Anime: Allison to Lillia

When I was a kid, television had almost entirely cartoons at morning shows for children. I grew up by watching anything Hanna Barbera or Dic had the kindness to import dubbed to my country. I have no problems with those shows back then; most were really great for their target audience. I was still a kid after all and there wasn’t a series I didn’t like. After all these years, many of those cartoons now appear extremely simplistic and naive. I would never sit down to watch them again, except if for a couple of episodes just to remember the good old 80’s when I had no worries besides school exams (practically zero) and my family had a thriving business (which is also now practically zero in income).

Now, the thing is that although naive, some of them could suspend your disbelief a lot better than others. In fact, the best amongst them are those with the least amount of times you would yell “This is not possible!” And yes, back then the chances of saying that, were (duh) practically zero but after so many years the internal logic of some of them work a lot better than others. Think of My Little Pony. Ok, it was a world of magic where anything was possible and so everything weird is somewhat excused. Or the Smurfs; sure, they are not even human so their way of life can be excused as being not-realistic. My grip was mostly with military cartoons like G.I.Joe or ecology-based like Captain Planet. Yes, the action was very cool and such but the internal logic was … hm … fishy. It was really hard to like a setting where tanks, airplanes and buildings would blow up but the soldiers would always find the time to run away or avoid the blast by simply jumping sideways. And it’s not like I could consider them supermen either; they could be knocked out with a simple punch and have a hard time breaking simple ropes when tied. I mean this is war, right? If there are no casualties in a war, it’s not really a war. Or at least not a war you should care about. Same for the logic behind the hero-of-nature, who was presenting things as if the villains liked pollution and that a solution could easily be given without collapsing the world’s economy.

I start to rant too much here; what I mean is that a series needs to suspend your disbelief if it’s supposed to be enjoyed by its target audience.

G.I.Joe or Captain Planet were successful in their time when children were not that critical and knew less about technology or the internet than the average adult. Today, the little rascals can outsmart even me at times and the demand on entertainment is a lot higher. So imagine a series such as Allison to Lilia popping up to give a try.
It won’t work!
It might have been a success if made in the 80’s or even the 90’s but even then it would feel less captivating than an old series such as The Mysterious Cities of Gold. Or the Duck Tales, yeah, good luck beating that masterpiece. It is simply too silly compared to the themes it incorporates.

Now let me try to be more specific. This anime is like having My Little Pony characters in a Saving Private Ryan setting. It just makes no sense! How can you expect to have a war raging on and the characters are all so simplistic, especially when the story is not a pure comedy? How are you supposed to feel drama or tension from a cast that is so easily divided into good and bad people and whose problems can be resolved in the most childish, bloodless, simplistic means possible?

Maybe I sound overcritical but just try to follow my reasoning here. Tom and Jerry is quite the violent cartoon and has immortal characters, yet you can laugh with all that because the violence is used purely for slapstick. But here, the series is trying to make you feel worried about the future of the world because a scary war is waging on and the characters have to find a way to stop it before it’s too late. Well excuse me, without making the violence more bold or the story less serious, there are no connection points between the two.
Do you believe how much I compare an anime with Western cartoons? It’s because it feels even less interesting than those!
This formula worked great for anime like Slayers or Baccano because they were mostly comedies that anything else. Over here it’s like making spaghetti without the pasta and lacking even the sauce to fool your taste. I’m sorry; it doesn’t work. It couldn’t work. Especially in this decade. Even less if you have watched Full Metal Alchemist an action/ adventure that offers all the same elements and even a mountain worth or more.

Ok, back to more of an orthodox text. The animation and the music are done by the most awesome studio Madhouse and are just fine, with bright colors, cute looking/sounding characters and a world bursting with life. Very fitting for a storyless romantic comedy but unfortunately it’s a war drama / teen adventure combo that doesn’t feel scary or dirty or gruesome in any way. The atmosphere is off by miles. Plus, even production values are not in their best considering the year it was made. They look simply average.

