Tag: heavy fanservice

Astarotte’s Toy! (Lotte no Omocha!)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

The incumbent succubus princess is now 10 year old and should really get around to gathering a harem, or so her handler says. Since she has no wish to do so, she tries to finagle about it by demanding that her first gigolo be a Man (Men’s world has been sealed away from their world for millennia), but she underestimated her handler’s persistence…

Characters

Princess Astarotte (aka “Lotte”), our very, very annoying main character. Played by Rie Kugimiya, of course. She’s attended by a little squad of maids and various other helpers. The most prominent of which being…

Judith, her teacher/handler, who’s very dedicated to raising her charge as a proper succubus. Hence why she decides to single-handedly reopen the portal to Men’s world… and actually succeeds.

Naoya, the first dude Judith bumps into, and who just happens to be ideal boytoy material (of course he does !), so she immediately snags him up. The OP suggests his relationship with Lotte will be a lot more genuine than just “source of lifeseed for Lotte to suck”, although to be honest she’s got much more chemistry there with his little sister. (Also, some of the dialogue suggests he’s much older than Lotte. Eek.)

Production Values

Nothing special.

You know you’re in for a classy show when the second scene has a generic exposition lecture happen with all the female cast bathing for no real reason, and Lotte’s tail hiding various naughty bits Austin Powers-style. Later on, Lotte gets quite a few random panty shots.

Overall Impression

When in another forum I stated how my mind boggled at the premise (“A loli that needs to suck semen to survive !”), I was assured that the manga it came from wasn’t that bad and very tongue-in-cheek. Well, while this isn’t as skeevy as it could be, it’s still pretty bad and exploitative. And it’s not like “Lotte discovering True Love” is a “twist” I have any interest in.

Bottom line : it isn’t funny, and none of the characters are interesting. Avoid.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2011 – Page 8.

Softenni

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Slice of life comedy about a middle school female tennis club. Also, panties.

Characters

Asuna, who is very enthusiastic about the club, but a bit of a slob. She has a very dirty mind that will interpret anything as sexually suggestive. (Also, she’s a walking panty shot.)

Kotone, who hasn’t been stated to be the club president but might as well be. Very bossy and sarcastic. (Voiced by Eri Kitamura, of course…)

Chitose, the upperclassman for whom this is the last chance as entering a tournament before graduating… but that’s a tall ordeal, considering she’s completely crap at tennis. Also, she eats a lot, although most of it seems to go to her upper figure, if you see what I mean (and I think you do).

Kurusu, the dark-skinned prodigy with a bit of a sadistic streak. Has a weird tendency to show up wearing a random big mask over her head.

Mr Mishimagi, the coach/teacher advising the club. Mostly there as a straight man for Asuna’s bizarre trains of thought.

The credits suggests a fifth girl will be joining the cast soon.

Production Values

Not very good, and the show’s bizarre obsession with showing panties every other shot is more than a bit distracting. There are some very puzzling bits of censorship, with random sexy shots heavily censored despite the nearly exact same thing being displayed in full ten seconds later. The mind boggles.

Overall Impression

Oh dear. Well, I wasn’t expecting much from XEBEC, but this is a mediocre slice of life series made nearly unwatchable by obstructive fanservice.

Although, considering it isn’t very funny to begin with, I’m perfectly content with giving it a pass.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2011 – Page 7.

Abnormal Physiology Seminar (Hen Zemi)

(13 half-length episodes)

What’s it about ?

Slice of life about very special college course where the students hand reports about their fetishistic experiments.

Characters

Matsutaka, our somewhat prude-ish heroine, who isn’t enthusiastic at all about this course. If you’re wondering why she’s attending, that’s because it’s a way to get closer to…

Komugi, who looks and acts like a nice guy but is actually quite an irritating jerk under the deadpan façade (but since he’s voiced by Akira Ishida, you can’t quite bring yourself to hate him…). Totally unashamed about his fetishes and what the Hen Zemi does.

Pr Meshiya, the teacher/researcher in charge of the Hen Zemi. A complete creep, and one wonders how he gets away with this with the faculty.

Mizukoshi, the nymphomaniac best student. She’s into really extreme stuff (seriously, her report in this episode ? Ewwww !). Beware her slobber whenever someone talks dirty in front of her.

