Konoha Akisato's love for bishoujo games—a type of entertainment focused on interactions with beautiful girls—has always nurtured her aspiration of becoming a popular artist. However, as Konoha secures her first job as a sub-illustrator at the game company Blue Bell, she confronts the harsh reality surrounding her favorite genre. In 2023, the bishoujo game industry is overrun with cheap, repetitive, and low-effort releases, with Blue Bell at the core of the problem.
After stumbling upon a vintage game store and reminiscing about the impressive titles of the past, Konoha suddenly winds up in the year 1992—just as the bishoujo game industry was beginning to flourish. Konoha struggles to accept her new circumstances until she joins Alcohol Soft, a small game company willing to employ her as an illustrator. Although she believes her skills from the future will propel her to success, technology and illustration are considerably old-school, and she must promptly adapt if she wishes to fulfill her dreams.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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KANLen09
16bit Sensation - A celebration of all things Otaku, specifically the Bishoujo a.k.a cute girl theme, based on real-life experiences that truly make it one of, if not the influential "grandfathers" of the AniManga industry that we see today in Japan. Truth be told, when was the last Otaku-focused show that we got in anime form? Many would say that it's Summer 2021's Bokutachi no Remake a.k.a Remake Our Life!, or for the veterans in us, 2017's offerings of Fall's Anime-Gataris (which is one of the first Otaku-based shows I've watched since starting anime back in that year, that I still enjoy to this day), witha tinge of Winter's Akiba's Trip The Animation or even Summer 2016's New Game! series, mixed in with this Spring's Mahou Shoujo Magical Destroyers for the insane and non-stop unpredictable story-moving action.
As for 16bit Sensation, apart from the manga, which serves as the basis for the anime, which takes place in the 1990s and details the game creation processes of that era, Another Layer takes that resemblance and intertwines that with its own "spin-off" territory of sorts through a 3rd-person POV. The manga got its start as a Doujinshi at Comiket 91 in December 2016, created by illustrators Misato Mitsumi and Tatsuki Amazuyu of AQUAPLUS, based on their time in the bishoujo game industry, and one fine gentleman by the name of Tamaki Wakaki, the mangaka best known for Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai a.k.a The World God Only Knows, and one of the scriptwriters alongside former AQUAPLUS game writer Tatsuya Takahashi for the "original" anime. Trust me, if there is a show that you NEED to pay absolute attention to all of the fine details that make it work, it's this one.
The story begins in modern-day 2023, where game production is treated like a sweatshop of black companies pushing their staff to work harder for low pay and increments, even for those who find their passion in creating games. And one such person is 19-year-old Konoha Akisato, who is a budding illustrator working hard at what she does best, but she's not satisfied that the game corporation company that she's working for doesn't exactly appreciate her work and even demotes her as a sub-illustrator colouring background characters. In a fit of rage, she ran out of the company, never wanting to see them again. A few days later, Konoha sighted a traditional game shop that's been taken care of by an old woman, who so happened to have a case of old, influential Bishoujo VNs a.k.a Visual Novels, that are sold for dirt cheap. Of course, Konoha's Otaku senses light up, but she feels bad for the old woman that she could not purchase them from her and leaves her unintended. A few days later, a paper bag containing those same games appears at Konoha's home, though she doesn't know what to do with it since both the old woman and the game shop mysteriously disappeared...until she opens one game and realizes that she is instantly transported back to 1992 after meeting someone who tells her of the reality that she has time-travelled back to the past. With that reality struck to her face, Konoha wants the acclaimed company Alcohol Soft to work with her dream of making Bishoujo games.
Not everyone is a game industry nut, so I'll spare everyone's homework and give only the details that you need to know: the in-series game company Alcohol Soft, it's based on the real-life game developer Cocktail Soft, known for eroge/VNs such as Doki Doki Vacation ~Kirameku Kisetsu no Naka de~, and Welcome to Pia Carrot, both of which Misato Mitsumi and Tatsuki Amazuyu worked on before moving to AQUAPLUS (of which game studio Leaf is a sub-brand). Also, most of the games that were in the paper bag, from Dōkyūsei to Kizuato and Shizuku, were also games from AQUAPLUS/Leaf, and 1996's Shizuku would become the de-facto standard for how game developers would create VNs going forward, thanks to game writer-cum-scriptwriter Tatsuya Takahashi. Aside from debut director Takashi Sakuma, who doesn't have as much knowledge as his staff team does, you can tell that 16bit Sensation: Another Layer is a re-telling from the eyes of the prevalent people in the AniManga industry, so much so bearing the fact that it's a love letter to the history of Bishoujo VN games like Key's Kanon, Clannad, and Little Busters!, paving the rise to fame for the lucrative VN game market. This makes the anime so palpable and cements itself in a league of its own...that's if Tamaki Wakaki had some radical ideas introduced into this "spin-off". And if you've watched or read his prior series, you already know what I'm talking about. No spoilers here; it's best that you experience it for yourself.
