Tag: heavy fanservice

Girl’s High (Joshikousei)

(12 episodes, 2006)

My previous exposure

It was mentioned in passing in a recent ANN column as “the anti-MariMite”. Okay, bring it on.

What’s it about ?

It’s a slice-of-life show featuring six girls attending a girls-only high-school. The high concept is that they’re crude and make tons of sex-related jokes (despite most of them having no experience whatsoever, obviously).

The plots alternate between standard slice-of-life fare (the sports and culture festivals), some more risqué material (the love hotel episode) and more character-focused drama.

What did I think of it ?

This is a very decent show struggling under the weight of very pervasive and immersion-breaking fanservice. The pervert camera is on full-on mode here, oggling the girls and never missing an opportunity for a panty shot. This is more than a bit annoying, especially considering how the ED sequence manages to show the main cast sexing it up while still remaining tasteful (and looking like potato sacks teenagers). Fortunately, the fanservice does get a bit lighter later on, with a couple of episodes even having no panty in sight whatsoever.

Similarly, the gross-out sexual jokes of the initial episode quickly get phased out in favour of character-based humour… with some dashes of utterly random slapstick (such as drama queen Kouda’s instant bizarre cosplay shtick) and various parodies. It also gets sometimes into some weightier subjects (bullying, a rape attempt…) that get dealt with an appropriate mix of seriousness and levity.

Once you get past the adolescent pubic hair jokes and exaggerated personalities, there’s something surprisingly genuine about those girls’ portrayal. The series is at its best when it lets them act like actual teenagers. I especially liked the flashback to Himeji’s eating disorder, which is treated as a joke throughout, but still looks very real.

Thus this is something of a mixed bag : a fun little gag series burried under tons of creepy fanservice. But hey, at least it cheered me up.

via [LTTP/WIW] Various anime from the 00s and beyond – Page 13.

So, I can’t play H! (Dakara Boku wa, H ga Dekinai.)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Magical girlfriend show.

Characters

Ryousuke, our male lead, is a complete pervert with an unfortunate tendency to utter his creepy inner monologue out loud. There’s nothing likeable whatsoever about him.

Mina, his doormat gentle childhood friend. I have no clue why she puts up with him, although it seems clear she’s not too bright or perceptive.

Lisara, a Grim Reaper who suddenly shows up on his doorstep, and nearly immediately stabs him to forge a bond and steal his energy to sustain herself in the mortal world. Not that she considers her as more than below average, but he was the closest dude available. The twist here is that he gains the more energy the more aroused he is, and she gets it too from their link. It helps, because they’re immediately attacked by some sort of tentacled monstrosity.

Production Values

Holy fanservice, Batman ! Never mind the pervert camera (which makes sense considering our protagonist),but Lisara spends most of the episode in some state of undress (including a long gratuitous shower scene), culminating in the reveal that her battle outfit is powered by her own energy, and thus starts to dissolve once the tentacle thing gets the upper hand. Naked boobies ahoy !

Overall Impression

Urgh. I hate every single character in this show, the long running joke about Ryousuke seeing Lisara’s bush gets tired as soon as it starts, and I still have no clue how the title relates to the plot. There’s just nothing entertaining in here.

Avoid.

via [In which I review] New anime, Summer 2012 – Page 11.

Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero (Hagure Yuusha no Estetica)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Magical battles with tons of fanservice.

Characters

Akatsuki, our protagonist. He’s just escaped from a fantasy parallel world where he became a magic-wielding badass ; like all the people who came back, he’s automatically enrolled in an academy supposed to keep them under supervision.

Myuu, daughter of the Demonlord, and prophetized to wreak havoc later on. So of course our hero smuggles her (in a bag, naked) into our world and disguises her as his sister.

The student council president shows up, just to prove he’s an arrogant jerk who can hold his own in magical battles.

It’s heavily implied that the academy is way more sinister than it claims. It’s ruled by an Omniscient Council of Vagueness Shrouded in Shadows (the screen is so dark you can’t see anything !), some of whom sound a lot like the battle maids that were trying to stop our hero from leaving Fantasyland.