Story is a joke… without being funny. It is separated into two halves, with a pair of boy-girl in each. The first half had the kindness to try offering a story of sorts. A silly one but a story nonetheless, about the pair trying to stop the war between their countries in the most silly way possible. But the second half is just an aimless adventure without a clear goal or purpose, as if the scriptwriters were on strike and the whole arc is just filler. Talk about something bad becoming worse … just like Tite Kubo.

The characters are just 2-dimensional archetypes you can easily find in better versions in almost any other similar show. The “butchy girl and the spineless boy in love but too dense to realize” trope has seen far better days than these two paper couples. Support cast and villains are or Pokemon level, as their role is just like a repetitive croak: “Support-support!” “Evil-evil!”.

Value and Enjoyment are as far as I’m concerned rock-bottom. There are sooooo many similar and yet sooooo much better series like this one, you might as well delete this one from your memory. Yes, it is that unimportant. So blunt and uniteresting, it isn’t even worthy of being remembered as a bad example of how to make a good show.

A thing of beauty is a joy forever; Allison and Lillia certainly is that. It's a show that seems to hark back to a more innocent, even hopeful age, entirely free of postmodern irony - and yet the characters are too fairytale, the tropes too perfect, the rules of narrative so perfectly followed that this cannot be anything but conscious.

This series seems almost a reconstruction of the fairytale - beautiful princesses, dashing heroes, villains who while not without characterization or motives are clearly placing their personal gain above everyone else. It's a daring approach that could easily have backfired - and no doubt will for a few viewers - but for me it succeeds and succeeds beautifully.

Watching this series felt like recapturing the joy of youth, or perhaps the optimism of the (at least stereotypical) 'fifties. Science and progress are unashamedly good; we see the bright future brought on by ever-improving aeroplanes, and the wonders of train travel as seen by people to whom it's still a luxury. Our characters have adventures, stop wars, and save children, and all this is in a stunningly beautiful world of blue skies and green fields. The animation is actually surprisingly low-quality when examined more closely - facial detail is low, while machinery alternates slightly jarringly between juddery conventional animation and overly-silky CG. But it never for a moment gets in the way of enjoying the sheer beauty of the series, which is enhanced by some excellently-chosen (or quite possibly specifically created) music; voice acting also is superb, with each character's distinct voice reflecting their personality perfectly.

The soul of the show lies, I think, in its characters; unashamedly heroic, bursting with youthful enthusiasm, one can't help but get carried along. The inter-character relationships can occasionally seem heavy-handed but for the most part are handled surprisingly delicately for this kind of action-adventure show, without forsaking having real development as the series goes on. The plots can seem very cliched, but that's the point of the show; it's almost as though it's meant to be enjoy by those who've never seen another work of fiction. One minor downside is the lack of any overarching series plot; rather, the series is split into arcs of perhaps 4-6 episodes each (probably a consequence of the source material), with only the main characters joining these together. But this is a minor gripe, and the series still manages to pull together an entirely fitting finale.

I love Allison and Lillia, and I think anyone who can set aside their cynicism long enough to take it at face value will too. That the plots follow such well-worn lines and what will happen next is always obvious becomes an advantage when one realises it means the show will be as enjoyable on the tenth watching as it was on the first.

Story/Direction/Storytelling: 9/10 (Warning: spoilers throughout)

The story of Allison & Lillia has elements from a quality war/mystery novel (not Tom Clancy level), combined with elements from popular childrens' books of romance.

If you have a taste for quality war/mystery novels, then this will be a pleasantly surprising watch as anime stories tend to lack the depth of realism. Such novels require a bit of understanding to be enjoyed - background knowledge of how the world is and the frame of mind people have when they gain the resolve to do what they do. The more aware you are of how the world works, of war, of deception, of criminal minds, of peacekeeping organizations, the more you can relate to this and enjoy it. If not, you can probably enjoy the adventure, comedy, and romance portion of the story to a limited degree.

