harem and boasts the most adorable tsundere act throughout this entire anime. Rico, as mentioned before, has the body of a baby and has the intelligence of Einstein.
She is solely responsible for finding out how to return Cinque back to his own world. That doesn't stop Dog Days from showing her naked, but that's unimportant to her character. By the way, every character mentioned in this paragraph gets naked at some point during the anime. You're welcome. Where Dog Days shines brightest is in its character design. Every single female character in this entire series is incredibly attractive.
Whether their designs range from sexy to adorable, they all have the same sort of aura about them that makes them pleasurable to the eyes of the audience. And not just that, but the creatures (which, randomly, aren't human hybrids) that reside within the world of Dog Days are also laced with creativity from beak to claw. Unfortunately, a single drawback from this is that it may come across as completely disgusting. A kingdom full of rainbows and fuzzy animals and colorful characters and big-eyed freaks and chibi balls of what once were normal cat and/or dog-human hybrids; it's all a little much. Perhaps this kind of animation and character design would be completely lost on the color blind. Regardless, if being dazzling was a profession, Dog Days would be its CEO.
What Dog Days does best, in my eyes, is being committed to its audience. Because of this, I simply couldn't enjoy it.
There are multiple signs of fan service prevalent throughout this entire anime. Characters with colorful hairstyles and big eyes, and the fact that their combined with basic domestic animals. Sexual fan service. A majority of the characters are female and attractive, with impressive figures. The main character, excluding his can-do, pure attitude, has no personality.
War within this series is a game, so no one gets hurt and everyone is happy. And when conflict finally does arise, it's taken care of in a flash, with no explanations of where it came from in the first place. Characters that appear youthful are actually well over a hundred years old. The fact that men don't hold any importance outside of the main character. Combine these points with a plethora of cliches (if what was listed wasn't cliche enough) and you have the world Dog Days hopes to embody. Nothing but fun and fantasies, through and through.
While Dog Days isn't anything extraordinary on the surface, the possibilities that are thrown away along with most of the male characters are a troubling thought, and leaves me with a feeling of regret. The series tries its very best to sugarcoat the series and squeeze every possible cliche it can in order to appease its audience, but underneath it all, it's basically a rehashed fantasy/adventure story that lets itself get far too out of hand. If only heroes existed in the world of literature, so stories like this could be given a fair chance to flourish with multi-dimensional characters and an effort to create instability within the fun world that Dog Days creates.
Crime, Drama , 2 h 11 min Penelope Allen, Sully Boyar, John Cazale, Beulah Garrick Director: Sidney Lumet IMDb rating: ★★★★★★★★☆☆ 8.0/10 (181,247 votes) Based upon a real-life story that happened in the early seventies in which the Chase Manhattan Bank in Gravesend, Brooklyn, was held siege by a gay bank robber determined to steal enough money for his male lover to undergo a sex change operation. On a hot summer afternoon, the First Savings Bank of Brooklyn is held up by Sonny and Sal, two down-and-out characters. Although the bank manager and female tellers agree not to interfere with the robbery, Sonny finds that there's actually nothing much to steal, as most of the cash has been picked up for the day. Sonny then gets an unexpected phone call from Police Captain Moretti, who tells him the place is surrounded by the city's entire police force.
Having few options under the circumstances, Sonny nervously bargains with Moretti, demanding safe escort to the airport and a plane out of the country in return for the bank employees' safety. ( IMDb) Critical reception: Upon its release, Dog Day Afternoon received largely positive reviews. The film holds a 95% 'fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Vincent Canby called it 'Sidney Lumet's most accurate, most flamboyant New York movie' and praised the 'brilliant characterizations' by the entire cast. Roger Ebert called Sonny 'one of the most interesting modern movie characters' and gave the movie three-and-a-half stars out of four. As time has passed, the film has continued to generate a positive critical reception.
For example, Christopher Null has said that the film 'captures perfectly the zeitgeist of the early 1970s, a time when optimism was scraping rock bottom' and that 'John Wojtowicz was as good a hero as we could come up with'. ( Wikipedia) More info at,. I am a bot.