Joining Konoha in her game-making endeavour are the people of Alcohol Soft, whom in the future will become a tour de force in the VN games scene but will get disbanded in time to come. The first person is Mamoru Rokuda; he is the company's sole programmer and the son of the company's owner, Masaru. He is quite the rudimentary lover of the PC-98 platform (the business-oriented version of the consumer PC-88 series, which allowed its parent company, NEC, to dominate and establish the Japanese PC market from the 1980s to 2000), and he will not relent on making games for future platforms of Windows 95 and beyond. But all Konoha needs is convincing and persistence to allow him to see her vision, which he will then give way to and make her dream a reality. Thankfully, Konoha is not alone, as there are also Kaori Shimoda and Meiko Uehara, both concept and line artists, with the former being a CG illustrator and the latter wanting to become a programmer. Together with the mask-wearing scenario writer Kiyoshi Gomikawa, the 5-man team completes Alcohol Soft, bereft of Konoha's future technology and essentially starting from scratch for said time traveler. It's definitely a work of art by going back to the basics, and aesthetically, this is one of the anime's strong points.
Studio Silver may be a rather old studio that has existed since February 2001, but their recent breakout together as a studio collab effort with Arvo Animation on the Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai a.k.a We Never Learn: BokuBen series since 2019, certainly paved the way for the studio's single output to come. And 4.5 years later, it's through this show that looks pretty decent, as far as I can tell. No problems here whatsoever if it looked like a low-budget show from the outset, which I can tell you that it's not.
The music...is highly debatable, but it's definitely the elephant in the room. For Shoko Nakagawa, she's definitely acclimated to shows that were made for young kids, but considering that her last "adult" effort was on Akiba's Trip The Animation, serving as one of many ED songs, this OP song will not cut it for a lot of people. I find it musically pleasing, but the lyrics are a whole other story of sounding just weird and bad. The better part comes with the ED song sung by Konoha's VA Aoi Koga, with lyrics done by J-Pop artist KOTOKO and composed by Shinji Orito, who is the music composer of Key's VN anime adaptations of Air, Kanon (2006) and Little Busters!, to name a few, along with the ED visuals of pixel art, which are great to see.
If there are high points I can say about this show, it's of Aoi Koga delivering her performance as Konoha Akisato, sounding just like the 19-year-old version of herself who carries the entire show with ease, as well as the ED song growing more on me as time passes. Otherwise, I'm just kind of disappointed in the reception that this show got for trying to be something different from what was already established a.k.a the manga. This, to me, is intentional creativity as the creators and the staff wanted it to be, and I think this succeeded in its delivery.
Otaku lovers, you ought NOT to miss out on 16bit Sensation: Another Layer. You're missing out on a real historian's gem, which has been lathed on Another Layer.
Ursaw
The unfortunate thing about this VN production anime is that it isn't about VN production. If you want a variation of Shirobako — look elsewhere. This is an uninspired "teen girl does time travel" anime that uses old tech as a cheap nostalgia bait. The deepest it gets into the actual creative process involved in VN creation is within the first few episodes where the main character Konoha first teleports into the past and finds out that in the 90s you had to use your mouse to draw on PC (the horror!). The problem is that creative team behind this production is as knowledgeable aboutVN/old tech/overall 90s topics as their main character. So they just throw a few old VN names (that they have rights to) in your face and maybe dangle a floppy or two over you... but some retro PC visuals and a running gag about a character who is just so in love with outdated NEC PC is all you're gonna get, because the anime doesn't actually care about all that stuff.
In retrospect after watching it in full, I'm not sure what it cares about at all?
It's not about Visual Novel creation.
We are told the main character Konoha hates her job in the industry in 2020s (because she's a newbie and noone will listen to her 1000 page long script about "half-angel half-whatever Mary Sue saving the postapocalyptic fantasy sci-fi time travel girls und panzer meets makoto shinkai world" that she's certain would be a mega hit unlike those pesky boring whatever-it-is-they-do-nowadays).
Okay, she's 19 and has an entry level job, she doesn't understand her beloved industry yet, maybe once she gets transported to the past we'll get to learn about VN creation together with her? (No, we will not).
In the past, even when she gets actively involved in the process of making VN (and not running completely unrelated errands like she does most of the time), the process itself is basically skipped over. Anime just says "and then the creative process ensued, and the artists artisted, and the scenarists said "it's scenariing time" and scenariod all over the place, and 5 seconds later our new game of the century was ready, yay!"
It's not about genuine love for old tech or any other 90s things.
Time travel scenarios implemented within the real world are great for showcasing old-timey stuff the author genuinely cares about and speculating about humanity's possible future. In theory... Thinking about this makes me remember the episode in Shirobako where they scheduled a field day to learn more about what's gonna be in their new anime. 16bit Sensation's "field day" was opening a Wikipedia page about the 90s in Japan and promptly forgetting half of what they just read.
Noone looks or talks like they belong in the 90s, the tech they use is anachronic (either already too old to be useful by the time events happen, or probably shouldn't exist for another decade), the business side of things is... Let's not even go there. Everything is either a blatant plot device, or only exists because it showed up on the first page of pictures when the production team googled "90s Japan". Same goes for the faceless future. Noone cared what it looks like because it only exists for the main character to undo it anyway.
Funnily enough, I don't feel like it's passionate about time travel either.
Sure, it's the premise of the whole thing, but the level of detail and thought put into the inner workings of it is negligible. It's a time travel show because Stein's Gate was a widely popular time travel show. And people nowadays love time travel, right? Fairly close to isekai too, and people are into isekai, right?
The time travel is the whole plot, and it's honestly such a mess. It jumps all over the place constantly. Half of the time it forgets where it started and why it went there in the first place, then there's also /checks notes/ aliens, I guess? Honestly, it reads as if their main character wrote this whole thing.
And, of course, it's not about the interpersonal relationships between main characters.