The world in which the story of Allison & Lillia takes place is alive. People are still tense due to the war - some still at the stage of mourning, some at regret, some denial, some angered, some empathetic, etc. Until the fragile peace from the cease-fire gets replaced by true peace, people can never truly become happy. Once there's true peace, cities appear to be lively again and brighter and people gain many freedoms - the world literally changes. Thus, the settings are unique and change frequently at a very fast pace. Even the seasons change and weather changes according to the location.

The story is split in two main arcs, one following Allison and the other following her daughter, Lillia, when she becomes about the same age as when Allison started her adventure.

Allison's arc starts on the cease-fire portion of the war, with some back story explaining her current situation as the result of the last great battle involving the last memory of her father. There may be true peace as a result of her daring adventure, but some who lived for nothing but war have nothing to do and some have not given up their fight due to greed for power/money. Also there are some political decisions to be made about the new direction of the individual countries which decide their future. Her journey witnesses suspenseful events involving both of these and ultimately ends when she finds romance and settles for her own future.

Lillia's arc takes place in a world which has been peaceful ever since she was born and she was raised mostly by her mother alone, traveling often due to her mother's occupation. She believes her father died in a train accident before she was born, but that is to protect her in case her father's identity as a government intelligence agent (spy) becomes known to a criminal mastermind, so she (and Allison) doesn't become a victim due to his dangerous occupation. Her father still comes to see her and Allison, but under an alias to maintain and cover his identity. Despite the designs to protect her, the innocent, overly trusting, and honest Lillia plays basically as a damsel in distress in the many stories that come, which involve more of what Allison saw after the war: war mongers, terrorists, politicians who disturb the peace, villains plotting for selfish reasons, and various others who bear grudges from the past. Due to Allison's prior involvement and relations, Lillia gets brought into dangerous situations that have followed. Coincidentally, her childhood friend comes to the rescue, whose identity as a Prince is known only to a very few people, not including Lillia. Her Prince is not the courting type, but the adventurous type. A type that she admires because of his ability to overcome obstacles. He does not think so highly of himself, but to save his childhood friend he is put through tests which he finds rather difficult since has no special attribute over any other normal person, except maybe determination and luck.

Much detail went into the making of these stories. They avoid almost all the typical anime cliches, such as having a hero come in and defeat the villains with his uncanny ability. Though, there was one time I thought that they added a shower scene for fan service, but they fooled me. They make good use of the time of day for setting the mood. Very fast paced story telling and very good story telling methods without need of narration give the viewer a general idea of situations to make it easy to follow. Good direction overall, which is surprisingly unlike much of the other Japanese story telling. It is extremely well told on top of that where the viewer isn't left with numerous plot holes and can be told the ending of the story and not feel like the show lost it's value, since the telling of the story is the interesting part. It stays relatively faithful to realism. It's not perfect, but has high quality elements that make it seem better than a large majority of other anime.

Animation/Visuals: 8/10

Allison & Lillia has great colors, smooth animation, varied and unique detailed settings, natural movements, good use of varied seemingly accurate stances/poses/posture, good use of CG which doesn't stick out like a sore thumb, and good lighting effects which aren't overpowering.

Things interesting to note are intricate textures on rooms and backdrops. Settings are well furnished and filled with ornaments and doesn't feel huge and empty. Also, there are background settings that scroll, which aren't very repetitive (don't see the same thing for more than 10 seconds), cinematic cameras techniques/angles (it often moves, revealing extra details in the scene), gestures/poses/posture that actually show femininity, and beautiful CG trains. When Allison or Lillia comically scold someone, animation gets a tiny bit jerky (cartoon style), but still seems natural (like when Allison turns and crosses her arms in one swift motion). Wind and wind resistance from moving quickly affect the character's hair and clothing, and even at times, comically, their facial flesh.

Quality is fairly consistent throughout, unlike some series which make their first two episodes extravagant and the rest lacking or the others that make their early episodes appear simplistic, only to wow you near the end and leave you with a good impression.

