Review #35- Bincho-tan

Welcome everyone to our next review! Today we will be covering the extremely cute, and my personal favorite, anime Bincho-tan. As it is my favorite, I will try to be as unbias as possible. As always, beware of potential yet minor SPOILERS.

Now without further ado, let us begin the review!

Summary: This is a story about a little girl who lives in an old house in the mountains. Her name is Bincho-tan. Each episode depicts a day in the life of Bincho-tan as she prepares her breakfast in the morning, goes to the forest to gather vegetables, does her household chores and rests at night after a day’s work. She is surrounded by a group of close friends who add color to her ordinary yet simple life.

Plot: 8/10

This anime is the purest essence of slice of life as it can get. Bincho-tan is extremely episodic in episode layout, with only minor plot points interspersed throughout its showing. There is however a surprising depth in the plot found in the titular character Bincho-tan’s backstory. Nonetheless, this presents a relaxing atmosphere for the show and makes it very easy to watch. The very slow pacing of the show may be a turn off to some viewers.

Characters: 7/10

The characters of Bincho-tan are all pretty different from one another and round out the cast well. Despite this, all of them aside from Bincho-tan are fairly one dimensional and express little to no development. As a result, they tend to dull as characters once the series continues beyond their initial  introduction. On an interesting side note, several of the characters are based on different types of charcoal, as seen by their designs.

Animation: 8/10

The biggest draw to Bincho-tan for me was the animation. The backgrounds are rendered absolutely beautifully. The characters are primarily drawn in a chibi style, and while they are not the best designed, they are extremely cute. The chibi characters may feel childish or just completely off putting to some.

Soundtrack: 10/10

The soundtrack for this anime is extremely well done, setting the relaxing mood of the show perfectly. It is primarily orchestral in composition and easy to enjoy for most viewers.

Themes: 10/10

Bincho-tan is primarily meant to just be an easy show to watch and enjoy, it does have some surprisingly deeper themes. While on the surface it focuses on friendship and helping one another, and does a good job at this, it also shows determination and self-sufficiency as commendable attributes. These are best highlighted in Bincho-tan herself as she goes about daily life almost completely by herself, despite her apparent young age. There are some sadder themes also hinted at, such as the general struggles and loneliness people under tough circumstances undergo, again seen in Bincho-tan.

Score: 8.6/10

Grade: B

B-Ro’s Take

Bincho-tan was an anime that I did not enjoy. The first problem that I had with it right away was how little dialog that it had. This made the show feel very vacant and dull. It was not completely void of dialog, but it having a lack of it in the beginning made it feel out of place for the show. I also was not a fan of the animation, it was very cutesy which is not a style I usually enjoy. All the main characters were chibi too, which I am also not a fan of. Speaking of the main characters, I did not like them at all. They were all one dimensional with one gimmick that would be used every episode that they were in. The only character development that happened was during the last episode and at that point I just did not care for any of the characters anymore. There was also no plot which made the show feel unfulfilling. It was truly the most pure form of an episodic anime. There was truly nothing that I enjoyed about this anime. Out of 10 I would give this anime a 5. I recommend this anime to anyone who like episodic and really cutesy anime, if that kind of stuff is not your thing I don’t think that it is worth watching. – B-Ro

LowKev’s Take

Attack on Chibi! Kill La Chibi! So much CHIBI! After reviewing the depressing gore of AoT, and the dark but beautiful Erased, Bincho-Tan was a really nice change of pace. Colorful and dreamlike, it is very beautiful from a visual and audio standpoint. Although it’s definitely a kids show at heart, the relaxing vibe it presents still made it an enjoyable experience for me. There isn’t really an epic overlying plot (though there is an interesting and sad backstory), but the progression of the episodes do show a simple yet sweet theme of friendship. Wanna know one of the things I love the most about Binchou-Tan? The little amount of dialogue. It’s obviously not totally devoid of it, but it does have a lot of segments without it. These sections really make the simple but beautiful animation and gorgeous orchestral score stand out and really shine. I remember at first disliking the inclusion of more characters and more dialogue, but I definitely warmed up to it by the end. Each character ended up being nice additions, with my favorite being Ren because of her chill nature. I’m also glad that the episodes explored different seasons, each with their own forms of beauty. The Op and Ed support the cute, playful vibe of the show. I won’t be looking into buying the songs, but they’re nice to hear within the show. The ending was interesting. I found it quite beautiful, but it also felt like the show ran out of space, which is unfortunate. Because of this, a lot of plot points and other things are only implied rather than directly addressed. It surprised me that this show had hidden elements/plot, and I actually liked that in a way. Keeping some things open ended makes the show that much more interesting, though part of me does wish more was explained… In conclusion, I feel that Binchou-Tan is like a warm cup of tea. Though I’m not always in the mood for it, I can’t possibly hate it, and when I am able to properly enjoy it, it is very calming and sooths my soul.

Final Comments: All around being very cute, Bincho-tan accomplishes in what it sets out to do by providing a relaxing yet playful anime experience. The extremely slow pacing and lack of depth in plot and characters make this show not for everyone though.

Thank you for reading our review! We always appreciate everyone’s likes and comments, so please do not hesitate to do either of those. While your at it, be sure to check out some of our latest Bonus Posts, as well as our Twitter and Facebook pages. Our next review will be the anime Black★Rock Shooter.