Akikan Discussion Thread

[Fencedude]

New anime from Brains Base, about specials cans of soda that turn into girls when drunk.

..yes, I know.

Real airing starts in January, there was a special preview webcast of episode 1 a few days ago.

Official Site (http://www.melomelomelon.com/index.html)
ANN Link (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=10209)

As always, please follow the posting guidelines as stated below.

Note
As usual, please try to follow these three easy forum courtesy habits when replying... No really, I mean it, please do:
1) If you're the first person to post about an episode in any given week, please respond to the root post (this post) and indicate in the subject line which episode you're posting about.
2) If someone has already posted about an episode before you, please respond to that post (or a relevant reply to that post). Keep in the right subthread.
3) Don't use the blue "Post Reply" button because it causes your reply not to correctly inherit the subject line of the post you're replying to. Just click "Quote" to the post you want to reply to.

[Suwako Moriya]

New anime from Brains Base, about specials cans of soda that turn into girls when drunk.

I swear if two of the girls end up being bitter rivals with names that sound very close to Coke and Pespi....:sweat:

[Fencedude]

Starting off we meet our plucky protagonist, the lecherous and rather unlikable Daisuke Kakeru, buying a can of Melon Soda from a vending machine on his way home from school. He takes it home with him, and we next see him coming out of the shower wearing nothing but a towel around his neck, and then partaking deeply in his newly bought melon soda. Which promptly turns into a blonde girl, who is now kissing him.

Kakeru, assuming this is a dream, immediately attempts to molest her further. The as of yet unnamed girl first freaks out over him being naked, and then blasts him with a shot of compressed CO2.

Shortly afterwards an apparently gay Japanese government guy and his secretary show up, attempting to explain the girl, but he gets distracted by the still naked Kakeru, and ends up getting elbowed by his Secretary when he implies she wants Kakeru, and then she drags him off.

The girl can be returned to a can by pulling the tag on her ear. Kakeru does so and stores her in the fridge overnight. Next day he heads to school where we meet his childhood friend Najimi (...) who apparently has a crush on him. She works herself into a lather over him musing to himself about the mysterious girl, and then breaks down into tears, while Kakeru is oblivious. To her rescue comes the apparently flamingly lesbian "School Witch" Kochikaze Yurika.

Kakeru heads home, has a bit of a telepathic argument with the girl, culminating in him trying to drink her with a straw. She reveals that if he empties the can she'll "die", but he can refil her with the same kind of soda. he goes out and buys another can of Melon Soda, along with another kind of soda. He turns her back into a girl and she drinks down the new soda. Then flips when she sees him drinking another flavor of soda. This prompts a huge argument, he pulls her tab and sticks her in the closet. she plaintively whines at him all night, then he heads to school.

When he gets home he leers at her a bit and turns her into a girl, then discovers she's not in good shape. He somehow gets the idea to blow into her mouth, and the CO2 injection revives her. Then we have a cute scene where he tells her he'll never throw her away, then he acts lecherous again, and the episode ends with him giving her a name, "Melon".

...

The show was surprisingly not as bad as I thought it would be, though still really stupid. Kakeru by and large deserves all the abuse he recieves from Melon, and everyone in the cast looks to be certifiably insane.

[The Great Bear]

The show was surprisingly not as bad as I thought it would be, though still really stupid.

After reading the short descriptions of what this is, I basically thought "WTF?!?"

Boy, they really get some weird ideas out there at times :sd:

[Suwako Moriya]

All right, I watched most of the episode and I have no idea what to make of this. The male lead is actually rather annoying to be honest. He's the type of character that gets old fast.

That being said Melon is kind of cute. At least in human form anyway. In can form, it's obviously a different story. Still I'm not sure if watching for her sake is a good enough reason to deal with the guy.

That being said the premise of the story is stupid, but might be easier to swallow if I view it as more of an analogy. An analogy for how we treat stuff when we deem it no longer useful to us. Even so....

