Kinmoza! (2013) User Reviews

A fun school based slice of life anime featuring a couple of English girls

[Tweekums · 7/10 · 29 September 2013]

Slice of life series following a group of school girls are two a penny these days so to gain any attentions new examples of the genre need to feature something new… in this case that is having two English girls in the group. After returning from an exchange visit to England Shinobu is surprised when her English friend Alice follows her back to Japan and enrolls in her school. Shortly afterwards another English girl, Karen, joins as well. What follows is the usual sort of thing we'd expect in a slice of life series but with the two English girls bringing outsiders' views of the proceedings.

This is a fun series that slice of life fans are likely to enjoy; English fans are sure to enjoy the all too brief depiction of Alice's home in the Cotswolds and be amused by Alice and Karen speaking decent English but with heavy Japanese accents! The characters are fun and the animation looks pretty good. I liked the fact that the creators had clearly done their research as I instantly realised Alice lived in the Cotswolds long before we were told.

English?

[masonfewel · 7/10 · 28 December 2021]

I haven't finished the show yet, currently on episode 3, but it is really funny to me how terrible this show is at all things english. The characters that are supposed to be english sound like they just discovered the english language the day before they read their scripts. Couldn't you get someone who is actually bilingual, or even better, someone who is bilingual from ENGLAND?

Also, this show thinks that everyone in England lives in cozy cottages or big mansions with colonial architecture and wears outfits that belong in the 18th century. They could have done a LITTLE research other than just using stereotypes from their memories. Also, since when do english people kiss on the cheek to say goodbye?

Other than that this show is funny and entertaining, but it is a little off-putting that the main focus of the show had no effort put into it.

Cute, but bland.

[JHD_inc · 5/10 · 7 May 2016]

It feels like 'yet another' slice-of-life comedy. This is coming from someone who considers himself a fan of the genre. Sure, a show doesn't necessarily need to be innovative to be enjoyable (especially in a genre as saturated as this one), but it does need a bit of extra to get you hooked. This show tries to shake things up a bit by adding some foreign (English) characters, creating a bit of new perspective. But despite those efforts it fails to hold your interests.

The foreign perspective could have been a nice touch if had been played out more. But as it stands the show underutilizes its one discerning factor and instead mostly follows same-old, same-old procedure. Again, not necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean the show needs another way to grab the viewer. Which, unfortunately, it doesn't.

The girls are cute. Of course they are, they always are. (Though their high-pitches voices can get on your nerves.) But there is very little chemistry between the characters, their interactions never resonate. I realize not all shows can be K-On! (my personal favourite when it comes to group- dynamics), but this one just seemed to go through the motions. It never reaches out of the screen and moves you, either when it tries to be endearing or funny.

I guess my final verdict would be; the show isn't actually bad, it just doesn't have anything that's actually good. It's rather bland. If you're simply hunkering for something cute and have exhausted the rest of your collection, sure, go ahead, watch this one. It will fill the time until something better comes along just fine. But if you're looking something with more of an edge or depth, keep looking.

P.S. This review is based on the first 5 episodes (40% of the total). My apologies if the show makes some major course-corrections after that.