Samurai Harem

Genre: Comedy
Age Appropriate: Teen
Emotional Response: smack your head and shake it in shame funny
Notable Features: awkward teens, martial arts
Language: Japanese
Length: 12 episodes
Overall Recommendation: Good


"I meant to confess to your sister!" - Wassan

Yoichi is a young man who has been training on a mountain for most of his life. He's been home school and kept away from the city. So, he is sent tot he city to be with his cousins as a way to expand his horizons and train in a different environment. As soon as he arrives in town, however, he manages to get himself into misunderstanding and subsequent trouble. Like many harem anime, this series involves and awkward boy cast and beautiful, smart, violent ladies. There are four cousins, two in high school, one in middle school and a younger one. Of the four, the oldest is the smart, pretty one everyone is in love with. Ibuki is super nice and popular. The second daughter, Ayame is a traditional tsundere character - basically mean but with a good heart. The third daughter is a manga artist with a fun attitude and the youngest is adorable.

The one thing that gets them all is the social awkwardness that leads everyone to think Yoichi is a bit of a perv. Every other episode he manages to fall into some girl's chest or lap. The confrontational part of the story comes from a secret guy, and his sister, constantly sending assassins after Yoichi for no apparent reason. It is a vehicle every other episode to add conflict to move the story along. Despite the fact that the group has been successful in fending off the attacks, no one understands the reason motivation of the villain!

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It was cute. There wasn't a whole lot of plot in the story. There were some parts of the story that just seemed unnecessary, but as it was a high school harem anime, I don't think it really mattered. It's not really the type of series you hang around for because you can't handle not knowing what is going to happen next. I did find some enjoyment out of it. Unlike some of the recent awkward boy series, this one referenced naughtiness without any nudity at all - in a good way. I also appreciated the additional of the little sister. Nothing untoward happens to her (which is good) but she's just so freakin' cute! It also appears that she might be a good cook!

The assassins are great! Well, they're terrible which makes them great. I just wish there was a little more lead in to the whole bad guy motivation thing. There were some real hints, but not until episode 9 - given that there are only 12 it was a little late. I would've been happy with  more action/fight scenes. Either way, it was good. It's a nice rainy day anime, really. You can sit through a few episodes without blinking an eye, and still have a nice little amount of enjoyment out of it. If that's something you're looking for on that rainy day, I would recommend it.

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Next Week!: Next week I'll be in Chicago for Anime Central (ACEN). I'm super excited. This does mean, however, that I won't be posting a blog post on Thursday. I will post a review of the convention the following Thursday. SO EXCITED!!

Campione!

Genre: Action/Adventure
Age Appropriate: Teen+
Emotional Response: Excited followed by disappointed
Notable Features: gods, magic, fan service
Language: Japanese
Length: 11 episodes
Overall Recommendation: Disappointing

"I'm his wife!" - pretty much all of the girls

Godou is a young man who is sent on a delivery run by his grandfather. With nothing better to do, Godou goes out to return something to his grandfather's acquaintance and ends up falling into a bizarre world of girls, swords and gods. After running into a swordmaster girl, Erica Blandelli, and managing to defeat a strange god, he is now the Campione. His new job is to defeat evil gods as the show up in the world, attempting to take power for themselves. Through his defeat of Verethragna, a Persian diety, his new status of campione comes with special abilities to help his cause. Each of these abilities is gained through different means and they all are attributed to 10 different representations.

In this harem adventure, Godou collects young ladies interested in fighting the good fight. They all have different personalities and different motivations, but they have one thing in common. They all fall for Godou. This is completely despite his awkward fumbles of accidental impropriety. The series ends with a cliffhanger as to where the group will go next (but it appears the manga keeps going).

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There is a good reason that the series ends in a cliffhanger. It didn't get enough viewership to bother with a second season. I was really excited when I first started watching. If there was anything I was into when I was younger, that wasn't vampires!, it was mythology. You can blame TV for that one (yay Hercules!). I did jump into mythology quite quickly and it carried all the way through high school ancient history. So, when I found this anime, I was really curious about how it was going to work out.

I was sorely disappointed. I don't usually expect a lot out of a harem anime. I've seen a number of really engaging ones that simply use the awkward boy/pretty girl thing as a good comedic vehicle. This one had so much potential! For me, it fell short. Basically, I don't recommend it. I was sad when it was cancelled, but only because I hoped it would find a way to redeem itself. I may consider giving the manga a chance though. I suppose it's possible that it could be better in print.

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Kid fun!: Avatar: The Last Airbender