Misaki Chronicles Vol. 1: Second Chance
Synopsis
For a hapless young cadet, boot camp is no picnic, and Misaki is as hapless as they get. With the help of friends Luxandra, Kiri, and Suzanna, however, she advances in her training. Pretty normal, right? Wrong. Luxandra should be dead. Suzanna should be discharged. Misaki herself should have vanished in the exodus from the Watcher’s Nest outpost. And the mysterious life form known as the Ghoul still keeps popping up.
It’s up to Lieutenant Commander Ertiana and the rest of the survivors from Watcher’s Nest to find out why everything on Earth is back to normal… when everything else in the universe is anything but.
Review
I have always been a fan of Misaki-chan since her Divergence Eve days. Now we are into the chronicles; Misaki Chronicles to be exact. What is new? What is there to be expected? Well, first off, this series takes place before the original Divergence Eve and second, it has a lighter atmosphere; from the theme songs to seeing Misaki in her sexy uniform for her part time job. Speaking about the ecchi, I am now beginning to believe that ADV Films should have included a ‘Jiggle Counter’ for this show, just like they did for Burn-Up W. I mean, yeah, there are a lot of jiggles. Picture Misaki wearing a tank top braless running laps. There got that image? Okay, moving on…
In this series, we are going to discover why Misaki joined Watcher’s Nest. From the indications so far, it is due to her father and her strong desire to want to learn why her father was so intent on leaving his family for space and why her mom would always wait for him with a smile on her face every time he left. That is something that is only touched upon for a bit in the volume. Right after she graduated from military training, we are fast forwarded to a mission, and this is the point where everything just begins to break down; not in a good way. Suddenly we are shown Misaki’s childhood form. That certainly does not sound strange, until you bring in the current Misaki into the mix. Yes, I am talking about two Misakis. What is more weird is that the show moves a bit too fast, skipping some scenes that might help the viewers in their overall comprehension.
That is most likely the negative of this show so far. I just could not make a good connection with the graduation, the mission, and then Lyar doing time travels hunting down ghouls. But we do get a chance to see mature Misaki in a kimono (^_^)'’. From the future to the past… past past, ninja era past. I mean, I feel so awkward, I know the ghouls exist, but what do ninjas have to do with the whole big picture? What does little Misaki have to do with the series other than to freak people out at times? These questions should be answered in the later episodes, but Misaki Chronicles right now is a great piece if you like jiggles and a show filled with the necessity to think things through in order to make the most sense out of it.
The Breakdown
I only had three advanced episodes at hand, and I felt at the end of the third episode, something was finally beginning to brew… that was when the volume came to an end, for me :(.