Kinmoza is fine. Across the twelve episodes of season 1 it does little terribly wrong, but also little to stand out.
The main focus of Kinmoza is on the friendship of its central characters. They have good chemistry with one another and their interactions are the sort of cute fun that is to be expected from this kind of anime.
This season even offers some variety in its plots. Most episodes deal with a different aspect of school life for the characters. We see characters get used to a new environment, and even celebrate Christmas.
The problem is that this season is full of elements that are typical, or okay. The humour might elicit a chuckle, but not a laugh. The sad moments might be good enough to get some sympathy for the characters but very little beyond that. Occasionally the quality improves, and an episode does something a little funny, or memorable. These moments are rare however, and they are never really sustained. It would help if it felt like the characters had progressed in some way over the season, but they don’t.
Unlike other high school anime that might focus around an end goal for the students or a particular hobby, there just doesn’t seem to be much of a main identity to Kinmoza. In theory this identity is provided by the two of the main characters having been raised in England, and the cultural differences between them and the others. In practice this doesn’t play much of part in any given episode. Both the English characters spend the vast majority of season 1 able to speak Japanese. One of the Japanese characters has a running sub-plot about trying to learn English, but this is usually forgotten.
The special features included in this collection are also typical. Viewers can watch text less versions of the opening and closing animations, and there are previews of other upcoming shows. Between them they don’t offer enough to make this collection worth buying if you weren’t already planning to do so.
Kinmoza: Complete Season 1 is only worth purchasing if you are already a fan of the series. The series doesn’t offer anything in terms of quality or themes that can’t be found elsewhere. When this is considered with the price of the complete season the result is something that is better avoided. There just isn’t enough to this anime to recommend purchasing it unless you already know that you are going to enjoy watching it.
It isn’t bad, it’s just really, really, average.
Special Features: Clean opening animation / Clean closing animation / also available on Blu-ray / Disc credits
KINMOZA: COMPLETE SEASON 1 / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR: TENSHOU / WRITER: YUI HARA / STARRING: ASUKA NISHI, MANAMI TANAKA, NAO T YAMA / RELEASE DATE: 9TH OCTOBER