[iserlohn]

Watched this earlier...the play by play I posted on my LJ:

0:00 - Cool, ripped from web pre-stream. No OP/ED to deal with.
0:13 - I like the green colour.
0:44 - Guy to vending machine: "You'll open wide for anyone as long as they have money." He's going to be one of THOSE "heroes."
1:14 - This guy collects empty soda cans. And I thought my hobbies were lame.
1:20 - Naked lead: "I bet that junk vending machine treated me like an idiot because I'm a virgin." With an attitude like that it's no wonder.
1:30 - Well, there's some fanservice.
1:35 - Ooh, 16 and no girlfriend. And now the mandatory "oh why can't a girl come to me with no effort."
1:53 - He breathed into the can so it's like a kiss! See! And it tastes like melon soda (which I want!)
2:17 - The episode title voice sounds like a lisping 8 year old.
2:40 - Ah, it's the main girl's voice.
2:48 - and blaming the guy for being naked when he got out of the shower.
3:00 - So the can turned into the girl. She's got a pop top earring too.
3:17 - Guy thinks it's a dream and immediately decides to get his rape on..
3:50 - So she ccan generate fizzy melons to blast people with DBZ style. Love Hina meets HIMM.
4:11 - It's nice to see anime that actually shows some ass and not just tits.
4:20 - Gay villain.
4:30 - So hell is steel, not aluminium.
4:53 - Pussy. And naked man ass. This episode has shown a lot of naked man ass. Maybe it's actually for girls. And a Rob Liefeld sense of anatomy.
5:05 - "Refreshing Beverage Magic."
5:25 - Three protestations for the guy to put his clothes on.
5:40 - A reminder: this is a show about a soda can who turns into a girl when she gets carbon dioxide from kissing.
6:00 - Guy still thinks it's a dream. He's "buff" and naked now. And still a hentai grade letch.
6:20 - Still trying to get his rape on.
6:40 - I know I'm mentally ill because this is almost amusing enough to be worthy of a single episode.
6:50 - Girl turns herself back into a can until kissed again.
7:15 - Villain bangs on the door. I bet he'd like to bang this 16 year old boy. That would make a far more tolerable show.
7:30 - Now they come in with bolt cutters.
7:40 - How the fuck are they going to make --wait, why are you asking someone what they're scared of when you talk like a paedophile and force your way into their home?
7:50 - How the fuck are they going to make a full series of this?
7:52 - OK, he's a government official. And our lead is still naked.
8:00 - Sure enough gay villain is hitting on the lead and feeling him up.
8:12 - Only in Japan could this NOT be considered disgusting and creepy.
8:35 - Bureaucrats are fighting over who gets to rape him first.
8:50 - There is a LOT of trying to get one's rape on in this series.
9:16 - Still naked, brings the can back to life.
9:44 - And now the mandatory "you're my owner now so I'm here to serve your undeserving desires."
10:00 - Eyecatch
10:17 - Now he's off to school.
10:24 - Purple haired moe real girl with another nasty squeaky voice.
10:39 - Cliche fulfilled: childhood friend
10:49 - Now he tells the "pure" friend that he wants to get laid and she thinks he's into her.
11:14 - Object of his love isn't human.
11:22 - You have no right to criticise other characters' flaws. And the friend misunderstands.
11:40 - Everybody knows that he's a lowlife.
11:49 - Ghost character named Gigolo. WTF?
12:15 - I need to run to the loo....
12:23 - Adamantium reference and the tsundere lesbian appears.
12:35 - OK, explosive diarrhea from anime acheived.
12:55 - Violent tsundere lesbian witch (cliches aplenty) is all over childhood friend and attacks guy.
13:15 - Girl wants him to drink her every morning or else her existence is meaningless. Get a feminist movement, Japan.
13:37 - Guy is scared to drink girl. Aren't we all? And what happens when she's finally empty? I can kill one of those cans in 20 seconds.
13:57 - Has to drink from the can without a straw and without a glass or else she's meaningless.
14:16 - Ah, using a straw makes her orgasm. And answer: the soda is her life source. If it runs out she dies. And she exists to be drunken.
14:40 - A refill of the same will keep her alive.
14:50 - There's still six minutes left. Make it stop. MAKE IT STOP.
15:06 - We've got off model and cheapened art in the first episode.
15:20 - And now she's jealous. And he perves in retribution.
15:40 - And now she's throwing out his aluminium cans of love because she can't forgive him for drinking something else.
15:52 - Don't all men wish they could pull an earring and turn their girlfriends or wives into soda cans? Too bad it doesn't shut her up.
16:19 - A pussy on the roof!
16:26 - I never thought I'd hear a girl say "drink me!" outside of hentai or Deep Throat
16:46 - And like the bastard he is, he lords it over her and demands she serve.
17:17 - And because she went flat she almost dies..
17:20 - How the fuck is this being turned into a full series? The entire plot arc's occurred in one episode.
17:42 - Blow on her harder. She's got carbonated hair ornaments.
18:04 - Love Hina violence again. *yawn*
18:17 - She's still jealous that he'd drink something else.
18:32 - "Why did you save me? I'm just an empty can. Once I'm empty I'll be thrown away and scrapped!" - I wish she would be, this is fucking terrible.
18:50 - Of course he won't throw her away, she's the only girl besides the --
19:06 - Training her to be subservient. So Japanese.
18:50 - Naming her cheesecake after an old bitch. Then Melon. *sigh*

