Who Says Social and Work-Life Aren’t Compatible? Love After World Domination First Impressions.
Love After World Domination is an adaptation of a manga mixing comedy, romance, and action that parodies the science fiction fantasy works from Tatsunoko Productions of the 1970s, particularly Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, Yatterman, and the Super Sentai series. It shares some similarities with Power Rangers, too; however, the customs and the cast tell a different story when you compare them, ending up only with minimal similarities, which helps differentiate it from last season’s Miss Kuroitsu from the Monster Development Department.
This anime exploits a gimmick that has been used before by Power Rangers: In Space (an episode called “A Date With Danger”) and Power Rangers: Time Force (an episode called “Nadira’s Dream Date”), so it immediately grabbed my attention to see how it develops the concept.
In the eyes of the public, Fudou Aikawa a.k.a. Red “Strawberry” Gelato is the leader of a hero squadron called Freezing Sentai Gelato 5, whose mission is to preserve world peace. On the other hand, Desumi Magahara is a minion leader of Secret Society Gecko, a villainous organization that has burnt half of the world and is planning to burn the rest in pursuit of total domination. Fudou and Desumi are enemies who have nothing in common. However, despite these differences, their relationship is not quite what it seems: both fell in love with each other although they are supposed to be enemies. When they are not making a show of being at each other’s throats, Desumi and Fudou continue to pursue a forbidden love. Even though neither have any experience with romance, they begin dating in secret, trying to hide their relationship from their respective organizations. Going on dates, baking sweets for one another, and meeting up as often as they can despite their hectic schedules, the two inexperienced lovebirds pave the way for their unique relationship. Though their public lives are worlds apart, Fudou and Desumi will stop at nothing to make their seemingly impossible romance work.
Fudo is a disciplined bodybuilder, an earnest person, and a stoic hero focused on Gelato’s mission, while Desumi is a cute, skilled girl, and both have a lot to learn from each other while trying to develop their relationship. Their interactions are priceless as a funny manual about dating or getting to know people better.
The rest of the cast has interesting qualities. The narrator speaks in a hilariously silly, exaggerated, and loud way like in any 80’s heroes show. Professor Big Gelato, the commander of the Gelato 5, is a hot-blooded and oblivious substitute father figure that works brilliantly as a parody of Dr. Kozaburo Nambu from Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. Blue “(Bubblegum) Soda” Gelato Hayato Ōjino, is a handsome but compulsively persistent wannabe player, Yellow “Lemon” Gelato Misaki Jingūji is the eye candy, mood maker, and dependable older sister, Green “Pistachio” Gelato Daigo Todoroki is the reserved distant lone wolf, and Pink “Peach” Gelato Haru Arisugawa is a brilliant, energetic, active rookie with a specific goal to motivate herself.
The power-pop opening song, labeled by Spotify as Amateur Vocaloid, “Love is an Explosion” by singers Masayoshi Oishi and Yukari Tamura gives us a powerful duo combo with an exotic retro vibe and a memorable infectious chorus. Meanwhile the dreamy pop ending song “Love with the World Theorem” by idol group Dialogue+ is as energetic and catchy. Furthermore, both are worth praising for how greatly their lyrics fit into the theme developed by the anime.
The animation is fluid and detailed and does not rely on static images. The art style of the anime is very close to the drawings of the manga but also provides nice backgrounds with proficient illumination, shades, textures, and contrasts, as well as video and audio special effects that are always on key. This makes it a completely pleasant experience for the viewer, although a few scenes are noticeably lower quality. The anime provides original content that works as a positive distinction when compared with the manga because it provides context to the plot and additional gags.
It is a different coat of paint for the story of Romeo and Juliet, not meant to exploit the classic good versus evil plot found in most shonen anime. Instead, it provides commentary on how people taking sides in a pointless argument are as stiff as comic book villains trying to follow an agenda to conquer the world. Although the idea that villains and heroes do their activities as a full-time job is nothing new, our brave couple uses it brilliantly as an excuse to see each other while being oblivious about the fact that they could see each other outside the competitive dynamic of their line of work provides. Also, the relationship between Fudo and Desumi works as a catalyst to eliminate any bias derived from the roles both need to comply with during their usual activities to act beyond appearances and arrive at a different conclusion altogether. The result of this decision will affect everyone around them in more than one way and the results will not be as black and white as a Super Sentai series would usually portray.
Therefore, my suggestion is to watch it until the end. It is a work for anyone who likes romantic comedies with ridiculous gimmicks, not only Super Sentai or Power Rangers fans. I even highly suggest you continue the journey after the first season ends by checking out the manga. It has more to offer including puns and references about Power Rangers in the English translation. I give this show 5 Zenkaizer poses out of 5.
Title: Love After World Domination (恋は世界征服のあとで)
Based on: A manga series by Hiroshi Noda and illustrated by Takahiro Wakamatsu.
Produced by: Project No 9.
Streaming on: Crunchyroll.
Episodes Watched: 1–3
This article is a part of AniTAY’s Spring 2022 Early Impressions series, where our authors offer their initial thoughts on the new, prominent, and exciting anime from this season!
