Heaven’s Memo Pad Review

Synopsis

Narumi is your typical highschool boy who doesn’t stand out. He is pretty much isolated from other people including his classmates. But after meeting Ayaka and later is introduced by her to a girl named Alice, his life changes forever.

He finds that Alice is a NEET but she’s not an ordinary NEET, she’s much more than that. He soon finds himself getting dragged into her whole ‘NEET’ activities.

Review

It’s been a while since I actually wanted to watch this series. But after watching it, I can’t say that I enjoyed it. Some people like it but I just didn’t. here’s why.

The pacing of the show is a little bit too slow for me. For a mystery genre anime, I expect way more things to happen. But in this show, things just don’t happen much. The clues too, given that this is a mystery anime, are are not intriguing. It doesn’t really make me want to solve the mysteries before the anime does. I don’t really bother trying to understand what the characters are actually trying to solve and just watch the mysteries and stories unfold on their own. Most of the time, the tension don’t work because the mysteries are resolved too easily.

This scene sure looks interesting. But it isn’t…

The setting too is a bit ridiculous I might say. It’s like they live in an underground world but they don’t actually do underground stuffs. I think it’s an undertone underground world. Yeah, that’s it.

The characters are decent at best. Most of them are either boring on their own or boring because I don’t really give a damn. Now here’s the thing though, because I don’t enjoy the plot, I also tend to not bother about the characters. Maybe the characters are much more complex and interesting than I thought but I just didn’t care because I don’t like the story in the first place.

We have Narumi who is forced to join Alice’s ‘NEET Detective Team’. Narumi is an average guy who can’t contribute much to the team. That’s what everyone including himself thinks. But they are proven wrong as he is actually more capable than what everyone expect. He is the one who mostly sees in advance what would and could happen. He basically fills the gap between everyone. He is kinda badass if anyone wants to call him that. But not as badass as ‘The Fourth’ though.

Next we have Alice, the only factor I actually managed to finish this anime…because loli and moe (not really). She is a NEET Detective, speaker for the dead, digging up the lost words to harm the living to honor okay I don’t really need this redundant character exposition. She is way smarter than she looks as she actually manages to help her clients by uncovering many mysteries. Is she older than she looks? I don’t know but I’m pretty sure she’s spent at least 10 years sitting in her freezing apartment. She rarely goes outside as she only does her work in her apartment. What? she works? Yes, yes she works but she’s a NEET. Get it?

Ayaka is one character that I cared most in this anime. But that’s not until the final arc of the series. In the earlier arcs she only has a very minor role to the show. She is most of the time cheerful. She works as a part timer at a ramen shop and there’s where she introduces Narumi to Alice before dragging him into the ‘NEET world’. During the final arc, we are revealed about how sad and miserable she actually is. That twist by the end is really shocking. I totally did not see that one coming.

Than we have ‘The Fourth’. His real name is I can’t remember but let’s just call him ‘The Fourth’. He is the founder of a NEET yakuza group called Hirasaka Group (what’s up with all this NEET thing? I don’t get it!) and he often gives Alice a help in her cases. His character should appeal during an arc where he has a fight with her old friend but I just didn’t find his backstory interesting. I actually just wanted to end his story as fast as I could. Besides, the anime keeps on telling me that the fight is intense but it really isn’t. I didn’t really feel that I should worry about anything.

Other characters are there… in the anime…if you notice.

Quick talk about the animation and the music, the animation is solid I’ll have to admit that. Alice’s Moe-ness stands out really much but you know, I think Meo is cuter. The music doesn’t do much. It is forgettable.

Now I don’t actually hate this series but I think it’s pretty bland. It’s boring. The anime tried to be interesting but it just doesn’t work on me. Except for the last arc, the stories and mysteries are not engaging. Even Hyouka’s mundane mysteries are more engaging. I don’t really care for most of the characters except Ayaka in the last arc. Watching this anime is not worth it to me. But who knows, you might like it if you give it a shot. But for me, I don’t recommend you watching this show. I actually wanted to drop this anime but that final arc peeked my interest and I managed to actually finish this anime. But that arc doesn’t really save this anime from my negative opinions though.

 ~ 3/10 ~

Not Recommended