In retrospect, Pumpkin Scissors is a very well-executed concept. Too bad the concept is blah.

If anything at all, the fact that I’m writing about it means that there’s at least something redeeming about the show. I think, to be fair, the show did well as a character-driven series. We really got to know the cast and even the little episodic stuff injected periodically interesting side characters. Loli Chiwa episode was a lot of fun, as with the Stekkin episode. Not sure if the penis jokes were all that effective, though.

Still, that is no excuse for turning the last 7 episodes into a huge DBZ-like affair, with a single scene lasting across 6 episodes.

I think there’s this very enjoyable irony between the work Alice does as a noble (which she slowly discovers across the series) and the work she does for the army (which is well-explained when she describes how “Pumpkin Scissors” came about). Well, figuring out what I mean by that is half the fun, so don’t let me ruin it for you.

The idealized concept of Alice, however, is what is truly enjoyable about this show. Shizuka Itou did a wonderful job. Her character design panders just right (which is to say, very little but a lot at key moments). It’s a very simple idealist position. She challenges the gray ethical and moral areas and come up with some convincing answers, at least enough that you can think about it. She doesn’t back down from a fight, but is also smart enough to know her place.

What’s scary is that I see how much I can identify with the way she thinks and the values she subscribes to. That can’t be a good thing…