first impression: Chocolate Underground (anime)

I have to laugh. I really have to laugh.

The premise of this online broadcasted anime is based on the children's novel Bootleg by the British author Alex Shearer.
- credit to crunchyroll

Basically the world has been turned into some sort of health revolution era. The "Good For You" party is an organization designed and created to make sure that people eat only foods that are, well, good for you. Sadly, these foods despite being good for the health are horrible for the taste buds. This gives a new twist on traditional thinking that anything that's good for you tastes like crap.

You know, I think parents and leaders of the world alike have gone through a lot of hardships already to convince kids that not all health foods have the same texture as cardboard.

And then this anime/story comes along and ruins it all.

Of course, I have to admit, the idea of having chocolate and sweets prohibited from society is an interesting detail. The first episode even boasts two innocent yet guilty people just trying to enjoy a nice bar of chocolate during their evening when their house gets torn down by an army of mecha troopers. And then the leader of this army claims that "Chocolate is evil" or something like that.

I think my heart stopped when he crushed the bar of chocolate. I think I laughed when the house got torn down though for something as petty as a chocolate bar. hehe

I've already seen the first five episodes available to me so this isn't so much a first impression as it is a first thoughts post. The anime in itself is short, lasting only about five minutes average per episode. There is no opening theme and there is a very short and sweet ending theme with preview spoilers for the next episode.

The characters are rather blunt and flat, except for Louise whom you meet first hand trying to tackle a television because it won't stop those silly "Good For You" infomercials that are both tacky and boring and probably annoying when you've seen them for the hundredth time in a day. It also doesn't help that Louise used to run a sweets shop and now has to run a health food shop.

As for Huntly and Smudger, our two little boy protagonists, they are quite typical of little boys except that they are also very curious little boys. They go as far as landing themselves in a secret chocolate production underground cave type of place and then enjoying themselves. More friends are made along the way and the story is supposed to veer into the actual bootlegging of chocolate so there is much more to look forward to.

Otherwise, it's just a cute little story to watch during free time and I'm quite interested in reading the book it's based off of now.