Overall? This is the worst show of 2008. And of 2009 since that's when the broadcast proper starts. And to think there's 12 more episodes in production. Akikan, to put it bluntly, is a slap in the face to good writing, independent women, and fans of well made animation.

[TornadoTatsumaki]

Watched this earlier...the play by play I posted on my LJ:

0:00 - Cool, ripped from web pre-stream. No OP/ED to deal with.
0:13 - I like the green colour.
0:44 - Guy to vending machine: "You'll open wide for anyone as long as they have money." He's going to be one of THOSE "heroes."
1:14 - This guy collects empty soda cans. And I thought my hobbies were lame.
1:20 - Naked lead: "I bet that junk vending machine treated me like an idiot because I'm a virgin." With an attitude like that it's no wonder.
1:30 - Well, there's some fanservice.
1:35 - Ooh, 16 and no girlfriend. And now the mandatory "oh why can't a girl come to me with no effort."
1:53 - He breathed into the can so it's like a kiss! See! And it tastes like melon soda (which I want!)
2:17 - The episode title voice sounds like a lisping 8 year old.
2:40 - Ah, it's the main girl's voice.
2:48 - and blaming the guy for being naked when he got out of the shower.
3:00 - So the can turned into the girl. She's got a pop top earring too.
3:17 - Guy thinks it's a dream and immediately decides to get his rape on..
3:50 - So she ccan generate fizzy melons to blast people with DBZ style. Love Hina meets HIMM.
4:11 - It's nice to see anime that actually shows some ass and not just tits.
4:20 - Gay villain.
4:30 - So hell is steel, not aluminium.
4:53 - Pussy. And naked man ass. This episode has shown a lot of naked man ass. Maybe it's actually for girls. And a Rob Liefeld sense of anatomy.
5:05 - "Refreshing Beverage Magic."
5:25 - Three protestations for the guy to put his clothes on.
5:40 - A reminder: this is a show about a soda can who turns into a girl when she gets carbon dioxide from kissing.
6:00 - Guy still thinks it's a dream. He's "buff" and naked now. And still a hentai grade letch.
6:20 - Still trying to get his rape on.
6:40 - I know I'm mentally ill because this is almost amusing enough to be worthy of a single episode.
6:50 - Girl turns herself back into a can until kissed again.
7:15 - Villain bangs on the door. I bet he'd like to bang this 16 year old boy. That would make a far more tolerable show.
7:30 - Now they come in with bolt cutters.
7:40 - How the fuck are they going to make --wait, why are you asking someone what they're scared of when you talk like a paedophile and force your way into their home?
7:50 - How the fuck are they going to make a full series of this?
7:52 - OK, he's a government official. And our lead is still naked.
8:00 - Sure enough gay villain is hitting on the lead and feeling him up.
8:12 - Only in Japan could this NOT be considered disgusting and creepy.
8:35 - Bureaucrats are fighting over who gets to rape him first.
8:50 - There is a LOT of trying to get one's rape on in this series.
9:16 - Still naked, brings the can back to life.
9:44 - And now the mandatory "you're my owner now so I'm here to serve your undeserving desires."
10:00 - Eyecatch
10:17 - Now he's off to school.
10:24 - Purple haired moe real girl with another nasty squeaky voice.
