HomeAnimeProblem Children are Coming From Another World, Aren't They? | Anime Review

Problem Children are Coming From Another World, Aren’t They? | Anime Review

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Major anime series which take place in video games or MMO’s are not too uncommon. Franchises including .hack//, Sword Art Online and Accel World all enjoy sizable fanbases and a continual presence in the Japanese and international markets. Although I am fond of all three of the aforementioned titles, they do tend to hover on the “MMO” aspect a little too much.

Problem Children Are Coming From Another World, Aren’t They? (Mondaiji Tachi ga Isekai kara Kuru Soudesuyo? | 問題児たちが異世界から来るそうですよ?), based on the light novel works of Tarou Tatsunoko, attempts to alter the typical formula of these three series by removing the MMO element from them whilst retaining concepts such as guilds, quests and special abilities. This ultimately allows them to present these concepts and some of their own in a real albeit fantasy world context. With no “logging out” ever and no means to escape the trials and tribulations faced by the inhabitants of this world, the series offered something distinct from other comparable series.

Shorter than most series at only 11-episodes in length (10 TV + 1 Fanservice OVA), this ended up being an satisfying series which I comfortably sat through in one session. But while the ideas powering it are interesting, there were a few storyline issues which have left me pondering if it is possible to overlook considerable flaws in terms of plot and character development if the experience is solid.

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Storyline

Problem Children follows three youth (Izayoi Sakamaki, Asuka Kudou and You Kasukabe), who each come from a different period in time on Earth. All three have been summoned to the fantasy world of Little Garden at the bequest of a rabbit-eared girl known as “Black Rabbit”, due to each possessing their own special abilities known as “Gifts”. Little Garden is a world where the population is spread out into various communities, with some being all-powerful, some having a particular niche, some making an average living, and others barely surviving and on the brink of extinction. These communities and individuals themselves battle each other in high-stakes games known as “Gift Games”, where they can put money, people, gifts, land or any other asset on the line for any particular challenge.

“Black Rabbit” introduces herself as a representative of the community known as “No Name”. Having once been a prosperous group, its membership now consists of young children – with the adult members being taken away after being forced into a deadly Gift Game and only two (possibly three depending on how you consider Lily) old enough to take part in Gift Games. Having lost their name, flag and land; the group struggles to survive on desolate land without running water or fertile soil. Hearing their plight, the three “problem children” opt to join the community – seeking to help regain its prosperity and defeat powerful Demon Lords in the process.

The most interesting thing to me was that all three “problem children” are already fairly skilled at using their abilities and handling their own in combat – to the degree that they could be considered “imbalanced” characters. This means that viewers aren’t forced to go through half a season of trivial “learning” episodes to ensure that both character and viewer know every intrinsic detail about gifts and the world they are now in. Instead, the characters and other members of No Name tend to be thrust straight into battles against powerful entities or other “end-game like” situations. Starting off high on the scale was a smart move in my mind, especially given that everything had to be crammed into a mere 10 episodes. It also removed some of the potential “padding” that could have made the first few episodes less appealing and less action packed.

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Problem Children is spread out into three distinct story arcs, each involving members of No Name and the occasional ally fighting against a particular high level enemy and their community. The latter two arcs in particular draw upon mythology and legend as inspiration for their storyline – with the former featuring a community founded upon Ancient Greek history and mythology and the latter heavily drawing upon the Pied Piper of Hamelin / Rattenfänger von Hameln legend. Although sourcing elements of these tales, the writers only took the bare minimum and delivered something unique rather than a simple regurgitation of stories many would already be familiar with. More cause for concern would be the lack of justification for why tales of mythology / history appear in this series at all, and something to hook the two supposedly different worlds (Little Garden and Earth) together through this would have been nice.

Before continuing, I would like to state that I did genuinely enjoy most of the episodes in this series. There is a nice balance between action, world building and developing the concept behind the “Gift Games”, which left me wanting more than a meager ten episodes. Although an extra couple of episodes wouldn’t have saved Problem Children of my criticisms of it, it would have at least given them more time to develop the characters – which were all personality and lacking in development.

