Director: Kentaro Suzuki
Starring: Ayane Sakura, Hilary Haag, Nobuhiko Okamoto, Blake Shepard, Ai Kayano, Brittney Karbowski,
Running Time: 325 minutes
Certificate: 12
DREAM EATER MERRY is yet another anime that deals with a boy coming into contact with a magical character that tends to battle demons. A big difference here is that the demons are not the ones from Hell or some other afterlife, but from dreams. Yumeji is a boy that can predict what other characters’ dreams will involve that night by looking at their aura. He soon comes across a lost and confused girl named Merry who seems to be able to cross over into his dreams. The two soon form a bond and help each other to achieve their goals.
The basic premise is one most viewers will be familiar with and although this does not affect the quality of the show, going through the motions can become fairly tedious. Luckily, the show has moments where it breaks away from the generic path it follows and gives us creative bursts of pure joy. Yumeji is plagued by reoccurring dreams of a clan of cats chasing him. These sections are animated with great fervour, and you can almost imagine the animators wrestling over who gets to compose these moments. Of course, like any story that deals with dreams, it does run the risk of making the real-life sections seem dry in comparison. Fortunately the characters build complex chemistry fast, mostly due to the fact that Yumeji lives with a (so far) plutonic friend and her father.
Merry herself is quite intriguing, seeming confused by both her past and her present. What propels the story along in early episodes is that some characters wish to escape the dream world, while others are trying to get back in. This blurs the lines between common good and evil storytelling in such a way that you can’t help but be engrossed in one way or another. Such confliction for the audience leads to more interesting well animated battles. In contrast, simple conversation scenes are often interrupted by cutaways to midriffs or ribbons on dresses while characters continue to speak. These moments aren’t even handled in a titillating way and seem to be there for the sole purpose of saving time, effort, and money by not having to animate the movement of the mouth.
DREAM EATER MERRY hints at further adventures that may achieve greatness, rather than handing out such brilliance in this collection. If the show keeps up with the interesting characters and delves further into the dream world, it could be a formidable show on the anime circuit.
DREAM EATER MERRY Collection is released on DVD on 18th March.
