C3: C3 - Cube x Cursed x Curious Review

By Alfred Campbell

Anime: C3
Genres:  Harem, Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Psychological.

Synopsis: Haruaki Yachi has seen his fair share of curses, but despite his familiarity, even Haruaki is out of his element when his father mails him a cursed torture cube with the humanoid figure of a cute young girl named Fear Kubrick (no relation). Now, he’s got to help her break her curse and leave behind her homicidal past before dangerous forces get ahold of her deadly powers. Sassy loudmouth Fear has a hard time keeping a low profile, but with the help of Haruaki’s other cursed comrades, maybe this cubed cutie can find her place in the human world—IF she can break her curse.

I went into this anime completely blind, not knowing what to expect. But if I went by the first episode alone, I would have assumed this was a basic anime that was full of cliches, almost to the satirical level and a slice of life. However by episode three, I was blissfully wrong and confused.

In terms of story, I will say it is something that is typically done. There are cursed objects that were created to do horrible things, and eventually manifested into a human body. The protagonist is the one person who is immune to the curses and is capable of curing them. However there are hardships that come with it, and the baggage that these previous cursed objects have as well. All in all, the story itself was average. However, the mood and tone shifts were interesting.

From  that prior statement, the animation is one of the key factors in this anime in my eyes. The first two episodes felt as if I was watching an early 2000s anime, but that soon shifted. The art direction takes a severe shift and becomes more crisp, the first antagonist introduced brought upon a certain sense of terror and the art showed it perfectly. It took artistic cues from anime like "Madoka" and "Monogatari". Giving it a unique feeling and the environment followed the mood. Which leads me to..

Characters:

The main heroines each have at first cliche personality tropes, but there is more substance behind them than one could assume. And that, made them more real. They had reasons behind their behaviors and actions, they had doubts and it made each one loveable. The main hero, however I felt was a bit flat. But I'm not complaining about that, because it fit the theme.

Overall, I will say this anime was something that knew how to be serious, but didn't take itself too seriously. From the comedy scenes to the fan service scenes, this anime did well at the very least keeping someone entertained. It isn't a must see, but I don't think it is something you would regret to watch... Just make sure you watch it when in a private setting. You've been warned.

Final Score 3.5 out of 5