The only fault, that I noticed, to Allison & Lillia's animation are it's plane scenes which are a bit unrealistic to the point of almost being cartoony at times, like when Allison crashed into power lines, while serious and well done most other times. The case is probably because they had creative freedom (fun) making these certain scenes and turned out a bit inconsistent.

Sound: 6.5/10

Allison & Lillia has a timeless and soothing soundtrack which has an effect that calms me at the start, then brings a smile to my face during the show, and leaves me happy after it ends.

The background music does an extremely good job at setting a mood, but it's not very diverse and is a bit repetitive at times. One example is when the "danger" music is cued and you recognize the music from a prior episode, you can predict that a similar situation to the last is about to happen, which is not necessarily a bad thing - it just could've done it better with something unique. Sound effects can be convincingly accurate. The OP/ED tracks may not be to some people's tastes, but as the show goes on, it grows on you and you will appreciate the mood it sets. Also, they reused Allison's childhood voice for Lillia's which is rather cheap.

Character/Design: 8/10

Allison & Lillia has an extremely charming cast of characters.

They did an extremely good job on the main characters, especially Allison. Their personalities really bring life to the show. The supporting characters and villains have characteristics fitting of their roles. Overall designs are efficiently effective, there's not much detail on the faces, but it works better for scenes in which the camera is zoomed far away and there isn't significant detail loss. The character design and the story pacing seemed to be designed around each other to allow for an efficient pace. In each arc, time is reserved to expand on a certain character's back story, such as Allison's father, the orphan child, Axe, Nicht's daughter, etc.

It's also interesting to note how well the cycle of puberty is depicted. Females go through their cycle much sooner than males and complete in a shorter amount of time. This is contrasted with Wil and Allison's behavior. Wil's voice and lack of sexual feelings for the opposite sex and Allison's emotional drive clearly demonstrate this. Wil later turned out to be fully matured with a deep voice and manly appearance while Allison similarly matured. Lillia and Treize are not so contrasted. Lillia is relatively late with her puberty cycle while Treize's is relatively early. The romance part of the story is heavily based on this.

The only fault that I noticed in the show is that there's simply not enough "extras" around. At times, it seems the world is fairly deserted despite the number of buildings and if it was intended, I can't come up with a logical reason as to why.

Value: 9/10

I would describe this basically as a quality war/mystery novel, adapted into a screenplay, and visualized with Disney movie quality animation and direction.

This anime has earned a place as one of my favorite animes. I believe it was lovingly crafted and has enough detail and polish to be considered, in my eyes, close to having classic/masterpiece quality as it gets for an anime series.

Just like how other people may see Haruhi as being a masterpiece due to their expertise in that certain area and noticing the fine elements of it, my expertise comes from being enlisted active duty with the USAF for 6 years and having a keen interest in all things dealing with conflict.

I also want to note that I relied on fabsub groups to release this and since AniYoshi stalled for over a month, I went through a bout of withdrawal from not getting to watch the last 1/3 of Allison & Lillia. I discovered how deep my love for the show was because of this.

If someone saved an image of any part of Allison & Lillia and I saw it, it would bring a smile to my face since I will remember the good memories of the show. I would probably also spend at least a minute looking at it, soaking in the details.

Enjoyment: 10/10

I totally enjoyed Allison & Lillia. It was funny, adventurous, beautiful/charming, suspenseful, and mood lifting.

I was able to pick up on many details and re-watched some parts to try to reason why something is as it is and filled in many parts myself. To someone who reads mysteries and can analyze all the little clues, draw every possible conclusion from multiple perspectives and critically analyze their own logic again to try and fault it... and watch a character in the anime itself that does this (Wil), I find this anime relates to my interests very much. I feel it was designed just for someone like me.