We get to see a few more students attending the course : the peeping tom who camps with his camera under the stairs, the ecchi manga artist and his innocent-looking sadistic girlfriend…

Production Values

Adequate. I actually quite like the stylized artstyle : it gives everyone (apart from the teacher) a look of complete innocence that contrasts very well with what they’re talking about.

Overall Impression

Quite fun, actually. I appreciate the directness of the approach, and thankfully all the people involved are consenting adults (Matsutaka can quit whenever she wants…). There’s quite a lot of mileage in the sheer weirdness of those fetishes.

But it clearly won’t be to everyone’s tastes. Some of the fetishes described here are bound to squick you out. Also, and that’s a bit more problematic, not all of the jokes are that funny. Moreover, I worry that the short format won’t give the series the time to properly gel. Still, if you have any interest in the subject matter, it mostly works.

There’s been a couple of OVA out ; they seem to have been some sort of pilot or something. It’s basically more of the same, but they aren’t necessary at all to understand this first episode (which introduces all the key players properly).

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2011 – Page 7.

Hanaukyo Maids (Hanaukyo Maid-tai)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

A boy receives a sudden inheritance from his grandfather : a ridiculously huged mansion, staffed by hundreds of maids. (Also, tons of money.)

Characters

Taro, our protagonist. Completely baffled by the whole thing. In the grand tradition of stupid harem comedies, he’s got an allergy to girls, which makes it all very awkward.

We don’t actually see his grandfather, but he sounds like a gigantic pervert : his video will to Taro only has footage of maids sunbathing on a private island, there are nude statues everywhere, and then there’s all the training of the maids to be very intimate to their master. Now, I can somewhat understand why a squad of them would help him pee and bathe, but there’s little excuse for the “final service” after lights out.

Mariel seems to be the head maid or something (although it’s not actually acknowledged onscreen). Taro seems to like her, and she’s the only maid who does not set off his girl allergy (which of course raises all sorts of alarms in my brain – hopefully they’re not going that route, are they ?).

There are literally hundreds of other maids, although the only other notable ones are a set of triplets who seem the most sexually aggressive of the bunch.

Production Values

Terrible. This is barely animated at all. Also : boobies ! There’s LOTS of nudity here.

The ED sequence has live-action footage of what looks like the voice-actresses cosplaying as their characters, which is frankly embarassing. At least they’re properly clothed…

Overall Impression

Dear gods this was horrible and sanity-destroying. This obviously tries to be a raunchy sex comedy, but this is neither funny nor titillating.

This somehow got a remake in 2004. I can’t see how that’d improve things.

I had trouble retrieving the only SFW scene of assault in this episode.
I had trouble retrieving the only SFW scene of assault in this episode.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2001 – Page 7.

Galaxy Angel

(26 episodes)

What’s it about ?

A squad of women can perform any mission if you pay the price… This episode : finding a lost cat. No, really.

Characters

Ranpha, the hot-tempered blonde who complains about everything. Only Yukari Tamura’s charisma can keep her from being too annoying.

Forte, her tall and snarky partner, whom I mistook for a dude until I saw the frankly embarrassing cleavage hole in her clothes. Urgh.

Milfeulle, a girl they encounter during their mission and who just happens to have found the precise cat they’re looking for. She’s got insane amounts of luck, although it seems to mostly be the ironic kind. Presumably she’s joining the team soon.

There are a couple of other women on the team, plus their elderly boss, but they don’t contribute much to this episode.

Production values

Not very good, to tell the truth. It’s got decent comedic timing, and that’s all I can really say for it. Forte’s costume aside, the fanservice ain’t too obnoxious, but it’s still quite present.

Overall Impression

That… wasn’t very good, was it ? While the characters have some decent chemistry, there’s no plot in sight, and even the characters complain about the inanity of the premise in the very first scene of the episode. The comedy is decent, but nothing you haven’t seen done better elsewhere.

This got three sequel seasons ? Really ?

Now, which cat's the right one ?
Now, which cat’s the right one ?

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2001 – Page 6.

Health and Physical Eduction for 30-year-olds (30-sai no Hoken Taiiku)

(13-minute-long episodes)

What’s it about ?

A thirty-year-old virgin gets visited by an annoying sex god who’ll educate him so that he can finally pop his cherry.

