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CLAMP School Detectives
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Title Info
- alias: CLAMP Gakuen Tandeitan
- seen: 1-4
- type: TV
- grade: flawed
- people: CLAMP
- Series state: Don't intend to watch more.
- made: unknown
- Review created: A while ago, i'll revise it eventually.
- mod: none
Any video which the production studio names after themselves (ie. this is a clamp production) has got to be cause for worry. It swiftly goes downhill from there though, what was clearly meant to be sweet and cute fluff misses any sense of balance and simply becomes painfully mawkish. To start with we are given three pint sized 12 year old bishounen (and what is the point of that). One is the charismatic leader and womanizer (ouch), one is the enthusiastic air-head (and master chef) and one is the reserved martial arts master. They are the super rich, loved by all, student council of the stupendously rich private institute called `clamp school'. And do not think this is balanced, as these pretentious twits fly back to school in their airship and look over the immense grounds of their private college in the middle of tokyo you know reality has been left far behind. Indeed the leader is worried because he saw a woman crying as he was hangliding around tokyo tower, which they are going to book for the end of year party. Of course he has to get involved, and this marks the foundation of the clamp school detectives. While the first episode is probably the worst it doesn't get much better from there on. The three leads are so unbelievable, the environment so sickly sweet, cute and pretentious and the writing and dialog so unsubtle that this becomes an exercise in pain. The animation is clean and competent, but once again tries to be so `cute'...and the last thing this show needs is more `cute'. Clearly we are meant to look on the leads and say, `how cute, how clever, how mature'...but all I could think was `how I'd rather be doing something else'. Of course if you think a 12 year old lecturing female university home-economics students on how to bake a cake, and then getting involved in solving their relationship problems is `cute' then this will be right up your alley. On the other hand perhaps I should thank this show for making Card Captor Sakura (also by clamp) seem refreshingly normal.
This is not one of the most reviewed titles.The dependable Lord Carnage watched two episodes and called it a, "horrifically diabetic-seizure inducing show". Even his offsider `herself, the elf' couldn't stomach it in this review. While he links this to Hime-Chan's no Ribbon, which I cannot accept (I liked Hime-Chan) I certainly agree on his comments for this anime.
Words by Andrew Shelton, Web by Ticti, Last Compile: Wed Aug 5 12:39:16 WST 2009