#Otherside Picnic Misses the Mark

Season aired: Winter 2021

Number of episodes: 12

Genres: Drama, Mystery, Supernatural

Thoughts: Otherside Picnic follows two young adult women, Sorawo and Toriko, as they explore the world of the Otherside — another dimension that manifests many of the creepypasta stories that crawl around the internet. Additionally, feelings start to develop between the two girls.

An exploration of scary internet myths, exploration of a supernatural world, and a lesbian love story? I couldn’t have jumped faster at the opportunity. Unfortunately, the anime completely falters from all angles and simply did not do the original source material justice — a well-praised novel series.

From the very first episode, the anime pulled a weird trick where it would change to CGI when the two girls walked, but it would immediately go back to 2D animation for closeups. CGI as a whole is a bit of a contentious topic in the anime community, but there are legitimate reasons for using it. It’s used to animate things like monsters to specifically emphasize how non-human and different the monsters are from the rest. CGI is also used to animate complex scenes that contain panning shots of crowds, like the concert in Given. However, CGI has always had a purpose in storytelling, whether it is to make the monsters stand out or to blend in the heavy animation. In Otherside Picnic, the CGI only gets utilized for strolling, and it stands out in all the wrong ways.

Yet, the CGI probably bothered me the least throughout the series. Neither the plot nor the characters truly performed and made me care. Instead of exploring the story behind each of the internet horror mythologies the anime decided to feature, the series decided to make it a “monster of the week” show where something dangerous happens, and the two girls can only go home by defeating the monster. Except nothing bad ever truly happens, so the danger doesn’t feel dangerous at all, and the monsters are all too quickly defeated.

The anime could have compensated for its episodic format by either introducing an overarching plot or exploring the world of the Otherside. Yet, the anime did neither. The overarching plot, which revolves around Toriko’s senpai’s disappearance, never really goes anywhere despite multiple teases. The Otherside world remains largely unexplored, and even the art direction doesn’t bother providing some form of eeriness or otherworldliness when the girls enter the Otherside. Only the last episode contains some scenic shots of this strange dimension of living creepypasta, but even if I found the shots beautiful, I had long lost my interest in the actual world.

Character development remains largely nonexistent, and even the lesbian love story that the synopsis promises did not go anywhere. We get hints of Sorawo having a crush on Toriko, but the anime didn’t even provide maximum blushes. Out of all the characters, I only found myself liking Kozakura, the cowardly supernatural phenomenon researcher, but even she remained lukewarm and will likely be forgotten by the year’s end.

The only thing that I can praise, which absolutely deserves the praise, is the musical accompaniment. Due to the little risk I feel for the characters, and because some of the monsters featured actually look more cute than scary in anime form (see: cat ninjas), you would think that I felt no anxiety. While my brain logically processed no fear, when the music started to pluck its strings, my body couldn’t help but naturally tense up. The soundtrack in this anime was so incredibly strong that I watched the entire series feeling no fear yet my body responded as if I felt fear. The music milked every bit of eerie dissonant chords to force the idea of danger and unpredictability internally, and it shattered me to hear such perfect music wasted on an anime that failed in every other aspect possible.

In summary, I see no reason for anyone to start this anime. The animation had strange CGI usage, the art offered very little, and the plot and characters had no meaning and no beginning or true end. However, I won’t fault you if you do decide to at least listen to the soundtrack.

Rating

Plot: 4 (Multiplier 3.5)

Characters: 5 (Multiplier 3.5)

Voice acting: 5

Art/Animation: 4

Soundtrack: 9

FINAL SCORE: 49.5