Or, even if it is, it does a terrible job at that as well. Everyone loves our quirky main character because she's so cute and quirky, (and because people in the past are just so much kinder and better than in our pesky reality). Sure, they grow in a literal sense, since the anime takes place in the span of ~30 years, but none of them really grow and change as people. But I guess there's not much place to grow from when you only exist to support the main character, fix her mistakes, pat her head and tell her how cool and special she is and how much you missed her.
As a fan of all things VN I desperately wanted to like this and find something good in it, but it was just a bland and uninspired waste of time. I've read self-insert Naruto fanfiction in the 00s that was more thought through and novel than this.
PanzerIV-J
"16bit Sensation" Is a great anime, that is only held down by the ending. What I am trying to get at is that the last 3 episodes are noticeably worse writing and quality wise then the rest of the series, mainly because it feels like the writers didn't have enough episodes to put in all the content they wanted to put in this anime and were forced to cut content, or were rushed to complete the last few episodes because of time constraints. Either way it feels like the quality dropped throughout the twelve episode run, since the art gets to points where it is noticeably worsefor some scenes, and some scenes seem cut short a bit.
But this is FAR from being bad at all, it's characters are well constructed and are not made to be stupid or dense. Konoha is probably the most annoying character by far, but it's their character so it's intended. The story is a bit crazy, but it is something that you can vibe with, even if it sometimes doesn't make sense all the time.
Overall though it is a good anime.
Watch it if you don't mind a decrease in quality over 12 episodes.
🗿 7/10 🗿
inactivist
What even is the anime industry in 2023? I would say it's like a cocktail with a bunch of mystery flavors. You won't know how it tastes until you try it. On the one hand, we have a variety of anime about time travel with virtually no originality and, on the other hand, we have hen- *cough*, please excuse my language. Now imagine combining those two aforementioned "flavors," adding a bit of gaming passion fruit and diluting the mix with some crushed ice to avoid making it too strong. The extravagant, yet tasty, cocktail you would end up with is 16-bit Sensation: Another Layer; a unique takeon the time travel trope that manages to keep its audience engaged with its top-tier voice acting and simple but effective storyline. Let's savor the taste together, shall we?
As mentioned above the story is pretty straightforward: The protagonist, Konoha, is obsessed with bishoujo games and time travels to 90s Japan to make MORE. The only thing on her mind is gaming and cute anime girls, which officially dubs her as the most cultured anime character this year. Keep in mind that this love of bishoujo games isn't just some joke for her, it's her life. This kind of character motivation guides the plot and avoids overcomplications, resulting in a lot of funny moments. The humor works because Konoha's 3 total braincells along with her obnoxious personality, clash with a group of confused underpaid "adults" that have no idea what a present day otaku is capable of. Good comedy is seriously scarce nowadays, so take advantage of it while you still can. 16-bit Sensation has definitely got it down in the funny department.
On to the rest of our wonderful cast of "adults." Their de-facto leader is Mamoru: another obsessive, stubborn and maybe-adult, who, like Konoha only has one thing on his mind; the PC98. The guy probably sleeps, eats and drinks thinking of PC98 world domination. To the point though, believe it or not, the chemistry between him and Konoha is one of the most wholesome elements of the show. Without diving into spoiler territory, try to imagine two characters who have decided to dedicate their whole life in only one thing, trying to have a deep and meaningful conversation. There is absolutely no way that could work. However, these two proved us wrong. Their conversation has got to be the most irrelevant and yet most emotional experience ever. The amount of passion they both have for their hobby explodes into vivid, motivational monologues about eroge. You read correctly. This anime makes you feel emotional watching two brainlets talking about eroge. If that's not incredible, I don't know what is.
To dig into this a bit deeper, the fact that 16 bit sensation succeeds so well in conveying this passion and emotion is not only because of the character's personality, but mainly because of the voice acting. Now before you start angrily commenting about how annoying the protagonist is, hear me out. The VA for Konoha is also the one for Kaguya Shinomiya from Love is War. If you've seen both shows or at least heard this voice actor before you would know what I'm talking about. In short, she's excellent. All the emotional high notes were delivered with perfection and I'm not even going to comment on how talented someone has to be to do Kaguya's quieter and imposing voice and turn it into Konoha's passionate squeaky monologues. The production team really most have put everything into hiring her and it paid off with interest.
One more aspect of the plot that's worth exploring in more detail is the time travelling gimmick. Despite it being severely overdone, 16-bit Sensation manages to add some "spice" using it. In their world, you may only travel to specific dates in the past using the release dates of 90s games, which, in a sense, limits the protagonist's ability to have an impact in the world's timeline. This restriction in combination with Konoha's lack of a brain makes the time travelling tropes practically obsolete, since the future never changes significantly. By doing this the show, creates a balance to develop the characters and reinforces its comedic theme. Or at least that was the idea, until we start building towards the finale where the trope's impact makes its sudden appearance. This shift in tone in the later episodes in tandem with the shows overarching themes makes for a very surprising twist.
TLDR; All in all 16-bit Sensation made me feel things I didn't expect, made me laugh more than it should have and overall blew my expectations out of the water. On the surface it might have a pretty shallow plot with not many complications, but that quickly changes as you watch more and get invested in the story. If you like a good comedy with a surprising twist, I highly recommend it. The protagonist's voice might be a turn off at first, but trust me, by episode 4 you'll have your mind changed.
