Sometimes, stories about an older time period are a good watch. 91Days is a good example of this as we explore 1920’s mafia vibes. So, when I saw The Sparks of Tomorrow (Nijusseiki Denki Mokuroku: Eureka・Evrika), and how it dealt with the invention of electricity, I thought that this would be an interesting premise to sink my teeth into. So, after watching the first episode, did it generate the spark needed to brighten my summer season?
Yeah, that was bad… anyway…
Let’s go!
First Episode Synopsis
Kihachi is a young boy with a bit of an anxiety disorder. He’s afraid of talking to people and lacks the courage to have the simplest of conversations; however, he is traveling by train with a man named Seiroku, who wants to show him a promising future filled with electricity. He does this by abandoning Kihachi the moment they get off the train, like a father going out to buy milk. Some time passes (minutes? Hours?), and suddenly, the world around him illuminates with lights that Seiroku strung up and powered by a generator that you have to pedal, much like a bike. He returns to fetch Kihachi, renewing his promise to create a brand-new tomorrow with electricity.
Then, we get a time skip. Kihachi is now a teenager, and we learn that Seiroku went off to war and never came back. He had with him a notebook with all of his ideas, but that notebook was never left with Kihachi, as Seiroku took it with him. Now, he freeloads at a repair shop, tinkering with gadgets and fixing anything a customer brings in.
One day, he’s fiddling with a recording device at a shrine when a girl named Inako comes by and starts praying. She mistakes Kihachi for a deity, and that causes quite the scene. When Inako returns home after almost being splashed by a puddle from a passing car, she learns that the car belongs to Yousuke Mizoe, and he stopped at her house. He’s there to collect on a loan her father took out, but he doesn’t have the money. So, a bargain was reached where Yousuke is promised Inako’s hand in marriage in exchange for being lenient on the debt. Not even one second after the deal is agreed upon, he begins tearing the entire house apart, searching for something.
When Inako’s older sister realizes what’s happening, she gives Inako the notebook that Seiroku had to her, telling her to seek out Kihachi and give it to him. Yousuke isn’t about to let that happen and gives chase, and our episode ends with Yousuke stumbling upon Kihachi’s workshop.
Worth Watching?
MAYBE – From the synopsis I wrote above, it sounds as if this would be a historical thriller, and if I’m being completely honest, it is. The premise is really interesting, we’ve already established a fascinating world and a diverse set of characters… so, one would think that this would get an automatic YES from me, right?
Well… here’s the problem. The show doesn’t like to take itself seriously. The characters are just too goofy sometimes. There’s even one scene at the shrine when Kihachi gets a bit overzealous with his explanation of what he’s working on, that he’s depicted as this super-deformed head. Some of the interactions feel way more exaggerated than they need to be, and that, honestly, took me out of the story pretty quickly. I was wincing at how cringeworthy they were instead of trying to understand these characters.
Not only that, but what in the heck happened to Kihachi’s social anxiety? It was established at the beginning of the show, then when he becomes a teenager, there is literally a scene where he’s walking through a market and has to talk himself into going up to a stall, just to tell the merchant that he’s a lying crook. Then… magically… his condition completely disappears as if it never existed. It’s almost as if they forgot about that aspect of his character… and yes… it’s only one episode, and there may have been certain conditions at play that caused a justifiable remission of his anxiety which may or may not be explained in future episodes, but the entire goal of the first episode of a series is to hook you into the story and world of the series, and when you completely forget one of the quirks of your main character not even a third of the way through, that doesn’t do a good job of selling me on him or the show because now I’m wondering what other inconsistencies are there going to be.
That, along with the fact that the show didn’t seem to take itself seriously at times was a bit off-putting for me, but not enough for me to drop it. While those are some personal negatives, there were still a lot of good things that the show did that held my interest, so that’s why this is getting a MAYBE from me. I’m going to give this the three-episode rule before I make a final judgment on it.
Also… a side note… what the hell is up with the Summer Anime season as a whole? This is the third new series I’ve watched (the other two being Yani Neko and Kore Kaite Shine), and all three of them look to have way above-average animation. In some cases, it’s almost movie-level budget. Are studios just stepping up their game this season?
If there’s anything to take away from this show that is overwhelmingly positive, it’s the visuals and the animation. Shows are just killing it in that department… but hey… if this is some sort of brand-new standard… I’m here for…
Nevemind… Hana-Kimi S2 just brought me back down to Earth. Hey… still good, though!
