This week for Anime Sunday I’m taking a look at another Winter 2017 Anime. It’s my Hand Shakers Episode 01 Impressions!

Plot Synopsis: The story revolves around Takatsuki Tazuna, a high-school student with a knack for mechanics, who accepts a certain repair request and visits a university research facility. There, he meets Akutagawa Koyori, a lone girl asleep on a bed. As though being led by something, Tazuna touches her fingertips – and a voice flows into him from a place unknown…

Plot: This first episode opens up in medias res, which is always a risky plot device. Frankly if not for certain distractions I would’ve loved the hell out of this first episode and the story’s main premise. But I’ll get to the distractions in a bit.

Characters: Tazuna is a pretty neat young kid, who has a real knack for anything mechanical, Koyori on the other hand is pretty much silent this entire episode so I didn’t really get an impression of her all that much. The rest of the cast is okay, although Break is a bit of a disturbing fellow….

Art: Here’s the real kicker and problem I had with Hand Shakers, the artwork for the most part is great, except for the blatant use of 3DCG that looks like it’s meant for a 1990’s 3D Movie. I hate 3DCG in anime as a general rule of thumb. It’s almost never used well, and the terrible use in this first episode was so off putting I was very tempted to just stop watching. It didn’t get better as the episode went on. Unless they drop the cheesy special effects and use of 3DCG I probably won’t ever finish this series, which is a shame because the premise is pretty interesting.

Overall: Skip this unless you are really bored, or want a good example of poor special effects.

For those who like: Action, Drama, Romance, Intriguing Plot, Good Cast of Characters.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above, or poorly used 3DCG.