Thank you very much for reading!
lycoping
I'm honestly a little mystified as to why this has a rating as low as it does. There is a clue to why I feel this way in the name: "another layer". This is a layered anime. If you look at it from a surface perspective, you might not like this anime very much. And from a surface perspective, there's not much to like. There's quite a bit of nostalgia - most of which is done rather hamhandedly (though even at my age I didn't know about the PC-98, seems interesting to look into). It could also be seen asa love letter to bishoujo. It kind of is, but if we were to leave it at that level, it wouldn't be much to speak of either. On those levels, the story is a bit trite and shallow, the FMC is rather annoying, and the MMC is quite one-dimensional (see what I did there?)
But there's so much more to it - if you look for it. I doubt everyone has.
This story is actually a rather odd coincidence in my life, because it directly (and flagrantly) addressed a question that I've been mulling over in my head for a little while: what role does imagination have in creation? I won't go too deep into that because I'll bore the pantsu off you, and it gets absurdly theological, but it's a fascinating question, I think. All of the other things - bishoujo, nostalgia, time-travel, are all subjugated to this question. What makes us human? What is imagination? What is that intangible thing that makes the difference between a stupid garden variety game (or, by extension, anime) and one that is popular/amazing/whatever? And the way it handles that question is amazing, and frankly, rather unique.
So for that reason, I would have rated this anime a ten. I wanted to rate this anime a ten. I almost did rate this anime a ten. But there were a few flaws, and I couldn't do that in good conscience.
As some reviews have said, the FMC was rather insufferable. She was supposed to be voice acted as a super high energy, young-ish character who, well... it's her world and everyone else lives in it. But what they ended up making the character was a shrill, overly hyper, loudmouthed character that was difficult to warm to. Yes, she was a good character, and the VA was *capable* of toning it down when necessary, so at the end, that was clearly a directorial decision, and an awful one. They could have lowered the pitch a bit, made the voice a little less harsh and grating, and not only would nothing have been lost, but it would have been even better.
The second major flaw, to me, has to do with the last three episodes. I'll try not to spoil. But this reminded me very much of Back to the Future 2, when Marty came back to 1985 or whenever after changing the timeline in 1955, and ended up in a dystopian society. The thing is, it was *needlessly* dystopian. It's 2023, not 2050, and the technology would not have been *that* drastically altered by a game company having a successful game. The corporate environment might, but the technology was significantly more "advanced" than it was in the original timeline. It just made no sense other than to enhance the sense of dystopianness. Plus, when that story arc "resolved", it, well, kinda didn't. Did the villain get his just desserts? We assume so. But of course it doesn't matter, because, well... it just doesn't matter. You'll see.
But the thing is, it wasn't entirely dystopian. Yes, there were dystopian elements, and *clearly* so, but I found it fascinating how the redevelopment and "improvement" of Akihabara was portrayed as, by definition, dystopian. I guess I can see that to a degree, it would certainly have been dystopian in the FMC's perspective (they addressed the "coming home to a place you don't know" emotions very well), but still, I got the distinct feeling that it was *such* a love letter to Akihabara that it couldn't have been any other way. I guess that goes back to the "love letter to gaming" layer, because Akihabara is the mecca, but... still. It was a hamhanded message.
Also, there were some plot points around the time travel that were, well... insufficiently addressed, to put it lightly. I can't really say everything about what I mean because it would be a spoiler, but let's say there were some situations and characters throughout the anime that were, well... inscrutable, and clearly deliberately so. That's fine right up until the inscrutability becomes indistinguishable from a "deus ex machina" and, well, that line was crossed. Would have been nice to have a few things explained a little better, rather than just have some rather odd and poorly explained people hopping in to save the day for no apparent reason.
All that said, the flaws were enough to take it from a 10 to a 9, but that's still high praise. It's one of those anime that makes you think, and one that after the anime is over, that you just kind of sit there and have to process it for a little bit. I had that same experience with some of the greats, like "Akebi's Sailor Uniform". If you can look past the shallow surface layers to the message beneath, you might find something meaty to chew on, and given the ascendency of anime about as shallow as most of the bishoujo games this anime was, on the surface, a love letter to, that's a rare thing indeed. Recommend from me.
denkisoda
This anime seemed ambitious. The first half is an elegy for the bygone golden age of galgames, while the latter half is a paean to human imagination and passion. If the creators chose to focus and deep dive on either one, this anime would likely have been a better show. For galgame enthusiasts, ep.1 is a nostalgic trip down memory lane, featuring names from the heyday of galgames: _Dokyusei_ (Elf), _Shizuku_ (Leaf), _Kanon_ (Key), _Rance_ (AliceSoft)...Aaaaaand the ending theme was composed by Shinji Orito from Key, with Lyrics by Kotoko (a pity that it wasn't sung by her!). As the main character, Akisato Konoha, time-traveled tothe past, the audience got a glimpse of how the galgame industry progressed. Even younger viewers would find this part quite fascinating (at least I did!): How illustrations were done with a scanner and mouse in the era before Photoshop and tablets? How to achieve rich shading and texture with very limited color palettes through dithering? How did game developers react when transitioning from PC-98 to Windows? It reminded me of _Shirobako_(2014), which similarly depicited tons of domain knowledge about anime production.
Unfortunately, portrayal of galgame industry remained on surface-level and of very small scope. The first half of the show focused extensively on Konoha's soliloquy and interpersonal relationships, which became quite repetitive. The latter part, starting from ep.7, obviously attempted to explore the possibilities of the time-travel premise. While the efforts were commendable, the story was quite messy with too many questions left unanswered. For this reason, two parts of anime felt disconnected, despite all the foreshadowings the creators tried to put in.
