W’z First Impressions

“I guess I’d have to say this has some vibes and groove to it! Yeah, this is going to be a hit!”

What!?! I mean… WHAT!?! I have a tendency to go into much of the anime I review without a large amount of prior information on the material. However, it is my understanding that there was little publicly available info about this title to be found. So imagine my surprise when I started up the first episode of W’z and discovered it was a sequel to Hand Shakers, one of the most infamous anime of recent memory. This puts me in an awkward position. Like most anime viewers, I didn’t watch Hand Shakers, so I’m left with 3 options. I could go back and marathon all 12 episodes, so I’m properly equipped to delve into W’z. I’ve seen what Hand Shakers looks like, so that’s not going to happen. That leaves simply going into W’z blind and trying to grapple with my lack of prior knowledge or not doing a review at all. I obviously decided to go with the former over the latter, but the deciding factor was the fact that the anime wasn’t marketed as a sequel. I’ll take that marketing decision as confirmation that the series is intended to stand on its own. So, does W’z stand apart from its predecessor and prove to be an enjoyable series? No.

Normally, I’ll go over the cast and characters before moving on to discuss the production side of things, but I’m flipping that regular approach on its head. W’z is obnoxious to look at. It seems the animators are afraid to have more than a half second where something isn’t in motion on the screen. Clouds are constantly rocketing overhead, characters regularly make exaggerated and unwarranted gestures, and even the occasional still shot isn’t complete without dust particles moving through the air. Everything is overproduced and garish to look at. For most of the episode the CG isn’t as glaringly apparent as it was in Hand Shakers, but it is still noticeable, particularly when a character puts on a CG mask. It does become more insufferable towards the end, though. Still, between the constant motion, the gimmicky perspective tricks, and the grating color filters that W’z employs, it would be fair to say that a bit of bad CG is the least of my aesthetic issues. The show also emphasizes its music, but I’m largely underwhelmed by the EDM track they feature prominently in this episode, though my general disinterest in that genre may be a component there. Also, for a show that prominently features a DJ as its main character, the scene of him actually DJing didn’t seem properly synced to the music to me. Again, I could be mistaken, but it seemed that digital effects or distortions of the record didn’t seem to match with what he was doing. All in all, W’z isn’t as frustrating to look at as clips from Hand Shakers had led me to fear, but it isn’t much better.

Now, let’s move on to the part that doesn’t matter. The plot and characters. Our main character is Yukiya, a middle school student and DJ who is considering enrolling in a musical program for high school. He’d been discouraged by the limited attention his work has been receiving though, but, with the help of his friend Haruka, decides to do a special video for his work. Together, they go to the special world that he goes to when he touches someone’s hand and begin filming a PV there. No, this isn’t explained. Given the dialogue, I can assume this world was a concept introduced in Hand Shakers, but the anime didn’t seem concerned with explaining anything. Their video shoot gets interrupted by several other teenagers who want to kill Yukiya so they can have their wishes fulfilled. I don’t know what they’re on about, so I’m just going to assume this is in the same universe as the Fate series. It seems like half of all anime are, so it isn’t that big a stretch. And that’s where the episode ends. Despite devoting several minutes to the single song that Yukiya is shown playing, the episode still feels padded with unnecessary and cliched elements. Yukiya and Haruka actually have a conversation where they describe each other’s personalities and even use the line, “You’ve always been like that, ever since we were back in elementary school.” That’s not to mention the fact that, despite having a limited number of followers, Yukiya’s fanbase evidently consists of around a half dozen hand shaker teams. How many of them are there? In summary, the narrative is a mess, but it is largely overshadowed by the catastrophe that is this show’s approach to design.

Before I wrap up, a few Notes and Nitpicks:

• The color filters remind me quite a bit of the anime K, which I had always found to be visually unpleasant as well. Well guess what? Surprise, surprise. K was also produced by the anime studio GoHands. I should have anticipated that. It even shares the quality of having a truly stupid title with this series.
• Speaking of the title, evidently W’z is the stage name Yukiya uses. It appears to be pronounced ‘Wise,’ but I’m not actually certain of that.
• I’m legitimately confused as to why the promotional materials hid this anime’s connection to Hand Shakers. It would make sense if the studio had looked at the negative response to Hand Shakers and decided to make W’z a reboot, but this series appears to assume that we all know what hand shakers are and how they operate.
• I’ll begrudgingly admit that some of the background music at the start of the episode was nice.