Characters

Imagawa, our male lead, exactly as pathetic as you’d expect (and voiced by Hiro Shimono, of course). The kind who borrows the 600,000-yen blow-up doll from one of his co-workers. Very annoyed by the sex god’s intrusion : he’d like to take his time, thanks (but then that’s his whole problem…).

Daigorou, the sex god. Very, very annoying, and impossible to get rid of. He can only go away when his mission’s accomplished ; to his credit, he does offer Imagawa the easy way out to get done with it (but Imagawa doesn’t want to even think about it).

Andou, the female lead, barely makes an appearance in this first episode, but the OP & ED suggest she’s getting a pair of sex gods too.

Production Values

Dire. It doesn’t help that there’s some very heavy censorship that hides anything vaguely risqué (we don’t even see one bit of the blow-up doll) and blips through half of the dialogue.

Overall Impression

I didn’t think it was possible : this is making me long for B Gata H Kei. There’s an art to the raunchy, ecchi comedy with protagonists raring to get it on, and this series completely fails at it. It’s not funny, and the heavy censorship kinda defeats the point.

Since this reportedly adapts a PhysEd book, it does sneak in some helpful tips (Wash it appropriately to get rid of bacteria ! Don’t squeeze too much on them !), but they’re drowned by the tedious attempts at whimsical humour by walking clichés calling themselves characters.

Avoid.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2011 – Page 6.

Battle Girls – Time Paradox (Sengoku Otome: Momoiro Paradox)

(13ish episodes)

What’s it about ?

An ordinary high school girl is transported to a female version of feudal Japan.

Characters

Hideyoshi, our protagonist. Late for school, not very bright and utterly superficial. She goes to pray at a local shrine not to mess up with her exams, stumbles on a magic ritual, and that’s how she ends up in feudal Japan. Of course, her first reaction is to mistake everyone for cosplayers and complain about the poor cellphone reception.

Nobunaga Oda, at this stage a local feudal lord in a quest to gather the pieces of a mystical set of armor and conquer Japan. I have no clue why she tolerates Hideyoshi’s antics or has any reason to think she’ll be useful, besides plot convenience. (I mean, Hideyoshi’s Japan History textbook will probably come handy, but it’s introduced too late for that to work as an explanation for Oda’s tolerance.)

Mutsuhide, Oda’s aide, who for some reason looks exactly like one of Hideyoshi’s classmates (are they going for the “it was all a dream” ending ?). Utterly irritated by Hideyoshi, but suffers through it because Oda said so. I can sympathize.

The OP & ED show half a dozen more girls that shall presumably be introduced in later episodes.

Production Values

Well, it could be worse : sure, the outfits (especially Oda’s) are ridiculously stripperific, but we don’t get too many panty shots and the like. Still, to make clear what kind of series we’re watching, the ED shows all the girls naked, with thin strips of fabric overlaid at random to hide the naughty bits.

Overall Impression

It seems like nearly every season there’s one of these (See also : Hyakka Ryouran: Samurai Girls, Koihime†Musou…). It’s not outright terrible, but it’s very generic indeed and offers nothing of note to make it worth watching.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2011 – Page 4.

Nana & Kaoru OVA

What’s it about ?

Softcore bondage porn… without any actual porn.

Characters

Nana, the female lead. Over-achieving high-school student, extremely popular, nearly top of the class… especially since she’s recently found a new way to relieve her stress.

Kaoru, the male lead. He’s an ugly runt with a face that perpetually looks creepy. Very impopular, with a reputation of perversion. In contrast, his voice sounds perfectly normal and reassuring, which is essential when guiding Nana through her new experiences… i.e. bondage and S&M play.

Production Values

Very cheap. There’s no OP or ED animation, and the animation doesn’t hesitate to cut corners. It tries a bit too much to ape the original manga’s artstyle, which sometimes looks a bit awkward when animated (especially when cross-hatching shading is involved). Still, it does the job.

The soundtrack is firmly stuck into porno synth mode, although not to the point of being distracting.

Overall Impression

Well, it’s a very faithful adaptation of a borderline-hentai manga. You know the drill.