Production Values

Hello, fanservice ! (There’s little else to say.)

Overall Impression

Hum. There’s the glimmer of an interesting idea here, but the high fanservice level, heavy-handed exposition and murky pacing don’t make me very confident this show can achieve its potential. The male lead has some charisma, but that’s about it.

I’ll be passing on this one.

via [In which I review] New anime, Summer 2012 – Page 11.

Upotte

(10 episodes)

What’s it about ?

The unholy combination of gunporn and lolicon.

Characters

FNC, aka Funko. She’s an assault rifle that looks and acts like a middle-schooler. (Well, the completely reality-detached fetishization of middle-schoolers you find in lolicon, anyway.) I have a hard time even making sense of this : there’s a permanent association between her body-parts elements of the rifle (guess which part’s the trigger ?), but then she’s shown holding her namesake when firing.

And there’s a whole school of them ! Which includes most of the teachers. But only the girls, I have no clue what the boys are even doing there. Anyway, most of their characterization revolves around stereotypes about which country manufactures their namesake gun (and/or characteristics of the guns), in a way that makes Axis Powers Hetalia look sensitive and subtle. I gave up on keeping track of them when they gave the American a Kansai accent for no good reason… and pointed it out in dialogue quickly. (This series loves breaking the fourth wall. It doesn’t make it funny or endearing, it’s just bloody annoying.)

There’s also a new transfer teacher, and he’s as confused by the whole thing as us. The series never gets around to giving him any name beyond “Sensei”, which seems to be meant as a running gag. Funko sends him to the hospital on his first day after he blurts out he’s seen her wearing a thong and OH DEAR GODS MAKE IT STOP

Production Values

Dire. I presume keeping Sensei’s face obscured for most of the episode is a stylistic choice, although it’s hard to tell when the direction goes out of its way to have whoever’s talking off-screen or shot from behind to skim on the animation budget.

Thankfully we don’t actually see Funko’s thong. The fanservice level keeps to longing shot of the cameras on middle-schoolers’ legs, and copious amounts of clothed breast-groping.

Overall Impression

I was wondering whether we’d been spared any truly dire series this season. Sure, Shiba Inuko-san, ZETMAN and Sengoku Collection are crap, and I’ve skipped the latest Queen’s Blade season, but those are at least somewhat watchable.

But this is utterly sanity-destroying stuff. I alternated racking my brain in an effort to make sense of the utterly incomprehensible premise… and getting assaulted by the sudden ramping up of the lolicon angle. Whatever you think of the bizarre gun metaphor, there’s no obscuring of the fact that Funko spends half the episode aroused at the thought of Sensei touching her.

Also, it’s a comedy show that isn’t funny in the slightest. And it looks terrible. And nobody’s got any personality. There’s no redeeming value to this whatsoever.

Avoid like the plague. I watched this so you didn’t have to.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2012 – Page 7.

Medaka Box

What’s it about ?

A super-ultra-awesome new student council president goes around “helping” people all over campus.

Characters

Medaka, the new student council president. She’s hyper-competent at everything. Since she wants to go around helping everyone, she’s set up a suggestion box. Hence the title.

Zenkichi, our point-of-view character, and Medaka’s childhood friend. He spends the whole episode ranting incoherently about her behaviour while she leads him around. You’ve guessed it, they’re a couple of tsundere in the now classic Kyon/Haruhi mold… except Kyon had charisma and a point.

Shiranui, a bizarre small girl who knows everything about everyone and is just plain weird. She’s the only character who’s actually fun to watch.

Production Values

You might have been interested in this show because GAINAX did it. But the Nadia/Evangelion/FLCL people are long gone. And the TTGL/Panty&Stocking crew just left too. So that leaves us… the director of He Is My Master.

And no budget whatsoever, from the look of it : this looks like crap.

Overall Impression

Oh, dear. This just doesn’t work. The dialogue is clunky (did NisiOisiN really contribute to the original manga ? Was he phoning it in, or is this adaptation just terrible ?), the jokes tired, and the lead characters annoying.

