Kyoto Animation might be best known for anime like "The Meloncholy of Haruhi Suzumiya," "Clannad" and "Free!". Those alone have provided enough financial success for the studio to be relatively stable and independent in the industry. While their television-animation quality is almost always above average, the shows themselves, and the quality of those stories, can vary quite a bit. I looked forward to their 2016 show "Myriad Colors Phantom World," but was disappointed with how it could be simultaneously complex and meaningless at once, and ultimately a somewhat boring experience.The story has a weak premise. Each episode of "Phantom World" starts with a brief lecture on human culture, and specifically the human brain. The world we see around us is simply our brain's interpretation, and not necessarily truth. The mind unconsciously seeks for patterns to understand the world, and if it sees something in an optical illusion it hadn't seen before, it's hard to make it disappear again. It can also be easy to fool, with either biological changes to adapt to the environment, or through the power of suggestion. In an alternate day modern world, a lab's experimental biological drug is broken loose and contagiously spreads throughout society: it changes our brains, allowing us to see a wide-variety of colorful demons, yokai, phantoms, and other spirits. Have they always been present? Or are they just a figment of humaity's collective imagination? We don't know, but what we DO know is that the spirits can be disruptive, creating noise or damage to our physical world, either being a danger, or simply an annoyance.Along with the wide-spread ability to see the phantoms, generations of children born after the disease have supernatural abilities, which happen to be well-suited to attack or defend against the monsters. Society grows to accept the super-children, putting them to use in student clubs dedicated to attacking and ridding society of phantoms that grow bothersome. In the first episode, we meet the first two main characters, almost two decades after society grew acustomed to this new way of life: first-year high school student Haruhiko, who has the ability to draw phantoms in a sketchbook in order to seal them, and Mai, a high school girl who... gropes herself... to launch devastating martial-arts attacks (she's actually rubbing the body organs that represent one of the world's elements, like fire, water, etc.... but we know what it looks like, especially with her anime-sized chest). They both work together in their school's club, volunteering to take jobs to manage phantoms in exchange for pay (or rather, food and other benefits: they're too young to legally work). They aren't great at their jobs, so as the show progresses, they make friends with other new students (all cute girls, of course), each with their own unique abilities to fight against the phantoms, saying a prayer-like command to activate their power.However you might see the premise, it boils down to a common anime genre: superpowered students fight supernatural monsters in their local town. "Phantom World" tries to take advantage of the conceit of human observation and perception, but this equates to a show with no rules, one of the most frustrating aspects of this series. As Haruhiko's group gets new members, it becomes clear his ability to seal phantoms is no longer essential, requiring him to find new skills to differentiate himself: he finds a couple with no issue at all. Other characters also use abilities out-of-the-blue, with little to no lead-in. Anything goes with the logic here, both for the phantoms and the heroes. "Phantom World" is a fairly episodic show. The phantoms each come in new forms and pose new problems, but most of the problems are superficial (like the student-body turning into cats, or children, or dealing with a hot spring that appears in the middle of the school yard), or exercises in character-development for cheap drama (imagining a fake family, or recalling false memories). Light referenes foreshadow greater developments to come, but when they (eventually) do, it feels far too random (albiet kind-of cool). Since each episode has no lasting impact on the characters by the time the next episode comes, and because rules don't have any part in solving each problem... the story is a lot weaker than a lot of anime with comparable themes.
The merits "Phantom World" does have are in the visuals, the wide variety of phantoms, and the show's sense of humor. There are some genuine laugh-out-loud moments in some of the episodes. However, a lot of that humor can be cringe-worthy: while the show isn't fanservice-heavy, the girls all get subjected to a lot of erotic-jokes. In-between jokes, most of the content feels like a lecture, like a story meant to explain the themes that the literal-lecture at the beginning of each episode introduces. Again, there is no real moral or philosophical insight at the end of it all: it's like watching a lecture without a point. Uneven direction and writing don't help matters.One of the characters make for a good metaphor for the series as a whole: Ruru is the mascot character, a friendly fairy-phantom that tails Haruhiko wherever he goes, since he's a lot of fun to tease. She's clearly inspired by Robin Williams' Genie in Disney's "Aladdin," but a bit more cute, sexy and mischievous in her Arabian-inspired bikini. But throughout the show, despite her magic and ability to fly... she doesn't actually DO anything. She just watches from the side, making unhelpful comments. Much like the show itself, she's full of capable potential, but in her attempt to be fun instead of useful, she's simply boring (disclaimer: Ruru does have a purpose at the very end of the show, but a weak one that barely justifies the character's existance).Kyoto Animation makes great animation though, and that front doesn't disappoint in "Myriad Colors Phantom World." Technically, this is an action-oriented show, a genre Kyoto doesn't make often, and a good showcase for animators to make flashy, cool looking scenes. Sure enough, the fighting scenes, as well as more every-day scenes of interaction, are well-animated, with great expressiveness, without relying on CGI special effects. Character designs are generally overly-cute, which can make the show overwhelmingly warm and sweet at times. And the show is COLORFUL: like a pastel and sorbet rainbow, the show is bright to the point of almost being garish, but not as bad as the anime "No Game, No Life," for example. I don't think these aspects were necessarily well-inspired or formed with much thought, however... for Kyoto Animation, this was almost workman-like, a mix of their previous shows "Beyond The Boundary" and "Amagi Brilliant Park." The inspired aspects come in the occasional smart rendering of environments to convey the interpretation of the mind, and in the varied phantom monster designs. All the same, the show looks a lot better than most other anime, and is arguably one of the best-looking anime Kyoto had made for television up to this point. By comparison, both the soundtrack and voice acting are acceptable, but a bit uninspired. The music is typically whistful, like pleasent elevator music, making it obvious that the characters are often just lazily letting the day pass by. The English dub isn't bad, but trying to act like cute anime characters in fast-paced scenes with awkward jokes isn't easy. If you happen to like the show, you'll be pleased with the extended length: 13 episodes, plus an OVA, plus a bunch of shorts, are included on the American Bluray.From the genre-choice, and the way the stories and humor play out, "Myriad Colors Phantom World" is one of the most "anime" anime-shows Kyoto Animation has ever produced. It's about a school full of cool, cute and clumsy superhero students, fighting monsters in between moments of emotional drama and sexy, wacky humor. But in the attempt to create a popular anime for a primarily male demographic, the story forgot the most important thing: inspiration. As such, to quote a dubbed line, its "execution is feable," and simply isn't as great as it looked on paper.