Still, I like the choice of focusing entirely on Nana’s viewpoint. This episode is entirely about her and how she discovers she actually likes this perverted stuff. Kaoru is just a catalyst, someone who gives her access to this new world and challenges her when she’s not being honest with herself. If you pay attention to the flashback early on about their first session, you’ll notice that it’s Nana herself who initiated it all by stumbling on a fetish outfit of his and trying it on. (You might wonder why he happened to possess expensive leather clothes that fit her perfectly. Good question.)

Now, the corresponding manga chapters had a much deeper look into Kaoru’s thoughts and motivations during all this, but this first episode isn’t interested in that angle at all, keeping it firmly in the background (you might get hints from how his reaction shots contrast with his perfectly calm and in-control voice, though).

Overall, it’s an interesting adaptation that gets to the emotional core of Nana’s character. On that plan, it’s a success.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2011 – Page 4.

Without Wings -under the innocent sky- (Ore-tachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Fuck if I know ; I can’t make head nor tails of the plot. I’ll say “fanservice-heavy harem comedy with a dash of heroic fantasy” to err on the safe side, but even that fails to accurately describe it.

Characters

Takashi Haneda is the protagonist of a ridiculously cliché harem, with various girls (his little sister cousin, the aggressive one, the athletic one who lets her mind wander, and a fourth one I can’t quite get a hold of yet) fighting over him before he’s even stepped five feet towards school. Also, we get numerous panty shots and even naked shots of their breasts when they push themselves onto him. And he’s got whiny narration by Hiro Shimono (when did his career devolve into “cliché harem lead” ?). But the lot of them only get 5 minutes of screentime.

The rest of the episode is dedicated to a trio of loser dudes unlucky in love, and desperately trying to set up a drinking party with whatever girls they find. One of them is 35 and owns the bar they hang around at ; the other two look high-school/college-aged. Anyway, the only girls who accept the invite are the part-time waitresses. Overall, it’s a very pathetic scene that makes me loathe everyone involved.

But wait ! Just before and during the ending credits, we see all of them in a heroic-fantasy setting, fighting monsters and the like ! Is this a MMORPG or an actual parallel world they’re escaping into ? I have no clue ! (And why would Haneda need escaping anyway ?)

There’s also a bizarre framing device with radio/TV shows (including an outrageous American-accented DJ) shown in a rapid succession… and I’ve got no clue why they’re doing this.

Production Values

Decent, I suppose. The very heavy fanservice whenever a girl’s on screen is quite annoying, though.

Overall Impression

What the heck is this shit ?

Now, I can understand trying to be a bit creative when adapting yet another harem dating sim. But this is just incoherent crap, with three different narratives that completely fail to coalesce into any coherent whole. It’s probably trying for the “self-parody” angle, but that just makes it more obnoxious.

I hate every single character and it makes no sense whatsoever : avoid like the plague.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2011 – Page 4.

Dog Days

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

In a parallel fantasy world, war rages between the kingdom of Biscotti and the Galette Knights. A surprisingly PG war, with no casualties whatsoever and announcers providing step-by-step colour commentary. Oh, and they’ve all got animal ears and tails (Biscotti are dogs, and I think Galette are cats). Anyway, Biscotti are losing, so they call upon a hero from Earth to save them.

Characters

Shinku, our protagonist and ordinary high school student. He’s actually an accomplished athlete (coming second in the last big sports tournament, and assiduously training for improvement), and a bit of a showboat. When he’s transported to another world and called a hero, he muses that this must be a dream, so what the heck, and dives in with enthusiasm.

Milchore, the kid ruler of Biscotti, who summons Shinku and exposits the situation to him. She doesn’t show much personality yet, to be honest.

We get to see a few more Biscotti characters, including a couple of elite warriors who get rid of scores of enemy mooks in one spell. Er, weren’t they supposed to be losing ?

Although it might be because the top Galette Knights have yet to deploy – everyone says they’re very impressive, but I’ve yet to see any of that.

Production Values

By the makers of Nanoha ! So you get the obligatory OP by Nana Mizuki, bright and shiny colours everywhere, CG runes galore for every single spell, and loli-style character designs for nearly everyone important (except the “villains”).

Overall Impression

I’m not really sure what to think about this one.

I quite like the twist of war as a harmless sports-like competition, and Mamoru Miyano lends tons of his usual charisma to the protagonist. On the other hand, the Biscotti people are dull and sugary as hell, and the Galette Knights don’t show much promise either.

I’ll probably give it a couple more episodes before judging it.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2011.