How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift? Series Review: SIDE MUSCLE!

Series Positives

It’s strange.

I can’t remember the last time – if there ever was one – when I came across a series like How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift (Dumbbell). This series was fun. It caught me off guard, it got me laughing, and I wouldn’t be telling the truth if I said I didn’t enjoy myself.

However, Dumbbell could be equally slow, irritating, and downright dull. As the show went on, I could feel myself losing interest, and it was difficult to pay attention to what was going on near the end. Nevertheless, Dumbbell had a special knack at regaining my interest, which to that I’m obliged to consider:

Maybe this isn’t the type of series meant to be marathoned. Perhaps watching this show in short bursts would have been better. If you did as such, please let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

Dumbbell’s greatest strength was its stupidly high energy. This series was big, silly, and it could go completely off the walls. Adding to that, now and then, this show was exceedingly clever with its unexpectedness. It was usually impossible to predict what was going to happen next, which made it all the funnier when a well-placed curveball hit its mark. To put it another way, Dumbbell would speed up to a million miles an hour, knowing exactly where it was heading.

Helping this series be like a bat out of hell, but still preventing it from going off the rails was its characters. Everyone in this show was loud, aggressive, and odd (to use a bit of a loaded word). There was Hibiki Sakura, who was trapped between her vanity and her laziness. Akemi Souryuuin had her near debilitating muscle fetish. Naruzou Machio was the obsessive bodybuilder who rarely thought of anything aside from bulking up. I could keep going, but I think you have the idea.

Aside from its energy, if there was something Dumbbell had in abundance, it was personality. More importantly, though, this series had consistent personality. Regardless of the situation, you could expect characters to act and behave in specific ways. Although I understand it if you think I have just contradicted myself on what I said about this series’ unexpectedness, please know that the consistency in this show was what was unexpected.

Every character had some tick that would appear without warning. One of my favorites was Hibiki’s superhuman strength. I’m not talking about the sort of strength needed to lift weights. In that respect, Hibiki wasn’t anything unique. Contrary to that, though, she had an immensely powerful punch, and she could even give the hulk that was Machio a workout in an arm-wrestling match. There weren’t many opportunities for Hibiki’s talent to surface, so when it did, it was a hilarious shock.

Lastly, for this section, I wouldn’t be able to say I did my most thorough review of this series if I didn’t comment on its use of fanservice. For starters, Dumbbell was never shy from showing some skin, so know that before you begin. That being as it is, what surprised me was how well this series implemented its fanservice, for it was the joke rather than the point. Dumbbell used the excuse of explaining proper form when doing various exercises to do whatever the hell it wanted. On top of that, this show was fully aware of what it was doing, for these segments were not subtle.

So, if you’re wondering how fanservice can work in a show’s favor and not be a frivolous distraction, look to Dumbbell. Of course, that isn’t to say this series didn’t have its fair share of distractions.

Series Negatives

I feel it is necessary to repeat myself. I had a lot of fun with this show, and yet, some moments nearly put me to sleep. In terms of the latter, the unfortunate fact of the matter is, Dumbbell’s dullest segments were also its most prominent.

For the record, I do like the idea this series had of explaining how different exercise methods and equipment were done correctly. I also thought this show was on to something by giving out useful workout advice and dispelling falsehoods many people have about the best way to get in shape. Plus, I am not going to sit here and say I won’t try to implement some of the techniques I saw.

This is, of course, working under the assumption that the tips Dumbbell was giving were truthful and accurate. If they weren’t, then this show just wasted time for no reason, and I would be much less forgiving.

Taking all that into consideration, what exactly am I talking about?

Dumbbell’s most reoccurring segment was when one of the characters, usually Machio, would explain what workout everyone was about to perform. At first, this was a nice novelty. However, even in those earlier instances, I saw problems.

In the Series Positives section, I said this show had energy. Although that is true, it is only a partial truth. The energy I found to be fun and enjoyable was when Dumbbell was letting its silliness happen, and there wasn’t much commentary. During the workout tutorials, though, this series would do a very Japanese form of comedic analysis where the characters were aware that a bit was occurring.

Quickly, these exercise segments seemed to turn this series into a legitimate, albeit corny/oddly sexual, workout program. And they lasted a long time, utterly destroying the flow of whatever was going on in the main story.

Nothing of importance occurred during these moments, so it was easy to accidentally check out for about five minutes. Maybe it is just me, but if you can skip vast chunks of a show and still follow what is happening, that is an issue. It means that a series is filled with irrelevant filler content, and that is simply no fun.

Fortunately, as I said earlier, Dumbbell was always able to grab back my attention when it needed it to be there. So, on the plus side, each filler segment was in between actual substance.