Kiniro Mosaic

First impressions aren’t everything, and Kiniro Mosaic shows this well. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily. The anime starts off with a rather strong premise given its nature as a Cute Girls Doing Cute Things (CGDCT) series. Main character Shinobu Oomiya takes part in a brief homestay in England, under the care of her mother’s friend. While there, she meets a girl her age, Alice, and after some initial awkwardness the two become friends. During their time together they break down language barriers to get to know each other while also learning more about their respective cultures. This is all done in a way that’s fitting for this type of show, and all in all it was a great start. After such a strong opener, it wouldn’t be strange for one to expect more of these kinds of developments. However, the show instead begins to drift into a different direction, for better or worse. It is one that’s more standard for a CGDCT anime, but I still believe there are more positives than negatives to this approach. Story and Plot: Outside of the premise of connecting despite cultural differences and learning about others’ cultures, there isn’t much of a story to Kiniro Mosaic. In the first few episodes there is a more distinctive focus on the original premise, but after the main cast gets to know each other, things shift to a more typical formula. The show is mostly episodic with a series of loosely connected moments of the characters interacting with each other. These range from comedic bits to more wholesome and heartwarming moments between the cast. Most of the comedy stems from the cultural differences or characters acting absurdly in their affections for the others, while heartfelt moments also revolve around the difference in values along with the cast’s growing friendship. Overall, the anime offers a good mix of comedic and wholesome moments while continuing with the slice of life approach as the show progresses; this is all while it offers its own unique flair as it mostly builds on the foundation of the original premise. 7/10 Characters: This is probably Kiniro Mosaic’s strongest aspect. The main cast is rather small and the show revolves around five main characters: Shinobu, Alice, Aya, Youko, and Karen. Shinobu, along with Alice, is the token cutesy character. She is a fanatic of Western culture and has a strong obsession with blonde girls; these two traits are often played on for comedic effect. Alice comes from England and has learned Japanese in order to be with Shinobu in high school. She is typically shy but at the same time very affectionate of Shinobu. Aya is the smart and reliable one of the group who also gets flustered easily, especially around her best friend Youko. Youko is more of an outgoing “genki” girl and also a jokester, but at the same time also acts as the “straight man” in some cases. Karen also comes from England, but in contrast to Alice she is very easygoing and carefree, never hesitant to speak her mind. There are also recurring characters like the homeroom teacher and Shinobu’s sister to fill out the supporting cast. Coming into the show and having seen the legendary “Ayaya” scene, I figured that Karen would have stolen the show the moment she appeared. Surprisingly though, none of the main characters seemed to get special treatment, and no one was overshadowed by another. Each character gets their moments in the spotlight. Along with this, their antics and interactions with each other are a joy to watch. Definitely the highlight of the show. 9/10 Audio and Visuals: The anime’s opening is upbeat and energetic, certainly appropriate for the tone of the series. Meanwhile, the ending closely matches the energy of the opening, while being a little more lowkey as to befit an ending. As for the background music, it isn’t exceptional but it tends to fit the respective scenes quite well. For example, the exaggerated depiction of Western life is often accompanied by a classical music style. On the other hand, the slice of life scenes are typically complemented with what you would expect from a standard CGDCT/comedy show, with different tones depending on the mood. As for the art, the show is quite colorful and vibrant. But for the most part the art style and animation are fairly simplistic outside of the nice character designs. Particularly notable to me were the watercolor-esque backgrounds, most prominent in the early episodes when it came to showcasing the beauty of Western culture. I though the approach to background art was neat and went well with the show’s style. Overall, the production value isn’t too much to write home about but was still quite fitting. 8/10 Enjoyment: Looking back, I enjoyed this series a lot! When it had started to drift into the episodic format, I was a little worried that I would lose interest, but that wasn’t the case at all. There wasn’t a moment where I was outright bored of the show, and it gave me a lot of laughs and entertainment along the way. Equally so, the wholesome moments really resonated with me in addition to the overall message, despite the show’s seemingly simplistic nature at first glance. It also has some of the most endearing Engrish I’ve heard in an anime. 9/10 Overall: 8/10 I think a good way to describe this show would be that it reels you in with its premise while still having more to offer outside of that. “Come for the premise, stay for the endearing characters and their interactions” might be a bit of a mouthful but explains it well enough. The first impression wasn’t everything to me, and I found a lot to love even as the series changed its pace.

