And the winner of the most exploitative camera angles is…

11Eyes is surprisingly good in this first episode, despite the aforementioned predilection for really skeevey camera angles (hint to guys: if you’re ever carrying your cute lady friend to the nurse’s office, please be sure that her underwear isn’t on display for everyone). What helps a lot is that, for once, the childhood friends trope isn’t completely and utterly obnoxious. Yuka and Kakeru have a relationship that rings true, as it seems we don’t have any of that ‘I wake you up and make you breakfast every day!’ bullshit of so many other similar entries in this genre. They actually come across as good friends, and as a potential couple. Additionally, despite being obvious moe-bait, Yuka really isn’t too bad, although I do hope she’s able to do more than cower when faced with the alternate world in future episodes.

At the same time, 11Eyes possesses a character who is possibly the worst male best friend character I’ve ever seen. It is possible to make this character funny, but 11Eyes goes straight for the jugular, crafting a guy whose appearance on screen results in an immediate desire on my part to skip the entire scene. I cannot for the life of me figure out what purpose he has; the show would be much better off without him.

Additionally, you can add the ‘hot’ nurse to the list of needless characters. I’d also like to know under what rule of physics she operates, as her boobs apparently move in opposite directions when they bounce. Granted, this is far from the most egregious error of animation (buuuut its probably not an error), as the characters often go off-model.

11Eyes has managed to set up an interesting scenario, surprisingly enough given its origins, but I can’t help but worry its need to keep at least some of its eroge roots obvious will result in a less than satsifying whole. I’m already pretty tired of the weird camera angles that serve only a purpose of seeing Yuka’s panties; it doesn’t help that they do this during scenes wherein it is wholly inappropriate (showing Yuka’s panties kind of undermines the emotional impact you’re trying to achieve when Kakeru offers to take her shopping despite his hatred of crowds). I’m cautious about this, but looking forward to see what happens next.