Review of La storia della Arcana Famiglia

*Note: Due to a previous review I wrote, I am acknowledging beforehand that I have not read the visual novel. I am reviewing this anime solely on it's own story rather than it's accuracy as an adaptation. I have to admit, Arcana Famiglia is probably the most disappointing anime that I have seen this year. It's probably not the worst but DEFINITELY the most disappointing. It's got a good cast of characters and there's certainly nothing wrong with the artwork, music, or voice acting...however, a complete lack of story and the missed opportunity to show off the shonen aspect of this anime just derailed it. Overall, Ithought the strongest aspects of this anime was it's music and characters. The music fit the tone of the anime extremely well. It did have a very Italian feel to the music and I thought the OP and ED songs were very good as well. The only thing I would argue is the OP song didn't help my disappointment because it gave the feel that this was going to be an action-packed full-throttle anime and it turned out to be the exact opposite.

As for the characters, on the whole I thought they were pretty good. The characters on the whole were pretty likable. One of the few beefs that I did have with the characters was actually the lead herself, Felicita. Her character seemed so bland. I normally wouldn't have a problem with this if she were a side character, but the fact of the matter is this story revolved around her and her choices. Due to the lack of character with her, it became difficult to become invested in her. If Liberta or Nova were the main protagonist (which this anime gave some early direction to), it would've been much more tolerable. Those two characters seemed to have an interesting back story and appealing characteristics. Even the side characters such as Pace, Debito, Luca, Jolly, Dante, etc. had more character than Felicita. Overall, I thought all the side characters were solid...just the lead character was lacking.

The weakest part of this anime as aforementioned is the story. This story is just dreadful. However, to be honest, some aspects of it don't seem so bad. I did like the concept of Felicita having two arcana powers and using both of them together (in a sense) has the ability to save her father. I do actually find that pretty interesting. Therein lies the problem...that is the only interesting thing about this anime. This series basically opens up with Mondo announcing that they will be holding an Arcana Duello to determine who the next leader of the Arcana Famiglia will be. Okay, sounds like your typical shonen anime plot. So what happens over the next 11 episodes? We slowly and barely learn about Liberta and Nova's back story, how they can't control their powers and how they must slowly learn to control them before the Arcana Duello. Even then, that content actually takes up MAYBE 3 episodes...the rest of it is essentially character development padding. What I mean by that is, it's essentially padding since they are repeating similar events to show off each character's personality. It ends up mostly being a waste of time since we don't learn any more about the characters than we already know.

Since the story was weak, surely the shonen-esque action sequences will surely make up for it, right? Actually, wrong. The action sequences in this anime were extremely weak and extremely poorly animated. There are even sequences where action scenes (especially in the final episode) aren't shown entirely or there are scenes where characters are fighting but you're seeing the expressions and thoughts of a spectator instead of the actual fight. It seemed as though the producers of this anime didn't trust their animators enough with action sequences that they just used this to cover up for it. It was a poor move and was extremely noticeable.

My overall thoughts on Arcana Famiglia is it had my interest piqued in the beginning, but as the series wore on, so did my expectations. It missed out on so many opportunities that it's hard to classify this anime. I'd call it a shonen but the action sequences were non-existent. I'd call it a romance but any time a romance was hinted at, it was brushed aside for more meaningless padding. I'd call it a drama but it really wasn't very dramatic. This anime essentially has no identinty and it really wouldn't shock me if I forget that I even watched this anime at one point. It really was that forgettable.