Keep in mind that this is solely my opinion and my opinion only. Also, if I don't make sense in some instances while writing this, my bad, I'll get you some lemon soda to compensate. On MAL, an 8 rating stands for "very good", and I'm completely fine with giving Kiniro Mosaic an 8. To me, Kiniro Mosaic is like a better revamped sequel to A-Channel. The loli girls are once again cute and full of different personalities. Let us try again to keep this review short. Kiniro Mosaic's story is like many others, but with a twist. It all starts with pen pal buddies (Shinobu and Alice) meeting in Europe. The two got along real well until Shinobu had to depart for Japan. Eventually in high school, Shinobu has received information that Alice will be coming to Japan for high school, and she's well prepared. They soon reunite and start creating more memories with three others, Karen, Aya, and Youko. Putting a twist to an ordinary basis is good, I approve. The art in Kiniro Mosaic is definitely something I don't see a lot. It has the style of the characters in A-Channel, cute, loli, and those bug ol' eyes. I'm a fan when it comes to this art style. Once again, sound is sound, and it isn't bad in Kiniro Mosaic. The opening and ending are fine, nothing too much. When I saw the characters in Kiniro Mosaic, they were pretty similar to those in A-Channel in terms of personalities, just that we have foreigners. It still doesn't stop the fact that they are cute and funny. We have cool klutz, smart normal people, man girls, blonde foreigners. You want it, they have it. I enjoyed this a little better than A-Channel and that's certain. I laughed more, had more fun watching this, and those musicals in every episode didn't exist. However, it's still a slice of life anime and I'm not into those that much. Overall, Kiniro Mosaic was fun to watch. It's literally an A-Channel sequel that I wasn't aware of. In general this is a good watch if you like cute lolis, slice of life, and foreigners speaking English to the best of their abilities.

If you'd told me say five years ago that'd I'd be ranting about how great a show about Chibi high school girls going about their daily lives was then, well, actually, I'd have been watching My Little Pony at the time, so I don't suppose I'd have been surprised. Anyway, this show is great. It's hilarious, cute, pure and composed almost entirely of A-Grade meme fuel. You should give it a go. It's hard to put my finger on exactly what is so funny about it, but I find that is quite normal with comedy Anime. If you happen to be from the UK there is the added bonus of getting to see the shows take on the UK, which isn't a million miles off, but is still pretty funny. Like, how many rocking horses do you have in your house? What percentage of your belongings were purchased in a tourist tat shop in central London? If you lived in this show, you'd be giving a high number for both of those questions.

Kiniro Mosaic is a series with an interesting premise, a Japanese girl stays over an English girl's house for a summer and the two become good friends despite the language barrier between them. Eventually the English girl decides to learn Japanese and become an exchange student in the same high school that her Japanese friend attends and lives with her, with their bonds of friendship growing stronger than ever. Mood changes between wordplay comedy and wholesome moments throughout each episode. The characters are entertaining and their designed well, animation being consistently good. The first episode is a bit misleading because its tone differs drastically from the rest of the series. This is cute girls doing cute things through and through with an abundance of Japanese VAs voicing English speaking characters.

First things first. My "reviews" system is explained on a blog entry. Which can be found through my profile. ------ ✦Story Another cute moeblob, where this time around we get 2 foreign blondies talking engrish. I got nothing else to add regarding story. It's literally what its about. These type of anime are always hit or miss. For me, it was miss. It had some cute moments, but for the most of time time I were rather bored or underwhelmed. It's the usual slice-of-life school comedy with it's quirks. With plot of English transfer students and essentially their daily lives and friendship moments. ✦Art Was good and pleasing enough. Had some memorable facial expressions. ✦Sound Bright, cheerful and chippy enough. Wasn't bad or good. Pretty average, but on a plus side of it. ✦Character "AYAYA!!" probably the primary reason that pulled me in. Saw enough clips of that specific character. But aside that the characters have their stereotypes and well "roles" in their circle of friends. With a little bit "drama progression" and some pacing for characters and their lives. Aside that, not much to tell. Was fine enough. ✦Enjoyment & Overall As mentioned. Moeblobs are hit or miss. I found it "cute", but not enough to get that "hnggh" feeling of which moeblobs give if you end up on a blob that you like. It was fine, but I'm not interested enough to watch sequels.