I’m giving it a second episode on the hope that some new supporting cast might improve matters (or at least make Zenkichi shut up a bit), but I’m not hopeful.

A big problem is that, despite her awesomeness, Medaka somehow manages to be bland. Her “I don’t care about being awesome, I just want to help everybody” philosophy isn’t particularly enthralling either, mostly because the show wants it to be a grand reveal despite being perfectly obvious from the start. (And the flower thing is just silly in its clumsiness. Or maybe it’s just the clunky dialogue bringing the whole scene down.)

But the most problematic part of the show is Zenkichi, the Kyon wannabe. Yes, Medaka is completely unlike Haruhi because she doesn’t abuse him and is perfectly open about why she keeps him around. She’s no tsundere, whatever he claims. THAT’s what makes his attitude so annoying. It feels to me that the only reason he’s so hostile in this first episode is to provide artificial conflict, which is just poor writing all around. He’s been around her since childhood, he shouldn’t need a grand reveal about her outlook in life at this point.

Also, the show spends far too much time on him telling us how awesome she is, instead of, you know, showing us her being awesome (which are the moments that do work).

I’ve heard that the manga gets way better down the line, after a genre change or two. Then, they really should have skipped those terrible first few dozen chapters (or skipped through them, only including the actually relevant parts for the future). Because at this rate, it’s hard to imagine this anime adaptation even getting to the good parts…

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2012 – Page 5.

Lupin the IIIrd – The Woman called Fujiko Mine

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

The Lupin the IIIrd franchise has been around for decades (that’s where Miyazaki himself got his start), cranking out at least a new TV-movie a year ; this is the first new TV series in quite a while though.

Don’t let that history intimidate you, though ; not only is the franchise continuity-light to begin with, but this series goes back to basics, with the first meeting of Lupin the IIIrd & Fujiko.

Characters

Lupin the IIIrd, grandson of the original gentleman-thief. A thief himself, and so good at it that he’s getting a bit bored, to be honest. He’s now at the point where he’s warning the cops beforehand, because that’s more fun.

Fujiko Mine, Lupin’s sexy new rival. They collide on the same score, and it’s slightly irritated fascination at first sight.

Inspector Zenigata, the tireless policeman always on Lupin’s tail. This series makes a noble try at giving him some credibility, mostly by giving him a whiny sidekick (voiced by Yuki Kaji, of course ! Though he’s less annoying than usual, at least…) so that he’ll look better.

The score of the week involves a depraved cult leader trafficking rare narcotics on their private island… Oh, who cares, it’s just a backdrop for the Lupin/Fujiko interplay and an excuse for elaborate set pieces anyway.

Production Values

This clearly makes a bid for the best-looking show of the season. It’s got an impressive budget for the action set pieces, and a rough, artsy style that makes nearly every shot interesting to look at.

A word of warning : this is a sexy series, and Fujiko regularly gets topless and/or nearly naked over the course of the episode.

I really hope that ain’t the regular OP, because that pretentious voiceover sounds like it’s going to get annoying very quickly.

Overall Impression

Pretty !

But there’s something more beyond the mere dazzle. This is a series with a point to make : Fujiko uses her body as a weapon on every possible occasion, however degrading that may be ; and the OP monologue unsubtly points out she may well be a masochist, addicted to that thrill. I’m not quite sure whether this show is arguing it makes her inferior to Lupin (he outclasses her nearly every step on the way, mostly thanks to his “I can do offscreen whatever the plot needs me to” powers).

Still, they’ve got chemistry, the show is gorgeous, and heist anime are rare enough for me not to be picky. I’m in.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2012 – Page 5.

Aquarion Evol

(1st episode is a 42-minute special)

What’s it about ?

In the future, Earth (?) is under assault from interdimensional kidnappers in giant mecha. In response, the authorities have set up their own mecha response forces, segregated by gender. Also, a good number of people seem to possess random superpowers.

Characters

Amata, our protagonist, projectionist at the local theater. (Business isn’t great, what with people staying at home to avoid the random mass kidnappings.) He’s a fanboy of a very cheesy 10-year-old movie he keeps projecting… and he sounds like he knows the main actress personnally. His superpower is that he starts flying whenever he gets excited (he weighs his shoes down with lead to avoid the embarrassment).