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My biggest peeve with Problem Children Are Coming From Another World, Aren’t They? is how the characters have been used. While they have some profound personalities which were well used throughout, asides from a few flashbacks and vague hints, we receive very little in terms of either character development or individual character attention. This is mildly the case for characters such as Asuka Kudou and You Kasukabe who at least receive something in the way of individual development, but other significant individuals including Black Rabbit and ‘No Names’ leader Jin Russel receive very little personal attention. A lack of development can also be found in the storyline as well. While the arcs individually are fairly enjoyable, they never seem to directly contribute much to the plight faced by the ‘No Names’, which is implied to be the core foundation for the plot.

These issues could easily be put down to the limited episode count and the possibility of a second season being commissioned. Unless it was the goal to simply animate a couple of arcs from the original light novel with no intention of ever providing a proper conclusion, it has become clear to me that this show was designed to be expanded through subsequent seasons. If there were plans for a second season and it had already been commissioned, then I wouldn’t be so concerned or writing these last two paragraphs. However, while a sequel hasn’t been completely ruled out, the sale stats [source] seem to imply that this series may fall into the same bracket that “Kamisama Dolls” did – where the series required a second season however it was never commissioned.  I hope this isn’t the case, but my expectations aren’t too high given it has been two years since Problem Children first aired in Japan.

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Design / Music / Voice Acting

Problem Children has been produced by the animation studio Diomedéa, who has previously worked on titles including Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu, Shinryaku!? Ika Musume and is currently working on Cute High Earth Defense Club Love!. The design quality in this series is consistently above-par, with some solid character designs, decent animation and some great environment designs. In terms of fanservice, things are pretty light during the 10 TV episodes, with a couple of hot spring scenes and a few references to fanservice here and there. However, the OVA episode primarily focuses on fanservice, and involves most named female characters in some form.

There is a total of one Opening Theme and one Ending Theme across these eleven episodes, both of which were pretty good. The opening theme is titled “Black + White” by Iori Nomizu, a fast-paced pop song complemented by some suitably fast paced animation (Including the lyrics being creatively displayed on-screen). The ending theme titled “To be Continued? by Kaori Sadohara ties into the game-like elements of the show with its lyrics, and complemented by some simple animation. Whilst the opening/ending themes are worth multiple watches, the core soundtrack fails to stand out – complementing the scenes but hardly coming across as memorable.

Despite Sentai Filmworks opting to release some anime with only the original Japanese dub, the North American publisher did decide it was worth the extra time and funds to commission a brand new English dub for Problem Children. The English dub is of a high quality, with most of the voice cast matching their Japanese counterpart. Some personal highlights include Josh Grelle as Izayoi, Jessica Colvello as Black Rabbit and Luci Christian as Shiroyasha.

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Extra Content

Sentai Filmworks usually don’t have a middle ground with their extra content from my experience, often either providing a whole disc filled with localized goodies or the bare basics. Somehow they have managed to enter that ‘middle-ground’, providing not only clean opening/ending sequences but also a handful of other on-disc goodies. These include a look at some “Problem Children Bumpers” artwork, Blu-ray Spots (English Subtitles), TV Spots (English Subtitles) and a Promotional Video (English Subtitles). Although these don’t rival the assortment of extra content offered by other publishers in the market, it was great to see Sentai Filmworks opting throw in more than the minimum, including the decision to localize all Japanese trailers as well.

Final Words on Problem Children Are Coming From Another World, Aren’t They

I did genuinely enjoy watching Problem Children, and found that the production team made good use of the MMO concepts and “real” fantasy world setting to deliver an experience that was satisfying to watch from start to finish. But without a second season to back it up so far, the character development and storyline does come across as being weak, serving as only a shell of what it could be and by no means providing a satisfactory conclusion. With no official English localization announced for the Light Novel this anime adaptation is based on, potential fans may be left hypothesizing what happens next.

Sam
Sam
Founder of The Otaku's Study. I have been exploring this labyrinth of fandom these last fifteen years, and still nowhere close to the exit yet. Probably searching for a long time to come.
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