Yet another SoL anime but this one's a little different as it's one of those cross-cultural anime with english speaking characters which I absolutely adore *SPOLIER ALERT* Story: The story revolves around 2 girls, Shino and Alice, who met each other during Shino's home-stay in the UK, Although it was an awkward start, the 2 of them soon became friends, but were separated when Shino returned to Japan. Fast forward to the anime's timeline, and it's Alice turn to stay at Shino's place. At long last they are re-united! Together with Shino's friends, Aya and Yoko, plus Alice's friend Karen, the 5 of them do various things together and soon create an unbreakable bond. I highly rate the story as it's a casual, day-to-day kind of story, which makes it quite relatable. Rating: 10/10 Animation: Granted, it's not the best animation, but at least it's decent. Like Mikakunin de Shinkoukei, I like how the used the animation to further emphasize the characters' feelings. Rating: 8.5/10 Sound: Very catchy opening and ending. Rating:8/10 Characters: This anime is one of the few anime in which I don't have a favorite anime, because, basically everyone was great! Shino, Aya, Yoko, Alice and Karen, all of them were lovable and funny. And it's nice to see how Alice and Karen adapt to Japanese culture so quickly, so much so that they've almost become like a native Japanese. I especially love how the anime focuses on Shino and Alice's relationship, because hey, they are the stars! Rating: 10/10 Overall, a very enjoyable anime. Will I rewatch it? I'm not sure. Maybe, but definitely not now. Other animes should learn from Kiniro Mosaic and add in more english speaking characters. That'll make anime more fun! Final rating: 9/10

KinMoza is a standard CGDCT anime. It does nothing outstanding, but it does nothing terrible either. Granted, if you don't like this genre now, KinMoza isn't going to change your opinion. Like most in its genre, KinMoza takes place with a group of female highschool students, who exhibit the standard tropes. One way in which this is different is through the characters Karen Kujo and Alice Cartelet, who are English exchange students, and this is actually a point which extends beyond having blonde hair and randomly mixing English into their sentences like most anime seem to prefer doing. As would be expected in real life, these two have difficulty assimilating to the Japanese lifestyle, with Karen being the strongest example of this. Rather than being calm and formal and hard-working like those that surround her, she is loud, eccentric, and does and says what she wants, and does not put much effort into her studies. KinMoza's mediocrity is its greatest flaw, and this is the reason why it hasn't scored an 8/10 or higher. All that could remain in this review could easily be taken from anything else of any CGDCT with a few words interchanged. This could be attributed to the formulaic and 'samey' forms of the genre, but, I've nothing to say here that is truly worth saying. The character interactions are enjoyable, the jokes are good, etc. While this review may have seemed rather negative, I actually quite liked KinMoza, and would gladly rewatch it. It is average. It does nothing particularly well, but nothing particularly badly either. The animation is good and all, but I'm just needlessly extending the review at this point. KinMoza's good, but there's better stuff out there. It truly is enjoyable, but I just can't bring myself to give it any significant praise.

