https://i.ur.com/5oe3luE.jpg?1 Now the camera quickly pans up from the bottom And the logo shows up with a thud This leads into... The part where we introduce everybody All of us one by one Our characters are established as we show up onscreen And now were running Were reaching out our hands Actual lyrics to the animes opening themehttps://www..com/watch?v=P2NHwqqaGpU Stand Up mocking anime opening theme clichs Needless to say that title sequence is the reason that got me into watching the anime in the first place. Ive expressed on record multiple times my love for metafictional movies and TV shows especially if those shows are making fun of familiar tropes and conventions. This affection wasnt necessarily born out of some meanspirited obsession to make fun of everything I dislike but more often than not its due to something entirely opposite: my love for those things being made fun of. For example I remember liking that film class scene in Scream 2 where everyone is making fun of sequels more than the rest of the movie itself even wishing there are more movies like this that just spend all day long talking about movie conventions. Naturally this is because of my love for movies and talking about them. Similarly Tesagure is a sliceoflife anime talking about anime. Its like that one film class scene in Scream 2 stretched over an entire series of 12 episodes but the topic being anime and manga instead of movies sequels. And when I said sliceoflife I do mean that the entire anime is about nothing else but the mundane conversations between four girls sitting around a clubroom table. Its not really a parody like Excel Saga or Panty Stocking that imitate the conventions on a visual level which is a misunderstanding I had going into the show and from the meta lyrics of the TV intro could you honestly blame me?. More specifically its about a middle school club with a suggestive and problematic name The Groping Club groping around for the identity of their club. https://i.ur.com/rBVBsUa.png?1 The formula of every episode usually plays out in similar ways: 1 the four club members would decide on a school club theme they want to discuss about be it a sports club a chess club or even a music club 2 discuss whats the first impression they get when they think of the club 3 talk about the way said clubs are portrayed in anime and manga and 4 by the end of the episode though not every episode they would head over to the gym and try out new and unusual activities related to the club theme such as a card game but with photos in a journalism club or Twister but with chess pieces. While the anime would occasionally involve amusing jokes about the silliness of anime tropes more often than not Tesagure is more about the girls just fooling around in the clubroom and spending quality time with each other which is actually the main appeal of a sliceoflife show: characters going about daytoday mundane activities. I mentioned before that Im not particularly a big fan of sliceoflife anime because they are essentially about... well nothing really. Thats the point. But as Ive found out it isnt a genre exclusive to anime but existent within some of my childhood cartoons as well like Hey Arnold and Disneys Recess or more notably and effectively utilized As Told By Ginger. Its what you do with the genre that matters but unfortunately the Japanese seem really obsessed with school culture nostalgia thus leading them to create strangely popular shows like KOn where characters just sit around doing mundane things that dont really make for an exciting narrative or even exciting drama. Drama is the keyword to a good American sliceoflife like Doug or even Seinfeld which is why most Japanese sliceoflife anime dont work for me due to their lack of it. https://i.ur.com/ACKLFoG.png?1 That being said sliceoflife can work when they focus on something with more substance than just cute girls sipping tea and lazing around. Nichijou for example exaggerates the mundane nature of the genre for laughs while Tesagures end credits sequence denotes that the show is intentionally about nothing to focus on the quality time students spend with each other before the tearful graduation split them apart. Even the melody and lyrics of the ending theme 12 kagetsu or 12 Months indicating the 12 months taking place in the anime are melancholic in nature: Although there was nothing special There was meaning to the time we spent together Youll never return so Ill tell you Youre more important than anything else Encounters departures everything has an effect on our future The final episode in particular confirms this as the newest member of the quartet Koharu Tanaka cries out in sorrow at the idea of the senior members leaving her. For some reason even though KOn also contains such a tearful departure it just comes off more effectively for me in Tesagure probably because such a message has been repeated in its closing theme for 12 episodes whereas KOn merely has a really energetic pop music that I cant stop listening to. https://i.ur.com/mIYYOg7.png?1 Another reason is also because the conversations between these girls feel very grounded. Tesagure is a prescored animation meaning the lines were recorded then animated over them using the MMD MikuMikuDance freeware originally used to produce the famous Japanese virtual idol Hatsune Miku. This means that the girls basically sit around and talk with each other about club themes every episode as if its a podcast which is why their conversations tend to come off as more natural and realistic like a group of girls having fun chatting with each other. Its probably the reason why its so easy to connect with these characters and just act like youre one of them listening in on the conversation and enjoying their company. Because of such a realistic style when its time to depart that sentiment feels stronger and more relatable. It really doesnt help that an anime like KOn sidelines the audience while the characters eat cake and dress silly making the audience feel more like an outsider looking in on something fun youd much rather participate in than watch. By the way the MMD technology has also been used for other recent anime though they are such obscure titles its not really worth naming them. However Ive also seen it used to create virtual YouTubers and more notably virtual Twitch streamers. Its probably not gonna be my favorite animation style any time soon as they seem like an amateur form of 3D animation but hey its yet another creative use of the medium in the wonderful world of animation Or as the characters of this anime would say atarashii its a novel idea