Imagine you work in a declining industry that you are very passionate about, and you had the chance to go back to its golden age - what would you do? Create your own project? Transform a company? Or change nothing and simply enjoy the industry's prosperity as an observer? I believe all these angles could have led to interesting and plausible stories. The key is to make one choice, and tell the one stories with all seriousness.
The anime has other shortcomings as well. Konoha wasn't an adorable character to begin with - she was really loud and had a sharp voice which I couldn't bear with. Her behavior was so unpolished, which didn't align with a 19 y/o character with work experience. Starting from ep.4, the animation quality began to falter, sometimes resulting in weird distortion. And of course, the most severe issue is the plot as I mentioned above. Overall, I felt the anime squandered an excellent opportunity to build a story around galgame industry.
candylov
I gave it a 10/10, but for most people it won't be a 10/10. I had a subjective reason to give it a 10/10, and that reason is that this anime strongly resonated with my passionate love for the culture of Akihabara. I've only been to Akihabara once in my life, but what's more important is that feeling of fascination and wonder about the unopened box of all the anime goods and shows out there that I haven't yet experienced. This feeling is what I call my "love for the culture of Akihabara." Unfortunately, this feeling has died over the years as the global culturehas changed. After more than a decade, the anime industry hasn't prospered and I would argue that it is stagnating and/or declining. (I have no statistics to back this argument; my only source is my observation of the content that the industry since created). The box has been opened and everyone knows what was inside it and only tries to create something similar to what was originally inside the box. This show is no different. It credits its imaginative sources to past works such as Steins; Gate. But the one thing this show did innovatively is the main character's love for Akihabara. To me - just to me - the show felt like a eulogy to the good times past. That's the one thing I really appreciate and love about this show, and the show itself was also very entertaining to me.
Now I will talk about the facts. The art and animation is rendered in a way that it doesn't feel like it was done by a horrible studio; it's totally watchable. The ED is a "soft banger" only if you watched the show and had something inside you resonate with it. The ED makes me feel nostalgic about the past which is what it should do considering the contents of the show. Konoha, the main character is really cute.
If the first paragraph I wrote piques your interest in any way, I recommend you to watch this show. Otherwise, this show will be like any other show out there for you. Thanks for reading my review, if you made it this far. I wonder if anybody else felt the same way about this show as I did.
tsukiakari2216
This anime is a love letter to all visual novel fans out there, bringing us to travel into the sight of the scene when they only started to grow. Without all these predecessors, we won't be able to see big names like Steins;Gate, CLANNAD, Fate/Stay Night and Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni grows into whatever it is today. Originally a doujin manga only focused on development of such games, the anime brought it a step further to expand the story to the current reality - where visual novel scenes are slowly declining with generic MILF NTR games is dominating and other either closed for good orsacrificed themself to the wave of gacha games, and a person named Akisato Konoha, frustrated with the reality tried to bring back the scene to its glory and by time-travel shenanigans, she was brought to where they started.
This is where all callbacks of otaku culture is being heavily summoned - positively or negatively, it tells us how was the otaku culture back in the 90s closely with close details and a lot of references are made. Truth be told, you might need to do some research if you want to get the maximum of its references, but once you know, you'll appreciate this anime of being so detailed on it and you'll learn to appreciate the culture even more.
The anime also brought us to alot of dilemmas of the scene - the technology transition between PC98 to Windows, the story of companies gambling themself just for profit, and even to adapt with everchanging sentiments of otaku culture. If we imagine ourself being on the eyes of Konoha, Mamoru and the rest of Alcohol Soft, you might want to question yourself that as a game developer.
The anime even goes as far as being meta, though my less-liked feature, but then it brought us with provoking question on how do we expect for a good visual novel - was it the story? Music? Art? It's all up to us to answer.
While I am not expecting visual novel scene will be back after this, at the very least, we still have time to appreciate this media before it would end up being a damned underground scene again.
KitsuFrost
16bit Sensation: Another Layer is a series that didn't lift much dust when it was being released. One of the reasons is the fact that it was among two highly awaited shows in Fall 2023: Sousou no Frieren and Kusuriya no Hitorigoto. Also, the manga wasn't famous enough to bring some mainstream hype. Which is a shame, since this series was one of my favorites from the season with all its good points and flaws. 16bit tells the story of Akisato Konoha, a 19 year old illustrator who works at Blue Bell - a game company that focus only on the trends of the market.Such thing brings Konoha a feeling of disappointment towards the industry. After the end of her working hour, she finds a game story on her way home; there, the young illustrator finds classic visual novels from the 90s and 00s such as Kanon by Key. While checking the works available in the store, she is suddenly sent to 1992 (21 years in the past). There, Konoha finds a visual novel company called Alcohol Soft – composed by members such as the programmer Rokuta Mamoru and the illustrators Shimoda Kaori and Uehara Meiko. Konoha works hard to show her drawing skills with the 16 colors available in that time and to be part of Alcohol Soft's crew.
Little by little, she learns about their interests in common and blend in with the community, making a friendship with Yamada Touya, a girl who shares the love for moe and bishoujo with Konoha.
This anime pays its good portion of homages to the visual novel industry, with references to works such as Sakura no Uta, Fate Series and many other milestones of the bishoujo and action genre. It's interesting how it all feels natural, partially due to its main location: the 90s Akihabara, with all its otaku culture in peak. The series also shows how the japanese market changed through time, and how the bisoujo genre lost its spotlight.
