Bite size Anime (in the 5 to 10 minute long range) is fun when you don’t feel like giving up half an hour but still want to watch a little something, and this season we have several. Miss Monochrome is an android (the humanoid robot, not the operating system) who wants to be a Pop Idol, in a show that pokes fun at the entire Idol business model. About half of each 7 minute episode is Vocaloid-sounding music performed by singer and voice actress Yui Horie, so you don’t end up needing to burn too many brain cells to follow the story line. They are calling this the 3rd series, but only if you count the singer’s Secret Mission Tour in 2012 where the character was first introduced as a series. I do find it somewhat amusing that the android’s house pet is a Roomba. The other short story series this season I am watching is Hackadoll the Animation, about three personal entertainment AIs who don’t have a clue. Their assigned goal is to to improve the efficiency of their clients by filtering the sea of information into the bits important to their human, but these three have no idea how to go about the task. I am sure it will be no surprise that this one is a comedy. So far I only have a single episode of either to base an opinion on, but they both have the potential to entertain if they are done right.
