Streaming: Crunchyroll
Episodes: TBA
Source: Manga
Episode Summary: Yuuhi Amamiya is a busy college student with a lot on his mind, so when he’s initially approached by a talking lizard he feels as though it must be a product of his stress and overwork. Eventually, after many attempts at getting rid of the vocalizing reptile (who’s literally attached to him at all times) and then learning he now has access to a type of forcefield power via a magic ring, he begins to accept the fact that he may truly, for some reason, have been designated the “Lizard Knight.” Being chosen and being willing are two different things entirely, however.
After facing off against a frightening golem and also being forced to recall the harsh words of his grandfather, Yuuhi is done with this whole “saving the world” thing. But the power is really not his to give up. After learning that his neighbor, Samidare, is the princess that his lizard friend keeps referring to, and that the world is under threat from a giant looming object called the “Biscuit Hammer,” Yuuhi starts to feel trapped in his role. Samidare is also not entirely benevolent herself; she hopes to defeat the Biscuit Hammer so that she can then destroy the world via her own two hands.
Impressions: I’ve noticed that sometimes all I have to do when I’m interested in seeing a manga get animated is to start reading it. It wasn’t long after I scraped together all of the mostly-out-of-print copies of Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer and started reading the first volume that this adaptation was announced, so I put the manga away and waited.
I think that there’s always bound to be mixed reactions when something beloved is taken and transformed within the realities of another medium. Sometimes the voice cast isn’t exactly what the fandom would have expected. Occasionally story beats are greatly altered or eliminated to fit. And sometimes the adaptation doesn’t look that great. That’s sort of the problem with this episode – it retains a lot of the amusing dialog from what I remember of the early chapters of the manga, but the visual elements are below-average at best.
This isn’t something that I really get bent out of shape about. I became a fan of Satoshi Mizukami via Planet With, then immediately sought out Spirit Circle and then slowly worked through my quest to collect the volumes of Biscuit Hammer. My impression of his work is that his strength is really in writing and especially character writing. His preferred themes seem to involve reconciliation and understanding even in the face of huge disagreements, both personal and world-influencing (which often end up being one and the same). I think the most important part of a production like this is ensuring the emotional truth stands out as important no matter the window dressing.
I try to avoid reading too much about new series until I’ve had my chance to test it out myself, but it was hard to avoid every mention of it on Twitter once the first episode had dropped. And I get it – an adaptation of a beloved cult property that doesn’t measure up in an obvious way is disappointing. But rather than dwell on what’s wrong with this episode, I’d rather just let the story speak for itself. And so far there’s a charm to it that I think cuts through a lot of its more frustrating animation issues.
Pros: This episode accomplishes a lot with a little. I think there’s a certain pleasure to be had in the snarky, snappy dialog. It’s easy to sympathize with Yuuhi – at this point in my life, I too feel ill-equipped to tolerate being burdened with a duty or quest better suited to someone younger and less disillusioned. There are many times where I’d rather just do my work, come home and chill. But unfortunately life sometimes throws additional unwanted burdens my way.
I also think the Biscuit Hammer serves as an interesting metaphor as a looming threat that’s easily-ignored unless pointed out directly. Climate change, inequality, creeping fascism and authoritarianism – these are all things that either have some negative impact on our lives or probably will at some point, and yet our minds are so equipped to simply adjust to the status quo and pretend that everything’s great as a form of self-preservation. Yet many of us reach a point where we can no longer ignore the fact that bad things are happening, and much closer to home that we’d like to believe. It’s stressful!
One thing I noticed is that this adaptation seems to eschew the panty shots that were sort of a notable motif in the manga version. For me personally, this is a positive change.
Cons: This is the only place where I’m going to directly bring up the animation, which isn’t great. The problem is really that it’s mostly lifeless and relies on a lot of very obvious shortcuts that remove any sort of personality from the character movement or sense of danger from the battles.
I get the impression that any time I take a stance that animation quality isn’t a make-or-break issue for me, I get people saying that there’s no point to watching animated media if the animation aspect is lacking. That’s probably true for some people, but for me I’m much more interested in the whole package. I like reading manga, but it’s inconvenient for me – a visual medium with voices and music just speaks to me more, whether it’s well-executed or not.
Content Warnings: Fanservice (mild), violence (mild).
Would I Watch More? – I was planning to watch this anyway. Because of that, and because it’s getting kind of a bad wrap, I feel compelled to try to keep up with it just to see it through. No matter how it looks, I have the hope that its core themes will serve as a bright spot.