Anime: Usavich

To judge Usavich by the standards of a more "normal" animé series is not remotely fair; nevertheless, I will try. The series tells the tale of two imprisoned rabbits, one meek and frequently terrified by the experience, the other a hardened criminal whose laziness mostly gets the better of him.

It's highly episodic; while this makes some sense for a comedy series, there isn't a whole lot of development. Indeed, the episodes frequently feel like repeats of the same plot, particularly towards the end. Some shifts are made in setting between the notional first, second and third series, which do help to add variety, but even given the short runtime of the episodes there simply isn't enough plot to sustain any real variety. While they remain much the same from end to end, the characters are well-realised, with lots of little pieces gradually building up their personalities over the course of the show. (Of course, genre constraints mean said personalities are not remotely realistic, but they have enough quirks and features to be interesting).

This is particularly pleasing when the series accomplishes its characterisation - and indeed, the whole show - with no (intelligible) dialogue, relying solely on sound effects and a couple of recurring musical motifs. Early in the series this is very impressive; it feels like the same musical metaphor has been cleverly applied to a variety of situations, and the effects are used mostly for rhythm rather than storytelling, seemingly a purely aesthetic choice (or rather, a piece of styling necessary to fit in on MTV, the show's original home). But as the plot wears thin and falls into reuse of the same stories, the audio too becomes more formulaic. The similar musical scoring of each episode starts to feel like laziness rather than style, and the sound effects slip into being used to tell us what's happening rather than adding something on top of the animation.

Said animation is possibly the most interesting thing about what is already an unusual show. It's done in a 3D obvious-CG style, but the motion never feels unnatural (well, it frequently feels unnatural, but because it's stylistically cartoonish rather than because of the animation technique). The colour palette is particularly clever; Usavich has a bright, hyperreal look, but done more subtly than by simple oversaturation. For all that, though, the animation is ultimately rather low-detail, presumably for budgetary reasons.

Numeric ratings are particularly unreflective for a show like this, a series of comedic shorts. Its flaws are many but many of them are of its genre; the first half, at least, was fundamentally rather enjoyable, and while I wouldn't recommend watching it in one go, in small doses the short episode length makes the lack of plot (and to a certain extent the repetitiveness) less of an issue. However, reminding me of nothing so much as Detroit Metal City, later episodes become far too repetitive and the small number of jokes gradually wear thin, after which the series has nothing to offer. As such I find it impossible to recommend Usavich as a whole, though many of the early episodes are certainly worth watching in isolation.

Definitely not your average anime out there. Better yet, it doesn’t even look like anime. Yet it packs more innovation than most anime that are produced annually put together.

ART SECTION: 9/10 [Murderous bunnies that do far more than eating signatures.]

It is an amazing work of 3D modeling, using rather simple character models with super lively mannerisms to convey images and feelings to you. Although there are many 3D movies that have done the same thing with far more polygons and details in artwork, very few manage to make 3D models not to feel cold and inhuman to you. Technology has finally managed to reach a point were polygons no longer have cube limbs and robot movements and I must say I adore the result.

So everything feels more like rubber plush toys rather than bulky cubes. Imagine those old Looney Tunes cartoons going full 3D with far more vulgar humor and you are practically watching Usavich. The reactions and facial expressions everyone makes is to die for and many elements in this world are so crazy you actually don’t place it into a generic setting. Prison guards are always shown like a pair of eyes behind a metallic door. When they walk, the door walks with them. Very funny. And chicken in this series appear to have a huge percentage of transvestites amongst their kind. Weird to the point of liking it after the initial shock.

In all I can’t possibly convey to you the amazingness of watching this series. The jokes are almost non-stop and the really imaginative depiction of a queer world full of bunnies and transvestite chicken is just mind-blowing. Add to that the really vividness of the characters as they act and react and it’s love on first sight.

SOUND SECTION: 9/10 [–Ribbit! –Huh? –Bipbip! –Ribbit! –Huh? –Bipbip!]

This is a series of sounds and not of dialogues. Although there are a few scenes where characters talk, this has no effect on the story. And by the way, since the series is supposed to take place in an alternative Russia, all text and dialogues are in Russian as well. And no, you won’t miss a thing is you don’t know the language. What you mostly hear are really funny gasps and screams and noises and one-word Russian cursings than dialogue. No wonder you don’t need subs to watch this series. You get everything by just watching. So the sound only exists to make the jokes in the animation funnier. And to the most part it succeeds.

With practically only a dozen different sounds and a few music pieces repeating every 20 seconds, the series manages to bombard you with jokes that are essentially made up of the same elements. Simplicity at its best. This proves how a series doesn’t really need great dialogues or superb OST to be good.

STORY SECTION: 6/10 [Is this the way to Albakerky?]

The story itself is not much. Divided into three parts of 13 episodes each, this is the tale of two rabbit convicts as they live in prison, bust out and run away in a car and confront a rich criminal in his manor for a pair of fancy shoes. Each episode is hardly one and a half minutes long so we are talking about not even an hour in total duration. So, all things considered, this series shows a lot in only this short amount of time. Packing a slice of prison life, along with an prison brake, a road-movie feeling, a car chase and a manor showdown, along with around one hundred slapstick or vulgar jokes and cramping them all in just one hour is way too much.

Still, I can’t give the story too much credit as the transcendence from one episode to the next is not always clear and there is little to none “real” continuity amongst the jokes. Also, the ending feels way too open. Then again this is a comedy you watch for the jokes and not for the story. Still, as far as stories go, this series has one that never really gets serious or rounds up its elements properly.

CHARACTER SECTION: 8/10 [Nieee what’s up doc?]

The cast is short yet packs a giant of an interest. Not in terms of character development, as such a thing doesn’t exist and even someone who is killed in one episode returns to live and well on the next. Still, they have distinctive and wonderful body language, full of liveliness and extreme facial expressions that you will love them even if you don’t like the jokes.

The two leads are of course the rabbit convicts. The first is a naïve one who gets frustrated over everything (I mean EVERYTHING) and gets panicked every three seconds even for petty reasons. It has the super ability to fix machinery in seconds. The other rabbit is a superhuman freak that rivals even Superman in power. It appears uncaring and meek until it is annoyed or wants something. Then it turns to this ultra killing beast that not even rockets can stop. The rest are their adversaries, from faceless prison guards hiding behind shifting doors, violent police officers and a rich and hedonistic rich coot. As support characters we have a transvestite chicken that always gets tortured for being “special” and a frog pet that loves eating it and shitting it.

In all, the cast has simple but very extreme personalities. There is not much realism involved around them as there is not much story continuity and slapstick hardly leaves room open for such a thing. Still, I loved them for their extremeness.

VALUE SECTION: 7/10 [The high value of a pair of fancy sneakers]
The jokes will probably won’t be that funny if you ever watch the series again. Yet, the originality in its wackiness, the wonderful animation and the simple fact you can watch it easily in one sitting increase the replay value on your telies and in your hearts.

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 8/10 [Tha-tha-tha that’s all folks!]
Although not all the jokes are really great and some are too vulgar for most people to like, the simple fact that they occur one after another in short yet non-stop fashion is really a feat. I was generally very pleased with the overall result and I take a few points out only because most problems the bunnies faced were solved too easily or conveniently and because the ending felt too open.

VERDICT: 7.5/10
Simply a funny series you can finish in one viewing, and almost certainty guarantees to entertain you.