10:39 - Cliche fulfilled: childhood friend
10:49 - Now he tells the "pure" friend that he wants to get laid and she thinks he's into her.
11:14 - Object of his love isn't human.
11:22 - You have no right to criticise other characters' flaws. And the friend misunderstands.
11:40 - Everybody knows that he's a lowlife.
11:49 - Ghost character named Gigolo. WTF?
12:15 - I need to run to the loo....
12:23 - Adamantium reference and the tsundere lesbian appears.
12:35 - OK, explosive diarrhea from anime acheived.
12:55 - Violent tsundere lesbian witch (cliches aplenty) is all over childhood friend and attacks guy.
13:15 - Girl wants him to drink her every morning or else her existence is meaningless. Get a feminist movement, Japan.
13:37 - Guy is scared to drink girl. Aren't we all? And what happens when she's finally empty? I can kill one of those cans in 20 seconds.
13:57 - Has to drink from the can without a straw and without a glass or else she's meaningless.
14:16 - Ah, using a straw makes her orgasm. And answer: the soda is her life source. If it runs out she dies. And she exists to be drunken.
14:40 - A refill of the same will keep her alive.
14:50 - There's still six minutes left. Make it stop. MAKE IT STOP.
15:06 - We've got off model and cheapened art in the first episode.
15:20 - And now she's jealous. And he perves in retribution.
15:40 - And now she's throwing out his aluminium cans of love because she can't forgive him for drinking something else.
15:52 - Don't all men wish they could pull an earring and turn their girlfriends or wives into soda cans? Too bad it doesn't shut her up.
16:19 - A pussy on the roof!
16:26 - I never thought I'd hear a girl say "drink me!" outside of hentai or Deep Throat
16:46 - And like the bastard he is, he lords it over her and demands she serve.
17:17 - And because she went flat she almost dies..
17:20 - How the fuck is this being turned into a full series? The entire plot arc's occurred in one episode.
17:42 - Blow on her harder. She's got carbonated hair ornaments.
18:04 - Love Hina violence again. *yawn*
18:17 - She's still jealous that he'd drink something else.
18:32 - "Why did you save me? I'm just an empty can. Once I'm empty I'll be thrown away and scrapped!" - I wish she would be, this is fucking terrible.
18:50 - Of course he won't throw her away, she's the only girl besides the --
19:06 - Training her to be subservient. So Japanese.
18:50 - Naming her cheesecake after an old bitch. Then Melon. *sigh*

Overall? This is the worst show of 2008. And of 2009 since that's when the broadcast proper starts. And to think there's 12 more episodes in production. Akikan, to put it bluntly, is a slap in the face to good writing, independent women, and fans of well made animation.

I just watched it yesterday.

I LOVE IT!!!!:bigsmile:

Yeah, it's stupid,absurd,inane and a completely dumb attempt at putting a new spin on harem guy meets- magic- girl- from- another-world anime series it's got a yaoi scientist,crazy dike,self centerned annoying love interest made from a can of melon soda, and a lecherous,self- serving protagonist. But it's a series that you'll love to hate, I bet anybody who hates this and says thier not going to watch it is probably planning on watching it anyway.