I've been wholeheartedly recommending it to anyone looking for a new anime series to watch and they have not been disappointed, until at least the end of Allison's arc. They all seem to want to know why someone would not want to stay by someone as awesome as Allison for the rest of their lives. I simply answer them, because it wouldn't be interesting for us to watch later on if everything was fabricated like a dream - life is complicated like that. I actually have a much more in depth answer to that, but I'd hate to have to explain it all to them as they may not accept the same perspective I take on it.

After reading and hearing others' opinions about the series, I suppose that I'm one of the rare viewers that caught on well to the story due to my military awareness... I wouldn't question things why someone goes into psychological shock when faced with the decision of shooting and killing someone or the frame of mind of people who can do such a thing without the shock and ask if that's realistic or not. I prefer this type of realism over dreamy living happily ever after stories.

Remember those good old saturday morning cartoons that weren't animes. Well this definitely brings back those same nostalgic feelings. Allison to Lillia is a very simple and straight forward anime that feels like your average kids cartoon. You have simple twists, natural progression and well nothing special in general. I can't say that this anime was bad in anyway but at the same time it definitely did not have much merit. The series is broken into 2 main parts the first focused on Allison and Will, the second on Lillia and Treize. These two parts are then further broken into arcs that take place after each other. The entire story is linked together and is effected by the events of the previous arcs.[br][br]Animation[br]Its not that great for an anime in 2008. It has relatively simple character sets that don't have any ridiculous proportions. The main issue though was the lack of detail in almost all parts of animation. The facial expressions were simple, the bodies tended to be static and you got a fair bit of distortion in different angles. The same went with other parts of animation such as the scenery and background. They didn't use much CG but they also did not put much effort in making the action scenes and general movement exciting. Everything just happened out of convenience . I think if they did put some more effort in the animation it would of improved the suspense and overall enjoyment of the series.[br][br]Sound[br]In all honesty I didn't pay attention much to any of the sound. The opening and ending I didn't listen to in its entirety a single time. The OST didn't really help in making scenes more dramatic and the voices were just normal. It all worked fine but just nothing spectacular to catch my attention.[br][br]Story[br]Personally I like animes that have a fairly large amount of depth and development. This did have a bit of it but the main issue was the predictability of each scenario. The other thing was that much of the time the only person that didn't know what was going on in situations were the characters not the viewer. I'm not sure why they choose to reveal everything to the viewer so quickly but it always killed any sort of build up possible. The other issue was that even though ever story was linked together the anime still did not have a greater picture to develop. You could watch every story alone without watching the rest and it would make sense. Of course some character relations and side characters wouldn't make much sense but still you wouldn't be missing much. Basically the only changes that happened between each arc would be the romantic development between characters. That is why even though the plot was quite clean in execution it just didn't appeal at all.[br][br]Character[br]The strongest part of the series is the treatment of each character. The main cast is fairly small that is why they tied things in very well. Each character had his or her fair chance of receiving screen time and also changing a bit as the series went along. I think a strong point and also a negative point of the series was how the choose to tie in each and every event with characters. They always tried to link each character together with important events or with other characters. That is how they built most of the twists in the story by having a random link. In the case of linking characters I found it interesting to get the emotions but then at the same time very unbelievable. When you make so many coincidences then it just becomes quite ridiculous. In any case the usage of these ridiculous moments definitely help create flow to the story and development for characters.[br][br]Value and Enjoyment[br]In the beginning I mentioned that this anime could be comparable to kids cartoons. This is because in this series everything is overly favorable to the protaganist. Everything always works out in the end and even when a minor character dies everything is downplayed. When I was watching this I felt as if I needed to be 10 years old to fully enjoy it :S. Thus the at the same time the value in this anime is basically messages you find in any child's adventure show. I definitely would not be able to rewatch this series either since it does not have anything to make you want more. I really didn't mind watch this series though. It was quite easy to watch and did not require much thinking at all. I wouldn't consider it special in anyway but it can waste a bit of time. I would recommend it to a younger audience who enjoys romance and adventure type animes. So if you decide to give it ago hope you like it.[br]