Any anime fan who was active on Tumblr in 2012 is likely familiar with K Project, or simply "K," a series from Studio GoHands that became a reasonably big hit thanks to sleek designs and bold color design. In the time since, however, the studio's other works have left general audiences at best underwhelmed and at worst dumbfounded by the low quality, making the anticipation of their newest works all the more fascinating.
GoHands was founded in 2008 as an offshoot of studio Satelight, formed from their Osaka branch, and saw success with early hits like K and the Mardock Scramble trilogy. In recent years, their name is more synonymous with the critically panned Hand Shakers or W'z, the former of which - by some incomprehensible reasoning - became a part of Funimation's 'Essentials' collection. Fast-forward to now, and the studio is releasing two new series this season, The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses and The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again Today. Both are manga adaptations, the latter of which is based on a webcomic, and they both look considerably more decent than what people have come to expect. There are still reasons to be wary but one wonders if the studio was just overcoming a rough patch or if they're going to make the same mistakes.
Why The Hate?
By this point, the exact reasons why the studio's work has been so poorly received might elude those not in the know. The trouble is, the same things that make K Project popular are much the same as those which have hurt their other works. It has a lot to do with how this studio's style and the overambition of their works.
GoHands uses a heavy dose of digital effects in an effort to enhance its productions. Credit where it's due, they have forged a distinct identity, but it's also very clear when it's properly utilized versus when it's not, and the latter is far more frequent. Never will you witness shows that look so gray and washed out, yet simultaneously so colorful, namely due to the accents, lighting, and hues.
K Project's color design was bold and in your face, arguably to an excessive degree depending on one's taste. It was about warring clans, each identified by a color, so the characters' team colors had to fill the screen, like a glow emanating from them. For the most part, it worked in conjunction with the artwork and animation, but not for long.
In the time between K Project's first season and the film, the studio started relying more heavily on CGI, be it vehicles, backgrounds, or the abundance of magical effects. It was noticeable and not particularly attractive, either. Going forward, more and more of GoHands productions began to become computer generated, leaving the 2D characters looking out of place.
The term "overambition" before is wonderfully apt at describing what makes the studio's flaws so prevalent. There is so much CGI, flashy lighting, and wild camera work that even the best studios might struggle to make work, and it gives the studio's projects this surreal and disconcerting feel. Sometimes it just looks off, while other times it can feel like watching a fever dream.
This is what resulted in things like Hand Shakers, which many would have assumed to be the sword of Damocles hanging over GoHands; a sign of imminent failure. While that sword may yet still fall, the fact that the studio has popped up once again with not one but two new shows springs an unexpected question: what if they end up being good?
GoHands' Next Step?
The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses (Megane wo Wasureta for short) is a story about Kaede Komura, a boy who can't take his eyes off his bespectacled classmate Ai Mie. Whenever Ai forgets her glasses - something she's prone to do - Kaede is always willing to help her in class, and they begin to grow closer. From the outset, it's a very cute story based on Koume Fujichika's manga of the same name.
Next, The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again Today (AKA Dekineko) is about a working woman named Saku who takes in a stray cat that grows into a giant walking, talking feline with a talent for housekeeping. It's a comedy about an adult who doesn't quite have their life together and the anthropomorphic animal taking care of them. It's an odd story, but not too strange by supernatural slice-of-life standards.
Based solely on the trailers, the first impressions don't exactly inspire a ton of confidence that these series won't fall down the similar rabbit holes of GoHands' past works. Megane wo Wasureta's trailer opens with a tracking shot of Kaede walking up some stairs that seems needlessly disorienting thanks to the bobbing of the characters' movements and the erratic angles.
The same goes for Dekineko, where the admittedly good character animation gets overshadowed by the computer-generated environments, especially the car driving across the bridge. By this point, it should be noted that it isn't GoHands methods that are necessarily the problem, but the execution and over-reliance on certain techniques.
Truth be told, the biggest reason why it seemed appropriate to write about GoHands' new projects is how surprisingly normal they seem, even with the aforementioned warning signs. When the camera doesn't feel the need to move at a mile a minute, the visuals don't look half bad. The character designs especially are a huge improvement compared to Hand Shakers, which might be thanks to these shows being based on established manga.
Perhaps the studio is better equipped to handle adaptations as opposed to their more advantageous original projects. It remains to be seen, though, if these shows will succeed and if it will be because of or in spite of the animation. As it stands, a lot of the same typical trademarks are clearly visible, and while ambition is admirable, sometimes restraint is for the best.
Summer 2023 seems to be packed, between big shōnen releases, returning heavy hitters, and a few other oddities such as the above-mentioned. GoHands has had a rough go of things in recent years and has never quite excelled beyond the fandom they accrued during the height of K Project's heyday, but there's still hope. Even if there's amusement to be had, it would be genuinely tragic to see a studio with so much apparent passion fail to find its calling.