Interesting note "Aikkan" is litteral japanese katakana translation, when romanized it litterally spells "Empty Can!" Get it? A pun!

[something]

Episode 1:

- I am a can of melon soda! I just want to be loved! ...This is either going to be the best or worst show ever.
- Oh god, oh god, oh god. Fukuyama Jun calling a vending machine a slut. XD
- Melon BEAM!
- Nice clock, dude.
- Kakeru totally has some of the overly dramatic Lelouche poses down to a science. Unfortunately he's going past funny and dangerously close to irritating already.
- The one who hates men and loves women... Yurika wins the show!
- Melon is a very forceful can, isn't she?
- She's also a jealous can.
- And high maintenance. But... a little bit moe inducing.

Still, good god, how did they get Brains Base to do this? This was... unbelievably dumb. How is this going to go for a full cour? :sd:

[HitokiriShadow]

I remember hearing about this series a while back and thought "Wow, that sounds incredibly dumb." Amazingly, its even worse than I thought it would be (I gave them the benefit of the doubt that they would at least try to make good of an incredibly dumb premise) and I gave up after three minutes. My goal this year is not waste my time on shitty anime and its pretty clear what category this title falls under.

It seems Brains Base is well aware that they are producing a crap series because this show is pretty lousy in the visuals which is absolutely awful by Brains Base standards.

[TheGreenMan]

Let's see. This show has

Lelouch, if he was perverted dick
A can of soda that turns into a girl who looks like the human equivalent of a 7-UP
A childhood friend of the lead guy who wants him to do her
A female friend of said childhood friend who wants to do her
A weird dude who wants to do the main character

Yeah, this show is full of stupid. Were people who thought this idea up stoned?

[Ty]

Personally I think it's a test to find out what japanese otaku are willing to buy.

[prnoct90]

Personally I think it's a test to find out what japanese otaku are willing to buy.

:sdsmiley: LOL. Probably.

I don't know. Because they kind of finished the story in one episode. So, I might just watch one more episode to see what they are going to do with it.

[TAS]

I don't know. Because they kind of finished the story in one episode. So, I might just watch one more episode to see what they are going to do with it.
Add another can to his collection I expect.

The only reason I give it a try was because it was the first of the new shows... Bla. I don't think I'll be thinking much about this once a few more shows get started.

[TheGreenMan]

Personally I think it's a test to find out what japanese otaku are willing to buy.

:sdsmiley: LOL. Probably.

I don't know. Because they kind of finished the story in one episode. So, I might just watch one more episode to see what they are going to do with it.

This will turn into a harem show and then the cans will battle each other like Sekirei. Or in some kind of blind taste test.

[Ashyukun]

OK, I laughed more at this than I expected to. Probably won't be watching any more of it... but if I do, it'll be because I like Najimi and her expressive ahoge. And from the OP it's obvious she'll play heavily into the show since it seems she gets her own can-can-girl before too long. Another point in the show's favor is that I'm liking the artwork a lot- the backgrounds and even the characters at points look like they're hand-drawn vs. digital (or digital done very well to resemble hand-drawn...). Mamiko Noto being on the cast list gives it a bit higher potential too, though I don't think we've seen her yet...

Still, those factors aren't likely going to be enough to get me to continue watching this... though I might watch another episode just to see what the deal is with the slingshot-wielding chibi.

[Ashyukun]

Personally I think it's a test to find out what japanese otaku are willing to buy.
That or a very expensive way to try and convince them to drink more soda...

[Westlo]

This was awfully hilarious, lmao at Yurika and Najima, it's like they're so cliche lets call them that anyway.

[Fudce]

So basicly he goes out, buys her, takes her home, gets her drunk, and tries to have his way with her?


Watched this earlier, and I still have a headache. Unless I'm told things improve, this is not for me. I like cute girls as much as anyone, but even I have to draw the line when the rest of the cast is this clichéd and bad. It's as if they were lining up to say "And I am the mousy childhood friend!", "I'm the idiot friend!", "I'm the annoying and often abused weirdo" or "I'm the feisty tsundere!".