Story Shinobu is a sweet, airheaded Japanese girl who goes to Britain to stay with a family of three. She befriends the daughter of her new family, Alice, and her obsession with Britain and blonde hair soars. Forced to part ways, the two make a huge impact on each other–so much that Alice decides she wants to live with Shinobu in Japan and go to high school with her. Thus begins the story of a weeaboo and a westaboo. Alice makes befriends Shino’s friends Aya and Yoko and, later on, Alice’s friend from Britain Karen joins the picture. From there, well, it’s just a series about their random shenanigans. This is a slice-of-life that doesn’t care to have a plot of any sort; just sit back and bask in how freaking adorable it is. Characters To have a compelling slice-of-life, especially one with no plot, you have to give us characters we can invest in and love. Thankfully, Kinmoza has a fantastic cast of adorable girls who are around sixteen or so but look like elementary schoolers (and act like them too!). Even the teacher is a cute moeblob that I couldn’t get enough of. Let’s start with Alice, the blonde British girl. I can’t discern much character from her aside from the fact she’s a total lesbian for Shinobu. But that’s okay because as a team mascot, she’s got enough humor and heart in her to carry forward. Shinobu is my least favorite character if only because her gimmick of being an airhead westaboo is not that funny. I like how she works off of Alice but I just didn’t like her as much as the others. Aya is my favorite character. She’s the diligent tsundere who loves romance stories and is definitely in love with Yoko. I found her to be the funniest and cutest character overall; her archetype exploited really well. Yoko is my second favorite. She’s the athletic tomboy, completely oblivious to Aya’s feelings. But she provides a lot of humor as well and the dynamic between her and Aya is heartwarming, even if it’s not amounting to anything. Karen is the other British girl and I went into the show thinking she’d be best girl. But the more you watch, the louder and more insane she seems. Karen’s definitely my third favorite but I really appreciate the subtlety and quiet of Aya after Karen’s segments. Finally, might as well mention Karasuma sensei. Why does she look the same age as the other girls? Aside from that, another entertaining and silly character. None of the characters are great examples of their archetypes but they all function well when put together, creating a fun dynamic to watch. Animation The animation is pretty good though nothing really special. It has that storybook quality to it with soft colors and white around the edges. That makes it much cuter and inviting. Character designs aren’t unique, but add to the happy, warm feeling. About the only thing I can say about the animation is that sometimes the eyes look a little derpy. Sound Again, nothing memorable but it gets the job done. The opening and closing songs are pretty good and music during the show is what you’ve come to expect of slice-of-life’s like this. There’s a musical number at the end of the last episode that was pretty good; definitely check it out if you can. Usually I don’t comment on voice acting because I don’t speak Japanese so I can’t typically tell if actors are doing well or not, but the English in this show is absolutely hilarious. Yes, I know we’re talking about Japanese people trying their best to speak English, and no, I won’t put them down for trying. But, as someone who speaks English, it’s pretty hilarious to watch these segments. “Can I sreep wit you?”. Entertainment I don’t watch shows like this ever because the comedy style isn’t for me. But I thoroughly enjoyed Kinmoza from beginning to end. It knew how to maintain the cuteness that drew me in while throwing in some great jokes and good character interactions. It’s an easy watch that helped me unwind.About the only issue I had were the sheer amount of title cards. These are used for scene transitions but become a little much when used one after the other. Overall Kinmoza’s an adorable slice-of-life that manages an entertaining group dynamic while adding dashes of random humor to keep things fresh. It’s never very impressive (except for the final musical number) but it’s simple and fun enough that you won’t care and get drawn in. With a second season currently airing, now’s a great time to see whether you can handle such immense levels of moe.

CGDCT doesn't have the best track record with me and that is mostly because most of them tend to be episodic So I was surprised when we had such a detailed prelude into the show with episode 1 I didn't go into this show with any false pretenses that this could of created while it was airing but the prelude did sell the relationship to me between our main characters of Shinobu and Alice. The main story is about two Englishwoman moving to Japan and their daily experiences with the culture and school life The main friend group is made up of 3 introverts and 2 extroverts and that worked to be a good composition Alice is very adorable and has some of the best facial expressions in the show as well as being jealous when Shinobu fangirls about Karen Karen is one of the extroverts in the group and the contrast between Alice helps the show between the two foreigners If you have issue with Japanese VAs doing English lines than this isn't the show for you because you will get a lot of that. I do feel Manami Tanaka and Nao Touyama did a satisfactory job with their English. Nao Touyama specially used a different type of voice to VA Karen that gave the show an unique flair throughout the experience As for the Japanese girls of the friend group we course have Shinobu whom is obsessed with anything English. There was a time from 2009-2010 where I had a bit of this phase as well so I can relate with her in that regard...but not to the levels of her. Then we have Youko and Aya whom were put into the Yuri tease scenes of the show. Not my cup of tea but for some that would be their favorite parts Aya is personally my favorite character in the show but that is most likely because I can relate to her the most. She is the most blunt of the group. She is the most melancholy of the group. I'm shy, she is shy. Now I didn't have anyone that I'd blush about all the time, that is where she has me beat. Looking at similar shows that I've watched. I do like this group of girls more than Non Non Biyori. Non Non Biyori has been my benchmark show for Episodic CGDCT. I like NNB but the show doesn't have enough substance for me to give the show a good score. Slow Loop is more recent show where the show starts with a strong story elements and then divulges into the Episodic CGDCT that you'd expect it to be. What it comes down to is how is the show during the learning process versus then the reinforcement of what you already know. The first three episodes your experience these new personalities for the first time. The interest level is rather high and coming off such a great prelude to the plot of the show worked wonders. If this show was only 3 episodes this would be in the 8s. Even 6 episodes it would of held pretty well thanks to my knowledge of Englishman in Japan. In Episode 5 Karen and Alice criticized the food and that remined me of Trash Taste. In Episode 6 Karen wanted to go to Mt. Fuji and that remined me of Chris Broad. But anything after Episode 6 was just your standard affair that you get from these type of high school setting shows. They did a school fair, they had a Christmas episode, they had a Summer Break episode, which all was about reinforcement of characters traits we already know with no central plot. The characters are good enough to get you to the ending without feeling too worn out but when it comes to rating story it is always going to be low. The prelude of course would give this show an advantage that other shows don't but it is still the weakest element. Something this show has above the rest would be their soundtrack. That is one of the first things I noticed in Episode 1. In Episode 6 I still felt the soundtrack was good. Not to the immaculate level of prelude but it holds throughout the show. The OP/ED songs are both good and was something I wanted to listen to before and after every episode. Soundtrack though has always been what I focus the least on when it comes to creating a finale score but it can give the show a few more ticks. Enough to get this show into the 7s.

