Series Overview

Amagi Brilliant Park (甘城ブリリアントパーク) is a comedy/drama (dramedy?) series about a magical amusement park by the same name. Finally, my literal thousands of hours playing Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 will be relevant for an anime review.

When I say the park is magical, what I really mean is that many of those who work there are magical. I don’t believe any of the attractions in the park were themselves magical. But, a large portion of the park’s cast members are originally from the magical realm of Maple Land.

So, why do these Maple Landers work at an amusement park here on Earth? Because they require the attention and joy of humans to survive. And what better way to be surrounded by the joy of humans than to live and work at an amusement park?

Unfortunately, Amagi Brilliant Park is a terrible amusement park. At the start of the series, it’s run down, the cast members are unfriendly, and there’s a deadline looming before it’s closed for good. The park needs to attract 500,000 visitors by August 1st.

To help the park achieve this feat, Seiya Kanie, an extremely narcissistic high school student is brought in to run the place. I think he was chosen because he used to be a child actor or something — not really sure how that qualifies him, but whatever.

Basically, the series is all about Kanie working to improve Amagi Brilliant Park and bring in more visitors so the park doesn’t end up getting shut down. He’s playing Roller Coaster Tycoon 2, but in real (anime) life.

With that said, don’t go into the series thinking it’s a “builder” kind of anime. It’s the characters that carry the series more than anything else.

Cast Members

Ignoring Kanie, Izusu Sento is the main cast member at Amagi Brilliant Park. She’s the one who originally recruits Kanie, doing so by threatening to shoot him if he doesn’t agree. And, that’s where Sento’s magic comes in. She has the ability to produce rifles from under her skirt, just like Mami Tomoe from Madoka Magica.

Princess Latifa, not to be confused with Queen Latifah, is the heir of Maple Land and I guess the effective president of Amagi Brilliant Park. She’s important to the plot of the series, but she really doesn’t do anything personally.

The head mascot of the park, and definitely not a Mickey Mouse rip-off, is Moffle. I don’t think he’s a great character. In fact, I think he’s a pretty bad character. He’s just angry, always gets into fights, and loves things like explosions because action is cool.

Now, my favorite character of the series is probably Tiramie, another one of the park mascots. Despite being a pink cat and the fairy of flowers, Tiramie is as degenerate as they come. He’s always on the prowl for girls to seduce, has no issue with betraying his allies, and says some of the most cursed lines of the series. I love him.

Macaron, the sheep mascot, is similar to Tiramie in a lot of ways, but I’d say he’s a bit more watered down. He’s still sleazy and definitely not a good person. However, he’s not as extreme as Tiramie is.

And, the last cast members I want to mention here are the four members of Elementario, Amagi Brilliant Park’s idol group. The members are Kobori, Muse, Salama, and Sylphy, representing the elements earth, water, fire, and wind respectively. I could honestly watch an entire series focusing on the girls of Elementario.

Should Have Been 12 Episodes

I noticed something pretty weird when I was watching Amagi Brilliant Park. At the end of episode 12, it seemed like the whole series was wrapped up. But, the anime is 13 episodes long (plus a 14th OVA episode that I didn’t watch).

So, if everything has been concluded by the end of the 12th episode, what’s the 13th episode about? Does it continue the story? Well, not exactly. The 13th episode is about the cast members creating a promotional video for the park after the events of the previous 12 episodes.

If you watch this series, you really don’t have to watch the 13th episode. It doesn’t further the plot in any way and just serves as additional content if you want it. It’s pretty odd that an episode like this is considered part of the series and wasn’t an OVA like episode 14 was.

After completing the series, I can say that I would have preferred if it just ended with episode 12. Yes, there was some good content, especially from Tiramie, in episode 13. But, when you consider how well the story already wrapped up the episode prior, this episode felt out of place.

Don’t worry, though. I’m not lowering my rating of the series because episode 13 is considered part of the main series and not an OVA. I just wanted to point it out because I can’t think of another anime I’ve watched that’s done the same thing.

I mean, there are anime that put recap episodes at the end, which I think is a terrible idea. But this may have been the first time I’ve run into what should have been an OVA episode slapped onto the end of a series.

Conclusion

Overall, Amagi Brilliant Park is a 7/10 from me. It’s a solid, good anime. However, I don’t think it was anything particularly special. If you like comedy, including some adult comedy, you’ll probably like this anime. Just don’t expect it to become your new favorite series.

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