I don't know about Ah! My Soda, but based on the first episode, this series is a huge argument for recycling empty cans.

[JackW]

I took a look at this as it was 'episode 1', without knowing anything about it. I assume this is a parody of the 'guy gets given a girlfriend' shows that are so common?

[Westlo]

I took a look at this as it was 'episode 1', without knowing anything about it. I assume this is a parody of the 'guy gets given a girlfriend' shows that are so common?

Considering the yuri girl is called YURIka and the Osana-Najimi character is called Najima it should be... shouldn't it?

[JackW]

Considering the yuri girl is called YURIka and the Osana-Najimi character is called Najima it should be... shouldn't it?

Well, it's either that or we really are now dredging up splinters.

[TheGreenMan]

And this show continues the stupid.

Whoa whoa, whoa...Kakeru shot people? To protect Najima? No wonder she wants to jump his bones.
It took a little bit to noticed that YURIka is an obvious pun. Apparently, so is Najima.
So, now we a drill haired loli--grape drink.
The ED is hideous. What's with the whole 5 year old taking to you? It's a song damnit!

[TornadoTatsumaki]

And this show continues the stupid.

It took a little bit to noticed that YURIka is an obvious pun. Apparently, so is Najima.
What does "Najima" mean?

[Ty]

I started skimming the one episode I had very briefly, and about 8 seconds into the FF seek it locked up my player. I took that as a very clear sign that I have better things to watch, even if only for a minute.

[TheGreenMan]

For some damn reason, I'm still watching this show.

Kakeru loves to spout gibberish, doesn't he?
Oh, noes, an misunderstanding! Najami wants to go on a date with Kakeru, but sees Kakeru and Melon out looking for Yell and thinks they're on a date.
Najami orderes Yell to punish Kakeru...
...and Yell promptly cuts Kakeru open. The hell? That's a lot of blood. When did this show get all serious?
Oh, so Yurika really is a witch. And she looks a lot like Blair in that outfit.

Apparently, I've seen shots from upcoming episodes and it looks like Najami and Yell get closer. Maybe she's not getting the love from Kakeru, so she turns to Yell (but she turned down Yurika before and I thought she wasn't into girls?).

[Ty]

For some damn reason, I'm still watching this show.

My condolences. I hate to be the one to deliver this news, but you sir are a masochist. :P

[angelx03]

Apparently, I've seen shots from upcoming episodes and it looks like Najami and Yell get closer. Maybe she's not getting the love from Kakeru, so she turns to Yell (but she turned down Yurika before and I thought she wasn't into girls?).

You mean these?

http://img516.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1235344825216.jpg

Yeah, pretty intimate there! :sdsmiley:

[pianocello]

I'm pretty sure this anime will be in the lists of some of your "Least favorite top 10 of 2009 anime". Yet for me, I really enjoy this show. It's so bad that it's good.
It is so refreshing for once to have a male lead who doesn't freak out at the sight of boobs and is not afraid to act perverted. And I love how he turns everything innocent into something that's full of sexual innuendo. Ditto for Yuriri's dirty talk. Oddly though, while the dialogue is very vulgar, there's actually very little ecchi.

I don't like the female lead though - she's a tsundere with unfortunately an emphasis on the "tsun" part rather than the "dere". I'm also glad that this series has given rise to some amazing Najimi x Yell yuri pics. (I wish they had developed the yuri aspect a bit more). I also feel guilty laughing but it was truly funny at the Otoya x Gigolo toilet scene.

This show is truly a guilty pleasure.

[pianocello]

It looks like many have given up on this. Which is a pity because the OAV is what DVD specials should be - a hot springs episode. :devil: This was just hilarious and they even ramped up the yuri. It's also refreshing to have a male lead who is not afraid to be a pervert.
Only complaint - the lack of nipples. :angry: