Review of Hand Shakers
The best place to start with Hand Shakers is the artwork. Don’t get me wrong – the artwork is at times beautiful, the kind of artwork with a level of detail I’ve always liked seeing in fanart as I’ll spend quite a few minutes taking in all of the details. The fact one needs quite a few minutes to take in the artwork should honestly make the reader of this review realize one of the main issues with this series. There’s not enough time to really take in all of the details. At times the level of detail in both backgrounds and character design ends upclashing against each other due to the fact the animation uses CGI, yet there’s a feeling that while the animators did plan the overall composition, they let the computers do all of the work meaning nobody checked to see if certain elements overpowered other elements within the scene.
While this may not seem like a big deal to your average viewer and they simply can’t take in all of the detail at the same time and pick up on the fact certain elements overpower the others, this is the kind of animation which runs the risk of having the Porygon effect of making certain viewers feel ill. Having the Porygon effect occur in whatever you make is one of the last thing a person creating any kind of film media wants, but effectively that’s the kind of art work we have running through the entire series. While GoHand attempted experimenting so they might create a more realistic animation style than we’ve ever seen before, this is one of those times the experiment doesn’t quite pay off.
The music is another issue in that I have seen a previous series by GoHands and while the music is beautiful, the music ends up making one feel like one is still in that world - K - rather than a brand new world. I'd also argue Hand Shakers really doesn't hold up to K in comparison either. It's not because the story and character are bad mind you - they're really not. No, the characters and story are what I'd call average. Hand Shakers is an average story with average characters with an animation style which definitely needs a seizure warning. I say this loving the fact the studio attempted experimenting with the Animation style, but also realizing that this will cause major problems on people.
The series - I can't help but feel the series bears quite a few similarities to another series WIXOSS. Both are about searching for wishes, yet unlike WIXOSS this series actually attempts explaining why the characters are messed up like they are. Which - yes, all of the characters are messed up in some manner and most end up having some kind of explanation regarding why they are the way they are, which is part of what made this series enjoyable to me - I still can't give it a high rating because of the art work and the fact it can definitely cause some major problems for people.
Of course, certain people may feel frustrated with certain elements not ending up explained despite the fact one of the traits regarding series where wishes are granted isn't to explain away the god like power which ends up granting the wish meaning certain things don't need explaining, yet this will also cut down on the number of people for whom this series is the cup of tea for. Added to this, despite the fact there are things which don't need explaining, there are a few mild plot holes here and there - mild ones which really don't have an effect on the series - others which are likely to drive people nuts such as one of our MCs not speaking is touched upon towards the end of the series.
Ultimately, the series isn't the worst Anime out there like people pan said series to be. If it weren't for the Animation issue, I feel it would be considered average, but because the Animation has the kind of issues it does - one where I feel the viewer needs to be warned about the potential for seizures, the series ends up below average. Another warning - the series does delve into some taboo relationships, yet if someone gets through the first episode I think that will be all the more apparent. It's the one set of characters we don't see much of, but if that content bothers the viewer, I suggest hitting the back button even though the series does handle the subject matter far in a far more palatable manner than other series. It's not for everyone.