16bit is a love letter for the visual novel industry. Even though it goes a little off rails in the second half, it never ceases to be interesting and enjoyable. The plot keeps going, with a charismatic cast and a passion for the media it is inspired on. It might be rushed sometimes but it tackles its themes well. Visually, the series makes use of bright colors and vintage filters, the main female characters are fitting to the bishoujo concept. The sound consists of songs with a happy atmosphere, with a special mention to the opening. The BGM's take inspiration in novel soundtracks, with a high similarity.
All in all, 16bit is a show that is worth watching. Especially if the novels theme is part of the reader's interest. It's one of the few works that represent and pay an homage to the industry, which has lost some of the influence it had but never ceased to show its true magic to the ones who love the media.
MarlsMarsBars
This anime has me conflicted. 16bit Sensation: Another Layer is a series that revolves around making bishoujo games but with a twist: the main character, Konoha, time travels to the past to fulfill her dreams of making the video games that she loves. I actually was really invested in this anime at first since despite the time travel gig, this was seemingly a chill show about developing video games. However, as the season went on, the story spiraled so out of control that it eventually lost me. Although the aspect of time travel was still part of this show, it played a semi-important role inthe story since whenever Konoha travels back to the past, the show primarily focuses on the events happening at that time, with the small sci-fi elements of Konoha’s time jumping being secondary to the actual development of the games they’re making. Despite this, around halfway through the show, the story starts introducing stuff like AI, espionage, and some other thriller-esque elements, and at that point, I had completely no idea what I was watching. The anime eventually circles back to the central ideas of this series in the finale and we get some great character moments from Konoha and one of the biggest side characters in the series, Mamoru. I like the dynamic between these two and I like how their relationship progresses throughout the season. Again, I’m a bit polarized by 16bit Sensation: Another Layer since there are a lot of interesting ideas in this show, and I do like the backdrop of Akihabara throughout the years as things change whenever Konoha time travels, as well as the focus on the cultural impact on video games. However, the second half could have been a little bit more concise and focused since there was so much going on it was hard for me to stay invested in the anime, but the show does have a conclusion that at least left me satisfied.
Marinate1016
16 Bit sensation is really a love letter to the visual novel medium, and otaku subculture as a whole. It’s got one of the most loveable MCs of the year, an interesting time travel mechanic, cool historical lessons about game development and is an all around fun time. One of the most underrated shows of the year. We often hear people talk about video games being creatively bankrupt and not innovating these days. Some of that is exaggerated, but there’s also a little bit of truth in that. Companies prioritising profits over creativity and being afraid to try new things. Instead opting for more generic andsafe options. 16 bit sensation explores the gradual decline of the visual novel industry and Akihabara in general.
What really stood out to me about this show from the first episode was the amount of real life references in this one. In just the first episode, we see Madoka Magica, Lycoreco, SAO, Fate Grand Order and many other Aniplex titles. At some points it feels like a glorified ad, but at the same time, it enhanced my immersion because this world feels plausible. When we see Konoha going to work her dead end game developing job, where she’s not allowed to innovate or really push herself because the company just wants a cookie cutter eroge… it feels real.
The other thing that stood out as unique to me is the time travel mechanic. James Cameron’s terminator is hailed as one of the best examples of time travel of all time, and I love seeing shows like this follow in its footsteps. Time is not linear, changing the past doesn’t just change the past, but also the future. Throughout the show, after time travelling to the past, Konoha realises that what she does in the past also affects her current reality and having to balance her role as an employee at alcosoft back in the day, with not wanting to damage the future made for some cool tension and stakes. The way in which she time travels is also somewhat unique
Of course, as I said earlier on this does feel like it was made as a love letter to otaku culture as a whole. There’s so many references and otaku cultural tidbits throughout the show. From talking about real cult classic visual novels and games, to real events to understanding the thought process behind bishoujo games. While otaku culture is arguably doing better than ever irl thanks to the mainstream nature of anime these days, it is true that Akihabara has been declining since the 90s and is mainly a tourist trap these days. So seeing a show cover something that’s actually going on right now was interesting. Of course it’s done in an over the top anime-y way, but you can genuinely learn quite a bit from this show.
I for one had no idea about the complexities of Visual Novel production. I came out of this series with a newfound appreciation and respect for everyone involved in that process. From writing scripts, to recording character’s lines, to hand drawing every CG, these games are really works of pure passion and I think the series does a great job of capturing that. This whole subculture would not be possible without people like Konoha who want to help people express themselves through art. A lesson modern developers could stand to learn.
Interesting premise aside, the show also looks amazing. It has a nostalgic sort of art style and character design to it. Konoha, voiced by Koga Aoi is without a doubt one of the cutest girls this year, and a very fun main character. The side characters are awesome as well, bringing a lot of funny moments and personality to the creative process and story as a whole.
The only negative I’d have about the series as a whole, is they introduced kind of a weird plot point at the end with AI that I thought was a little shoehorned. But other than that, the series is a fun ride and one of the more underrated shows of the year. I’d actually put it in the top 10. Worth a watch.
16 bit sensation gets 8 floppy discs out of 10.
PRIZER
Nominally a love letter to bishoujo games, 16bit Sensation is actually about the importance of having passionate interests and using them to indulge your imagination. With her singleminded focus on creating a great bishoujo game, Konoha, the heroine, annoying voice aside, is one the most relatable otaku ever to grace an anime. Her foil and co-conspirator, Mamoru, who initially dislikes Konoha, slowly comes around over the course of the series because of his own passion for the long-since-discontinued PC-98. With colorful and frankly beautiful character animation (Konoha’s faces alone are worth the price of admission) the story leans into what anime does best: be crazy and over-the-top. Asthe series proceeds, interspersed with interesting lessons in how games were made a quarter century ago, there’s time travel, aliens, and corporate conspiracies.
