We Without Wings...
A few years ago, I reached a milestone when We Without Wings came home with me -- it was the 4000th DVD in my archive. Based on the description on the back of the box, We Without Wings seemed like something I might enjoy, so, I picked it up...
We Without Wings has a lot of fan service. Each episode typically starts with a character flipping through fake TV shows featuring female characters in risque situations that typically end with the ladies tearing each others' clothes off. Throughout the series, one can find bare breasts, bare bottoms, some full frontal nudity without pubic hair and one sex scene with plenty of bare skin, but, no actual naughty bits. Occasionally, female characters will be walking and having a casual conversation and suddenly and for no apparent reason, the point of view will suddenly move to below and behind the ladies to reveal their panties.
At first, the alternate world scenes, in We Without Wing, were intriguing, but, after a while, that aspect of the story seemed to not matter. The story, what there is of it, boils down to two of the main male and female leads (Takashi Haneda and Asuka Watarai) dealing with some emotional baggage. In the end, Asuka resorts to just punching Takashi until she gets what she wants out of him. And, when Takashi relapses again near the end of the series, the last scene has Asuka warning Takashi that she is going to punch him. In the end, the other characters just don't seem to matter. The series ends rather abruptly without really coming to any definite resolution. Ultimately, there isn't really much of a story here.
We Without Wings was painful to sit through and my poor remote got a workout as the dialogue and sign translations flew by at such a pace that I had a lot of difficulty keeping up with the subtitles. I was almost tempted to listen to the series in English, but, I persevered and resisted the temptation to not read my anime. The series tried to be funny, but, it really wasn't. Overall, I gave We Without Wings a 1 out of 5. We Without Wings is as close to a complete waste of time that I've seen in quite a while.
According to Carlos Santos on Anime New Network...Timid Takashi wants to escape to an alternate world where he is a heralded knight, but is held back by thoughts of his younger sister and his girlfriend. Part-timer and all-around upbeat guy Shuusuke has a disastrous first encounter with a woman who turns out to be his new co-worker. Handyman Hayato is a hard-boiled loner who has random encounters with two gangs and a girl with a uniform fetish. Throw in plenty of fan-service, random humor, an alternate medieval world, and your narrator DJ Condor, and you get We Without Wings - Under the Innocent Sky.
Imagine a parallel universe where We, Without Wings is actually a good anime. Imagine that the story, with its surprise twists and intense personal drama, is told in a way that makes sense. Imagine that the visuals are smoothly animated, with creative camerawork and nuanced colors. Imagine that the characters each have a look as unique as their personalities, and that the music adds an extra charge of emotion to the story. Then snap out of it and come back to reality, because We, Without Wings is none of that.Recently, I took the opportunity to sit down and watch We Without Wings in one sitting. We Without Wings is a seemingly endless series of vignettes featuring a number of recurring characters. We Without Wings has the feel of something like UHF or Amazon Women On The Moon, where you are experiencing the world through the eyes of your friendly neighborhood TV. The series has fast dialogue, fast MTV-style cuts, and a confusing, rambling and chaotic story.
We Without Wings has a lot of fan service. Each episode typically starts with a character flipping through fake TV shows featuring female characters in risque situations that typically end with the ladies tearing each others' clothes off. Throughout the series, one can find bare breasts, bare bottoms, some full frontal nudity without pubic hair and one sex scene with plenty of bare skin, but, no actual naughty bits. Occasionally, female characters will be walking and having a casual conversation and suddenly and for no apparent reason, the point of view will suddenly move to below and behind the ladies to reveal their panties.
At first, the alternate world scenes, in We Without Wing, were intriguing, but, after a while, that aspect of the story seemed to not matter. The story, what there is of it, boils down to two of the main male and female leads (Takashi Haneda and Asuka Watarai) dealing with some emotional baggage. In the end, Asuka resorts to just punching Takashi until she gets what she wants out of him. And, when Takashi relapses again near the end of the series, the last scene has Asuka warning Takashi that she is going to punch him. In the end, the other characters just don't seem to matter. The series ends rather abruptly without really coming to any definite resolution. Ultimately, there isn't really much of a story here.
We Without Wings was painful to sit through and my poor remote got a workout as the dialogue and sign translations flew by at such a pace that I had a lot of difficulty keeping up with the subtitles. I was almost tempted to listen to the series in English, but, I persevered and resisted the temptation to not read my anime. The series tried to be funny, but, it really wasn't. Overall, I gave We Without Wings a 1 out of 5. We Without Wings is as close to a complete waste of time that I've seen in quite a while.