Mikono, our female lead. Amata finds her crying during his favourite movie’s projection, and it’s tepid romance at first sight. She spends most of her screentime either panicked or crying.

Cayenne (prophetic visions of DOOM) and Zessica (some sort of force attacks ?) are regular pilot of the mecha defense forces trying to fend off yet another attack… until Amata suddenly flies himself and Mikono into another mecha, and forces all of them to unite into a giant flying combining mecha ; despite the confusion they all manage to stall the attackers enough to send them retreating.

Nobody seems to have much of a clue why this happened, aside from the top general of the defense forces (who repeatedly refuses to provide any exposition for the benefit of his colleagues), and a dude with an eyepatch who gets to spout vague nonsense in random locations without any indication of who the heck he is.

Production Values

This episode screams “we have BUDGET !”, and may be slightly too much in love with its CG animation. Still, it’s impressive stuff.

The soundtrack comes courtesy of Yoko Kanno, although I’m not sure whether this is one of her lesser efforts or the bizarre editing just does it a disservice.

Overall Impression

This is a complete mess. It completely lost me 7 minutes in, when it became clear that piloting mecha was a blatant metaphor for sex (“it feels so good !” “Us pure maidens uniting with a man ? Ew !”). The incessant tone shifts, haphazard pacing and bland characters don’t help one bit. And once you get past the shock and awe of the production values, you’re left with a very pedestrian story that piles on the clichés without bringing anything new to the table.

Also, the protagonist is yet again played by Yuki Kaji, whose whiny voice is a sure means to make any action lead sound like an annoying loser. Yeah, no thanks.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2012 – Page 5.

High School DxD

What’s it about ?

Harem show featuring succubi in yet another of those high schools that recently went co-ed and have far more girls than boys.

Characters

Issei, our protagonist. He’s part of a clique of three perverted guys who joined the school to get some. His catchphrase ? “I want to touch boobs !” Obviously most of the girls view them with disgust and stay well away. Just to make him even more repellent, he’s voiced by Yuki Kaji, whose voice I’ve grown to hate over the last few seasons.

Yuuma, a girl who asks him out and proceeds to have the most cliché date possible with him. Everyone (including himself) wonders what she sees in that bozo. It turns out that she’s actually a succubus, and she stabs him halfway through the episode because of some nonsense about how he’s supposed to be important in some war between devil clans or something (she doesn’t seem quite clear herself on why he would be important, but better safe than sorry). Unfortunately, he’s then resurrected by…

Rias Gremory (sic), leader of another succubi clan dwelling at the school. Actually, she can only make Issei into a half-demon creature, with enhanced strength and senses at night… which really doesn’t sound too bad for him, especially as he gets to hang with a bunch of hot girls.

Production Values

Fanservice out the wazoo : gratuitous panty shots, naked breasts in abundance, lucious transformation sequences that make the protagonist admire them instead of running away…

There seems to be quite a bit of budget behind this : the animation is quite good (although it mostly focuses on body parts).

Overall Impression

This is slightly better than I expected. It’s got a good grasp of atmosphere, it’s well-paced, and some of the jokes are actually funny. On the other hand, there’s absolutely no way to save the plot, and I loathe the protagonist. I have no qualms with skipping this one.

But hey, points for trying a bit harder than most fanservice-y harem shows.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2012 – Page 3.

Lagrange : the Flower of Rin-ne (Rinne no Lagrange)

(12 episodes this Winter, 12 this Summer)

What’s it about ?

Fanservice-y mecha show.

Characters

Madoka, our teenage protagonist. She’s an honour member of basically every club in her high school (her schedule is a thing to behold), although she declined the honours of heading the Kendo Club and/or being the Student Council President because she prefers presiding the Sweats Club (whatever that is), despite being the only member of it. She’s the kind of person who jumps in to save a random swimmer drowning on her way to the school, and doesn’t think too much of it. It also happens that about a decade ago, she made a contract of some sort with the super-speshul mecha at the heart of the plot. (Her absent mother is strongly hinted to have been the previous pilot.)