Does it all work? Absolutely not!
But that’s a big part of its great charm! The people behind 16bit Sensation seem to really love the whole idea of creativity, in particular as it relates to games, but more than that, as the off-the-wall alien episode illustrates.
Konoha and Mamoru bond over the course of the series less out of any romantic feelings (though I can’t rule out that’s implied, too) than over the fact that both feel so ardent about their respective interests - and the fact that they share the desire that others learn to love the things they feel passionate about, as well.
While the show’s reach sometimes exceeds its grasp, I personally feel it’s just a pure joy when anime cranks out a show like this. One that may be a bit short on commercial appeal, but is just filled to the brim with the kind of over-the-top nuttiness and enthusiasm that makes wading through a thousand isekais worth it.
Rian_Rahmat
For the first episode, I quite liked this anime, although basically I was a little disappointed because I thought this was an anime with a male MC. But that's not a big problem, because I can still enjoy this anime throughout the episodes. I praise the design and workmanship of this anime, it has good graphic quality and beautiful characters, it is very pleasing to look at. But unfortunately I can't recommend this anime, because towards the end I had several questions about the storyline. First things, who is Echo? In the anime I didn't get much information about them, even when one of the male characters experienced TimeTravel there was no explanation. What exists only tells about human imagination, so who are they?
Their arrival at the final episode is also very mysterious, are they Aliens? God? Time traveller? I didn't know until now, Maybe some of you can tell us their real identities.
Second thing, this anime doesn't reflect its title, which says "16bit Sensation" but what I saw wasn't like that, This anime focuses more on making games rather than experiencing the sensations of ancient times.
SanaeK10
On the face of it, 16bit is a loose adaptation of a doujin manga from Wakaki of TWGOK that was originally about making bishoujo-ge in the 90s with the anime adaptation having a time travel element to I guess ease viewers into the world. In the middle of it all, suddenly you get aliens and the whole thing starts becoming fully anime original and pretty batshit crazy without much of a satisfying resolution. Still, despite this, I still enjoyed the show quite a lot. I enjoy VNs a lot and have fond memories of Akiba from the past, and seeing that kind of passion translate sowell is heartwarming in a sense, with some shade thrown around low effort AI art to boot, always a way to my heart. Mamoru-kun's infatuation with PC98 is hilarious and yet so empathetic at the same time. As someone with a niche and dying hobby (i.e. real VNs that aren't gated by gachashit mechanics), I can relate to his plight and obsession.
And it is a very bittersweet show when you think about it. We've seen quite a few nostalgic otaku-oriented shows this year, and I think 16bit hits the nail on the head when it comes to capturing that bittersweet feeling of a time long gone. Dejiko is no longer there welcoming people into Akiba, and the streets are all almost completely plastered with exploitative shallow gacha games with stories that have no end to them, an insult to the bishoujo-ge that inspired them in the first place.
We may never see a return to the era so cherished by Konoha, the economics and competition no longer make producing them on a scale circa the 90s and 00s any viable, but perhaps the real desire to create something truly remarkable is inside yourself, and that other people out there, wherever they are, alien or not, are still also passionate fans of bishoujo-ge too, and maybe someone somewhere will make another bishoujo-ge that will capture our hearts once more.
Smilomaniac
The premise of the show is interesting, there are ideas here that mirror things like 'Pet girl of Sakurasou' and 'Remake our life' with the promise of turning a monotonous life without dreams into one where you get a do-over, work hard and achieve meaning, just with a lighter twist. Early on the show is about time leaping and what a 2023 illustrator can take with her and do 20-30 years earlier in a nostalgia trip to the visual novels and gal/bishojo games of old, but then it takes a step to the side, then diagonally across and goes a step down where it messes withmultiple leaps and the cause of those leaps in a seinen-lite genre swap.
They could've just left it unexplained, they could've gone all in on the nostalgia and game-making, but then it had to do weird non-episodal plots (embezzlement, gotta save the company, inspiring a person to become a developer themselves and more) and start mixing in near-futuristic ideas of what AI will mean to creativity... they're trying to give you an overall point about imagination but it falls flat because their own imagination is a confusing mess and the dialogue really starts dragging as every minor point is being over-exposed and dramatized without really resolving anything, usually just ending in the protagonist getting to grips with the situation so others can fix the issue.
You want them to just stop talking and move the story along, even though the pacing isn't slow at all, but it FEELS like it's taking ages and sadly we're left with almost nothing resolved in a 'huh' ending where you're wondering what the point of it all was, but you're also not interested enough to really care.
A large part of this is due to our protagonist Konoha, who bounces between insecurity and a go-getter attitude.
In a shocking display of range (or sound editing) Koga Aoi (Kaguya, Komi) chirps on in a voice so high pitched that your neighbor's dogs will start barking and she speaks so fast that you're wondering if she's actually speaking Japanese or just rattling off random syllables. And the pitch stays nearly the same throughout...
Point being she's mildly annoying to listen to and her dialogue is not great. You want to cheer her on and see her develop, but she seemingly doesn't learn anything and stays mildly self-centered albeit chipper and somewhat positive. Maybe if she'd lost an arm or a leg she'd be entitled to complain so much and frankly it'd make for a more endearing character (an illustrator missing an arm? Now there's a character idea..!).
