Shinkyoku
Soukai
Polyphonica
Crimson S
Number of episodes: 12
Production Studio: Diomedia
Fansub Release Viewed: KSN
Likelihood of US Release: Low
In the continent of Polyphonica, spirits survive on the music that humans play. Sometimes more powerful spirits choose to live amongst them in human or animal form. Humans who play special music often form contracts with these spirits.
Episode Summary
Phoron attends a school for Dantists (not dentists!), people who use the power of music to summon and work together with spirits. As a young child in foster care, his singing was able to summon forth a powerful crimson spirit in the form of a beautiful woman. However, since that time he has’t seen her again and he has had little luck summoning anything else. He has failed his school advancement test once already, and he takes some time to practice for it using a giant instrument called a commandia strapped to his back. When the music he plays doesn’t produce any results, he puts it away, and instead begins to sing.
The sound of his song awakens a dark spirit, which then goes on a rampage. After defeating the spirit of another student, it confronts Phoron, who cowers in fear until the evil spirit sheds its darkness and reveals that it is none other than Corticarte, the spirit Phoron was able to summon as a child. She completes the contract that she could not make with him, and becomes his spirit, thus allowing him to enter his third year of school. Corticarte soon joins him at class.
Thoughts
I vaguely remember watching an episode of the original Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica series before the existence of this website, and while this episode seems to be an improvement over that, it really isn’t much of one. While I was spared having to look at Corticarte’s laughably bulbous boobs for the most of the episode (she only appeared in her buxom form in the early part of the episode), now she’s become an irritatingly jealous tsundere schoolgirl, ordering Phoron around and getting pissy whenever he acts friendly to his female underclassmen. Please, spare me from this complete mediocrity in character development.
One thing that might be sort of petty but which bothered me quite a bit was that, when Phoron used his singing voice again as a teenager, it sounded exactly the same as when he was a young boy. I suppose if we were to get technical, he may be a Countertenor, but really it just sounded silly and inappropriate. The real reason I’m sure it was done this way was because the same sound clip could be used, thus saving money. But sometimes it’s worth it to pay the extra few dollars and record a second singing track. It’s hard to stay serious about reviewing a show when something little like that becomes so silly and difficult to ignore.
The animation was pretty rudimentary, especially for an opening episode. The character designs are pleasant but the choppy animation doesn’t allow that to come through very well. I still take issue with adult Corticarte’s bolt-on boobies because they’re just unnecessary. And for a show that doesn’t seem particularly ecchi in any other way, I sort of wonder what the point (no pun intended) is. The most impressive visuals show up when the Dantists are utilizing their various commandia, which they activate in a henshin-style sequence. Other than that, the show is very average-looking.
Remembering back to the first series, this seems entirely less ridiculous. However, the story itself doesn’t really have enough of a hook to get me interested.
Pros
- Nice character designs
Cons
- Corticarte is nothing but an annoying tsundere
- Phoron’s singing voice is very amusing