Fin e Ld si Laffinty (aka “Lan”), the mysterious albino girl in swimsuit-like sci-fi clothes… oh, wait, she says almost immediately she’s an alien. Mystery solved, then. She shows up out of the blue to drag Madoka to the aforementioned mecha so that she can pilot it against another alien faction. The subtext is that she’s obviously taking advantage of Madoka’s generous (and slightly clueless) nature for her own ends.

Yoko, Madoka’s 20-something cousin, a scientist (?) who’s part of the human task force working with Lan’s alien faction. She’s entirely against Madoka piloting the mecha (this comes from a promise to Madoka’s mother). She’s rough and callous, but it’s obvious the two of them do love each others like true siblings.

The human task force operates out of a floating base cruising near the town Madoka lives in. Lan’s faction appears to only have a couple of envoys, while the other alien faction operates out of a spaceship and attacks because… er, I don’t really have a clue yet. It also looks like there’s only three of them.

Production Values

This is a XEBEC show, which means a good amount of fanservice. It includes scenes such as Yoko randomly asking Madoka to strip (because the mark of her pilot powers or something is conveniently located on her butt cheek), or a gratuitous extended shower scene for Madoka. It really could be a lot worse, though : it’s a bit distracting and eye-rolling, but there’s nothing horrible (or worth being censored). Just know what you’re getting.

The good news is that this is a XEBEC sci-fi show with some ambition : the mecha fights look great, the background are gorgeous (wasn’t this half-sponsored by the Japanese district it takes place in ?), and the body language of the characters is well-animated. This show obviously has quite some budget behind it. Almost a shame to watch this first episode in eyebleed-o-vision instead of the proper broadcast next week.

What did I think of it ?

This is about what I was expecting : a fun little mecha show that doesn’t take itself too seriously. I feel this is very similar to Stellvia of the Universe : the characters aren’t very deep, but pleasant to see interacting with each other ; the setup is mildly interesting (I like the idea that Madoka was only brought in because they need her to boot the mecha up, and the actual piloting is done remotely by a team of professionals… well, until Madoka takes matters in hand), and, well, it’s just a fun show.

I don’t expect this to be among the best shows of the season, but it’s quite enjoyable indeed.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2012.

Maken-ki!

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Fanservice harem series, combined with a panty-fighter plot.

Characters

Takeru, our perverted male lead. The big girls’ high school in his hometown has just turned co-ed (wait, again with that plot ?), so he enrolls thinking this is the perfect opportunity to score. The problem is that nobody told him this was actually an academy for magic fighters (cue impenetrable magibabble about “Maken” and “Elements”, whatever they are), and that things go a bit pear-shaped when he’s asked to participate in a demonstration during the entrance ceremony.

Haruko, Takeru’s childhood friend, vice-president of the student council and his dorm’s supervisor. Typical tsundere material, trying to maintain her composure and showing definite signs of jalousy when any other girl approaches Takeru.

Kodama, a girl who recognizes Takeru as her sworn enemy because he bears a weird tatoo (and not because she knows him or anything).

Inaho, another girl who rushes to save Takeru (before Haruko can intervene) and claims he’s her perfect partner. She then immediately moves into his room. Not to be left off, the other two immediately do the same. (It’s a big room.)

Production Values

Between the camera angles and the character designs, it’s physically impossible for the camera not to show any panties when it doesn’t focus on faces. Seriously, at least one shot in two features prominent panties. To say it’s gratuitous and distracting… would be completely missing the point of this series, really.

What did I think of it ?

Every season needs its terrible fanservice-fest, right ? Well this is Fall’s. The plot is stupid, the fight scenes don’t flow well because of the camera’s fixation on panties, and the characters range from the flat to the utterly loathsome (urgh, the main lead…). There’s nothing of interest whatsoever here, and the result is so contemptible it’s not even entertaining in its awfulness.

A strong contender for worst show of the season.

via [In which I review] New anime, Fall 2011 – Page 5.