This second half of the movie adaptation of the movie by studio Bones Doraemon co-creator Fujiko F. Fujio‘s 1976-86 manga maintains the identical mild instructional tone as the primary guide, blended with occasional graphic (traditionally applicable) gore and even some (additionally traditionally applicable) nudity. Whereas the character designs, basic premise, and total episodic construction stay pretty juvenile, T・P GOODThe subject material usually is not, which makes for a blended viewing expertise – within the English-speaking world the place Doraemon will not be that well-known, who precisely is that this present supposed for?
Do not get me fallacious – I like T・P GOODand I am glad it received made. Bones’ stellar manufacturing values make it one of the vital polished anime productions of 2024 – however sadly, I can not see Bon and Yumiko’s adventures having broad attraction to trendy anime audiences. Lead Author Dai Sato and director Masahiro Andō have caught to their ideas on this adaptation, preserving the standard episodic journey construction and quaint character designs intact. Audiences ought to applaud their purity of goal. Apart from attractive digitally animated visuals, there’s little concession to trendy storytelling or character tropes right here. T・P GOOD seems like a throwback to the previous cartoons like Superbook And Mysterious cities of gold that I noticed as a toddler, and that’s each its biggest power and its biggest weak spot.
Bon himself is commonly portrayed as a nasty child – he is a nasty scholar who’s sloppy in class, his most important motivations are to impress his mates, and he makes horrible choices at essential moments that threaten to derail his missions. Nonetheless, it is price remembering that he is solely fourteen, and we nonetheless haven’t been given an evidence for why the Time Patrol thinks it’s a good suggestion to make use of youngsters to hold out harmful missions from the previous. If your complete material of space-time might be torn aside by saving or killing the fallacious particular person, shouldn’t somebody extra skilled be filling the position? Ah, however then we wouldn’t have this supposedly kid-oriented story a couple of child who by some means makes it in a fantastical sci-fi world.
T・P GOOD‘s lack of coherent worldbuilding does not do it a lot favors, and I discovered myself asking a number of questions every episode concerning the logic behind the Time Patrol’s existence, my overly analytical grownup thoughts poking so many holes within the inner consistency of this present. Authentic creator Fujio did not appear all for exploring the long run world the Time Patrol comes from, so we, as viewers, be taught little or no about Bon’s group – we do not even discover out in the event that they pay him for his efforts! I get the impression that Bon would do that work with out pay, although – regardless of his adolescent annoyances, he is an excellent child who needs to assist folks. And to be praised for it!
This season, we journey to all types of fascinating and unique places – from the Battle of Dan-no-Ura in Twelfth-century Japan to the Beringia Land Bridge that linked Asia and Alaska over the last Ice Age to historical Mesopotamia, the place the written phrase was invented. By means of the self-esteem of “compressed studying,” Bon can basically obtain mission-critical historic info instantly into his mind after which clarify to his new assistant concerning the time interval they’re visiting. Whereas this will likely come throughout as overly didactic, T・P GOOD manages to stay entertaining and engaging regardless of the frequent information dumps. I realized loads about historical past from this present!
Agent Ream Stream was one in all my favourite facets of the primary season; together with her quiet competence, candy nature, and lovable character design, she lit up the display in each scene. Sadly, Ream is usually gone on different missions this season (as occurred within the authentic manga), changed by beginner recruit Yumiko. This adjustments the character dynamic, with Bon taking over Ream’s earlier mentor position and Yumiko taking over the position of wide-eyed apprentice. Whereas I do not assume their relationship is as enjoyable as Bon and Ream’s, they do make an excellent duo, even when the dialogue repeatedly hits us with “We make such an excellent group!” Yumiko is significantly extra clever than Bon; her concepts usually get them out of bother. Once more, romantic stress is stored to a minimal, although Yumiko notes early on that Bon might have an unstated attraction to his former senpai. Yumiko can also be far more reserved in relation to undressing in entrance of Bon, which is a change from the ultra-down-to-earth Ream.
The floating yellow mascot Buyoyon continues to be fairly annoying, despite the fact that such characters appear to be a staple of this form of late-70s shonen manga journey. His most important job appears to be to name Bon out on his errors (typically rightly, typically not) and to closely favor no matter feminine character occurs to be round. I all the time assumed he was Ream’s buddy, and he offers little clarification as to why he is immediately following Bon round, nor why he immediately thinks Yumiko is the best factor since sliced bread.
Whereas most episodes stand nearly fully on their very own, with solely minimal narrative threads connecting them, the ultimate three are loosely linked into an finally apocalyptic arc that leans extra closely into the present’s sci-fi tropes. Large purple holes in actuality start showing all through historical past, sucking all the things into the space-time vortex. Whereas the plot itself is riddled with holes, it gives an thrilling and compelling conclusion to the present, with some good callbacks to scenes and ideas from the primary season.
Unusually for a shonen journey, T・P GOOD has no most important antagonist, besides maybe the chilly actuality of historical past and the universality of dying. Whereas we do meet just a few villainous Time Brokers, they aren’t evil folks and we are able to empathize with their motives, if not their actions. Bon and Yumiko encounter many nasty, imply folks all through historical past. Nonetheless, many of the characters they work together with are peculiar, unremarkable folks doing their greatest to outlive in an usually harsh world. Whereas the societies round them are in conflict, volcanic eruptions, or different tragedies, Bon and Co. concentrate on serving to these respectable, small individuals who aren’t even footnotes within the historical past books. Whereas Bon and Yumiko battle with the truth that they can not save everybody, their efforts carry reduction and pleasure to the few they do. can save. And as Bon himself says within the final episode, that is what makes all of it price it.
Lastly, T・P GOOD is a cheerful, (principally) optimistic sci-fi journey that does not draw back from the darkness of human historical past, however nonetheless celebrates and uplifts the lives of the “little” folks. It is by turns infantile, surprisingly grownup, horribly violent, and mildly entertaining. It is not for everybody, and when you did not like the primary season, season two will not change your thoughts. Nonetheless, Bon’s retro-style time-travel adventures are one of many Mine anime highlights of the yr to date.