16bit Sensation is one of those shows that could've been something special, but along the way someone stopped herding the cats/creatives and production just kind of gave up on delivering a cohesive story, which is probably why it's an odd 13 episodes and why the show sometimes feels a little rushed.
Turns out the real message of the show is that sometimes projects don't pan out, no matter how much passion you have for it. Maybe that was the intention all along.
Unless you want a bit of reminiscing and an expect-nothing experience just to see some fun ideas being bandied about, maybe give this a miss and spend your time more wisely. A score of 5 for egregiously missed potential.
Hey if you haven't, go watch 'Pet Girl of Sakurasou' instead, that one's a beloved 2012/13 classic that holds up just fine. In the same vein you also have 'Remake our life' and 'How to raise a boring girlfriend', albeit both having more cliché romance.
Hanayaka
You are in for a ride. Starts off pretty casual but later on it turns into a rainbow blueberry cake... You may ask what that is but tbh I don't even know you have to experience it to figure out. By any means it's not exceptional in story or art or sound but just cozy and crazy. Art style was acceptable and the characters were pretty hard core nothing too elaborative but yeah, mc can be a little bit on the annoying side but that's just eehhhh. Reactions of the characters were as expected so nothing problematic. It's a easy watch, basically if you like random things you might likeit.
That's it folks.
Hiiroyuki_Kazuki
As a person who watched a lot of anime since 2010s and play a lot of games and also want to make true games, I really like this anime. I think people like me, or people want to understand more about moe culture in the past will like this anime as well. The two main characters are really cute couple, though the anime does not focus on romance, people enjoy romance can surely enjoy this anime as well since the anime have some minimum hints at the end. Even it seems like only Konoha is protagonist, but actually both Konoha and Mamoru are protagonists, it's just Konohatakes story lead role, so even people who like male character protagonist like me can still enjoy the anime.
Plot twists in this anime are just sub-element, they do affect the anime's pace so people might feel difficult to adapts right away, but it changes nothing the meaning of the anime so if you let it aside, this anime will be a good run for you.
six20
16bit Sensation: Another Layer was disappointing. The idea of a show being a tribute to an early part of the anime subculture, the early 80-90s doujin games is a good premise. However when it was executed, it felt weak. It is not worth watching. Animation wise, the show is fine. Konoha looks cute, Mamoru is quite handsome. The other characters are easy on the eyes and the show is fine on that regard. Character wise, the show is also fine. Konoha does love games of the era she is supposed to enjoy. Her passion is infectious and game development team as a whole feel warm and dysfunctionalyet competent enough to pass as something I would expect to see of an indie studio.
The soundtrack is okay, I definitely like Link ~past and future~. The rest of the soundtrack is okay and does its job fine. Nothing stood out as bad soundtrack per-say.
Storywise, this show fails on the last 4 episodes completely. The whole future being an incredibly bad butterfly scenario that has no rational reason, both using the show's logic and applying standard real life logic. This show is grounded somewhat in reality and the fact the villain is what it is kills suspension of disbelief very quickly. The rest of the show was just disappointing. I expected the show to go a lot more into game development not just have passion, dithering and voila you too can create your own "Clannad VN" or something. I admit my knowledge of 80-90s VN is bad, but I expected to learn a lot more from this show. I get that art is important to VN but shouldn't the routing have a lot more focus? It just feels like a generic create creative works series but the premise seemed to promise more.
Overall, objectively, this show is fine. It looks nice, the characters match what the show is supposed to get at and a soundtrack is good. However, I wanted more, because a show that should be a passion project considering the creator of the show was from that era should have showed off more of their trade to create those games from that era.
wachinayn
An anime that I approached because it promised to be the 'Shirobako' of Visual Novel creation in the 90s, but it ended up being much more. It offers numerous nods, tremendous plot twists, a time-travel plot (inevitable given games like YU-NO or Steins;Gate), and surprisingly deep reflections on the nature of game development (or any other creative product). Additionally, it feels as if the scriptwriter knows perfectly well all the questions the viewer is asking and proceeds to answer them, but always in unexpected ways. A tremendously fun series to follow, leaving you eager to see what will happen in the next episode, and itis much more enjoyable if you take the time to develop your own theories about what will happen. I give it a 9 because, on top of everything, it deals with a topic I'm passionate about, but even if that weren't the case, it wouldn't deserve less than an 8.
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Un anime al que me acerqué porque prometía sea el Shirobako de la creación de Visual Novels en los años 90, pero que ha acabado resultando ser mucho más. Ofrece numerosos guiños, tremendos giros de guion, una trama de viajes en el tiempo (inescapable existiendo juegos como YU-NO o Steins;Gate) y reflexiones más profundas de lo que inicialmente podría parecer sobre la naturaleza del desarrollo de videojuegos (o de cualquier otro producto creativo). Además, parece como si el guionista supiera a la perfección todas las preguntas que se está haciendo el espectador, pues procede a responderlas, pero siempre de forma inesperada. Una serie tremendamente divertida de seguir, que te deja con ganas de ver lo que va a suceder en el siguiente episodio y que se disfruta mucho más si uno se toma el tiempo de montarse sus propias teorías sobre lo que va a suceder. Le pongo un 9 porque, además, trata sobre un tema que me apasiona pero, incluso si no fuera el caso, no merecería menos de un 8.