Kinmoza is a phenomenon on the anime scene. Anyone who spends some amount of time on the internet, even those with a distaste toward anime, knows the 'ayaya' clip, and the Twitch emote of it is often used as a 'weeb symbol'. One who picks this show up will probably have this background knowledge. Indeed, one might not pay any mind to this old 2013 programme otherwise. One would probably assume that they are about to bear witness to one of the most whimsical and homey slice-of-lifes around. The characters are usually the most important part of shows in this genre. We're obviously not looking for psychological realism here, but applying character traits in a diverse fashion is often meritorious. I'm partial to Gochiusa mostly because of this. There, Cocoa's insistence, for example, is frequently found annoying by her friends, yet it's the very thing that helps the withdrawn Chino loosen up, even though Cocoa frustrates her more than anyone. The character feels tangible, not just like a gimmick or a plot device. It doesn't take all that much to achieve this effect, but Kinmoza nevertheless basically doesn't. If you've watched a few anime, you recognise the tropes. I can't name them all because I'm not a fucking nerd, but still. Aya, for instance, is just a tsundere without much else going for her. She has a crush on one of the other protagonists, and it's constantly used as a joke, being an utterly ill-kept secret. I don't hate any of these characters, and the voice acting is mostly good – especially Risa Taneda who can do no wrong. But ultimately, they are gimmicks. The most prevalent gimmick in the show is the British exchange student gimmick. The representatives of it are the Alice and Karen, who are in a way titular characters, as the show's name pertains to their golden blonde hair. In a tragic turn of events, they never sound British, and the gimmick is executed shoddily. I don't speak Japanese, so I can't speak to whether Karen actually speaks broken Japanese, but I can certainly criticise the scenes where they speak English. I suppose they didn't feel like they should hire English persons to dub those parts separately. One could defend it by saying it's charming, but I don't feel it. During those parts, I cringed in the traditional sense of the word. The corner-cutting production quality also shows in the animation. It's not horrible, just uninspired. It's just moe anime and nothing else besides. I suppose this could have something to do with why Kinmoza has become such a symbol of the anime scene even amongst non-fans. It very tightly and faithfully adheres to the fundamentals, thereby becoming a manifestation of said fundamentals rather than doing its own thing. Overall, Kinmoza is fine. It's at least relaxing, and it's sometimes funny. I'm not sure whom it completely appeals to, though. If you've seen the 'ayaya' clip and it made you think anime looks shallow, watching the actual Kinmoza series probably isn't going to change your mind. Further, if you already have watched some anime in your time, you'll probably find it a bit uninspired. However, it is one of those animes that have had a big impact on anime culture and even wider internet culture. It might not be art, but it's culture. You should probably watch it for the sake of your anime literacy, if nothing else.