A high school student called Kazuhito finds himself turned into a dog that is the pet of his favorite, top-selling novelist/sadist in the first episode of Dog & Scissors. After sacrificing his life in an attempt to save a girl furiously writing at an adjacent table from a gunman, Kazuhito wakes up to find himself as a dog. He’s bought from the store by a girl who is able to read his thoughts and still insists on hanging the threat of his demise over him whenever possible. Eventually they come to an understanding before the episode ends on a cliffhanger of returning to his former residence.
My initial reaction to this show is that I still can’t figure out what the hell it is trying to be. There’s this idol lingering in adverts within the show and in the ending that will clearly appear at some point. Then you have the fact that Kazuhito has fallen into the hands of a rich author (a fictional construct surely), so he doesn’t really have to worry about struggling at all. So in essence, you have a main character who is almost guaranteed to never have to struggle in life.
At it’s heart, I think this is a show that wants to be one of those hilarious reference comedies that have been around for years. There’s so much poking in this episode for something that can hit that mark, but the comic inspiration just isn’t there. Other series are able to fall back on other traits to make up for their shortcomings. GJ-bu had its generally likable characters and Yuyushiki had outstanding chemistry for example. Inuhasa, on the other hand, wants us to believe in the chemistry between a woman/women who have tons of money and a high school boy who was so uninteresting that it wasn’t even worth showing his face when he was still human. So he likes to read books? Why was this seen as good material to animate?
As for the production, tons of attention went into the opening and ending. Perhaps this was their only creative outlet amidst the tedium of animating the show itself. Otherwise, it looks like just about any other show these days that doesn’t have horrific visual failings. For Gonzo, this could be considered a great accomplishment.
Reasons to Watch
- Idealistic version of life as a writer
- Competently animated
- Willing to attempt a dramatic story in the middle of comic slapstick
Reasons to Drop
- Completely unrealistic portrayal of life as a writer
- The main character is as interesting a plain yogurt
- Has all the potential to become a boring harem show with the male lead as a dog
My Verdict: One of the easier drops I’ve had to make this year. Does anyone out there want to convince me otherwise that this series has potential? “Trust me, it gets better” does not count as a compelling argument.
Lower Mid-Table 